Souled [Editing]

Chapter 13

Meredith woke up shaking. No, she was being shaken. By Nate.

"Hey. We're here," he said.

She opened her eyes, groggy from sleep. She was disoriented and confused. One look at her surrounds reminded her that she was on a plane. With Nate. Had she really fallen asleep? Nate chuckled at her confusion.

"What?"

"You have a little bit of drool." He pointed to the corner of her lips.

She blushed and fumbled to wipe her mouth. How embarrassing.

"We're about to land," he said, turning to look out the window.

Objects on the ground were growing larger and the floor hummed as the wheels came out from under the plane. She held her breath and closed her eyes.

"Are you okay?" Nate's voice broke her concentration of dreaming she was somewhere else.

"No. I hate flying." She spoke between thin, white lips.

He wasn't sure what to say. They could've driven to Charlotte if she'd asked. Or told him that she hated flying. He wouldn't have minded. "I'm sorry."

She looked at him through one of her eyes. "Why are you sorry?"

"We could've came another way."

"Don't be sorry about this. Really. We're almost –" She stopped when the plane hit the ground and slammed on the breaks to slow down the plane. "Here," she finished.

Her grip released only after the plane came to a stop. He almost expected there to be imprints from her hands. She took a deep breath, visibly more relaxed than before.

The pilot came over the speakers and started giving them brief information about Charlotte. She wished the passengers a happy day and then the attendants opened the doors. It seemed like years by the time they made it off the plane.

With a decent amount of space between them, they stood by the carousel waiting for their luggage to make the rounds. The buzzer came on and the oval started spinning. People rushed to the side as if it would speed up their luggage making it to them. Children tugged on the pants of parents, begging to grab the bags. One child around the age six tried to grab a large suitcase off the carousel. She was nearly taken with the bag when her mother grabbed both the child and bag. The child whined because she wanted to do it but the mother quickly gave him small piece of candy.

Nate retrieved both bags and started for the doors.

"No car rental?" Meredith asked, jogging to keep up with him.

"No. We have plenty of cars at the house. Besides, my mother is picking us up." His voice tightened as he spoke.

Meredith didn't reply. She thought she at least had the car ride to the house to prepare herself for meeting the family. Instead she was meeting them immediately after she got off a flight where she had been drooling.

They made it to the semi-circle where taxi cabs, shuttles, and families picked up people. Meredith looked around, wondering if she could find someone who resembled Nate. She didn't immediately see anyone who would. Her unbiased was ruined when Nate's mother was spotted frantically waving her arms. She was a blonde haired older woman with a giant grin on her face and her eyes locked on Nate. He smiled despite himself and tugged Meredith along.

"Nathan!" His mother ran and wrapped her arms around him. "It's so good to see you."

"It's good to see you too, Mom."