Pretending (bxb)

chapter 9

"Quinn," A voice says. Someone's gently trying to shake me awake, but I've been in such a good sleep I don't want to get up yet. "Quinn, wake up. The plane is landing." I flinch, realizing I fell asleep on the plane and look over at Janette who pulls my earbuds out of my ears.

The flight attendant is explaining everything to happen, but I don't care so I don't really listen and instead put my earbuds and phone back in my pockets.

"I called an Uber to come pick us up at the airport," Janette informs me. I hum in response, still foggy from waking up from a surprisingly good sleep. I rub at my eyes a little to try and wake myself up. I notice Janette staring at me from the corner of my eye and she's smiling a little. Weird.

Suddenly the plane drops significantly onto the ground, and we roll forward for a bit before coming to a stop.

"Hope everyone had a good experience despite all the turbulence," the flight attendant says. "I know someone did," she says looking at me directly, causing me to blink in confusion. People laugh around us which only confuses me more.

"You slept through a lot of turbulence," Janette says noticing how confused I was. "People were even panicking but you stayed perfectly still and asleep," she laughs.

"Oh." That's weird, I've always been a light sleeper when living with dad. Maybe planes calm me down or something. Or it was the meds from the hospital, who knows.

When people start getting off the plane, Jannette and I stand, and I grab the small duffel bag, throwing it over my shoulder. We wait for people to get off, since we were more towards the back.

"Do you usually fall asleep during a life crisis?" The flight attendant asks, smirking, and I wonder if it really was that bad of turbulence or if she was just exaggerating it to hit on me. This isn't really unusual, but usually it's younger girls who hit on me, not older woman with legit jobs.

I decide to play along, she's hot. "All the time," I say sarcastically "It's a strategic skill to get people like you to notice me," I smirk and she laughs, blushing.

"Oh yeah? Explains the broken arm and your face."

"Kinda forgot about that," I say honestly and she just laughs again. Janette grabs my arm, pushing me into the aisle to lead us off the plane.

"He's 16," she barks aggressively, keeping her hand on my back the whole way off the plane. Jeez why does she actually seem pissed, it's not like I was gonna go sleep with her for fucks sake.

Even after we get off the plane, she still grabs ahold of my arm, leading me through the airport like I'm a dog on a leash. Usually I'd say something but I decide against it. Don't want to piss her off more since she's letting me sleep in her house tonight.

When we get out of the airport, Janette looks around a little before spotting a grey volvo, pulling up to us from the parking lot. The first thing I notice is how unbelievably hot it is compared to back home. The hoodie and black skinny jeans I'm wearing probably aren't appropriate clothing for here. Neither is half the clothes in my bag. She starts walking again, pulling me with her and honestly this is giving me some flashbacks to when my father used to drag me to his car after getting called to the principal office or when he'd show up at my work claiming I didn't clean the dishes. Being angry and dragging me places usually ended up with me and a bloody nose, so I'm not exactly looking forward to how this is going to play out. Why is she even so mad in the first place?

She yanks open the door to the back seat and pushes me in, following behind.

"224 Madison Ave, South Walton?" The uber driver asks.