Chereads / The Odd and The Usual / Chapter 13 - -13-

Chapter 13 - -13-

When did I stop smashing my nose on doors?

It's weird because I know the exact moment it started but I can't seem to figure out what made it stop or why. Just like when you get a headache, it hits you and you acknowledge its pain then it fades away and you realize the headache is gone.

I hope my fear of the dark fades too so I could sleep at night like a normal person. I'm not sure I want to be a normal person; there's no such thing… I just want a normal sleeping pattern.

It's just a slow day at work and my eyes are fixed on The Cafeteria's direction, which I've been very reluctant to visit. There's a building between us but I can see Jade there for some reason. Probably making a sandwich for someone and isn't at all bothering himself with thinking about how I missed up with him like I am now.

Jack came around a couple of times. I had to pull apart the armchairs Jade drew closer together at my place when he visited.

I pressed the button for a pick-up truck that was loaded with a bunkbed and I remembered the little family I once had. Back when Baba and I shared a room, we slept on a bunkbed. I slept on the lower bed because I was afraid of climbing the ladder.

I pulled out my boyish wallet that I got from Baba to look at the picture of us. There's Baba, it kills me realizing how long it's been since I saw his face. Won't he show up already? It's been long enough without him.

When I was at school a bunch of kids mocked Baba in front of me and it bothered me so much. One day I took out my markers and drew a line across my right eye and cheeks similar to Baba's scar and walked around school.

My scar wasn't permanent but the way everyone looked at me, laughed at me, judged me was overbearing and I just ran home and hid under my covers.

Baba came back from work worried sick because he usually picked me up. He came to my side and asked me to remove the covers but I refused… he insisted until I threw the covers to the ground and looked at him with my fake scar not knowing what to say.

"Your teacher told me what you did" he smiled and touched my scar that smudged the back of his thumb, "were you teased?" he asked and I nodded as tears rushed into my eyes and I felt my face swollen with sadness… "did it bother you?" I nodded slowly as how it felt came back to me and blew my stuffy nose into an already damp tissue. "Did you want to know how I feel?" I shook my head no. "What is it Yagalbi?"

"I thought if I had your scar too then people would stop making fun of you"

"And what did the people do?"

"They made fun of me too"

"People tend to do that… but there's other people who think face scars are cool you know!" He looked proud and I couldn't help but smile, "some people look at my smaller eye and think I'm winking at them, some people act like they didn't even notice anything different about my face. You choose your people, okay?"

"Okay"

"And be strong, okay?"

"Okay"

"And you know what?"

"What?"

"I always blamed you for this scar didn't I?" he said with such guilt. I nodded to his question as I massaged my neck trying to untie the lumps in my throat.

"But I was meant to get this scar…" he continued sounding choked, "I would've got it in a fight or walking down the street and I would've hated everything for having such lame reasons to be scarred. But I look at this scar then I look at you and think, I wouldn't have asked for a better reason!" Baba muffled a cry, "I grew up squeezing and scratching my acne and it missed my face up. Even your mom and sister always complained about my rough skin," he said and took my finger and traced his scar with it, "this is my soft spot."

My face burns with coldness, my body's trembling and my throat feels so blocked I couldn't breathe. I looked ahead to the sound of someone raging at me…

"I've been standing here an hour!" a guy was yelling at me after he'd threw his icy coffee all over me. I swallowed my pride and pressed the button for him.

He drove inside the parking building and I closed the cabin's door fearing he might come back. I sat on my chair looking at The Cafeteria's direction, which now was blocked by the cabin's door and wanted to call Jade… but it is an hour until I get off, I'll be fine.

I walked home in my now dry uncomfortable uniform. I touched my hair and it was sticky and tangled. I smelt of rotten coffee and was freezing, this is not the kind of cold I liked…

Climbing the stairs, I kept thinking of things I should've done to defend myself instead of just accepting that guy's insult. Maybe I should've made him stand there longer and called the manager, but the manager's never there. Maybe I should have yelled back at him and told him everyone phases out sometimes but that would've been weak. Maybe I should've told him that he'll have something thrown at him one day and will remember me… I don't think he'll remember me if that happened, I bet he'll have a tantrum and end up in a fight! If that happens, I hope he loses.

"What happened?" I looked up and Jack was holding a paper bag sitting on the last step leading to my floor.

