1,000 Lies Told At 40,000 Feet High

“So, whatever happened to that guy you liked?” Chace asked nonchalantly, halfway into the flight.
“Oscar you mean?”
“I don’t know, you never mentioned his name,” Chace replied shrugging.
“Yeah, Oscar. We’re going out now,” I admitted as a smile overtook my face.
“Oh,” Chace said seeming a little lost for words. Was that even possible? Chace always seemed to know what to say. “Okay then. When did this all happen?” I glanced out my window and watched some clouds pass us.

“I don’t know, a bit after last time I saw you. I went out with his friends go-karting and then we went on a date together. And now were going out,” I replied.
"And how does he feel about you jetting off for the weekend? And one week early may I add, so that you could see another man?" Chace questioned.
"Firstly, don't get too full of yourself mister; I only came early so that I wouldn't be stuck on a blasted plane on my own. Surely you know how much I hate planes by now. And secondly, I don't know how Oscar feels, he didn't really say anything about it. And I didn't mention you to him," I replied as I began to search in my bag for the magazine that I had bought before boarding the plane. Chace raised his eyebrow at me and I felt the need to further explain.

"Oscar and I don't really talk all that much. Most of the time we're too busy doing other stuff," I said, attempting to further convey my point with a look and blushing slightly.
"Oh, God. I don't want the details of your sex life," Chace said loudly as he squeezed his eyes shut as if attempting to remove the image form his brain. The lady sitting in front of us turned and gave me a nasty glare. When she had turned back around I glared in her direction.
"Chace, what do you take me for? I haven't even been dating this guy for a month! We've only kissed!" Chace reopened his left eye and glanced at me suspiciously, calculating if I was telling the truth.
"I suppose that's okay then," he finally said as he opened his other eye and sat back in his chair more comfortably. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, "Piper, don't take this the wrong way but, are you sure that he is the right guy for you? Do you really know anything about him?"
"What do you mean?" I asked quietly.
"It just, it sounds like he is playing you."
"Chace, you don't know anything about him!" I said angrily.
"Do you?" I couldn’t reply to that so instead I opened my magazine and began to flip through the pages angrily, not looking in Chace’s direction.

***
As it turned out, Chace and I couldn't stay angry at each other for very long. We had been refusing to look at each other and glaring into the distance for barely five minutes before we gave in apologised. However, there seemed to be an unspoken rule to avoid the topic of Oscar.
“Is your dad picking you up?” Chace asked as we made our way out of the arrival lounge. I laughed and shook my head.
“That’ll be the day. No, I get picked up by Oliver, he’s my chauffer when I’m in Sydney. Not that I really ever go out,” I replied.
“Sorry,” Chace apologised.
“It’s not your fault.” We arrived at the baggage claim and remained silent as we watched for our bags. I glanced around the hectic airport and recognised the family that I had seen waiting for Chace the first time we had met.
“You should go,” I said once Chace had collected his bag, “Your family is waiting for you.” He glanced towards them then turned back to me.
“Are you sure that you will be alright?” Chace asked looking concerned.
“Don’t you worry about me. I’ll see you Sunday night when we fly back.”
“Okay then, but, here,” Chace said as he grabbed my hand and pulled out a pen from what appeared to be nowhere, “If you get bored, or need a shoulder to cry on or anything, call me. Promise?”
“I promise.”
***

I was sitting in my room on the phone to Oscar, gazing distractedly out of the window and watching people in the park. A group of children were having what I assumed was a birthday party. Balloons were tied to each person’s hand and a young woman was attempting to start a game of pass-the-parcel. I didn't think she’d be having much luck anytime soon, the children were too busy running around in circles, hyper on fairy bread and lollies.

“So what exactly are you doing in Sydney?” Oscar asked again, much to my annoyance.
“I’m visiting my father, remember. I thought that I had explained this all to you already,” I said, trying to keep the frustration out of my voice. It was irritating that Oscar wasn’t listening to me when I tried to talk to him.
“It’s just that there is this party this weekend that I’m going to and I wanted to go with you,” Oscar explained.
“You’ll have to go without me, I’m certain that you’ll survive.”
“What are you doing all weekend then? Hanging out with your dad for some father-daughter time?” Oscar asked. Hadn’t I explained this to him too?
“No, he has meetings all day today and then tomorrow I might be having lunch with him if I’m lucky. And then I’ll fly back home,” I replied.

“If you’re not even going to see your dad, then why are you there? A flight back to Melbourne is only an hour, if you leave now, you’ll be back in time for the party. You know, if you don’t tell your mum that you’ve come back early, you could stay the night at my place. It’d be easy to sneak you in, my family would be none the wiser.”
“Oscar, I can’t come back, he’s my dad,” I replied. But it wasn’t just that, if I flew back early, I wouldn’t see Chace for another month. I’d see Oscar in a few days. I tried to ignore the rest of Oscar's suggestion, we had only been dating for a few weeks, I didn't think I was comfortable staying at his house just yet. I heard Oscar huff and then his voice followed.
“Fine, whatever Piper. I’ll see you when you get back.” And before I had the chance to reply, Oscar hung up.

Had we just had our first fight? Was Oscar really pissed at me for saying no? I couldn’t handle sitting still, in this house, on my own anymore so I snatched my bag off from where it lay on my bed and stormed out of my room, downstairs and out of the house.
I ran across the road between a gap of traffic and wandered over to the park where the birthday party was still taking place. I climbed to the top of one of the playground castles and sat in the corner, ignoring the children that ran past me and went down the fading red slide. Why was Oscar do annoyed with me, it wasn’t as if I came to Sydney every week. I knew that it was unlikely that my father would actually make any time to go out with me to the beach or to laser tag or for lunch even, but if I wasn’t here, then there was no chance that it would happen.

The light breeze that filtered through the parks trees and the distant shouts of happy children managed to calm me down somewhat. I’d just stay here for the rest of the day and read a book and listen to music. I refused to worry about my stupid boyfriend any longer. As I reached towards my bag to search for my book, something written on my hand caught my eye. More specifically a number, a phone number with the words ‘Call me if you need to. x Chace’ written neatly below.

Of course, how could I have forgotten?! But should I call him? It was likely that he was spending time with his brother or doing his homework and didn’t want to be disturbed.
But he had told me to call him no matter what. And I did make a promise. But did he really mean it, or had he just said it to be nice, not actually expecting me to call.

Well, there was only one way to find out.