I squeezed my eyes shut, willing my hands not to shake. “Yes,” I admitted on a whisper.
“Do you think it would help if Braxton sat beside you?” she offered.
“No.” I opened my eyes, busying myself by placing travel-sized cosmetics into my bag. “He’s already gotten into enough trouble over me.”
I was still beyond pissed that Maddox singled him out during practice. Apparently, they’d gotten into it because Maddox thought Braxton was flirting with me, which in turn transformed him into a jealouscaveman. That’s when Braxton figured out that the two of us had slept together and went all “protective older brother” and screamed at his coach. Of course, he’d been publicly punished, and I was beyond mortified.
So much for leaving the drama in the rear-view mirror when I left Hartford.
But I couldn’t think about that right now, when the elephant in the room was that I was less than two hours away from stepping onto an airplane for the first time in years. The last time hadn’t exactly been a positive experience.
Okay, that might be a mild downplay. I’d freaked out so bad they almost landed the plane because I was scaring the other passengers by screaming that we were all going to die—no big deal.
And of course my bestie, Dakota, had been riding shotgun and witnessed the whole debacle.
“I’ll be fine,” I assured her, unable to keep my voice from wavering.
“Bristol.” She sighed on the other end of the line, and I glanced at the phone screen to find her chewing her lower lip, obviously worried.
“I took this job knowing it required air travel multiple times a week. I’ll put on my big girl panties and deal with it. It’s mind over matter, right?”
She gave me a pointed look. “It’s your mind that’s the problem.”
I cringed. She had me there.
My fear of flying wasn’t completely irrational. I grew up slightly north of Hartford, close to the airport. When I was eight, there was a crash. Not an incidence of a plane sliding off the runway during icy conditions but a real “no survivors, only bits and pieces of the plane recognizable“ crash.
It was so close that we heard the boom when it hit the ground. It shook the house. For weeks on end, it was all over the news; it was all anyone in our community could talk about as they searched for answers as to why the plane had gone down so close to landing. About half thepassengers were local to Hartford, and there were countless candlelight vigils. Every volunteer organization in the area was hard at work, cleaning up the debris and offering support to the victims’ families.
Needless to say, it was traumatic for a child, and it stuck with me.
Dakota must’ve seen the far-off look in my eye, reliving the events of the past, so she quietly offered, “Just remember there are thousands of flights every day. The number of people who die in fatal car accidents perdayis higher than that of those who will perish in a fatal plane crash peryear.”
I groaned. “Can we not say the words ‘plane crash’ when I’m about to get on one of those death traps? Please?”
“Let logic and statistics win out, Bristol. It’s your only hope of making it through this trip to Pittsburgh, not to mention the rest of the season.”
“You’re right.” I nodded. Grabbing her newest release, I held it up. “Maybe I’ll catch up on my reading.”
She smiled brightly. “That’s my girl. Distract yourself. You’ve got this.”
I’m glad one of us thinks so.
“All right. I gotta go, or I’m gonna be late.”
“Love you, babe. See you when you get back.” She blew me a kiss and ended the call.
Finally, without an audience, I took a deep breath, shaking my limbs as I blew it out. The old Bristol freaked out on planes, but I’d left her behind in Hartford. The new Bristol could handle this. She was strong and in control.
Here goes nothing.
Alyssa waved me over as soon as I passed through the makeshift security setup inside the hangar of the private airstrip the Speed used for their travel.
“I just love road trips,” she gushed. “Have you ever been to Pittsburgh before?”
I shook my head, twisting my hands as a nervous outlet. “No, but I’ve heard it’s really pretty. Three rivers converging downtown and lots of bridges, right?”
“Just you wait. The airport is on the right side of the city that you have to pass through a tunnel, and the city magically appears on the other side. It’s crazy and amazing. Like the city has its own little door.”