"Nothing" I said trying to fix my hair, my fingers got stuck but I casually pulled them out, "what are you doing here?" I sat on the lower step, I forgot how disgusted and sticky I feel for a moment.

"I want to talk" Jack said with a grin, "I'll wait till you wash."

"I look that terrible huh?"

"Not THAT terrible" he smiled but then gave me a suspicious look, which I acted like I didn't see and unlocked the door and got inside.

Jack walked in handing me the paper bag, which was thankfully a donut. I cut it in half and shared it with him. Of course, I took the bigger half. The TV played a program of funny home videos yet we watched in silence.

"You know," Jack started, "when Iris and I were little, she watched a scary movie and it freaked her out so much she stopped watching anything that isn't animated. I teased her a lot about that!" He scratched his wrinkled forehead feeling embarrassed and I smiled at how he talked, "but one day, I watched a movie and this guy gets both his ears chopped while he's asleep and I've been sleeping with my head covered ever since."

I laughed as he went on: "we always somehow end up going through the things we made fun of… and they say life isn't fair!" He said looking at the TV that showed a guy trying to push his friend into the swimming pool but slipped and fell over his head instead.

"Do you still sleep with your head covered?"

"Sometimes, yeah. When I remember that scene and feel like I'm going to lose my ears if I didn't" he said smiling at me but looked down then at the TV, "just like my ears, there's some things I feared I'd lose. The things I didn't know how to protect, I lost."

"Like what?"

"People" he said looking at me.

"They died?" I asked since it's the only example I know of.

"No."

"Then how did you lose them?"

"I didn't fight for them even though if they wanted the world, oh I'll try to buy it. In present tense" he said with expressions filled with longing.

"If you reach out now, you think they would take you back?"

"Would you?" he looked at me dead in the eyes and my heart reacted with a thud, "would you take back someone who was there and suddenly wasn't for no obvious reason?"

"Depends!" I said now basing his question on Charlie Chapwin.

If Charlie were to out of the blue start knocking on my door, I would answer. I'm not sure I'll welcome him with open arms yet with cold looks and careless shrugs. But I couldn't know what I would really do if that actually happened.

Now that I think of it, I realize I wished for love and be loved at the sight of the shooting star and all I got was Charlie ditching me for good. Not to mention the scary figure which made me fear the dark was there in front of me the night after.

"Depends on what?" Jack asked and I realijed I phased out.

"On the person" and I looked at Jack, "when Dani and the girls came at work singing for me, it was egjactly what I wanted: them back. Dani didn't have to win me back, she had me! But I needed to hear it to sum up the courage to have her back."

He smiled and looked at the TV and swiftly at me, "you think I should give it a shot?"

"I do." I said then awkwardly tried to act all casual and took the remote control. I flipped through the channels without stopping to see what each aired.

"Would you help me if I needed?" He asked looking embarrassed. It's definitely a 'she' but who could it be?

"Of course!"

We spent what's left of the night flipping through the 15 channels we have a thousand times over in silence.

Blue-March's birthday, which is in September, is next week. Her reaction once she learned we're getting her on a plane was one of the times I just wanted to cry my happiness. We all gathered money for the summer but didn't do anything with it together and we figured we'd all do something we've never done; fly somewhere.

At first, I was quite surprijed Irish had never been anywhere outside of this town; her dad's constantly travelling the world. But it wasn't something that interested her, until now. We're going to New York for a week and it's gonna be the best week I just know it.

The news channels and papers keep reporting that some airplanes would go missing, other would crash. Just that airplanes accidents tend to happen.

If that were to happen to us (god forbids) the least I could do is pay Jade a visit… who knows what might happen and I wouldn't have liked leaving things with him the way I did.

I thought about it and I know exactly how to play this one out. All I have to do is go to The Cafeteria and tell Jade I needed sandwiches for my trip. Then he'll ask oh really? what trip? and we'll talk, hopefully normally. He'll finally wish me a safe flight and I'll believe it will be safe.

"Excuse me, where's Jade?" I walked in The Cafeteria and standing instead of Jade was someone else, he looked familiar but I guess I just saw Jade in here.

"Who?" The guy asked smirking.

"The other guy!" I said as he was laughing to himself…

"Zaid you mean" he laughed obnoxiously loud this time and my tummy turned, "he only works the day shift, kid."

"You know where I can find him?"

He sighed, "you know where he lives?" I nodded, "he's not there." He said juggling air with his hands trying to seem busy not looking at me.

