My flashback is soon over, for we arrive at the airport. Dad and Rick unloaded the trunks of their cars. It took over an hour for us to check in and get to our gate. We didn't have to wait long to board the plane.
The airplane was small and stuffy. People coughed and sneezed. It was really disgusting. I didn't want to sit next to a person who did that at all. I didn't want my fear to be confirmed by some old, fat, grease eating guy who didn't bother washing his hands after he has used the bathroom. My aunt gave me my ticket. E13 was my seat. I looked at my seat and saw that a boy was sitting by the window. He was very handsome, I think. He's got dark brown hair cut pretty short and a muscled chest. He wore a black shirt with a V-neck that clung to him. I walk over and looked at the seat number and then my ticket. Yep, this is my seat.
As I'm debating whether I should switch seats with someone else, Aunt Sherri tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around to see Aunt Sherri standing next to two people, who were already seated and looked comfortable. I was deeply jealous. "Alexandria, these are the Morgan’s." She gestured at the pair. I tried to be nice. I shook their hands with a smile on my face. A smile from me is so rare. The woman was wearing a pair of dark washed jeans that frayed at the bottom which suggested that she walked on them a lot and wore them a lot. Her floral blouse was over a nice white camisole. Her hair was cut short. By the hairs on her on her shirt, I believe she just recently cut her hair. Probably works outside a lot, because of how short it is. Her black hair was in a pixie cut.
The man next to her was no different than the average man, tall, dark hair, wrinkled skin, meaning that he squinted and worried a lot. I watched as he stood up that his hands were calloused, probably worked as a construction worker or some job where he uses his hands a lot.
"Stephan, can you come over here, for a moment." said Mrs. Morgan. The guy I saw before, who I was going to sit next to, stood up and came over to where his parents sat. He had on jeans. I could now see that he was taller than me. Maybe three, four, five inches at most.
"Stephan, my have you grown." said Aunt Sherri. “You probably don't remember me."
"Nah," said Stephan. When he smiled at her, Sherri's eyes twinkled. "How could I forget my own godmother?" Godmother? Godmother!
"This, my dear, is my niece Alex." She nodded toward me without taking her eyes off of him.
"It's Alexandria. No one calls-called- me that, but Todd and no one else will." I nodded to Stephan to acknowledge his presence, then left to return to my seat.
After a few more minutes of talking to them, Stephan came back. I had already gotten out my Rolling Stones magazine. I let him by, by kicking my feet up onto the seat next to me, and then returned to my magazine. the seat he saat in was blue with a red stripe down the middle, as did mine and all the others on the plane. He sat down with a "Humph" and then turned to the window. I put my feet down and looked at my magazine.
After a few more moments of silence, he talked. "Your aunt she can talk."
"Yeah, she talks even more when I'm not around." I said.
"Why?" he replied.
"She doesn't want to divulge any secret information to me that I could use against her." I said. I never looked up from the magazine as I told him this. Even as I told him I knew it was true.
"How would you use it against her?" He asked.
I finally closed my magazine, and turned so I could look him in the eye. "I work for the police."
"Aren't you a little young? I mean I'm in college, so you must be. . “He trailed on.
I rolled my eyes in response. "I'm eighteen, and I just graduated from high school. I've worked with the police since my neighbor was murdered when I was fifteen. My most recent case was one abduction. The abduction of Timothy Rolland. My partner was shot and killed during the investigation. Does that answer your questions?" I turned to look straight ahead. I didn't like talking about Todd or my job for that matter.
"OH, touchy." he said. When he saw that I wasn't going to reply, he continued. "Listen, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up the subject of your partner. . "
"Officer Todd Laney. He was my best friend." I looked down at my hand in my lap.
"Oh so that was the mysterious Todd. I was wondering if it was your boyfriend." He said.
"Don't have one." I said. "Can't have one."
"Why not? That seems crazy for a beautiful girl like you to can't have one."
"I'm only going to say this once. I take my job very seriously. I can't have any distractions when I'm working otherwise I don't save a life or give someone closure. I can't afford to have the ability I have and not use it." I explained it. I was done, or at least I thought so.
"What ability?" God, he did not stop.
"This is the last answer you're getting from me work related, okay?" He nodded so it told him. "I have a strange ability to pick things and see things that you could not see. I can see that a girl recently kissed you on the cheek with a nude lip stick."
"How the hell?" He said. "How did you know that?"
"No more answers from me." I was fed up. I usually get swamped with questions but that didn't mean I liked answering them.
"Oh, your ability. That's awesome." He rambled on about it. I didn't pay attention.
I was listening to my IPod, when Stephan tapped my shoulder. "What?" I hissed.
"Don't look now," Stephan warned, "but your aunt is talking to some guy, and I think they're headed over here."
I looked back and sure enough, Stephan was right. The boy, I assumed was Charlie, was wearing a Ralph Lauren collared shirt and khaki shorts. "Listen, I should explain. He will come over and sit right next to me. My aunt set me up so I would be in the middle of you two. I would be eternally grateful if you would switch seats with me." I looked back. "Never mind, it's too late. She'll see." I shrunk in my seat.
"Just play along with me, okay?" he said. I looked at him funny. It was either do or die. I gave a stiff nod.
"Alex, this is Charlie Freeman. Charlie, this is my niece Alex." said Aunt Sherri. He smiled at me. I scowled at him.
"My name is Alexandria, not Alex. Nobody calls me that anymore." I hissed at him. A sound escaped Stephan's lips. I could
tell that he was trying not to smile.
"Oh, don't worry about that. I call her that all the time." She said. She gave me a look that said "Be nice or else."
"And you still wander what it is about you that I hate." I smiled at her. She was fuming.
In a controlled voice, she told Charlie that this was his seat. He said thanks. She was leaving when Stephan spoke. "Oh, Sherri thanks for seating me next to Alexandria. I really like talking to her." God, how am I supposed to play along with that? I nodded stiffly at her and tried to smile, but I don't think I moved my lips from the straight line.
Sherri radiated from the comment. She always did. It made her feel better about herself. It's the reason she does so many things that she's sure she'll get a compliment from. She smiled at him and finally left to take her seat.
