The airplane started to descend once it reached northern Virginia. Lexi and JC were both fast asleep, but the pilot’s voice awakened Lexi.
“We’ll be landing at Dulles International Airport in about fifteen minutes. There are clear skies in Washington DC, with a high of 31 degrees and a low of 19 degrees. It looks like it’s gonna be a beautiful day. ”
Lexi shuddered at the thought of temperature below 75 degrees and turned to see if JC was awake. As she suspected, he wasn’t. As she looked at him, she began to drift into a state of unconscious thought. She began to wonder if what she felt for him was serious. She already knew that she loved him as a friend, there was no doubt about that. But did she love him in a different way? She thought back to the morning that he was going to his interview, and the things she thought. She thought that she “couldn’t take much more of this.” That had to mean something. After 5 minutes, Lexi decided (she basically already knew this) that she had more than just platonic feelings for Josh, but what if he didn’t feel the same? This is when Lexi’s over analyzing brain went into over drive.
Ok, we did almost kiss before, and I stopped it. Wait, did I stop it or did he stop it? I stopped it…I think. Yes, I definitely stopped it, and that’s a good thing because he didn’t stop it. But if I hadn’t stopped it would he had stopped it? Omigawd, Lexi, stop doing this. You should just tell him how you feel…But what if he doesn’t feel the same way!? Wouldn’t he have told me by now? Ahhhh! Yet again, as Lexi was thinking this, JC woke up and caught her staring at him in a daze.
“Thinking about meeting my parents again?”
“Oh,” Lexi said once again embarrassed. “Yeah, kinda.”
“I’m telling ya, DON’T WORRY. They’ll love you.” JC made sure to stop himself there.
“I hope so, Josh.”
Within minutes, the plane was landing on the runway and pulling up to their gate.
“Welcome to Dulles International Airport. The time here in DC is now 11:48 AM. I hope everybody enjoys their stay here in Washington DC whether it be you final destination or just a stopover. Enjoy your day and thank you for flying with us.”
JC and Lexi got off the plane, retrieved their luggage, and made their way to the car rental section of the airport. JC usually didn’t rent a car when he visited home, but this time he thought it would be appropriate since he had someone he wanted to entertain.
He went through all the usual steps that everyone goes through when renting a car while Lexi sat waiting on a nearby bench and got her black coat, gloves, and ear muffs from her bag. When everything was taken care of, they made their way towards space #294 that had a silver Ford Explorer waiting in it.
“Nice car,” Lexi said,
“Yeah, I’m surprised. I thought it would be a KIA or something,” JC laughed.
As JC put their back in the SUV, Lexi began to breathe deeply and tell herself not to be nervous. She’s not the type of person who gets nervous this easily, but this time she couldn’t shake the feeling of butterflies in her stomach.
Once they were on the road, Lexi began to feel less tense. JC had turned the radio, and they were singing very loudly along with it. The jittery feelings she had felt earlier were now a distant memory.
About 40 minutes later, they were pulling up to a very nice two-story, virtually perfect house. The sight of this made Lexi miss the houses she had lived in when she lived in New England. She never realized how generic houses in Florida were until now.
The minute JC turned the engine off, the front door of the house flung open and a man and a woman came out with wide smiles on their faces.
“Joshua!” the woman voiced coming towards him with her arms out stretched.
“Hey, Mom!” JC responded giving his mom a big hug. “It’s so great to see you!’
“You too, baby,” she responded.
“Hey, Dad!” JC said hugging his dad next.
“Hi, Son. How was your flight?”
“Good, it was good. Mom, Dad? I’d like you to meet Lexi Morrow. Lexi, these are my parents Karen and Roy.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Chasez…” Lexi said going to shake their hands, but Karen beat her to the greeting and embraced her in a hug.
“Oh, Lexi, it’s so nice to finally meet you! Josh has told me so much about you. It’s so nice to be able to fit a face to his description, but I must say that his words did not do your beauty justice!”
Lexi blushed as she gave a quick look in JC’s direction. He was blushing as well. “That’s a very nice thing to say, Mrs. Chasez. I hope he told you only good things!”
“Nothing but, dear, and please, call us Karen and Roy.”
“Ok,” Lexi said turning to Mr. Chasez. “It’s nice to meet you…Roy,” she said shaking his hand.
“Now none of that, Lexi,” Roy said as he clasped her in a hug.
Lexi was almost overwhelmed by all of this. It’s not that she couldn’t believe that they were so nice, but she was surprised how comfortable she instantly felt around them. It was almost as if she had known them for years.
As the four of them stood there, the cold finally hit Lexi and she realized that it was about 25 degrees outside. She began to lightly shake, and JC immediately picked up on it.
“Well, we should go inside. We Floridians aren’t used to any temperature below seventy.” Karen and Roy laughed.
“Then let’s go! I have hot coffee and tea waiting inside. Have you guys eaten yet?” Karen asked.
“No. I don’t think we wanted to risk the airplane food,” Lexi smiled.
Roy laughed taking the bags out of Lexi’s hands. “Well I don’t blame you. C’mon, kids. Let’s get you warmed up.’
As they walked inside, Lexi and JC made eye contact. No words needed to be spoken, however if there were words neither of them would know what to say. JC simply put his arm around Lexi’s shoulder and proceeded through the doorway.