"Are you gonna tell me or what?" I felt myself getting more irritated, maybe at how annoyingly rude this guy is acting or, more likely because Zaid was actually secretly making fun of me all this time!

"He's at The Baggy, he coaches some football team there every weekend." The guy said after he'd noticed I wasn't going anywhere…

"Thank you." I left and I heard him yelling that after I'd bothered him the least I could've done was getting a sandwich.

The Baggy park is a long walk through town but I found no problem sprinting my way to it. The moment I got closer I noticed kids playing football.

Irish rushed into my head; some of them were dressed in a Jersey she pointed out while looking at laundry hung on strings in people's balconies. The other team wore jerseys of a Blue team I didn't know yet.

The teams were of both boys and girls. The referee was a smaller girl than the others but the way she screamed at them was why we shouldn't judge people by their looks only; she had them under control.

I looked passed them and saw Jade who was easy to spot; his hair wasn't smoothed with products and was puffier than the hat he wore… it made me smile for some reason. I stood and watched unable to stride in and ruin the kids' match.

Once the referee blew her whistle it was as if she gave me the greenlight to go and confront Jade who was passing water bottles. I stopped myself for a second then I decided I shouldn't wait any longer or how angry I feel will definitely wear off.

"Your name is Zaid huh?" I yelled and thought one time wasn't enough, "ZAID!!!" I felt my cheeks getting warmer and the kids staring at me.

"It is." Jade said looking at me holding on to his hat that he took off, "wait, you can say Zaid?"

"I sure can! Why did you say your name was Jade!!! With a J!!!" I yelled, "was it to make fun of me?" The yelling went away and I was just insecure and wanted an answer.

"When I introduced myself you were all flustered and embarrassed because you'd already said pleaje twice," he looked at me in a way no one's ever looked at me before.

It was like in the movies when one's trying to explain, when they're trying hard to come up with the perfect words to say and not lose the person standing before them.

I listened like it was the only thing I had ears for, "I thought you had a lisp or something and I didn't want to add on that with my name!" He looked at the kids who were staring at me at this point, I forgot they were there but he went on, "I didn't mean to offend you and I think you know that. I thought, if you were going to call me Jade anyways…"

"Dude!" I yelled, "I would've called you Jade that day only, I'd just had my wisdom tooth removed and it messed all my letters!"

"Who'd go for a sandwich when they'd just had their wisdom tooth removed?" He asked but nope, I'm not the one at fault here…

"I was hungry, Zaid!" I said and couldn't think of a better comeback, he smiled.

"I'm glad you were" he came in closer but I moved back, I swear at this moment I don't remember what I'm angry for.

"Shut up." I yelled, again, no idea why I'm angry.

One of the kids in the blue jersey pulled my hand and told me to sit on the humble wooden, also portable bleacher. The whole team sat around me and it creaked.

"Forgive him" one kid said and the whole team backed him.

"He's nice and cool" another kid said and they all adorably agreed. I don't think I've been around this much kids, it's heartwarming.

The girl referee made the kid next to me skootch over and sat right beside me. She didn't say anything but kept looking at us back and forth.

"There's nothing to forgive you guys" I chuckled, "I just didn't like how it felt, it was as if I'm the last to know his name, you know?" They nodded and it was lovely how they made me feel, like those kids protected me. "I even googled his name! I thought, who would call their son Jade!" I said so matter-of-factly and heard them laugh.

"If you ask me," one girl started, "I like Jade better."

"Then I'll keep calling him that!" I said.

"I bet coach likes it better too" a kid said and they all laughed.

"Coach does 'cause that's how she calls me." Jade said, "I'm sorry, really!"

"No it's fine" I got up and remembered that I needed to get to Irish'sh, "I just came by to say goodbye for a while; I'm going to New York" I smiled.

"When do you leave?"

"In a few hours" I said, "actually I need to leave right now."

"I can drive you to the airport" he offered.

"But coach," one kid said, "we haven't played the second half!"

"It's okay" I said looking at the team who got cutely furious at the one kid who went: "I'm sorry, we're just playing for the cup!"

"That's important! Don't apologize!" I felt guilty, "I would've come to watch had I known earlier" I smiled.

"We're always playing for cups!" A girl said, "they're frozen yogurt cups!"

"And they're delicious" the kid who apologized said and they all chuckled, "come around any weekend when you get back."

