Southern Belle
Chapter 23
I walked up the ticket counter and confronted a pizza-faced teenager that didn’t look intelligent enough to scrape gum off the sidewalk.
“Yes, I need a flight to closest destination to Volterra that’s taking off in the next hour” I demanded. He looked shocked at my tone, but I didn’t care, I was in a hurry.
“Um… “ He started typing something on his computer and I rolled my eyes at the fact he seemed to be searching the keyboard for a certain letter. “There’s a flight to Rome in twenty-minutes” he said with a frightened look in his eyes.
I mentally calculated how far that was from the city and decided that 130 miles was manageable. That was a lot better than swimming.
“That’ll do” I handed him my Visa card and passport and waited as patiently as I could as he did whatever it is he had to do. This consisted of me singing the Jeopardy theme song loudly and off key.
“Baggage” the guy asked hesitantly like he thought I was going to hit him. Apparently he’s not as stupid as I first thought.
“Just a carry-on” I said harshly. “Now can you please hurry up? I have places to be, people to meet, and lives save here. Chop chop” I’m not a very patient person and it seemed as if that fact was going to be my undoing.
“Gate 34D” he whispered as he held out my card, passport, and ticket. “You might want to hurry” No! I was going to walk calmly. I could smack this kid for being such an idiot.
“Thanks, bye” I grabbed my things and jumped over the ropes that were set up in order to keep the line in check. I would have sprinted all the way to my gate but unfortunately at airports they have this little thing called a metal detector and they actually expected you to wait in line to be inspected. How strange, these customs be.
“Please place all carry-on and metal items in the tray and step through the arch, ma’am.” Said a huge uniformed police officer that seemed to match Emmett in the “more muscle than needed" category.
“Cool” I placed my back pack in the baby blue tray/bin thing and stepped through the arch from Stargate: Atlantis. It beeped.
More like it screeched at a deafening level that made me want to kill something. Noises can do that to a person.
“Ma’am, please step over here” said the same burly officer. I walked over to where he pointed and stood on the weird yellow footprints. “Please spread your arms and legs.” I raised an eyebrow in his direction but he seemed to miss it entirely.
“Keep your hands to yourself, big boy. I’m not an exhibitionist” I said once he started scanning me with this weird yellow wand thing.
“Protocal, ma’am” he said with a smile on his face. The wand moved over my stomach and made another annoying beeping noise.
“Belly button piercing” I explained “I forgot.” I lifted my shirt a little to prove my point and he nodded over to where my bag was waiting.
“Have a nice flight” he said and I smiled before retrieving my property and running off to find my gate.
I made it to gate 34D without a moment to spare. The woman by the loading door was just calling for last minute passengers and I thanked my lucky stars that the gods seemed to be smiling down on me.
I handed her my ticket and she ripped off the end before handing it back to me.
“You can continue on” she said in the obviously fake voice of someone that had been working for twelve hours straight and was trying not to kill someone. I liked her.
“Awesome” I ran past her and through that weird tunnel thing that leads to the plane entrance. I was literally the last one to board the flying machine. Do you know how I know? Everyone was already on it and gave me a look like they thought the fact we weren’t already in the air was my fault. How rude.
Ignoring their evil looks, I made my way to the back of the plane and saw the only empty seat next to a young boy. Awe, cruel, cruel, fate.”
“Hi” I said as I plopped down into the seat and shoved my bag under the seat in front of me. As soon as I did that the plane moved away from the gate and that just goes to show how awesome I really am.
“Hey” he said back and buried his nose even deeper into the book he was reading. I, being the nosey person that I am just had to ask.
“Whatcha reading?” I asked and he slowly turned his head to glare at me. I just smiled like an idiot. I’m good at that.
“Dracula” he said annoyed. He turned away from me just as the plane started speeding down the runway, so I was forced to wait until the plane was at cruising altitude before replying.
“And how old are you?” I asked. He didn’t look any older than ten, and ten year olds do not read Dracula. It is a fact of life.
“I’m fourteen” he snapped. Oh my evil butterflies. He’s just like Justin Bieber. He looks like a fifth grader but he’s not.
“Amazing, don’t you just love vampires” I said keeping my head turned in the opposite direction in order to not scare him off. He’s like a wild animal. Make no eye contact.
“Yeah, they’re way cooler than werewolves.” He said and I saw that we had a lot in common. I slowly turned back to him and held out my hand.
“I’m Lydia. I believe that vampires are the coolest mythological creatures ever. How about you?” He took my hand hesitantly but smiled nonetheless.
