Cadence wasn't shocked when it was Elliott who knocked on her door the next morning, ready to pick her up and drive her to the airport. The goodbye to her parents and sister had been brief; they had no idea she wouldn't be back in a few days for Christmas Eve. At this point, she wasn't even sure if she'd be back for Christmas Day, but they didn't need to know that either. Cassidy was ecstatic that she got to tell Elliott goodbye, however, so in that respect, Cadence was glad he had stopped by. "Where's Aaron?" she asked, following Elliott across the snow covered yard to the Lamborghini.
"Trying to round up the troops, I guess," he said, pulling the door open for her. She got in, and he continued. "Seems nobody could get their shit in one sock," he added, slamming down the door.
Cadence couldn't help but chuckle at that. As Elliott climbed behind the steering wheel, squeezing himself in the best he could, she said, "Are we meeting them at the airport then?"
"That's the plan," he agreed, pulling onto the street. "Assuming Eliza has quit throwing her baby fit and got her bags packed."
"What's wrong with her?" Cadence asked. She's assumed the problem was probably with Laura, since she had made it pretty clear that she didn't want to go with them back to LIGHTS.
Elliott sighed. "I don't know. She wants to go with him wherever the hell he's going tonight, and he kept telling her it isn't necessary, and she's being a whiney-ass bitch."
"Tell me how you really feel," Cadence said sarcastically.
"Sorry, just gets old," Elliott muttered. The little airport outside of town wasn't too far from Cadence's house, when one was traveling twice the legal speed limit, and they arrived to see the Enclave pulled up near the G5, some teenage baggage handlers unloading the contents from the trunk.
A quick headcount revealed a few members of the team missing. She saw Aaron, Christian, and Jamie boarding the plane, and Hannah was helping Laura up the stairs as Elliott pulled the car into a parking spot. "Where are Eliza and Laney?" Cadence asked as she got out of the car.
"Don't know don't care," Elliott replied, throwing the keys in the general direction of one of the pimple-faced young men loading the plane. The look on his face showed his disbelief that he would be allowed to drive the car, even if it was just to park it. Cadence had figured out by now that the team had plenty of places to store vehicles across the country, and Shenandoah was no different.
Cadence made her way aboard the plane and was faced with a dilemma--where should she sit? She knew Elliott would sit by Aaron, as he always did. Hannah was sitting with Laura in the very front row. The coloring on the new addition’s face showed that she was not feeling well enough to protest being taken back to LIGHTS against her will. She could sit by Christian, but she was quite certain he would think that meant something that she was trying to avoid. Instead, she decided to ask Jamie if she could sit by him. He was sitting in the second row on the opposite side of the plane as Hannah and Laney. She knew that Eliza almost always sat with him, but since she was nowhere to be found, why not? "Hey, Jamie!" she said giving him a genuine smile. "How are you feeling?"
"Good," he replied smiling. "How are you?"
"I'm hanging in there," she said, nodding. "Do you mind if I sit with you?"
"Not at all," he said, scooting toward the window, though it wasn't really necessary as he certainly wasn't taking up any of the empty seat.
"Thanks! I feel like I haven't talked to you in ages," she added, sliding her handbag under the seat in front of her."
Jamie nodded. "I know; I feel the same way. It seems like every time I have the opportunity to talk to you, somebody gets shot," he snickered.
Cadence laughed, despite the seriousness of the topic. "Well, hopefully we can avoid that in the near future. Or, hey, maybe I'll get shot. Then, we can chitchat while you heal me."
"No, let's not do that," Jamie said, aware that she was joking.
Just then, a red car pulled into the parking lot, and Eliza and Laney climbed out, tossing the keys to one of the baggage guys, who popped the trunk and sighed at all of the fresh bags he would have to load into the plane. Cadence could tell by their expressions that they were having an adamant discussion about something.
"But if Louis Vuitton wants to make a bigger bag, I would buy it," Eliza was saying, leading the way up the stairs.
"Whatever," Laney replied. "It's already big enough."
Eliza stopped short when she realized Cadence was sitting in her regular seat, causing Laney to bump into her. "Well, shit," she mumbled.
"Oh, sorry," Cadence said. "Did you want to sit here?"
"No, it's fine," Eliza replied. As she slid down the aisle, she muttered, "It's not like you don't take whatever you want from me anyway."
Cadence wasn't sure she heard her correctly. She looked at Jamie who shrugged, a small smile on his face. "Should I move? Or say something?" she asked.
"Nah, she'll get over it," he replied, still smiling smugly.
Eliza sat down next to Christian, still huffing, and Laney took a seat directly in front of Cadence, so that she was near her sister.
Cadence turned back to Jamie, bothered by Eliza's reaction but not sure what to do about it. Eliza had been a good friend to her so far, and she hated to make her mad. It hadn’t been her intention to do so when she took the seat next to Jamie. “She’ll be fine,” he said again, and Cadence nodded, but she wasn’t so sure.