"You're sure you don't need a ride?" Jade said suddenly while I was consumed with how comforting being with kids is.

"I have a ride. I'll see you Jade."

"Hey when do you come back?" Jade yelled.

"In a week."

"Have fun" he looked at the kids, "wish my Bliss, my friend Bliss a safe flight guys."

They all yelled and wished me a safe flight and it was the best thing I'd heard. The kid who apologized kept echoing "Safe Flight" until I couldn't hear him anymore.

"You guys New York is really far" Danielle looked concerned, "what if I had to pee?"

"You can go on planes" Juicy shrugged.

"But what if I got sucked into the toilet like in that movie?"

"Then you'll finally have a good story to tell" Juicy shrugged again.

"Please!" Danielle said looking all smug, "look who's talking"

"Won't you lot just hurry up? Zach's waiting!" Blue said and I realijed there was someone else we have to say goodbye to before we left.

We loaded our bags into Jack's trunk and were on our way to the airport. I kind of forgot he was the one taking us to it.

We got into the airport, checked our bags and got our tickets. Jack would have to leave us past this point. After we've all said our goodbyes and he wished us a safe flight and Blue a happy birthday, I couldn't help but look back. Jack was still standing there so I waved at him to make sure he was looking at me and he waved back.

We thought Blue would be the only one excited about this, being all she ever wanted and all. But when we were waiting at the gate we looked like 5 kids holding on to their allowances waiting for the candy store to open already!

Irish had her hair braided and looked like a million bucks. Blue wore a pink pant, a navy t-shirt and had her orange jacket folded on her arm. Most importantly, she had her grandpa's huge shoes on. Juicy's hair was falling straight on her shoulder, she wore a red blouse and jeans… I love when Juicy wears red, it's so her color.

Danielle and I wore the same messy hair, only hers was more fabulous and now a slightly faint shade of red. Her t-shirt said "is it typewriter clicks I hear or is it my heart beating? _Iris" Danielle always took things we said and put them on the t-shirts she wore.

All her Harry Potter themed tee shirts are of Juicy's, all her writing related tee shirts are of Irish'sh, all her one worded followed with an exclamation mark tee shirts are of Blue's: (What! No! Stop! Language! Please! Ma'am! DONUT!) She also wore tee shirts holding words I said. It always made my day whenever I saw her wearing a tee shirt and see my name at the end of the quoted part.

I on the other hand am wearing a rose shirt, a black pants and Baba's coat; I don't own one. I only brought this one because Blue said she won't allow me on a plane unless I brought something to keep me warm.

Juicy told us of one time they went to a theme park when they were a bit younger. Juicy wanted to get on a rollercoaster so bad but Blue was scared for her so much. When Juicy refused but to get on the rollercoaster, Blue started yelling that Juicy had a heart condition (which isn't true) and couldn't get on a ride that dangerous.

Juicy was politely asked to get off and couldn't get on any other ride because of the frantic way Blue yelled. Which is why she held a massive grudge against Blue but she did do something about it.

One day Juicy found her chance when their grandpa made them pudding, each had her own bowl. Blue is a fast eater so she finished her bowl of pudding first then was gazing at Juicy's. When Blue attempted to have a spoonful of Juicy's pudding… Juicy hit her forehead fiercely with the back of her spoon. Blue's forehead still hurts, as legend has it.

When we finally boarded the plane it was surreal. But then after the first hour, everyone stopped buzzing about it.

The hours felt longer than they usually are! We slept a few times, ate meals and snacks, did some on-plane work out sessions, watched a movie and we just wanted to land and get some fresh air! Except Blue who slept the entire trip, which made Juicy and Danielle hilariously wonder: "is this what we spent our money for?"

The moment we touched down a bunch of people started clapping. Juicy joined in while the rest of us awkwardly faked being asleep because we didn't know what they were clapping for.

"What?" Juicy said, "we always clap along when they're singing happy birthday in a restaurant!"

The line we queued at the airport was honestly a whole other issue, it was so long. On the plane we were tired of sitting, on the airport we were tired of standing.

Waiting is such a punishment; apparently a lot of people come to New York, I just didn't realize it. But the long flight and the long airport line and the luggage dilemma were all worth it once the slide door opened in front of us and I was hit with a colder breeze than we had back home.

There were more tunnels and taxis and buses and people than I've ever seen in person and I just fell for it. I wanted to get lost in here and wander off.

