Iced

“Good evening ladies and gentlemen. this is your captain speaking. We are approaching the runway and will be landing in roughly ten minutes. Please fasten your seatbelts and stow away all electronic devices.”

I cocked my head to the side, leaning a bit so that I could see out the window. It was dark out, the city lights shining brightly beneath the plane. We were dropping steadily and the sudden change in pressure made my ears block. I groaned and turned away from the window, lacing my hand with Mikey’s.

Mikey was talking to one of the flight attendant’s but he turned when our fingers touched. I made a face and yawned in an attempt to unblock my ears, making him laugh.

“Almost there babe.”

“You know how much I hate landing,” I whined, gripping his hand tighter as we descended even more.

“Get over it Lo. You’ve flown enough times that you should be used to it by now.”

Mikey removed his hand from my grasp, prying my fingers away. He ran it through his blonde hair and buckled his seatbelt before turning to face me completely. Mikey continued to chat with me to try and distract me, but I had tuned him out.

My stomach was doing flips as the landing gear descended. I grabbed the armrests on either side of me and gripped them as tight as I could, squeezing my eyes shut. I was absolutely terrified of landing and always had been. It was worse when it was winter and the runways had the potential of being icy.

The back of the plane touched down briefly and we jolted. An involuntary gasp left my lips. My knuckles were aching with how tightly my fingers were holding onto the metal bar but I didn’t dare let go. Finally the front of the plane made solid contact and we stopped bouncing around so much.

My eyes opened slowly and I sighed with relief as the plane applied its brakes and we started to taxi across the runway.

“Not so bad, right?” Mikey’s voice murmured in my ear. I shoved him away with a laugh.

Within minutes we were pulled up to our gate and the speakers overhead crackled before the captain’s voice filled the cabin.

“Welcome to Boston, Massachusetts. Local time is 9:45 PM and current temperature is 34°F. Quite chilly tonight with a forecast of a few flurries as the night progresses. We are entering into Terminal B, Gate 38. Baggage can be claimed at Carousel 2. On behalf of your crew we thank you for flying Virgin America tonight. We hope you have a great visit in the Boston area or wherever your final destination may be.”

I grinned and all but jumped out of my seat the second the seatbelt light turned off. Mikey chuckled and grabbed our bags from the overhead storage and we ran off the plane, thankful that we had flown first class so we could leave faster.

When we entered the main airport terminal I couldn’t help but grin at all of the surroundings. “Home sweet home,” I murmured to Mike, who shrugged.

“To you it is. It’s going to take some getting used to for me.”

“You’re gonna love Boston Mike. I promise.”

We walked quickly to the baggage claim which had just started moving. We only had to wait a few moments before all of our luggage was grabbed off the conveyor, but our problem would be getting it to the car that was waiting for us. Since both Mikey and I were moving we had literally all of our things with us, sparing of course our furniture.

The baggage claim area was filling up rapidly, so I ran to get a cart to put our things on. We filled the cart and carried the rest over our shoulders, earning strange looks from other people in the airport.

The second we stepped outside I instantly regretted making the move from Los Angeles to Boston.

“Holy shit!”

I laughed, “Welcome to frozen hell Mikey.”

I, unlike Mikey, was dressed for the weather I knew would be facing us when we left the airport. I had worn my fuzziest boots and a pair of thick leggings with a heavy sweatshirt. My hands had turned to ice right away, so I placed my bags on the ground and shoved my hands in my pockets.

“Where the fuck is the car Lo?” Mike whined.

“How am I supposed to know?” I rolled my eyes.

“Sloane!”

I turned at the sound of my name and a grin immediately flew over my face.

“Dad!”

My dad was standing at the curb with his signature smile spread wide across his face, his dark mustache accentuating the whites of his teeth even more. He opened his arms up and I ran towards him, throwing my arms around his neck. I would always be daddy’s little girl.

When he finally released me he just held me at arm’s length and laughed, “You’ve gotten taller.”

“It’s been awhile dad,” I chuckled. “But what are you doing here? I thought we were getting picked up by the company. I was going to call you tomorrow when we had settled in. Surprise you, you know?”

His brown eyes were barely visible under the dim lighting of the overhead lights but I could see they were vibrant with excitement.

“A woman named Susan called me and told me you were coming in. She thought you would like it if I were here instead of some random guy from the station. It doesn’t matter much, does it sweetie? You’re tired, I can tell. Let’s get you home.”

Dad and I walked over to where Mikey was with all of our bags. I introduced them and we started loading the bags into my dad’s large SUV. The second we pulled away from the airport Mikey and I let out a unison sigh of relief. My dad chuckled and patted my hand, which was resting on the center console.

“So how did this come about anyways? I thought you loved LA Sloane,” My dad questioned, a curious look on his face as he pulled onto the highway.

“Well,” I murmured, and proceeded to tell him just how Mikey and I had managed to make the move from LA to Boston.



My bag slammed awkwardly against my hip as I ran down the quiet streets of Burbank at night.The city was strangely quiet, and I couldn’t help but notice that everything about the day had been so strange. I was never usually late for work, but somehow I’d found myself running fifteen minutes behind schedule.

In the distance I spotted the radio station’s sandstone and glass building and it made me heave out a sigh of relief. It was past sunset, but the orange glow of the sky lingered on the building’s windows and made them shimmer.

The door of the studio was pulled open just as I reached for it. A hand grabbed my wrist and tugged me inside quickly.

