Ten minutes later Rayanne and Sarah were loading Rayanne’s stuff into her 1999 silver VW Jetta. Rayanne hated to leave her car at home for so long. She had gotten it less than three months ago. Even though Sarah was driving Rayanne to the airport, they were taking Rayanne’s car so she could drive it one more time. When they had everything loaded in the trunk, they climbed in the car and both put their seatbelts on.

“I hope I didn’t forget anything.” Rayanne said as she put the car in drive.

“You know you probably did...everyone always does.” Sarah laughed.

Rayanne pulled out of the driveway and turned left to go into town and head to the highway.

On the way they stopped at Taco Bell to grab something to eat in the car. They ate in silence and Rayanne could tell Sarah was upset.

“Sar, I’ll call you everyday.” Rayanne said as she put her papers in her mini car trashcan.

“I know, I’m just still gonna miss you.” Sarah said.

Rayanne tried to take their minds off being so far apart by joking all the way to the airport. One thing Rayanne was good at was pretending everything was fine, when inside she was anything but. She assured Sarah that they would still talk every day and then worked on changing the subject. The remaining two hours of the drive were fine. The girls talked and joked like normal.

They arrived at Syracuse airport at 1:18. Plenty of time, especially considering Rayanne only had two bags. Sarah helped her get her stuff out the trunk and locked the doors to her car for her. They walked through the rotating door and into the Syracuse airport. Rayanne walked up to the NorthWest counter. The lady standing behind it looked young, about 25 and her nametag said ‘Angel’. Rayanne waited for a balding man who was in front of her to step out of the way. When he did she walked up to the counter.

“Hi. My name is Rayanne Winters. I had a flight booked for me from here to London. It’s supposed to leave at 1:50.” she said. “Oh, and I was supposed to tell you that the flight was booked by Nick Carter. He called about 3 hours ago from London.”

“OK, I wasn’t here three hours ago, let me go get Alyssa. She would have taken the call.” Angel walked away from Rayanne and Sarah. A few minutes later she came back with a middle-aged lady whose nametag said “Alyssa”. Alyssa introduced herself to Rayanne.

“I took the call from Mr. Carter. Everything is ready for you. You can board the plane whenever you want. Just let me know when you’re ready and I’ll take you through to first class and give you your things.” Alyssa said.

Rayanne looked at Sarah, then Alyssa and raised her eyebrow. “First class?”

“When Mr. Carter called he said he wanted everything to be perfect for you. There are a few special things he asked for that I can show you after you’re settled in. I’ll wait for you by the gate.”

“Oh my gosh Ray, somebody sure does like you!” Sarah said smiling.

“Yeah, he’s a pretty sweet guy.” Ray agreed.

Rayanne stood talking to Sarah for about 10 minutes before they said their good-byes. Rayanne took her bags and walked to the gate, where Alyssa was waiting for her.

“Let me help you with those” Alyssa said taking Rayanne’s bigger bag from her.

“Thank you” Rayanne replied politely. They walked through the gate and down the hallway to the ramp to board the plane. Alyssa stepped through first and looked back to make sure Rayanne had made it OK.

There were already a few people on the plane. Most of them were getting settled. Rayanne saw one woman trying to get her two little kids to stay in their seats. She smiled at her as she walked by and followed Alyssa through the curtain and into first class. There was one woman already asleep in a seat near the back. She tried to get a good look at her, but couldn’t the way the lady was slumped down in her seat.

“Where would you like to sit Rayanne?” Alyssa soft voice dragged her attention away from the lady.

“Oh, it doesn’t matter. Here’s fine.” Rayanne answered. “I would like a window seat if that’s OK” she added.

“That’s fine. There’s not going to be many people on tonight’s flight anyway, so you have your pick!” Alyssa said cheerfully.

“Are you going to be going to London with us?” Rayanne asked.

“No dear, I’m sorry. They need me to stay here in the airport. Is this your first time flying?”

“Alone it is. But I’ll be fine.” Rayanne smiled grateful for the woman’s concern.

Alyssa helped Rayanne get her carry on in the overhead compartment. She told her since there was so much extra room on the flight, she could keep her big bag next to her if she wanted.

“Thank you.” Rayanne accepted the offer.

“Now I have to go grab the things Mr. Carter requested for you. I’ll be right back.”

Rayanne settled herself into her seat, pulled out her Discman and set it on the seat beside her.

Three more people came on and chose their seats before Alyssa returned pushing a cart of Rayanne’s things.

“Here you are dear.” Alyssa handed Rayanne a laptop computer. Rayanne just looked at her.