Our stay was at a hotel in Parsippany, New Jersey because Irish'sh dad recommended it to us. We got a suite so we can all stay together. There was a near gas station, we went there and ate everything on our first night! Then we went to the near cinema and watched a movie. Then went back to the hotel and slept a little so we don't waste time.

The next day we went downtown and finally got to see Times Square in person. It looked like my part of town only more extravagant and bright.

We went to the wax museum, to the empire state building, to the statue of liberty and we got on a water taxi… basically everything we saw on TV we went for to see and try in person.

We went to a shoes place Irish wanted to visit and ended up getting lost but we got to it minutes before it closed and were just too happy about it.

Everything we felt was enhanced, how happy we were, how excited it was and how emotional it made us feel to finally be somewhere new and how that could be scary good.

Even though it was egjactly what we did back home but, we took the bus downtown every day, we got lost every day and we watched a movie every day and it was the best time of our lives.

"I can't believe we're leaving tomorrow" Blue said and we all sighed in agreement sleeping on the one king size bed looking at the ceiling.

"Next time we'll stay longer" I said, "and maybe take the train to visit the Harry Potter theme park in Orlando" I gave Juicy a nudge.

"I WOULD LOVE THAT!!!" Juicy said and hugged my head.

"I'm thinking about leaving grandpa's shoes here" Blue said once the hype about Harry Potter toned down.

"It's pretty far from home," Irish said, "you sure dear?"

"Positive." Blue breathed, "I need to be my own person and…" she got chocked, "there's a cushion in his shoes, every time I wore it I felt his foot's print. He wore this shoes so much it molded the back of his feat. I don't know if it's the walks we managed to get here or what but when we landed I took off the shoes thinking we might get searched again and you know how I like to follow protocol!"

"We know" we all said.

"When I wore it again, man… his foot was gone. He just wanted to fly and I did so wearing his shoes and now I'll have to start taking my own steps."

"Where do you want to leave it?" I asked when it got too quiet.

"Somewhere green." Blue said smiling then placing her head back on me, "he liked landscape and spring"

"Yeah, he even called her Green-March" Danielle said.

"Aww!" Juicy expressed, "wait! No he didn't! Shut up Dani!"

If Blue hadn't mentioned the shoes thing I would've asked her what happened since we landed. She stopped for ice-cream 3 times and not once ordered chocolate. Her hands didn't end under her arms and I realijed she talked using her hands a lot, a lot. Also, she went back to hating orange juice and stuck with ice tea, which is apparently her favorite drink.

But that was never the case and we got to hear yet another story of how Blue and Juicy coexisted once upon a time.

September 23rd, 2004 also known as, Blue's birthday was the day a waiter swapped their glasses at a restaurant. Juicy ended up with Blue's strawberry-ginger-mint-lemonade and Blue ended up with Juicy's peach ice-tea.

They weren't yet on good terms so they didn't say anything and each had the other's drink. That was the day they found their favorite drinks.

They call it Switch Day. Basically, people would have to swap drinks on Blue's birthday or she'll yell at you to ruining tradition. I had Danielle's black coffee on the plane and it was dissatisfying but fun for once.

Is this a bad time to tell the girls how ticklish I am? I don't know what is it about me but the girls keep sleeping on me. I'm the only one sleeping on the pillow while everyone else's head is on me.

Juicy took my right shoulder, Irish was on my left chest, Blue was on my tummy's right side (she claimed that a while back) and Danielle was on the left side.

Thankfully, we didn't get enough sleep the night before; we slept the whole flight back home. It felt shorter and a lot less exhausting.

Poor Blue on the other hand wasn't only awake on her own enough to find out she was scared of how confined the airplane was, she also decided she was afraid of flying. When we touched down she started clapping hysterically and this time we joined in, except Juicy who was annoyed we didn't clap with her the first time.

"There was a child's forehead popping up from a couple of seats in front of me," Blue said while we were waiting for our luggage, "then the flight attendant asked us to buckle our seatbelt and I thought to myself, why didn't she tell that kid to sit on his chair for his safety! So I shook my head at her for not doing her job properly and I kept an eye on the kid's forehead… when we touched down, what I thought was a kid's forehead was some guy's bald spot with the remainder of his hair falling perfectly on it. Okay, no one's listening to me!"

"Blue we're waiting for our suitcases!" Irish said looking bored at the passing belt of luggage, "neither you or your story are helping."

"And the story's kind of long" Danielle said.

