I open my eyes and look around the unfamiliar room as I try to figure out where I am. The night before comes flooding back to me as I sit up and the pounding in my head urges me to go back to sleep. I remember going to the club and coming back here, but I wonder if the part where I tried to kiss Spencer was real. I don’t think I would let myself do something that stupid… would I?
I put on my shoes and stand up. I feel shaky, a little uneasy on my feet, but not nearly as bad as last night… well, from what I can remember of last night. I really hope that I didn’t embarrass myself by doing anything stupid.
The clock on the nightstand says eight, later than I thought, which means we are probably late for filming… I hope that Dex isn’t going to be mad at us. I head out of the room and toward the main part of the house. Spencer is standing at the sink with the water running. There is a faint aroma of food still hanging in the air, which must be from whatever he cooked himself for breakfast.
“Hey,” I say.
He looks over his shoulder and turns off the water. Spencer smiles at me as he reaches for a dish towel and dries his hands. He sets the towel down and turns toward me.
“How did you sleep?”
“I… OK, I guess.”
He lets out a little chuckle and shakes his head.
“How do you feel today?”
“Not great….”
Part of me wants to be upset with him, I feel mislead about last night… I didn’t think he would offer me drinks with alcohol, but I also know that I should have asked or even just assumed since we were sitting in the VIP area of a club, which had a private bar. It’s a mistake I regret and I won’t make again, but I know there’s really no point in even bringing it up with Spencer because I still have to see him every day, for now.
“That’s unfortunate,” he says. “So, sorry to change the subject… Dex called me a couple of hours ago, just to make sure you were alright and he wants you to call him.”
I nod and feel for my phone, but it’s not in my pocket. I guess it must be in my purse.
“On the dining room table,” Spencer says.
I turn and see my purse sitting there. I walk over and take my phone out and see a missed call from Dex at just after six this morning. I pull up his number and walk over to the couch while it rings. I sit down just as he picks up.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Dex… it’s me, Amy.”
“Amy, how are you?”
I hesitate for a second, I’m not sure what Spencer told him and I would really rather not tell Dex about what happened last night.
“Fine… how are you?”
I do feel bad about not really being honest with him, but I need to remember that he’s my boss.
“Good… so, I’m not sure how much Spencer told you….”
“Uh… he just said that you called to see how I was and that you wanted to talk to me.”
There’s a pause on the other end of the line and I can hear Dex clearing his throat.
“Well, your mom left… finally, this morning.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah… she said she’s going back to Greenville, but I don’t know for sure.”
I wonder what she’s planning… I have a feeling that she wouldn’t just give up this life that easily. It’s sad really, I share half my DNA with her and I hope that I don’t end up like her.
“So,” Dex says, “I… I don’t know, but I feel like I need a couple of days off to decompress and figure some stuff out.”
“Alright.”
I’m not sure what that means, but he’s the one paying for the movie and I’m not about to question his decision. I’m assuming he’s referring to needing time to figure out what just happened, and maybe try to work things out with my mom, so I don’t want to say anything that could get me into trouble if they get back together.
“I’m… leaving town… but Gina will be here, so you’re more than welcome to just hang out and relax. I’m thinking maybe three or four days and then I’ll be ready to get back to it. If it’s going to be longer, I’ll give you and Spencer a call.”
“Thanks, sounds good.”
“And if you could just relay what I’ve told you to Spencer, it’ll save me another call.”
“Sure.”
It’s weird, he had a confidence in his voice before and now it’s gone. I guess the whole thing with my mom really impacted him more than I realized. I feel kind of bad, it’s not easy to be around her and I know part of why she got mad and left was because of me.
“Alright… and I’ll have my phone if you need anything.”
“OK.”
I pull my phone away from my ear and end the call. Spencer is still in the kitchen, but walks toward me when he notices that I’m off the phone. He sits on the other end of the couch and smiles at me.
“So, what’s happening with Dex?”
“He… he wants to take a few days off, like three or four, so he’s shutting down the set for now and he’s going out of town.”
