Without Hesitation

Chapter 2

The flight went by quickly enough. Since they were flying midday, the views outside of the plane window were stunning. Elle spent most of her flight fixated on the shifting horizon and listening to her favorite true crime podcasts. She's always been fascinated by the macabre, and for some reason hearing about serial killers was soothing for her.

Elle sat in the window seat, with Morgan and Adrian cuddled up to each other next to her. Like she'd been feeling for the last week, she was happy for them, but seeing that still caused a twinge in her chest.

Laura crossed her mind again, and Elle couldn't help but think that she didn't miss her as much as she thought that she would. She missed their relationship a bit, sure. She missed the sex, back when they were having it. The biggest ache she felt was for losing Laura as her other best friend. However, over all the heartache, the most dominant feeling that she felt was frustration. What they had was great. They would hang out and have fun. They would be each other's dates to weddings and parties. They would split costs on meals. It was a great arrangement, and she didn't understand why Laura needed more. They always talked about keeping things at a slow pace, so why did Laura go back on that?

All Elle was sure about was that she was not in need of another relationship any time soon. She was fine with being alone. Sure, having a partner could be fun, for all the reasons she thought of before. However, it is hard making another person happy all the time, and she didn't want that to be her second job. Especially a job that Elle knew she always did wrong. She was mostly joking earlier about finding a bridesmaid at the wedding to hook up with, but maybe that wasn't such a bad idea. It would get her mind off Laura and her relationship failures once and for all, and it could be fun. Elle had one-night stands in the past, but she wouldn't say that she had ever been one to sleep around. Although, she had also never been one for relationships. Laura was her first real girlfriend, and a bit of a trial run. While it was fun at times, having the relationship end the way it did made Elle think that maybe serious relationships aren't for her at all. Maybe she's at the stage in her life where she should give casual hook ups a try, and on the plane, she resolved to do so.

The plane landing was a little rocky, due to the accurately forecasted rain. The jolt woke Morgan from her nap, and she managed to nearly fall out of her seat, only being saved by the airplane seatbelt. "Motherfucker that was rough," she said sleepily while Elle and Adrian tried to contain their laughter.

While they were waiting for their turn to deplane, Elle turned to Adrian. "What is next in the plan?"

"Well, my friend Avery is going to pick us up and take us to Morgan's parent's house for dinner with them and my parents." Adrian must have noticed the combined look of fear and exhaustion that came across Elle's face. "Don't worry, it should be pretty low key. Just the family and the top bridal party members."

"Oh, your best man will be there?"

"Technically, she is my best woman," Adrian replied proudly. "But yeah, Avery will be sticking around for dinner."

"Wait, is this the same Avery as college Avery?" Elle asked Morgan.

"Yep. That's the one," Morgan responded without looking up from her phone.

Before Elle could respond, she saw the people in front of them moving so they all got up to grab their luggage and walk off the plane. Elle was taken aback by the brisk, rainy air as they made their way up the jet bridge. The few times Elle had gone back to Portland with Morgan, she was always shocked by the air. While Chicago air was pretty much always chilly like Portland - outside of the summer when it was musty as all hell - the air here had a freshness to it that she has only experienced in Oregon.

Elle always imagined that Oregon could be a nice place to settle down. While she loved living in a bigger city like Chicago, there was just something about Oregon, Portland specifically, that made her happy. Maybe because it was another opposite from where she grew up in North Dakota. She wanted to move to Chicago because that was the biggest city she had ever been to growing up, and when she visited with her aunt, she was blown away by the size of everything there. She remembered walking around the crowded streets, her eyes fixated to the sky, trying to imagine what the people at the top of these skyscrapers were doing. In that moment she vowed to be one of those people, living or working on the top of the world. While she was still living on the 12th floor in a cheapish downtown apartment, she was closer to that goal than she had ever dreamed of.