“Dear god woman. Do you ever wear a watch? You’ve got thirty minutes and Susan is looking for you. She wants to talk to you before you go live,” the voice said as the person dragged me down the hall.

“Mike it’s really not my fault,” I laughed out. “I got distracted.”

“Please tell me you were not watching some ratchet sports game again.”

Mike’s blue eyes are squinted at me and I knew he was joking but I couldn’t help but feel offended.

“Traffic.”

“Which way did you come up?”

“The 101 like always Mikey. It was so packed, it’s unbelievable.”

Mikey rolled his eyes and continued to pull me down the hall. We passed framed poster after framed poster of pop-stars and rock-stars alike and the various offices of the people that worked at KIIS. At the end of the hall we ran into the elevator that was just closing its doors.

As we ascended to the top floor of the building I let my mind relax and my body cool down. I had taken a taxi to work, but they had abruptly dropped me off a few blocks down the road for no reason at all. I had to run the rest of the way which normally wasn’t bad and I enjoyed a nice run sometimes, but the Indian summer we were having was exhaustingly hot.

“Why are you so flustered? Chill before Susan sees and starts to interrogate you,” Mikey said with a roll of his eyes.

Susan, our boss, was quite the interesting lady. She was a slim, tall woman with faded brown hair that was visibly graying and these piercing brown eyes that made you feel like she could see straight into your soul. She was a hawk-like businesswoman and had always been very successful, which was admirable.

Mike turned to me and started to fill me in on his day here, but I was barely paying attention. I stared at myself in the reflective siding of the walls and straightened out my denim button up, buttoning three of the tiny buttons to cover up the part of my stomach that was exposed from my white crop top. I tugged on the waist of my jeans, pulling them up just a bit and straightening them out. I looked frazzled, but it was my best attempt at putting myself together.

The elevator doors slid open with a quiet ding. On the other side Susan was waiting for us, her hair pulled back into a tight bun. She looked neatly dressed as always, a pair of nice slacks and a blazer on. I would never understand how she did it - dressed so heavily in the warm weather.

“Good evening Sloane, Mike,” she greeted casually and turned on her heel.

We followed her in silence down the hall to her office, which overlooked the city of Burbank. She motioned to the two seats in front of her desk and we sat quickly, never one to disobey her orders. She sat opposite us and smiled a real smile. My stomach flipped upside down in nerves. I couldn’t help but feel that I was about to be fired.

“Humor me,” she started, “Do either of you know why you both are in here right now?”

Mikey and I caught each other’s eye and shook our heads. Susan laughed this quiet little laugh and Mikey crossed his arms anxiously. He ran a hand through his blonde hair and I slapped his arm down, knowing that if he didn’t stop his jittering then he never will.

“I must admit that I am unsure how to start this...” Susan trailed off, a smile still on her lips. “I am so beyond proud of you two. From the moment I saw you both wander into my office four years ago looking for internships up until now you have proved to me how dedicated you are to your jobs. You are both so young to have gotten so far in such little time - only twenty-four years old and you’ve already got your own radio show broadcast across the country.”

Mikey and I smiled at each other, but it was weary because we knew it must be the end. She sounded sad and it was frightening.

“All I’ve ever heard from my colleagues is how lucky I am to have the both of you and they are so right. I am the luckiest woman in the industry. I want to keep you here forever. That’s too selfish of me though. You both are deserving of better than just our little Los Angeles station.

“That’s why I am offering you this opportunity. The higher-ups and I want to send you across the country to our sister channel KISS. It’s located in Boston. You would continue your show but it would be broadcast to more places if you are out there. It is a fantastic choice and I hope you will consider it. This move could open up so many doors for your futures.”

Mikey and I gaped at each other, eyes wide and mouths parted slightly. Our identical expressions amused Susan, who laughed again.

“Of course, travel will be completely paid for by the company along with housing. You two will stay together in an apartment in the city near the radio station, should you choose to go.”

Susan was looking at us expectantly but I was still too stunned to answer and I knew Mike felt the same.

“Give it some thought while you broadcast tonight. I should let you go to that now. Don’t want you to be late to your own show which starts in,” she paused and glanced at her computer screen, “three minutes.”

Mikey murmured a few words to her and grabbed my arm, pulling me out of her office. We stopped in the hall and stared at each other before breaking out into laughter.

“My god I thought she was going to fire us,” I cackled, grasping my stomach as we laughed.

“She’s right though,” Mikey manages to choke out, “We are way too fabulous for LA.”

I slapped his shoulder as we made our way into the live room at the end of the wide red hall. Through the glass window was one of our good friends and fellow radio DJ’s Matt. He waved at us and continued talking into the microphone in front of him. Mike pulled open the door and waved me in silently as Matt switched on some music to transition from his show to ours.

“It’s all yours guys,” he said as he pulled his headphones off.

Matt wrapped me in a one-armed hug as he passed, whispering a quiet, “Congrats,” into my ear. I rolled my eyes at him but he just smirked and closed the glass door behind him.

I slid into the giant rolling chair behind the desk and switched a few buttons on just as the song ended. My headphones were on in seconds and I gave Mikey the thumbs up as his thumb hovered over my board’s on button against the opposite wall.

The last chord of the song rang out quietly as I greeted my late-night listeners. Mike slid into a seat across from my board and winked at me.

“So how about those Kings last night?”