“Matt, and so do I” we spent the rest of the twelve hour flight talking about vampires. Books, movies, legends, you name it we talked about it. I know, I’m strange.
“Yes, I need a flight to closest destination to Volterra that’s taking off in the next hour” I demanded. He looked shocked at my tone, but I didn’t care, I was in a hurry.
“Um… “ He started typing something on his computer and I rolled my eyes at the fact he seemed to be searching the keyboard for a certain letter. “There’s a flight to Rome in twenty-minutes” he said with a frightened look in his eyes.
I mentally calculated how far that was from the city and decided that 130 miles was manageable. That was a lot better than swimming.
“That’ll do” I handed him my Visa card and passport and waited as patiently as I could as he did whatever it is he had to do. This consisted of me singing the Jeopardy theme song loudly and off key.
“Baggage” the guy asked hesitantly like he thought I was going to hit him. Apparently he’s not as stupid as I first thought.
“Just a carry-on” I said harshly. “Now can you please hurry up? I have places to be, people to meet, and lives save here. Chop chop” I’m not a very patient person and it seemed as if that fact was going to be my undoing.
“Gate 34D” he whispered as he held out my card, passport, and ticket. “You might want to hurry” No! I was going to walk calmly. I could smack this kid for being such an idiot.
“Thanks, bye” I grabbed my things and jumped over the ropes that were set up in order to keep the line in check. I would have sprinted all the way to my gate but unfortunately at airports they have this little thing called a metal detector and they actually expected you to wait in line to be inspected. How strange, these customs be.
“Please place all carry-on and metal items in the tray and step through the arch, ma’am.” Said a huge uniformed police officer that seemed to match Emmett in the “more muscle than needed" category.
“Cool” I placed my back pack in the baby blue tray/bin thing and stepped through the arch from Stargate: Atlantis. It beeped.
More like it screeched at a deafening level that made me want to kill something. Noises can do that to a person.
“Ma’am, please step over here” said the same burly officer. I walked over to where he pointed and stood on the weird yellow footprints. “Please spread your arms and legs.” I raised an eyebrow in his direction but he seemed to miss it entirely.
“Keep your hands to yourself, big boy. I’m not an exhibitionist” I said once he started scanning me with this weird yellow wand thing.
“Protocal, ma’am” he said with a smile on his face. The wand moved over my stomach and made another annoying beeping noise.
“Belly button piercing” I explained “I forgot.” I lifted my shirt a little to prove my point and he nodded over to where my bag was waiting.
“Have a nice flight” he said and I smiled before retrieving my property and running off to find my gate.
I made it to gate 34D without a moment to spare. The woman by the loading door was just calling for last minute passengers and I thanked my lucky stars that the gods seemed to be smiling down on me.
I handed her my ticket and she ripped off the end before handing it back to me.
“You can continue on” she said in the obviously fake voice of someone that had been working for twelve hours straight and was trying not to kill someone. I liked her.
“Awesome” I ran past her and through that weird tunnel thing that leads to the plane entrance. I was literally the last one to board the flying machine. Do you know how I know? Everyone was already on it and gave me a look like they thought the fact we weren’t already in the air was my fault. How rude.
Ignoring their evil looks, I made my way to the back of the plane and saw the only empty seat next to a young boy. Awe, cruel, cruel, fate.”
“Hi” I said as I plopped down into the seat and shoved my bag under the seat in front of me. As soon as I did that the plane moved away from the gate and that just goes to show how awesome I really am.
“Hey” he said back and buried his nose even deeper into the book he was reading. I, being the nosey person that I am just had to ask.
“Whatcha reading?” I asked and he slowly turned his head to glare at me. I just smiled like an idiot. I’m good at that.
“Dracula” he said annoyed. He turned away from me just as the plane started speeding down the runway, so I was forced to wait until the plane was at cruising altitude before replying.
“And how old are you?” I asked. He didn’t look any older than ten, and ten year olds do not read Dracula. It is a fact of life.
“I’m fourteen” he snapped. Oh my evil butterflies. He’s just like Justin Bieber. He looks like a fifth grader but he’s not.
“Amazing, don’t you just love vampires” I said keeping my head turned in the opposite direction in order to not scare him off. He’s like a wild animal. Make no eye contact.
“Yeah, they’re way cooler than werewolves.” He said and I saw that we had a lot in common. I slowly turned back to him and held out my hand.
“I’m Lydia. I believe that vampires are the coolest mythological creatures ever. How about you?” He took my hand hesitantly but smiled nonetheless.
“Matt, and so do I” we spent the rest of the twelve hour flight talking about vampires. Books, movies, legends, you name it we talked about it. I know, I’m strange.