“What is this?” she asked.

“That’s our computer. Mr. Carter wanted you to be able to use it during the flight. He also wanted you to have this.” she said as she handed Rayanne a cell phone.

“Wow” was all Rayanne could say. “This is all for me to use as much as I want?”

“The computer, yes, as much as you want. The phone-surprise dear, it’s yours. Mr. Carter paid for that.”

Rayanne couldn’t believe what this woman standing in front of her way saying. A phone? For her to keep? Why was Nick doing all this for her? She was speechless and just started at the phone.

“One more thing sweetheart” came Alyssa’s soft voice.

“Huh?” Rayanne said not really paying attention.

Alyssa pulled a small basket out from behind her back. It was filled with little bags of cheesy poofs, Rayanne’s favorite snack.

“Aw...this is for me? He is so sweet” Rayanne smiled.

“He was very particular in what he wanted for you. He said he would do anything to make sure you got everything, which includes two more things.”

“More?”

“You didn’t let me finish” Alyssa smiled.

She reached back to the cart she had brought all the goodies in on and pulled off a cooler. “Full of root beer” she said before Rayanne could ask.

Rayanne smiled. “Cheesy poofs and root beer....what more could I possibly want?” she laughed.

“This” said Alyssa pulling yet another basket off her cart.

It was a small wicker basket lined with a white cloth. It was full of red jelly beans.

“How....” Rayanne started to ask a question, but wasn’t really sure she knew what she wanted to ask.

Alyssa just smiled at her. “He loves you.” she said. “It’s that simple.”

“No, you don’t understand. He does, as a friend, but we’re not that close yet like that” Rayanne said trying to explain the situation without explaining the situation.

Alyssa continued to smile at Rayanne. It was a knowing smile. “Well, my work here is done. You have a good flight dear. And have fun with Mr. Carter, he cares a lot about you.”

“Thank you.” Rayanne said, grateful for the way this woman who she barely even knew genuinely cared about her. “I will.”

Alyssa gave her one last smile and walked away. Rayanne put on her headphones and pushed play on her CD player.

“You are...my fire, my one desire” came Brian’s sweet voice through her headphones.

She smiled to herself and opened the laptop computer she had been holding on her lap. She turned it on and waited for Windows 98 to come up. She saw on the desktop the regular stuff, like Network Neighborhood and Recycle Bin. Up in the top right hand corner was the familiar yellow running man from AOL Instant Messenger. Rayanne smiled when she realized why Nick had wanted her to have this computer.

She found the icon to connect the Internet and clicked on it. When she was connected she clicked on the AOL IM icon. She typed in her screenname and logged on. Since her buddy list wasn’t on this computer, she didn’t know right away if he was on. She began to type him and instant message to see, when a message appeared on the screen.

Carterpug: Hey snot =)

Smurfblue: Hey brat =)

Carterpug: I see you got the computer.

Smurfblue: Yes, I got everything. Thank you so much.

Carterpug: Your welcome so much.

Smurfblue: Why did you buy me that phone? You didn’t have to do that ya know.

Carterpug: I know. I wanted you to have your own phone so you’ll have a way to keep in touch with everyone. I’m gonna call you to see if it works.

Smurfblue: You’re a goofball. We’re talking right now and you’re gonna call me?

Carterpug: I am not a goofball. I want to see if it works Ray.

Smurfblue: Alrighty. You have the number?

Carterpug: Yup.

Rayanne took off her headphones and set them on the seat. She picked her new phone up off the seat and put it on her lap so she could get to it quickly when it rang.

Smurfblue: You are so sweet to me...I cannot believe you got me all this stuff. Cheesy poofs, rootbeer and red jelly beans. You know me too well =)

Carterpug: Yes I do. Hey, I think you owe me a cheesy poof. I seem to recall giving YOU one once.

Smurfblue: No way Carter, I remember you THROWING that cheesy poof out the window and it landing on your trampoline. Ring a bell?

Carterpug: =)

Smurfblue: But I suppose you can have a cheesy poof.

Smurfblue: When are you gonna call anyway?

Carterpug: Oops...right now.

Smurfblue: =)

Carterpug: Hang on, I can’t type and dial at the same time =)

Rayanne stopped typing and waited for the phone on her lap to ring. A few seconds later it did. Even though she was waiting for it, it startled her.

“Hey sexy.” she answered the phone.

“WHAT?! Who do you think this is” a deep voice responded. Rayanne got a little nervous, before she heard Nick try to stifle a laugh.

