Into Thin Air

"Darce, wake up!" I heard Rayden's voice and felt him lightly shaking me back and forth. I wiggled my nose, smelling eggs frying on the stove. "Come on, I made breakfast!" He groaned, and I smiled before opening my eyes.

"We fell asleep on the couch." He said to me, giving me a kiss. I sat up, looking around.

"Ugh, I have morning breath." I complained, "Lemme go brush." I stood up and went to the bathroom, brushed my teeth and took my hair out of the bun I had slept in, before going back to the kitchen. Rayden was putting an omelet onto a plate. He turned and set it down on the table for me, then making a plate for himself. I sat down.

"I got an email from Taylor this morning." He said, sitting down next to me. We started to eat. "The guys are already booking their first trip out."

"Mhh." I said, swallowing my eggs. "When are they coming?"

"Three weeks. It should go by fast, though. Once we get back from California, it'll be like no time at all." I nodded. "Are you meeting with Marty today?"

"That's right!" I said, stabbing my eggs. Marty was a dancer at the club who used to be a belly dancer. She and I had arranged to meet so she could teach me, in hope I would be able to transition out of stripping sooner rather then later. Rayden tried to act casual about it, but I could tell he was excited whenever I brought it up, a point I liked to tease him about. I had avoided telling him how difficult I found our first lesson to be in fear of crushing his spirits. I hoped our second lesson would go better. "That's right, I'm staying late tonight for a lesson. That's okay, right?" Rayden nodded.

"Of course, of course. It's fine." He grinned, looking down at his plate, and I chuckled, standing to get some orange juice from the fridge.

"I could always push it back if you wanted to have dinner tonight, I have been working late all week. . . " I closed the fridge after grabbing the carton, putting it on the counter and grabbing two glasses from the cupboard.

"No no, it's fine. . ." He said, and I laughed, placing a glass of orange juice on the table in front of him. As I turned to sit back down, he grabbed my arm, lightly pulling me into his lap. I held up my glass of orange juice, trying to avoid it being spilled. He took my face in his hands, turning me towards him and meeting my lips. I laughed into the kiss, placing the glass of orange juice on the table and wrapping my arms around his neck. We were interrupted by the sound of my phone vibrating in my purse, which hung on the chair opposite us.

Rayden's lips pouted as I climbed off his lap, making me grin. I gave him a quick peck on the lips and he kissed the tip of my nose before I crossed to the other side of the table and checked my phone.

"It's Kristina." I said, opening the text message. She had sent me a picture of her son, Jake, holding a bouquet of red roses.

Are you excited to meet my mystery man? He sent roses to commemorate the formal introduction!<3 -K

"What did she say?" Rayden asked, continuing to eat his breakfast.

"She's really excited about introducing me to her new boyfriend." I typed back a response on my phone, making my way back to my seat. "It's weird, she seems head over heels for him, but she doesn't seem to know him very well." I finished texting, closed my phone and sat back down.

"How so?" Rayden turned his attention to me, placing his head on his hands. His gray eyes focused on mine, and I recognized the look as his listening face, urging me to go on.

"Well I was asking her all these questions yesterday, but she didn't seem to know anything. She wouldn't tell me his name, of course, but no career, no family information. I don't know a thing about this guy." I shrugged, finishing the last of my breakfast, and grabbing both mine and Rayden's empty plates. Rayden stood too, grabbing the napkins and the orange juice and putting them back.

"That is a little weird. But hey, you'll meet him tonight, and I'm sure she chose a great guy. He's probably not sketchy at all. Maybe he works for the FBI." I laughed, putting the dished in the sink and returning for the silverware and glasses. Rayden met me before I got to the sink, taking the glasses from my hands. "I got the dishes, why don't you go get a head start on packing for my dad's that you've been putting off?" He gave me a kiss and I left the kitchen, heading into the bedroom.

