Sleepless or Dreaming of You

"Have you ever been to Amsterdam?"

Laura lifted her eyes from her Kerrang! and looked at the man next to her. He looked her age, give or take a year or two. And he smelled heavily or cigarettes, beer, weed, and body odder, as if he hadn’t showered or changed his clothes in days.

"No, I haven’t," she replied, returning her eyes to the magazine. The flight hadn’t even taken off yet and she already wished they were landing. Her parents had failed to get her and her sister on one flight. Her sister had an almost nonstop flight, only a short one in New York.

Laura, however, had to go to Maine, New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Georgia, and then finally Florida. She had a five hour layover at one of the stops, but she couldn’t remember what. She was going to be traveling for over a day. It wasn’t particularly what she wanted.

"Oh," the man said, "well, it's amazing." A stewardess walked by and he asked for a beer. The woman asked for an ID and he pulled out one. Only eighteen. Old enough to drink until they drifted into America. He pulled out some American cash and paid the woman. Then, he turned his attention back to Laura.

"I'm Caleb." He stuck out his hand for Laura to shake. It hadn’t been washing a long time.

Laura ignored his hand, but said, "Name's Laura," and forced a smile out.

The stewardess was back with his beer and some change. Caleb took the beer and took a long swig, even though it three in the morning. Laura couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

"Could I have some coffee?" she asked as the stewardess as she was about to leave.

"Of course," she replied. Laura swore she saw the corner of her mouth twitch as she smiled. "Cream and sugar?" she asked when she returned.

"Three packets of sugar, no cream." Soon, the drink was in Laura's hands and she downed it in seconds. She returned to her magazine.

"So do you smoke?" Caleb asked.

"No," Laura replied once more.

"I do. It sucks being on a plane 'cause you can't smoke. Sorry if I end up going through withdrawals. I love nicotine." Caleb smiled. Laura just rolled her eyes, annoyed. This was going to be a long flight.

&&
Finally, Laura arrived at her layover. She ended up sleeping most of her flight, but whenever she was awake, Caleb would talk on and on about Amsterdam. She prayed that Caleb would go a different way and that she wouldn’t have to see him again. But he didn’t. He just sat there, chain smoking. Occasionally, he'd offer some to Laura, but she always said more. Even though she wouldn’t mind trying, she was kind of afraid that some other drugs were laced in. possibly some crazy date rape stuff.

There weren't many people in the terminal. It was just her, Caleb, and a small group of Koreans with cameras. All of the cameras were pointed at her. Laura wasn’t sure if they were taking pictures of her, but it seemed every time she looked over at them, the cameras were at her direction and their eyes were glued to the screen.

"Caleb," she whispered once when he came back from the bathroom, "they're freaking me out."

"Who?" he asked.

"Them, with the camera. I think they're taking pictures of me. It's really strange."

"That would be creepy," he said, taking a drag of his fag. Then, he added, puffing smoke in her face, "I'm sure they're not, though."

"I bet you they are," Laura replied, swatting the smoke away from her face. She didn’t mind the smell, but it stung her eyes.

"How much?" Caleb asked, putting his fag against his wrist, removing the flame.

"Huh?"

"How much do you bet that they're taking pictures of you?"

"Um, if you're right, I'll buy you a pack of fags and if I'm right, I want you to stop smoking."

"Fine," he agreed, standing up. He headed over to the group of Koreans, pulling out another cigarette. "Can I see your camera?" he asked when he got there. "It seems really nice."

They exchanged looks between each other. One of them handed their camera to Caleb. He looked at every which way, trying to hide the fact that he just wanted to look at the pictures. Then he did. And there were lots of Laura. It was as if they just took a picture second after second. It was beyond creepy.

Caleb went back to picture mode and handed the camera back. "I don't like it," he said and then walked away. He walked over to Laura and grabbed her hand, pulling her out of her uncomfortable chair.

"C'mon," he said, letting go of her hand once she was up, "if I can't smoke anymore, I need something to drink."

&&

The bar stunk more than Caleb. Laura had to keep ordering drinks for Caleb. After explaining that because she was English she could drink at eighteen, they let her buy drinks. She didn’t drink anything, just let Caleb do it all. She almost wished that she hadn’t made the bet and that he was still smoking. Then again, the creepy Asians would still be taking pictures of her.

Halfway through Caleb's second drink, Clare called.

Laura answered, saying, "Hey, sis. At your layover?"

"Yeah. It's a real short one, but I thought I'd trying calling to see how you're doing. How's your flight been?"

"Crap," Laura replied. "What about you?"

"Wonderful." Laura could sense the smile in her sister's voice. "I sat next to the most amazing guy ever. His name's Garrett. He's so gorgeous. And he's in a band! How cool is that?" Clare was almost squealing as she spoke. That mixed in with the stench of the bar was almost too much to bear.

"What band?" Laura asked. It was all she cared about. She liked music. All kinds. She just liked listening to something and losing herself in it. Most of the time, she's listen to music just for that reason – she wanted to be lost. Right now was one of those times.

"I don’t know. But he plays bass, how cute is that?"

"Yeah, cute," Laura said, sighing, "does he happen to have his bass on him?"

"Nah, it's in the plane. You need music?" sometimes, her sister knew her so well.

"Yeah, I really do."

Clare smiled. "I'll make him sing then." There was a slight silence on the other end of the line, only a slight hum of what the two were saying came through the phone.

"Hello?" a voice asked a second later.

"Hi," Laura said. "Sing."

"I'm not a signer," the man said bluntly.

"I don't care," Laura replied, angrily. She wasn’t in a good mood and she honestly didn’t care if he sounded like a beast, she needed her music. "Just sing."

"All right, all right, calm down." Garrett cleared his throat and began to sing. He wasn’t very good. But Laura just smiled broadly.

Soon, she was lost, with no intentions of being found.