“A lot of flights board well before the plane is set to take off. If you’re on time for a plane, then you’re late,” hesaid.
I didn’t quite understand it, but he was right because as soon as we arrived at Gate 6B, Knix, Marv, and Texas were already in line. “Hurry,” Bellamy said, pushing me towards the others. “You’re sitting next to Knix.” I moved around the others in line, avoiding some scathing glares and arrived next to the rest of the guys. Marv looked back and nudged Texas. Silently, the both of them moved out of line and back to where Bellamywas.
“Why’d they move?” Iasked.
“They’re in economy,” Knix explained. “You and I are in first class. I doubt anyone will check our tickets, but if someone happens to see, it wouldn’t make sense for either of us to have arrived ineconomy.”
“Oh…” I said. “I thought Marv was the rich one? Shouldn’t he be in first classtoo?”
“Marv isn’t…” A peculiar expression moved across Knix’s face. “Marv’s acting as backup for this job,” he finallyfinished.
I tilted my head and examined him. “You don’t want him to get too involved, do you?” I asked. “Because he’s close with thefamilies.”
Knix smirked down at me before he settled his giant palm on my head. “Don’t let anyone tell you that you’re not a genius, LittleBit.”
My insides swelled with pride. It seemed that what had happened at the club with Erika had been forgotten. She had even texted me the next morning and promised that it wouldn’t happen again. I wasn’t sure how long that promise would last, but at least she realized that the night hadn’t been as fun as she had expressly thought it would be withalcohol.
“Wait,” I said as we stepped forward in line, “you didn’t answer my other question. I thought Marv was the rich one? Why am I going asyourcousin and nothis?”
Knix grimaced but answered. “I’m not a millionaire,” he admitted, “but I’m also not impoverished either, Little Bit. My mother – as much as we’re estranged – does have a blue-blooded background and my father, though he was a blue-collar laborer for most of his life, didn’thaveto work as hard as he did. His family, too, was well off. Fishing boats and cruisersmostly.”
“Wow.” I hadn’t known that about him. We stepped up again and it was our turn to hand over our tickets. How Texas had managed to order my tickets under my alias, I wouldn’t ask, but as I took back my card and the fake ID they had given me that morning, I started to realize just how real this was. I was an Iris girl now. Going on real jobs, doing the kind of good I had wanted to be doing when I first joined. I only hoped I could live up to the guys’ expectations ofme.
We entered the airplane through a long-carpeted hallway. It grew louder as we neared the end and stepped from the hallway directly into the plane where stewardesses gestured Knix and I to our comfy leather seats. It was just him and me and as it was my first time on a plane, he let me have the window seat. I kept my eyes glued to the window as others began to board. Even when the flight attendants did what I was told was a purely routine safety spiel, I couldn’t help but let my gaze wander back to thewindow.
When the plane began to taxi down the runway, my heart leapt in my throat and I sucked in a breath, gripping the arm rest until my knuckles turned white. A warm palm slid over my hand and pulled my fingers from the edge of the armrest. Knix tucked my hand in his, letting my frozen fingers warm under his. I relaxed as the plane tipped back and we rose into the sky – the bright, blue, white-fluffy-cloud-filled sky. It was the most wondrous thing I had ever seen and the most daunting. Briefly, I hoped that I would get the chance to travel with the guys again. I knew that, had I stayed at Alex’s Diner and let myself graduate as I normally would have, had I made a different decision a month ago, none of this would have beenpossible.
I turned my head and looked at Knix. Though he was holding my hand casually, he was absorbed in one of the magazines provided in the pocket in front of each of our seats. I wouldn’t be here with him right now, I knew, if I had made a different decision. I wanted to be thankful every day that I had taken this risk. I knew, if given the chance, I would make itagain.