In Another Life

21 - "I travel the world and the seven seas."

21 - "I travel the world and the seven seas."

Ava was not lying to her father. She wasn't. She might have...omitted... some truths and while some may consider that lying, she didn't. Well, she did but she made sure to never actually say anything that could be considered a lie.

As usual, her parents gave her the third degree about her trip until they were relatively satisfied that she would be fine. They were happy that she wasn't going alone and that she was still in the country. She just didn't mention how alone she wasn't going to be.

"So what did your dad say?" Nina asked, pulling her hand luggage behind her.

Ava had lifted a very skeptical brow at Nina's luggage and she'd shrugged and said, "You're the one teaching people how to travel well, not me. I can bring all my comforts with me, thanks."

"He didn't say anything," Ava said, purposefully not elaborating.

"Hm! That's surprising. I mean, I for sure thought he'd tell you not to go, threaten to kill you or Adam, or both or something. I don't know. Surprising."

Ava nodded innocently, smiling at the lady who asked for their boarding passes. Adam was going to meet them there, flying from home, and then they would fly to the island and to the hotel she'd booked together.

Nina noticed her silence and then froze. "Please tell me this is not happening."

Ava frowned and motioned towards the people who had to walk around Nina. "Can you walk and talk, please? We're causing a ruckus here."

Nina looked around and rolled her eyes before moving. "Don't you dare change the subject, Ava Jadae!"

Ava winced and looked up before sighing. "What?"

"They don't know, do they? They don't know that Adam is coming, do they?"

Ava shook her head guiltily.

Nina swore softly. "Jesus, you are dead. How are you planning on keeping this a secret? Don't your parents read the blog? Are you just going to avoid any pictures with him in it? And any mention of him?"

Ava groaned and ran a hand through her hair. They both showed their tickets to the flight attendant and walked down the aisle indicated, talking while they found their seats, packed their hand luggage away and got into their seats, clipping on their seatbelts as they got comfortable.

"I've planned it out. My parents do read my blog sometimes. So I can't take a chance but I'm going to tell my parents that he's coming to visit for a day. Papá might freak out but be too far away to do anything and then if they see any pictures of him they can just assume it's from that day. I honestly don't think it'll be as bad as you think. I'm older now and this isn't Alex."

Nina made a face at his name. "Stupid, nasty boy." Then she sighed. "Since you seem to have all this figured out, I'm just going to leave it."

"My parents don't have access to my TikTok or Instagram so I'll just embed videos and pictures without him on the blog. It's going to be fine."

Nina rolled her eyes and popped in her Airpods. "Sure. Wake me up when we land."

Ava shook her head and pulled her phone to update her subscribers on her journey, reintroducing Nina and assuring everyone that Nina would be grumpy throughout the whole trip. That woke her friend up but she just glared then promised Ava's subscribers some tidbits about her childhood that had Ava gasping and pulling away. She grinned and winked when the announcement to switch their phones off blared, waving them off and signing out.