Chapter 26

	The stares we got from people in the airport were priceless. I mean looks
of curiosity and astonishment were the norm. Although, I understand where
they’re coming from, two formally dressed girls practically running through the
airport obviously searching for something, or someone, would turn my head too.

	“I see James,” I said suddenly as we approached Gate 45B. 

	“Great.  Go talk to him then,” Whitney answered me, slightly out of
breath from power walking in heels end to end of the airport.

	“You’re coming too.”

	“Duh,” she said good-naturedly.

	We caught our breath, walked over and hugged the burly man before he 
knew who we were.

	“Who? Wha?” he asked startled, “Oh girls! It’s you. Come on, we need
to get going,” he smiled down at us, and escorted us to the boarding ramp.

	We got on the plane and were greeted by cat calls from Brian and
Howie, accompanied with a few “Ha ha, that’s my date!” and “Damn! They put
your dates to shame.”

	Whitney and I blushed and sat down next to our respective dates. I
looked past Nick and saw a tall, thin, brunette with big green eyes sitting
uncomfortably next to Nick.

	“Hi,” I said reaching a hand out, “My name’s Bobbi. You must be
Autumn.”

	“Yeah,” she said quietly, giving me a little smile and shaking my hand. 

	“We’ve all heard a lot about you. Nick didn’t do you justice though. He
said you were pretty, but I am positive that you rank as gorgeous.”

	“Thank you,” she said smiling shyly. She was just like Whitney when I
met her, quiet, shy and obviously glad that someone had taken the time to be
nice.

	“Well,” I said taking a deck of cards out of my tiny purse, who wants to
play a game?”

	“Not me,” AJ sneered. It was the first time he’d spoken since I had
entered the plane, and frankly I wished he hadn’t spoken at all.

	“Alex!” his mother said obviously taken aback with his rudeness. 

	“Sorry mom,” he said going back to his headphones.

	“I do,” Autumn said quietly.

	“Me too,” Whitney said always up for a card game.

	“Well then girls, you’ve got me and Frack here too,” Brian said smiling.

	“I guess I’ll play, how about you Kevin?” Howie said.

	“Actually, I am gonna call Elizabeth to make sure she’s on her way,
since she’s scheduled to get here in about ten minutes, then we can take off.”

	“Alright. Not a problem,” is said moving to a large table in a circular
booth farther back in the plane. “C’mon guys, let’s play a little game before we
get this show on the road. Let’s play BS, since there are six of us.”

	“Sounds good to me,” Nick said shoving himself into the booth.

	We played down to the last two people, and declared them the losers. I
just laughed, because Howie had like three quarters of the deck, while Nick only
had a few, and proclaimed himself the winner by default. 

	“Please return to your seats, we are ready for takeoff,” the pilot
announced over the intercom.

	I gave Elizabeth a hug in passing; I hadn’t seen her enter because I was
too wrapped up in the card game. It was good to see her. Nick’s face paled as
the plane began to lift, but I noticed that Autumn did a good job talking to him
and getting his mind of the whole flying issue.

Chapter 27

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