~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ // SEVERAL HOURS LATER \\ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The bright lights of LAX were a stark contrast to the dark streets they’d left behind. Leaving the car was a wrench, but they couldn’t exactly take it with them. Ricky had leaned forward and given the steering wheel a good kiss before leaving it behind, safe and sound, in the airport parking garage. She knew that, at any moment, Gabe was going to put his foot down and demand an end to this insanity. He was going to try to, anyway. She rarely used her influence on him for, well, evil, but she did sometimes use it to suit her own purposes. Tonight, those purposes just happened to have his best interest at heart. If she could just get him on a plane, then she knew he would feel infinitely better. Besides, it wasn’t like once they got wherever they wound up going he couldn’t pop back for a good old fashioned family Thanksgiving. If she had her way, he wouldn’t go back at all. It wasn’t a selfish ploy, which was odd for her, truth be told. She didn’t like him being upset. He was less fun to be around when he was tense and his family made him crazy. What was good for him, in this instance, was also good for her.
She stood in front of the departures board, standing a bit closer to Gabe than was usual for them. She was a little too conscious of the way the little clusters of family groups eyed her as they went past. She supposed they did look a bit odd together. Even if half her tattoos were covered, she still looked enough like his opposite to turn heads. It made her smile and she slid her arm through his with a small chuckle, enjoying being a bit of spectacle. She always did. You don’t become a professional stripper unless you like attention after all.
“Come on, Sugar Daddy, take me someplace nice,” she purred in a falsely squeaky tone and laughed. “Sky’s the limit. Literally. Where you gonna take me for my first Thanksgiving dinner since I was 15?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He had been relaxed until the airport came into view. The airport just institutionally made him cringe but during the holidays? She was suppose to be making him unwind and she wanted to take him to the airport, now in the busiest time of year? Gabe had a hard time swallowing that situation. But he did, even though a part of his mind was already working out how he could convince her to go somewhere obscure so they could get the flight with the least number of people on it.
No matter how many people were on a flight, there was always that one. One person so filled with anxiety that just leaked it all over the enclosure for hours. Flying itself wasn’t a problem for him but the hours trapped with that anxiety, he would rather drive than put up with that. As the parked the car he even tempted her with it, “Wouldn’t you rather drive?”
But no he let her drive and this was what he was rewarded with, standing as far as they could get from all the other clusters of people deliberating on where to go now. Just when he was about to put his plan into action she hit him with a bombshell. He was a vampire and he had Thanksgiving every year, he couldn’t help looking down with a little bit of the horror he felt in his expression.
“You win.” He dug into his back pocket and passed her his wallet, “Two first class tickets to wherever you want. No questions asked.” With a little smile he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, even playing it up for her. Still he had to add, “You better just find your happy place during the flight.”