A Tale of Two Other Cities
Thirty minutes later, after we’ve finished another plate of food and another round of free cappuccinos, a news report comes on a nearby TV screen, announcing that the storm is lifting and the first flights out of Denver are scheduled to depart in less than two hours.
I look over at Xander. He’s watching the television with pinched eyebrows. Something tells me that he would happily stay in this airport for another week, if he could.
“What are you going to do?” I ask.
He blinks and focuses on me. “I guess I’m going to Miami to talk to my parents. And then I’m going home to L.A. to figure out what comes next.”
“What are you going to tell them?”
He sighs wearily. “I’m going to tell them the truth. That it was me who leaked the story of my expulsion to the press. And then I’m going to deal with the aftermath.”
I know, as soon as he says it, that it’s what I have to do too. I have to tell my mother the truth. That the contraband in Lottie’s tree house wasn’t mine. That I wasn’t in the car with Lottie that day. That the reason no one came to my eighteenth birthday party was because I didn’t invite anyone.
And so many other truths that I haven’t been able to admit until now.
I have to open that door.
I have to let her in.
I reach out and rub Xander’s arm. “Maybe it will be okay.”
He cups my cheek and kisses me gently on the lips. “Maybe it will.”
When we emerge from the lounge an hour later, the snow has stopped.
Just like that.
Outside the sun is shining, chasing away gray skies, making room for blue.
Everything is white and clean and beautiful.
“Are you ready?” Xander asks, slipping his fingers into mine.
I squeeze his hand and nod. “Yes.”
Together, we walk over to the bank of information screens. They’re all blank. Dark. Like someone has cut the power.
We look to each other in confusion. Then we wait.
Less than a minute later the monitors blink to life and slowly start to fill. The data repopulates with new flights. New departure times. New gate assignments.
There are no more cancelations. No more delays.
Just leaving.
I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket. I drop Xander’s hand and pull it out, swiping on the screen. A new text message has come through. It’s from the airline.
I’ve been given a seat on the next flight to San Francisco. It leaves in an hour.
I check the board for confirmation. There it is. Cheap-O Airlines flight 319 to San Francisco. Gate A28. Departing at 1:32 p.m.
I glance over at Xander and see that he’s looking at his phone too.
“What time do you leave?” I ask.
“In an hour,” he says, his voice muted and colorless.
“Me too.”
“How long is the flight to San Francisco?” he asks.
“Two hours. Miami?”
“A little over three.” He pauses, reaches into his messenger bag, and pulls out the copy of A Tale of Two Cities that I bought him. “I thought maybe I’d read a book to pass the time. This one is supposed to be good.”
“It’s very good.”
“So which two cities are we talking about here?”
I giggle. “Paris and London.”
“Oh.” Disappointment flashes over his face. “That’s too bad. I really have no interest in those two cities. I’m much more interested in two other cities.”
“And which cities are those?”
He grins. “Los Angeles and San Francisco.”
I nod, playing along, hiding my smile. “Those are two good cities.”
“They’re not that far apart either.”
“No, they’re not.”
“Less than an hour flight,” he adds.
My smile finally breaks free. “I know.”
He cocks an eyebrow. “How do you know?”
I shrug. “I may have already asked Google.”
Xander and I walk to his gate in silence. A19. Mine is just a short ways down the terminal. We pass gate A5, where Troy Benson sits with a new sign hanging around his neck that says, UNACCOMPANIED MINOR. At least it’s spelled correctly this time.
I give him a wave, and he gives me a small salute in response. I wonder if he’ll ever come to a finite conclusion about the Denver airport conspiracy. I wonder if anyone will. Probably not. I suppose some theories aren’t meant to be proved or disproved.
We pass gate A9, where the kissing couple from the train are sitting, waiting to board their flight. Her head is resting against his shoulder and his hand is on her leg. They look peaceful. I wonder how long that will last. I glance at the screen hanging above the gate. Their destination is Honolulu—a seven hour flight from here.
That doesn’t give me a lot of hope.
At gate A11, Siri leaps out at us, scaring the crap out of me. She pulls me into a long hug. “Mopey Girl! I’m going to miss you so much.”
I scowl at the unwelcome nickname. She laughs and musses my still-damp hair. “Relax. It’s just a name. It doesn’t mean anything. Besides, I already lost at bingo.”
“What? Did Jimmy find a Couple on the Verge of a Breakup?” I ask, thinking back to the two people waiting to board their flight to Hawaii.
“No,” Jimmy says, appearing next to me, seemingly out of nowhere. His voice shifts to mimic a boisterous sports announcer. “In a dramatic, last-minute, at-the-buzzer upset, I snagged the bottom left corner to complete a momentous diagonal-across victory.”
“What was the space?” I ask, glancing between Siri and Jimmy.
Siri rolls her eyes. “When I wrote it on his card, I never, in a million years, thought he would actually find it.”
“What was it?” Xander urges.
Jimmy nudges Siri, “Go ahead. Tell them, Lover Girl.”
