Adrenaline

bonus chapter 02 | lavender haze

***this chapter contains scenes of sexual nature. reader discretion is advised.***

...

I never wanted to step foot on an airplane again.

Mostly because someone had been walking past with their baby and said baby proceeded to barf on me while I was sleeping. (Talk about a rude awakening.) (Truly the best form of birth control.) But also because I had been on them enough for a lifetime. While the Escape Velocity Tour was everything we could have ever asked for, and more than a handful of shows had been added on while on it because of the ferocious demand, I was ready to spend some time home. We still had a few more months on the road, and while I knew it was peak first-world celebrity problems to complain about being on the number-one tour in the world so far this decade, there would never be a place quite like your own bed.

It just sucked that mine would be alone since the only person I wanted to ever share it with was stuck on the roaming F1 circuit.

(Even if I didn't want to share, I had to. He literally bought the bed and the house we lived in together.)

(I thought I made up for it quite well most nights.)

"God, you can pretend like you actually like being around us," Seira joked, staring at my crestfallen face as I stared at the window at a Brendon Ellis-free Los Angeles. We were stuck taxing on the tarmac, which could either be taken as a delay to going home alone or just another chance for me to be stuck moping in this damn seat while I still smelled like baby vomit. Fucking hell, I sounded like a lovestruck loser. "I know we're not Formula 1 drivers but I think I clean up nicer than boy wonder."

In spite of my sour mood and new, involuntary perfume, she made me laugh.

"Sure thing, babe."

She flipped her rose gold hair over her shoulder. "Don't you think I'm prettier than Bash, Rami?"

"Uh-huh."

"Say it again but act like you actually mean it."

"You're absolutely ravishing, Seira, and Bash is just a silly, peasant man."

Pleased with herself, she sat back in her seat with a smile. "ขอบใจนะ."

Rami, sitting across the aisle from us, made quick work of texting Marty who was picking us up from the airport. We probably would have been better off scheduling cars to get us from the airport now, but the one time we suggested that Marty shot it down. I think he secretly liked getting away for a while.

After a few seconds, he glanced back down at his phone and started laughing. I couldn't be sure if it was delusional from lack of sleep or because Marty said something funny, but I wasn't giving him the benefit of the doubt for the former.

"Don't tell me Marty forgot," I said.

Rami shook his head. "No, he's here. We should grab our bags quickly, though."

"As opposed to the slow pace at which I was previously going to."

"Smart ass."

Another ten minutes passed before we finally pulled up to the jetbridge, and we quickly scurried down to baggage claim so we could collect our belongings and meet Marty outside. We may pay him, but I wasn't going to risk taking too long and having to watch him leave us behind because he got bored waiting.

While we sat on the curb, I sent Brendon a quick text letting him know we landed safely. I was too tired to remember what time zone he was in, but I figured he would respond to me as soon as he was available. I didn't think anything of it and tucked my phone back into my purse.