"I was listening" I yawned still looking at the passing belt, "kind of."

"Then you're as effective as Blue" Danielle said.

"The process of travelling sucks!" Juicy said finally picking up one of our 5 bags, 2 which belong to Blue.

"Yeah" we sighed in unison and leaned on each other.

Jack was waiting for us by the gate and I thought maybe not the whole process of travelling sucked, the returning home part is nice. He held a sign that had all of our names.

"Why's my name mentioned last?" Danielle said looking annoyed and stepped back as the rest of us expressed how loud and busy New York was.

On our way out I heard someone calling my name. Everyone who knew of my flight was already with me so I thought I'd heard it by mistake; I didn't turn around. But I heard it again and this time turned around trying to find who's calling. It was Jade.

"You're back!" He smiled walking towards me holding a sign. I was shocked, too shocked I just stood there looking at him and didn't meet him half way.

"You're here!" I said now facing him.

Jade tried to grab my suitcase which I held on tightly to and asked if I enjoyed my trip. "I made you a sign and all" Jade said and he lift the sign up:

"Indigo Blend"

"Oh my god!" Blue gasped, "that's Bliss?"

"Inner joke" I said looking embarrassed and Jade looked so precious.

"It happened!" Blue said, "that's your color name"

"Indigo is a color?" Irish and Danielle said while Juicy said: "no the color's called Ingrid"

"I'm pretty sure Ingrid is a name" Blue said, "Bliss is Indigo Blend!"

"Wow, I hate to be the person to point this out" Danielle said snickering, "but this is officially the worst name"

"Because the color came first just like Blue's!" Juicy said and got shoulder slapped by Blue.

"No, I like it!" I said defending what Jade called me and heard them fighting about the colors and names for a little.

"I can give you a ride back" Jade looked at me, "I'm visiting Sasha's anyways" he looked at me and aimed to grab my bag again.

"Okay, thanks" I said awkwardly, that's actually better since I'm the only one across town.

"Are you sure?" Jack said, "I don't mind."

"Dude!" Danielle interrupted, "she'll call us once she gets home."

"Will do."

The drive back to town was loud; Juicy called me and put me on speaker. It suddenly turned into three hours of us talking over each other about everything we did and saw as if we weren't all there.

Jade's apparently been to New York a few times before but it was nice how he listened to everything I've done there.

They dropped Blue, Juicy and Danielle first at the hostel and then Irish was home and that's when the call ended. Then it was only me and Jade, I thought of faking sleep but I just mentioned how I slept the entire flight back.

"It's good to be home" I said as casually as possible.

"It's good having you back" he said looking focused at the road, "I sure miss you."

"Hum?" I looked at him with such surprise.

"The song on the radio" he raised the volume up, "Crabb Family's I sure miss you" he added and I laughed nervously looking ahead, how convenient!

"I'm messing with you," he showed me his phone, "I just played the song to have the guts to say that" he smiled.

"What?"

"That I missed you!" He crumbled his face looking at the road, "I even went for ice-cream and got Ingrid Blend instead of the usual for the first time in years. It was horrible, apparently it's all blue fruits and veggies mixed together."

"You went for ice-cream without me?" I asked all flustered because he actually missed me! I'm not sure anyone ever told me that before.

"We never really went together" he teased and I fell quiet… I don't know, in my head I kind of thought it was our thing.

"Thank you for coming to the airport by the way" I said realizing the time he must've wasted driving all the way there.

"I thought I was losing too much points with you" he said, "with fixing my tooth then the Zaid being my name thing! I wanted to make up for some things"

"You didn't have to, really."

The moment I started seeing familiar shops and buildings leading to town it felt good to be home. I saw the parking building and marveled at it with such endearment as if it's been years! I saw The Cafeteria and realized I was hungry and made a mental note to not forgot about Jade's gift.

He parked right by the building and I looked at it unable to leave the car. What if I'm jetlagged and I can't wait for the sun to rise? Would if I turn on the dim light finally and fall asleep to it and then wake up to it?

"You okay?" Jade asked.

"Yeah," I smiled, "I got you something." I looked through my back bag and found his little box. "It's stupid really but it reminded me of you."

"The stupid thing reminded you of me?" He chuckled, "cool."

"Umm, yeah" I gave it to him, "it's a handkerchief filled with sandwiches."

"I'll wear shirts more often so I can put it on" he said, "thank you."