A look of surprise flashes across his face.
“Really?” he says.
I nod and look down at my phone. It’s weird, it seems like neither of us were expecting that from Dex… especially since we both know that he’s using his own money to make this movie. Hopefully, he’ll be better in a couple of days.
“Yeah.”
“Huh.”
Spencer shrugs and stands up from the couch. He walks toward the back door and turns around as he reaches it.
“I’m going to make a quick call… I’ll be right back.”
I nod and turn toward the coffee table, where I noticed a magazine when I first sat down. It’s a gossip rag, but it should be entertaining enough for the few minutes I expect Spencer to be on the phone. I start to flip through the magazine, not really seeing anything that looks all that interesting. The back door opens again and Spencer walks in, still on the phone.
“Alright… yeah… sounds good… love you, too.”
Spencer smiles at me as he slips his phone into his pocket and walks over.
“So,” he says, “how would you feel about a little trip?”
His question takes me completely by surprise… I definitely didn’t expect him to say that.
“Uh….”
Spencer laughs and sits down on the other end of the couch. He looks into my eyes and I instantly want to say yes, I’ll go with him, but I can’t explain why.
“Sorry, I hope that didn’t seem… forward, but I’ve been meaning to go visit my mom and since we have a couple day break I figured this would be a perfect time. I just thought that maybe you’d want to get away for a couple of days to put this whole thing behind you.”
I know it’s not going to be that easy, to forget everything that’s happened in the last couple of days, but it’s really sweet of Spencer to offer.
“I… I don’t know what to say.”
“Well, you can say that you’ll go with me.”
He flashes me his heartbreaking smile and winks at me. He’s too much. I nod before I give his proposal a second thought.
Spencer dashes toward me, takes my hands in his and pulls me up. I smile as I land on my feet and he pulls me to the kitchen.
“Grab your purse,” he says.
“Where are we going?”
He raises his eyebrow and starts to walk toward the door.
“To visit my mom.”
“Right now?”
He nods and I follow him to the car.
“Don’t you need to pack or something?” I say.
“Nah, I leave stuff at her house for when I visit.”
Spencer pulls out his phone as he starts the car. I wonder what he’s so focused on? He puts his phone in the cup holder and looks over at me.
“You ready?”
“I… sure, I guess,” I say.
“Good.”
Spencer smiles at me before turning his attention back to the car as he pulls out of the driveway.
“What about me? I need some clothes or something….”
“We don’t have time… I’ll just buy you some once we get there.”
I must have a surprised look on my face because Spencer starts to laugh.
“I can’t let you do that,” I say.
He doesn’t respond, so I look over at him and I can tell that he’s focused on navigating the traffic. It’s still amazing to me how many people live here… I don’t think I’ll ever get over that.
“Sorry,” he says, “I wasn’t ignoring you… the only flight leaving LAX today with any seats left is in about an hour and with traffic we are already cutting it pretty close.”
I smile at Spencer and turn to look out the window as he focuses on driving. I definitely didn’t think this morning that I would be going anywhere other than to work, so this is kind of exciting… but at the same time I’m a little nervous about going to visit Spencer’s mom.
Part of me is worried that his mom won't like me, which is stupid because we’re just friends. I take a deep breath to calm myself down and I try to clear my head and focus on being in the moment. I was actually starting to feel a little worn down being around my mom, so at least that’s done with and I’ll get a chance to rest up the next couple of days and be in a much more positive mood once we start filming again.
“Your mom isn’t going to mind me coming with you?”
“Of course not, she’s looking forward to meeting you.”
I’m not sure what to even think of that… how does his mom even know who I am?
“What do you mean?”
I look out my window as we drive by the LAX sign. I’m surprised it’s so close to his house… it can’t have taken us more than fifteen or twenty minutes.
Spencer looks over his right shoulder and changes lanes as he takes the exit for short term parking. I want to ask him again what he meant, but it can wait because he has a focused look on his face as he pulls into the lot and starts to look for a spot.
