Stepping Through Science (MxM)(Sequel to Equations of Dance)

Chapter 7

Trevon Carter

The alarm on my phone went off. A small groan escaped me. Arthur was finally with me and I didn't want to break contact with him to turn off my alarm. On the other hand, Arthur was not going to be the one to force us to get up and get ready to go to the airport which meant I had to do it.

My arms slid away from holding him as I turned and reached for my phone. I turned off the alarm. When I turned back to Arthur, he was still asleep.

"Art," I said. There was no response. I gently shook his arm. "Art," I said again a little louder.

He groaned. "Let me sleep longer," his tired voice said.

"No," I said. "We've got to get up now to get ready or we'll miss our flight."

"We can take the next one," he said. He buried his head underneath the pillow.

"And what if the next flight is full?" I asked as I tore the pillow away from his head. He tried to fight me for it, but was still too tired to put up a real fight.

"Then we'll go tomorrow," he said. His eyes were pinched tight as he fought reality.

"Then you can tell my sisters why we are so late," I said.

"They like me," he said. "They'll understand.

"And you can tell Jasmine why we are late for her wedding rehearsal and can tell my grandpa why we missed dinner with him."

His eyes slowly opened. He stared at me for several long moments before he said, "Fine. I'm up." He rolled out of bed and went into the bathroom to get ready. Maybe I should have gotten ready before I woke him up. Then again, he was probably going to take longer than me so it was probably better that I woke him up first.

While I waited, I made sure I packed leaving only the last minute things that I needed to get ready. As soon as he was out of the bathroom, I headed inside. "Make sure you have everything packed up and ready to go," I called out to him.

"I will," he called back to me. "This isn't my first time you know."

He was right of course. I just wanted everything to be ready so I wouldn't worry about anything. Who was I kidding? I'd find something to worry about.

When the time came, I drove us to the airport and parked in long term parking. Then we caught the shuttle from there to the airport. We got our luggage checked in and went through security before we found ourselves with time to spare before the plane was going to board.

I had bought a couple of books to read during the wait, but Arthur didn't give me that opportunity. He chatted away about his friends and dance and New York and it was like music to my ears. I couldn't get enough of it.

After we boarded and the plane took off, Arthur fell asleep with his head on my shoulder and his arm looped around mine. Everything felt right like it should. I did read my book while Arthur was asleep. He slept until the plane began its descent.

The plane landed. We grabbed our carry-on bags and headed towards baggage claim to get the rest of our luggage.

When we got there, I was surprised to see my mom waiting for us. I knew she was picking us up but I thought she would just circle around the airport until she saw us and then pull to the curb.

As soon as Arthur saw her, he dropped his carry-on bag and ran to wrap her in a big hug. My mom smiled sweetly as she hugged him back. I picked up his carry-on bag and walked to them. Arthur slipped out of the hug giving me an opportunity to hug my mom. I held onto her. It had been a long time since I had seen her.