Siri sighs, looking embarrassed. “Someone Making Out with an Inanimate Object.”
I think about Siri kissing that blow-up doll at the party and let out a gasp. “That was you!”
She huffs. “Yeah, yeah, I know. It wasn’t my finest moment.”
Jimmy circles his arms around in an obnoxious victory dance. “Have fun with those ketchup dispensers,” he gloats before literally moonwalking away.
Xander and I share a laugh while Siri visibly stews in her defeat.
“Ah, c’mon,” I tease. “Don’t mope. It’s very unbecoming.”
Siri scowls, clearly about to tell me off, but just then Marcus approaches from behind her and puts an arm around her shoulder. “Are you ready to go?”
I cock a curious eyebrow in her direction. “And where are you two off to?”
Siri’s scowl instantly vanishes. “He’s taking me to Greece! First class! How can I say no?”
I smile. “I guess you can’t.”
She flashes me a wicked grin. “Give me your phone.”
“Why?” I ask suspiciously.
She rolls her eyes. “Just give it to me.”
I pull my phone out of my backpack and hand it over. Siri unlocks the screen, taps her number into my contacts, and then gives the phone back. “In case you ever have another layover in Denver.”
I laugh and give her another hug. “Thanks.”
Xander and I keep walking. As we make our way through the terminal, I read the names of all the destinations posted above each gate.
Detroit. Seattle. Chicago. Vancouver. Des Moines. Dallas. Raleigh. Boston.
So many connections between here and there.
So many tales of so many cities.
Until finally we reach Miami.
Gate A19.
Xander’s gate.
“Do you realize, this is where we met?” he muses.
I glance around, seeing the familiar moving walkway just behind us. He’s right. This is the very spot where I face-planted. It seems like weeks ago. Not a mere twenty-four hours. “You mean, this is where I crashed into you while you were just minding your own business.”
“Hey,” he says, his tone turning serious. “You can crash into me anytime.”
We stand and look at each other for a long moment. Neither of us wants to say it. I’m not sure I even can.
I can’t say good-bye to another person today.
“I . . .” I falter.
Xander dives for my lips, stealing my words away with another one of his debilitating kisses. I know I don’t have a ton of experience with stuff like this, but damn, the boy is good. I wonder if they teach this in that fancy prep school of his.
I wonder if he’ll get back in.
I hope so.
When he reluctantly pulls away, I’m left breathless.
“I . . . ,” I try for a second time, but again words fail me.
“Close your eyes,” he says. “Give me your hand.”
I giggle at the echo of his “Eternal Flame” serenade in the food court, but I do as I’m told. I close my eyes. I reach my hand out for his. He takes it and places it against his chest.
“Do you feel my heart beating?” he asks, and I hear the playful smile in his voice.
I nod. Because I can. Just inches beneath Animal’s wild, crazy eyes, Xander’s heart is pounding just as wildly. “I understand,” I say. “I feel the same.”
Then he kisses me again. This time it’s light and tender and full of promise. Not even a trace of good-bye.
Yet, it still makes my limbs feel useless.
It isn’t until his lips have left mine that I notice he’s placed something between my palm and his chest. I withdraw my hand to find a piece of paper, folded several times into a tiny square.
On the front, in red pen, someone has handwritten the number 1 with a circle around it.
One unread message.
“I’m pretty sure I remembered it all,” he says quietly. “But you don’t have to read it until you’re ready. Even if that means you never read it. I just . . .” He hesitates, looking visibly pained as he casts his gaze to the floor. “I just feel better knowing that you have it.”
I stare numbly at the note in my hand. Lottie’s last words to me. He remembered them. He wrote them down.
He gave them back to me.
Tears spring to my eyes again and start falling down my cheeks. Xander brushes them away with his thumb and smiles, flashing those perfect white teeth. “Good-bye, Vegina Starbucks.”
I laugh, which makes me cry harder. “Good-bye, Reginald Schwarzenegger.”
Somehow the fake names make it feel a little less real. And a little easier to say.
Nearby, the gate agent announces the final boarding call for Xander’s flight to Miami. He takes a deep, courageous breath. “Well, I guess I can’t put this off any longer. Time to face the music.”
“It’ll be okay,” I tell him.
He nods and rakes his teeth over his bottom lip. “Yeah.”
He gives me one last kiss. This time, on my cheek. “It’s been fun,” he whispers into my ear.
“It’s been crazy,” I whisper back.
His soft lips linger close to my skin, sending shivers over my entire body. “Crazy is good.”
He pulls away with a heavy sigh and gets in line to board the plane, keeping his back turned to the door so he can watch me leave.
I inhale a courageous breath of my own and step onto the moving walkway. It will take me to the gate that will take me to the plane that will finally take me Home.
Ironically, it’s the same walkway that took me to Xander.
Only in reverse.
I keep my eyes on Muppet Guy until the very last possible moment. Until I can’t see him anymore. Until he disappears down the Jetway and the walkway carries me on.
Then I turn around and face everything in front of me.