Hollywood Bridge

WHACK! Cathy slapped me across the face.
"FIRST OF ALL, DON'T YOU EVER SUPPRISE ME LIKE THAT!" Her tone softened. "And second, yes! Yes oh God and a million times YES!" she jiggled about.
Ashley cheered like a maniacal socker player who had just scored. He ran about, jumping and doing his 'happy dance'.
He kissed Cathy on the lips and picked her up.
He saw me glaring and dropped her, only to pick me up instead.
Andy was beaming behind the camera, Jake was sobbing unashamedly on Jinxx's shirt whilst CC attempted to convince the cashier that Ashley was in fact, fine and did not require an ambulance, nor was he having an epileptic fit.
I laughed. Ashley's cheerful mood was contagious! I grabbed his arms and joined him, jumping up and down yelling "yippie" and spinning in a circle. I dragged Jake into our circle of cheer and reveled in a moment of joy with the six people who couldn't have loved me more had they been blood. It was perfect.
Cathy licked the ring free of frosting and slipped it on her hand. A perfect fit.
"Right! Are we gonna celebrate in the Bahamas or what!? Because our flight leaves in 45 minutes and we still have to get through security."
Jake glanced at me and Ash then suddenly roped Cathy into a hug. He whispered something I couldn't catch then grabbed one of her hands and one of mine. He started jumping again and Ashley joined in our happy dance, grabbing Jinxx as he did so. CC grabbed the cashier and pulled him in too. Last was Andy, who shut off the camera and joined us, filling the room with his melodic laughter.
Just us, sharing one genuine moment of happiness with a complete and utter stranger. Faith in humanity restored!
Like all good things, we had to leave it behind, to move to better.

***

I kept looking back over my shoulder as we went through security, Ashley was still celebrating behind us.
We waited our call to board.
We didn't need the overhead compartment.
"I hate taking off!" I confessed.
"I've never been in a plane!" She whispered, squeezing my hand.
"Better than going to see Mockingjay?" I quipped.
"Hmm, I really wanted to see it! And I LOVE Jennifer Lawrence!" she replied. I laughed.

I closed my eyes as we started to taxi down the runway and my stomach dropped out as we had lift off. My ears popped. Cathy seemed to have enjoyed it.
The monitors on the chair backs in front of us came on and our co-pilot informed us that we were at a safe flying altitude.
Cathy plugged in the headphone splitter so we could both have a pair of headphones each yet still listen from the same device (yes these things exist, and they can be an absolute Godsend!) and flicked through the movies. She had angled the screen away from me and chose a film.
I laughed at the irony. There on the screen played Catching Fire.
I snuggled against her and slept.

Notes

*sings* Cause I'm leaving on a jet-plane, don't know when I'll be back again. Oh babe I hate to go...... I'm sorry, I love that song! :)

Lucky you! You're getting two chapters in one night because it's Ashley's birthday! :)
(He does NOT look 30! I hope I'm that damn hot when I'm his age!)
I'm sorry, I'm being weird again.