“Nickolas! You had me nervous!” she yelled at him jokingly.

“I know, why do you think I did it?” he laughed.

“So, my phone works!” Rayanne exclaimed.

“You guys haven’t taken off yet have ya?”

“Nope, we should be soon though. I wish we would, I’m getting so antsy. And excited. I want to get there!”

“I know ya do, but someone’s just gonna have to wait...” he teased her.

“I know, listen I would love to listen to your voice all night, I really would, but this is probably expensive, so we should just talk on the computer.”

“Oh alright...” he pouted jokingly.

“I’ll hear your voice soon enough...you can sing me to sleep tomorrow night.” Rayanne said smiling.

“So, I sing you to sleep, what do I get?”

“You get to watch me fall asleep peacefully.”

“Yeah, some tradeoff.”

“Hey, you don’t WANT me to sing you to sleep.”

“Yes I do!”

“Alright, we’ll see tomorrow night.” she gave in.

“OK baby, tomorrow night.”

“OK, so ya gonna stay on AIM and talk to me?”

“Sure am.”

“Alright, I’ll probably call ya a little later”

“OK hun, bye.”

“Bye.”

Rayanne hung up the phone and set it on the seat next to her. She didn’t put her headphones back on right away, because she wanted to be able to hear the pilot when it was time to take off.

Carterpug: So, where’s my cheesy poof?

Smurfblue: Open up

Carterpug: *Opens mouth wide*

Smurfblue: Here it comes.....open wide....it’s coming... .

Smurfblue: *Throws cheesy poof out the window*

Carterpug: Hey! Snot!

Smurfblue: You get what ya give Carter!

Nick didn’t respond right away and Rayanne began to regret what she said.

Smurfblue: Nick?

Carterpug: Do you think that’s true Ray? If it is...I don’t want to think about what’s gonna happen to us. Look what I did to you. It’s gonna come back, isn’t it?

Smurfblue: No it’s not hun. It just came out. You know I didn’t mean anything by it. Just the cheesy poof =) Hey, I shared my pizza pocket with you once! So, you OWE me one sexy!

Carterpug: Yeah, I guess I do. No, wait a second. I don’t! Take a look next to you bonehead...what’s there?

Carterpug: =)

Smurfblue: All my favorite stuff. Thank you sweetie.

Carterpug: You’re welcome babe.

The pilot’s voice drew Rayanne’s attention away from what she was doing.

“We will be lifting off and departing Syracuse in approximately two minutes. I ask that you please put your seats in an upright position and fasten your seat belts.” came his booming voice.

Smurfblue: Take off in two minutes! I am SOOOO excited!

Carterpug: Good, it’s about time! So, it’s finally happening. You’ll be here in less than 22 hours. Man, and I have to wait for those 22 hours...this is gonna suck.

Smurfblue: =)

Carterpug: What are you smiling for?

Smurfblue: Cause I’m happy. Happy that I’m coming, happy that you asked me, happy that you think it sucks to have to wait for me...I’m just happy =)

Carterpug: Good. Now, you should go for a while. Put your seatbelt on and get your ass out of New York and into England!

Smurfblue: =) I’m trying!

Carterpug: Go to bed for awhile too. You need to sleep.

Smurfblue: Yes dad =)

Carterpug: Cute Ray. When you get here, I’m gonna beat your ass.

Smurfblue: You know I can take you anyday. And I will too. Anyway, I gotta go, and I will sleep. I’ll call when I wake up.

Carterpug: Right! You cannot and you know it. Call me AS SOON as you get up. I’ll be waiting.

Smurfblue: OK sweetie. Bye.

Carterpug: Later.

Rayanne closed the Instant Message window and disconnected from the Internet. There were more people around her than she had realized. She closed the laptop shut and set it next to her. She put on her seatbelt and rested her head on the seat. She closed her eyes and thought about where she was going. She realized how tired she was and almost fell asleep before she felt the plane start to shudder.

“Good morning passengers. This is your pilot speaking. My name is Andrew Martin. This is flight 202 flying from Syracuse to Phoenix. The time is now 1:53, we are leaving as scheduled. I ask that you please remain seated and leave your seat belts fastened until I give the OK to do otherwise. We should be arriving in Phoenix at 4:16. Our flight attendants are available to help with anything you might need. Please relax and enjoy your flight. We thank you for choosing NorthWest Airlines.”

Rayanne woke up to listen to the pilot’s message and for the plane to get off the ground. It didn’t bother her to fly, so as soon as the plane was off the ground, she was sound asleep.