I dug through the back of the closet, finding my suitcase and dragging it out, knocking over a few pairs of shoes. Wrapping my arms around it I managed to drag in onto the bed, where I opened it up. Satisfied, I turned to my open closet and sighed.

The truth, I realized, was I had been putting off packing for the visit to Rayden's Dad. It wasn't that I didn't want to meet him, it was more wishing I had met him already. I tried to picture it in my head, but I couldn't conjure a picture of him. Rayden was finally on good terms with his father, and I was afraid that meeting me would remind his father that he wasn't going to become the wealthy lawyer he was born to be.

Alone, Rayden had made the necessary growth; his school record was finally clear of mischief, his long, jet black hair was no longer eccentric, but now a common flip cut. He was even interviewing for a journalism internship. His lifestyle with me-although everything I could imagine-wasn't really up to par with his fathers standards. I remembered the girls I had gone to high school with: always tanned, hair perfect and clothes right of the mannequin. I used to make fun of them, yet I found myself wishing I could be just like them-I would need everything I could get to impress Rayden's father.

With this in mind, I approached my closet, looking for clothes to pack. I ruffled through, taking out a few pairs of jeans, a few blouses from thrift stores, a red floral sundress. But held up to myself in the mirror, everything seemed ordinary, cheap, and used. I sighed again, running my hands through my hair.

"How's packing coming?" Rayden asked, popping his head into the bedroom. I followed his eyes to the empty suitcase that sat on the bed. "Oh. . . .well that's progress." He said, and I let out a sad giggle.

"Come on, what's wrong?" He came into the room, sitting next to me on the bed. "This shouldn't be so hard." Rayden had-of course-packed about a week ago.

I turned my head, looking him right in the eye. "You're Dad," I started, giving him a kiss and laying my head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around me, instinctively. "Is going to hate me."

I listened to his sigh, scrunching my nose and regretting saying those words. I knew the assurance that was coming, and although it made me confident that Rayden loved me, didn't give me hopes about his father.

"What's the problem this time, your clothes?" He leaned back onto the bed, causing me to fall back with him. I nodded a little into his chest. "He's not gonna care about your clothes, Darce. He's gonna care about you." I let out the breath I had been holding in.

"But what if he asks questions?" My voice sounded like a squeak. Rayden adjusted his arms, pulling me closer into him and resting so that his hands could innocently curl my hair.

"Well, I would hope he would. . ." I smiled.

"No, I mean about my job. Or my future. I don't want to lie to him." We sat in silence as he thought and played with my hair.

"Well, tell him what you plan to do with you're future. Tell him you're going to move into a big, yellow house with you're boyfriend." I grinned, flipping myself over so I was completely on Rayden's chest and laid my head on my interlaced hands.

"Yellow?" I asked, faking a grimace.

"A pale yellow. It's pretty." He assured me, and I nodded for him to continue. "You can tell him every day you'll go down to the fresh market to buy groceries. The town will be so tiny you could walk. And you'll pass people on their bikes, who will wave as they pedal to the beach." I closed my eyes, imagining it. "And you're husband will come home early every day from work, with fresh flowers just for you. You'll need at least ten vases-crystal vases-to keep them in." I grinned, tilting my head.

"That sound's expensive." But before I could finish, he began again.

"Not for you. You're husband has a very successful career. He can pay for the whole family."

"And what do I do?" I asked, tracing circles on Rayden's T-shirt. He took his hands off me, placing them behind his head.

"You can do whatever you'd like. Go to work, stay home, raise the kids. . ." I opened my eyes to see Rayden looking right at me, smiling.

"Kids?"

"Oh yes. Let's see now, there's Riley, the oldest. Then Dakota, the middle child. And Jacy, the youngest."

"Gender admitting, I noticed." I raised my eyebrows.

"Of course." I blinked, trying to wipe off my grin to fabricate a serious expression.

"Well, I'm not so sure about Jacy. . . " I trailed off, my smile coming back.

Rayden smiled, leaning in and giving me a long kiss.

"We'll work on that one."