Sanity // s.m. [IN EDITING]

[10]

Shawn

***

It was dark, and the majority of the plane was sleeping, including Sarah, who lies beside me with her head leaning on the seat.

I couldn't get into that state of mind just yet, because too many things were rushing through my mind.

I really should've followed her.

But it's too late now.

Andrew was sitting a few rows down from me, and towards the end of the flight, when people were still sleeping, I creep down the narrow row with seats on either side until I find him, leaning back on his neck pillow.

He looked a lot different without his glasses, which he has tucked into the pocket of the seat in front of him.

I crouch down on the floor and tap his shoulder.

"Andrew," I whisper, "Wake up. Andrew. Dude."

He sits forward.

"Wha. . . ?"

"I want to talk to you," I say quickly.

"What do you need?"

I pause before reaching into my pocket and pulling out the small orange container that raddled from the pills inside.

"Here," I set them on his lap.

He looks confused.

"I know at first I said I didn't need them but then I did, and now I don't again. And I don't want to get in the habit of letting other things heal me," I reason.

"So keep them. And don't ever let me have them."

*

When the plane lands, Andrew calls for a cab to come pick us up and take us to the hotel. A group of fans was waiting at the terminal when I came out of it, and I was, once again, attacked.

But this time I really didn't mind.

Because I wasn't looking for anyone in particular.

I hugged them and took pictures with them and then we had to go, and some of them followed me until Andrew called for security. I kind of felt bad for them. They only wanted to talk to me.

We made it out of the airport, and Sarah was on her phone the whole time and barely realized we had landed.

We were right under an outside roof, so the sun only came in through the sides.

As soon as the cab pulled up and we took turns getting inside, Andrew said to the driver, "Drive slow enough not to hit any teenage girls but fast enough to get away from them."

Then I pull up my hood and duck down onto Sarah's lap until we were clear from the airport parking lot.

"Damn, I forgot what it was like to be out in public with you," Sarah says, followed by a laugh. "How was New York?"

I shrug. "It was okay."

"See anyone you know?"

I shake my head. "Just me and Andrew."

She looks out the window, the trees outside casting shadows on her face. She had a beautiful face, to be completely honest. But she wasn't Elle.

"Hey," she speaks up, "Remember that ugly reporter that interviewed us at the AMA's last year?"

I bite my lip as I think back.

"You mean the one that kept calling you Sasha?"

She nods. "That's the one. She was my interviewer for the twenty-questions-with-Sarah-Keys pre-show for Forest Runners, and she asked me if I was pregnant, which wasn't even one of the questions, and she got fired right in the middle of the show. It was hilarious."

"She got fired?" I laugh.

"Uh-huh. Didn't you watch it?"

I freeze. "Uh, no, sorry. The show ran late and I was a little busy."

Andrew scoffs.

We both turn to face him, my eyes widening.

He pretends to cough and says to Sarah, "Uh yeah, the show ran late."

She turns back to me. "That's too bad," she says, "It was really funny."

"How is someone losing their job funny?" I blurt out.

She searches for my eyes. "Well, not just that. The whole show was kind of funny. Are you okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"You just look really tired."

That's because I had an all nighter with Elliot Johnson and we roamed the city of New York together and I made out with her and you don't know this because I refuse to tell you and also you were on the other side of the country.

"I just got off a twenty-hour plane ride," I say.

"Yeah, Sarah, we're all tired. I'm sleeping as soon as I get to the hotel," Andrew responds.

She just turns and looks out the window some more.

*

I was relieved when I got to the hotel upon finding out that Sarah and I were in separate rooms.

She hands me my key and then mumbles something about how she'll see me in the morning, and then I head up to my room and collapse on the bed.

By now, I was really used to the smell and feel of hotels. But hotels in London were different than other places. Everything was so proper and it felt more like I was staying at a mansion, but in a small room of it.

As I was laying on the edge of the bed, my knees bending off the end, there was a knock at my hotel door.

I groan and go to answer it, hoping to God it wouldn't be Sarah. If it was her, I would most likely slip up and dump her right then and there.

But the person standing in front of me was most definitely not Sarah.

It was someone else entirely.

*

A/N

WHO DO YOU GUYS THINK IS AT THE DOOR??

(;