He parks the car and we get out. The whole place is full, the lights in the ceiling are struggling to make it even bright enough to see. It’s a dingy and almost kind of scary place… not somewhere I’d like to spend more than a few minutes.
“You ready?”
“Yeah,” I say, smiling at Spencer.
We’re on a tight schedule and I feel my face turning red as I walk toward him. I don’t want to be responsible for making us miss the only flight we can take.
Spencer smiles back at me and starts to walk. I walk quickly to catch up to him and we walk through two sets of sliding glass doors. As soon as we are inside things feel chaotic… there are people rushing in every direction and the noise is almost unbearable. The air is stagnant and hot, which is making it hard to breathe.
I follow him by a few long lines of people that end at counters staffed by airline personnel. Spencer turns and walks by a sign that says First Class and we walk up to the counter. The woman behind the counter is probably in her late forties, her brown hair is pulled back and she’s smiling at us.
“Hello, Sir, are you checking in?”
“I actually need to book a ticket,” Spencer says.
She wrinkles her brow as she looks us up and down, but it quickly fades… it’s almost as she’s trying to hide the fact that she was judging us.
“This is the line for first class, Sir… if you want to just go to the back of that line,” she says, pointing at the seemingly endless line of people two counters down, “one of my associates will be more than happy to help you.”
I turn to Spencer, who lets out a quick chuckle as he puts his hand in his back pocket and pulls out his wallet. He shakes his head, takes out a credit card and slaps it down on the counter. He seems a little irritated and I don’t blame him… this woman was treating us like we couldn’t fly first class, which I assume is because of our age.
“I want two first class tickets to Denver, on the eleven o’clock flight.”
I can’t help smiling at his emphasis on first class. The woman’s eyes grow wide and she reaches for his credit card.
“And try to hurry, we don’t want to miss the flight,” he says.
She nods and turns her attention back to the computer. I lean against the counter and look around as I hear the clacking of a keyboard. There is a family in the other line, the parents and their daughter who looks about twelve or thirteen, and they keep looking over at us. The girl finally points at Spencer… I guess she must recognize him. I turn to Spencer, but he’s not paying attention.
“If I could just have your ID, both of you.”
I set my purse on the counter and fish through my wallet to find my ID card. I pass it to the woman, who takes it and stands it up against the top row of keys on her keyboard. She quickly pounds out my name on the worn keys and hands it back to me. Spencer hands over his driver’s license and she does the same for him.
The woman sets a receipt on the counter and I catch a glimpse of it just after he signs it and before she takes it back. I blink a few times as I wonder if what I just saw was real. I think it said two thousand dollars and change… is that possible?
“If you could just set your bags on the scale,” she says.
“We don’t have any luggage,” Spencer says.
“Uh… alright… well, I guess you can head to security then.”
She sets two boarding passes on the counter and Spencer takes his and I take mine. I smile at the woman and she just stares at me. I can’t decide if she looks irritated or confused or maybe some combination of the two.
“Have a nice day,” I say.
She stammers, but I turn and walk after Spencer before she can answer. People are so strange here. I wish she would have just been nice and done her job and it wouldn’t have caused that weird tension between her and Spencer. I’m glad that’s done with.
I step onto the escalator next to Spencer and he takes out his phone. I want to say something about flying first class, two thousand dollars is a lot of money, but I feel like it would be rude and that I shouldn’t say anything… it’s his money, after all, and he can do whatever he wants with it.
He puts his phone back in his pocket, turns to me and smiles.
“So, do you fly often?” he says.
I shake my head and look at my feet as my face starts to turn red.
“I… I’ve only flown once… my mom picked me up in Greenville and we flew on a jet that Dex got for us.”
“Nice… gotta love the private jet. Sorry, but I’m not as much of a baller as Dex… so I hope you won’t be disappointed in first class.”
“I’m sure it’ll be just fine.”
I make a mental note to pay Spencer back for the flight once we finish the movie and Dex pays me. I know he probably won’t take the money, but I want to at least offer.
