Finding Jaime

Chapter 78

My alarm went off and I groaned. Why is it so dark? What time is it? Why is my alarm going off at 2:45 in the morning?

"Pete, go wake Jaime up. Your car is going to be here in half an hour," Meagan mumbled. Why would a car be...

Tour! We leave on tour today! I rolled out of bed and splashed some water on my face before going into Jaime's room. I looked down at my son's sleeping form and smiled. He was splayed across his bed, his right foot hanging off and outside of the covers, his right arm straight out, his left resting on his stomach. He was snoring, just ever so.

"Jaime," I said, shaking him gently. "Come on. Time to wake up."

He grumbled and rolled over, away from me.

"Come on, big guy, up and at 'em. We have a flight to catch."

"What time is it?" He mumbled into his pillow.

"Five to three," I said.

"I thought you said you were waking me up at three. I still have five minutes to sleep. Why can't you let me sleep for five more minutes?"

I laughed to myself. Typical teenager.

"You can sleep on the plane. And on the bus when we get to Austin. After your chemo."

"Thanks for that reminder," he mumbled as he rolled over and looked up at me.

"That's what I'm here for," I grinned at him. He rolled his eyes at me and pushed himself up into a seated position.  He blinked, yawned and stretched.

"Okay, I'm up. I'm awake. Move. I gotta pee," he said, kicking me lightly with his right leg to get off his bed.

I stood up and Jaime pulled himself out of bed and stumbled to his bathroom.

"You alright?" I asked.

"Yeah. My brain and body are fighting being awake at this godforsaken time," he grumbled.

I snickered. This is what I'd expected raising teenagers would be like.

"I'll meet you downstairs," I said. Jaime made an arm motion that I supposed was supposed to be 'yeah yeah,'.

Meagan was coming out of our room as I came out of Jaime's room.

"He's awake?" She asked as I closed his door.

"Arguably," I whispered, grinning. Meagan laughed. We went downstairs and I went into the kitchen to grab a few things and some of Jaime's meds that had to be packed on ice. Jamie came thudding quietly down the stairs.

"Until recently, I thought three in the morning was a sick joke," he grumbled, leaning on the kitchen island.

"Do you want anything to eat?" I asked him.

"Yes," he said. "But not right now. My stomach is refusing to admit we're awake."

"Do you feel okay?" Meagan asked him, feeling his forehead.

"I'm fine, Mom," he said, then grinned. "I like that."

Meagan hugged him.

"Me too," she smiled at him.

"But yeah. I'm fine. Seriously, just trying to wake up. It's, like, three in the morning,"

Our driver texted my phone.

"Three fifteen. Driver is here. Give the kids hugs for us. We'll try to call later. Depends how Jaime's feeling, okay?" I said to Meagan, hugging her as she fussed over Jaime.

"Behave, tell your dad, or someone if you don't feel well, okay? Immediately! And call me every night!" She said to Jaime. She sure had taken on the 'Mom' role with gusto.

"I'll try," Jaime said. I had promised I'd make sure one of us called every night. Jaime would call when he felt up to it, I'd call on the bad days. Meagan said she was planning on tracking good and bad days by who called. I told her she was weird. She told me she's not weird, she's a mom. I hugged her tight and promised to call once we got settled in Austin. By which I meant Jaime's chemo appointment. She fussed more over Jaime, who was just eating it up, while the driver and I loaded my equipment and our luggage onto the van that would take us to the airport.

Jaime finally climbed into the van, plugged in his earbuds and closed his eyes. The driver closed the back doors and we were off.

Jaime fell asleep on the ride to the airport and startled when I woke him up.

"I didn't think I fell that deeply asleep," he grumbled as he unfolded himself from his seat. He adjusted his ear buds and beanie and helped unload some of the bags. He put his backpack on, it was his carryon anyway.  I got a porter with a large cart to come help us bring the luggage into the airport.

Once we were checked in, Jaime and I headed to the gate to wait for our flight.

"No lounge this time?" He smirked at me. I laughed.

"Not this time. Sorry," I said, smiling at my son. He rolled his eyes and pretended to be put out. But then was grinning. I smiled at him. He sat down across from me.

We sat with our carry-ons and those cases that would get gate checked. 

"Ugh. They let anyone fly on this airline," a voice said behind me. I looked at Jaime, who was woken up by the voice. He smirked. I looked above me and Joe was standing over me.

"Hey!" I said, getting up to hug my friend and bandmate.

"Jaime," Joe said, coming around the seats and pulling Jaime up into a hug.

"You look good. How're you feeling?" Joe asked Jaime.

Jaime shrugged.

"Okay, I guess," he responded. Joe looked over at me and I shrugged. If Jaime says he's okay, he's okay.

Joe sat down and added his stuff to our equipment and luggage. We chatted while we waited for our flight to be called.

Once it was, we carried our cases for gate checking and our carry ons and got on the flight.

As soon as we were settled, Jaime lay back and closed his eyes with his earbuds in.

He took them out for the safety talk, but otherwise kept them in.

He slept the entire way from LA to Austin.