Burn in Water, Drown in Fire

Burn in Water, Drown in Fire ~30~ Fly With Me

~30~ Fly With Me

It’s amazing what you can do when the Chief and Marshal of the city are close friends of yours. I smiled to myself and then sat down at the last seat of the small plane.

“What the h3ll?” Angel asked once she saw me. I gave her a nervous smile and she sighed before she sat down in the seat next to me. I was hoping the entire pre-flight that Lulu wouldn’t claim the seat next to Angel. They sealed the doors and it remained empty. Perfect.

“Look. I know we’re not on speaking terms—”

“At least you got one thing right,” she interrupted.

“I just really need to talk to you and—”

“You’re talking now, but honestly, I don’t even know why you’re here,” she interrupted yet again. “You didn’t even sign up, or go to any of the meetings.”

“I was busy, alright,” I hissed in a lie. Lie. No. I was done lying to her. “Okay, the truth is I realized that since you’re ignoring me in school and I didn’t wanna cause a scene there, I’d come on this trip and use this as a time to talk to you.”

“You can talk, but that doesn’t mean I’ll listen,” she said softly.

“Alright. I’m okay with that, it’s just…” I tried to find the right words. “I have so much sh!t bottled up that I don’t care who I tell—no. I want to tell you—but at the same time it doesn’t matter because I just need to get it off my chest.”

“Just like you got it off your chest by easily telling me lies and feelings that you never intended on doing anything about?” she asked angrily.

“Me?” I asked, frowning. “What about you? We had a connection and just when I thought you were through denying it even though you’re with Joey, that’s the exact moment when I find out that you still see me as the arrogant a$$hole that Lulu played around with all these years!”

“How else am I supposed to act?!” she shouted, but still kept her voice low to not draw attention. “You act like a different person each time you’re around someone new, but when you’re with me, everything’s alright in your world. And…and I see that now, but why not when you were with Lulu, huh? Show that side of you to her and you two would’ve been fine and I wouldn’t have hated you all these years and you two—”

“It’s not about me and Lulu,” I said immediately. “It never was.”

I looked around, and to my surprise, no one was listening to us.

“Last month when the incident happened with Luke, you know that I was telling the truth; I liked you back in middle school and I still do, Angel. Alright? I like you,” I confessed. “Just face it that if Luke never lied to me about his loyalty to Brian, or Lulu never spread sh!t to us about the other, we’d be together. Isn’t that enough for you to comprehend?”

“I wouldn’t be with you,” she said, nearly breaking my heart and stomping on the pieces. I even saw a tear fall from her eye.

“Why?” I asked. “Because I’m reckless? Because I have a deadbeat future? Because I’d put others before my own life? Because of Joey? Or your parents? Or Devin? Why, Angel? Tell me why!”

Another tear fell from her eye and I sighed, nearly wanting to punch myself. She shifted in her seat and her eyes stayed locked to the adjacent empty seat, or maybe her carry-on bag.

Sooner or later, the silence lasted hours. She had fallen asleep in an awkward position and I asked the flight attendant for a pillow. Once I received it, I adjusted Angel and placed it beneath her head comfortably. I grabbed her blanket out of her carry-on and placed it over her. This girl was important to me. I wasn’t gonna let some fight get between us…not like it could considering we’re on a six hour plane together.

I looked out the window as I browsed on my laptop’s internet and noticed clouds shaped like cotton candy and imaginative figures that you can’t see when you’re gazing up at them from the ground. I felt someone nudge my side and I looked to see Angel cozying up to me. I lifted the arm bar between us and she still slid into me. I, once again, moved her pillow and blanket, but rested my arm on her back so that I could still use my laptop to look up what colleges we were visiting.

***

“I thought you said you weren’t going to college,” a familiar voice said. My tired eyes looked up to see Brian turned around in his seat ahead of me.

“Dude? What are you even doing here?” I asked.

“My mom already paid for the trip, so I can’t pass it up,” he shrugged. “But you, however…”

“I pulled some strings with the Chief and used the money Devin gave me,” I said, tired and wanting to pass out already. Brian breathed a laugh once.

“All for a girl,” he commented.

“All for this girl,” I said gesturing down to Angel who still slept.

“You know, she’s smart, but when it comes to knowing what’s best for herself…”

“She sucks,” I finished. He winked.

“I mean, come on, I heard your fight earlier…she’s gonna wake up and deny any feeling she had falling asleep on you even though she’s stressed out about it,” Brian explained.

“And that, my friend, is why you have a gift with perception,” I commented.

“Whatever,” he commented and then turned correctly in his seat. I shook my head at his lameness and continued with my college research.

(Angel’s POV)

“Stop,” I breathed as I slept. “Don’t. Please don’t. I’m begging—”

“Angel,” someone muttered and my eyes fluttered open. I sighed and realized that I was on a plane. I looked up and found that Zac was my bed. “Are you okay?”

“Uh, yeah…” I lied as I awkwardly shifted into a sitting position. I ran a hand through my hair so it was out of my face. I realized he was on his laptop and I tried to see what site he was on without completely looking over his shoulder. After a while of not succeeding, he started smiling.

“I’m looking for colleges,” he informed. He turned to me. “Not that you cared.”

Looking for colleges?

“I didn’t think you were serious,” I said.

“About what?” he asked.

“This college thing,” I clarified. He shrugged.

“I did all this to talk to you, but if you’re just gonna deny me of that right, I might as make use of the tour,” he said with his eyes locked to the screen. So he was giving up on me…great.

He sighed just like I wanted to.

“All the school’s they’re taking us to are freaking prep schools,” he commented.

“Not really,” I muttered. He rolled his head to me.

“Princeton (NJ), Harvard (Mass.), Yale (CT), NYU, Julliard (NY)—”

“Okay, fine,” I said.

“Like anybody’s smart enough to get in to those schools,” he hissed. “They just pay their way in.”

I rolled my eyes. He only said that because he was stupid. As I grew to know him earlier in the school year, he was smart, but when it came to schooling…he wasn’t the college type. He said it himself that he wasn’t going, but I guess since he was here, he’d make the most of it. Because he was giving up on me in the process.