“It’s decent,” he says, as we step off the escalator, “certainly much better than flying coach. Plus the flight isn’t as long as from Greenville… it should only take a little over two hours.”
I nod as we enter the security line. There’s a decent amount of people in line, but it seems to be moving somewhat quickly. As we wind through the line and near the front, I notice people taking their shoes and belts off. I glance at Spencer, out of the corner of my eye, every few second until he starts to take his shoes off and I follow suit.
I follow his lead and put my purse and shoes in one of the gray plastic bins and slide it along the rollers that lead into what must be an X-ray machine. One of the security workers waves Spencer through a metal detector and holds her hand up, telling me to stop until he’s clear of the area.
“Come through,” she says.
I watch as she looks up at the machine as I walk through. Part of me is nervous that it’s going to go off and I’ll be in some kind of trouble. I don’t think I have anything metal on me, but it’s still in the back of my mind for some reason.
The woman nods at me and I walk to the end of the security area to collect my purse and shoes. I can’t believe how crazy everything in this one little part of the airport is, but I guess it’s good because it definitely makes me feel safer about flying.
I follow Spencer once we have our shoes back on. We walk by a newsstand that is brimming with activity… people seem to be stocking up on snacks and things to read for their flights. I’m enjoying watching the people here, they all seem to have so much purpose in their eyes as they ready themselves to fly.
“Here we are,” Spencer says.
We walk toward a podium with a woman dressed in the same outfit as the weird lady at the first counter. We pass her our tickets and she quickly looks them over before ripping the boarding pass off and handing them back to us.
I follow Spencer down a long corridor that leads to the plane. It’s weird… I can feel it moving as we walk, almost like it’s swaying and flexing, but I’m sure they wouldn’t have groups of people walking through it if it wasn’t safe… it doesn’t stop me from feeling a little uneasy though.
There is a flight attendant standing just inside the door of the plane. Spencer ducks as we step through and she smiles at us.
“Welcome aboard… do you need help finding your seat?”
“No, thanks,” Spencer says.
She nods and I smile at her. Spencer turns to the right and I follow him to the second row of seats on the plane. I glance down the plane and see small seats, three on either side of the aisle. All the people smashed together remind me a little of sardines. I turn back to Spencer, who is in the window seat and putting on his seatbelt. I sit down on the leather chair and wiggle as I try to make myself comfortable. It’s definitely not as comfy or roomy as the plane Dex got for me and mom, but it’s a much nicer than what most of the people on the plane are experiencing right now.
The flight attendant walks over to us and smiles as she stands tall over us.
“Can I get you something to drink before we take off? Champagne or water… anything?”
The mere mention of Champagne reminds me of how much my head still hurts from last night. I shake my head and turn toward the window. I hear Spencer saying something to the flight attendant, but I’m watching another plane pull in next to us and I don’t hear what they’re talking about.
I close my eyes and sigh. I wish I were feeling better… I think I had adrenaline rushing through my body for the last hour as we got ready to come here, but now I’m starting to calm down and my headache is definitely more noticeable.
Maybe I’ll try to sleep during the flight… I don’t want Spencer to think I’m ignoring him or that I’m not grateful for this little trip. I turn to him and smile as the flight attendant hands him a bottle of water.
“Are you sure you don’t want anything, Hun?” she says.
“I’m fine, thanks.”
“Let me know if you need anything.”
She flashes us one last smile before going to sit in her fold down seat near the front door of the plane.
“Are you alright?”
I turn to Spencer and nod. I wonder if he can tell that I feel like crap and that I’m a little nervous about flying. I’m sure everyone else on the plane thinks this is perfectly normal and they’ve been doing this for years, but for me… for me it’s still an entirely new experience that I’m more nervous about than excited.
“It’ll be over before you know it,” he says.
I force a smile on my face and he smiles back before taking a long drink of water. He screws the cap back on his bottle and looks out the window. The plane rocks as we start to move backward and I grab the arm rests and squeeze them as tightly as possible. I close my eyes and force myself to keep breathing.
Calm down, Amy, you can do this… it’s going to be fine.