I have times when I wish I could be a fly on the wall wherever she goes. She's been telling me more and more over the past couple months and her tour is done, tonight she flies out to us. She's staying with us till a couple days before her birthday. She's meeting up with us in Vegas, Derek will protect her at the airport until we get there because I sent him ahead of us and he just landed there. We're boarding in ten and she lands in 15, I send him a text to thank him. His response is to tell me it's not a problem and that it's part of his job, it was in the detail. "C, turn that off so we can board," Lance tells me.
"It's time?"
"The plane has been boarding for the past few minutes."
I turn it off and grab my bag, following the four of them on the plane. I settle in and relax, realizing that I'm a flight away from seeing my baby sister in almost 3 months.
I guess you could say I'm wide awake. Sleep eluded me during the flight, I come to conclude as we exit the aircraft in Vegas. I'm looking for my sister, I hear her singing one of the Boys' songs from 'Millennium' and know she's here. "You were hittin me faster than a shark attack, you saw my picture on the Backstreet's back alright! And you were more than just a pretty face, how you fooled me, I'm still amazed. I should've known I would be another victim of your sexuality, but now we're done and over with," I recognize the lyrics and follow her voice. I see a group of people surrounding someone, hearing her voice again. "You started going out with so called friends, but I was blinded so I lost all common sense. There were things that helped me realize, like all the 100,000 dumb lies." Her eyes are closed, unaware of the crowd and rocking her own private performance in the middle of the Vegas airport. I start clapping and the crowd joins me, getting her to stop dead in her tracks. Her cheeks turn fire engine red, smiling sheepishly. The crowd drops money in her cap that she most likely haphazardly dropped on top of her suitcase, forcing herself to sit before she falls to the floor in embarrassment.
I stand in front of her and tap the top of her head, her eyes slowly traveling to my pendant. She jumps up and throws her arms around me, happy to see me. "I hope you didn't see that," she softly tells me.
"I started the clapping to end it."
"Where are the rest of my guys?"
"They're coming, I got ahead of myself when I heard you."
"Of course," she says, putting her feet flat on the floor again.
"You know what I was thinking about the whole time on the flight?"
"Enlighten me," she tells me, a playful smirk on her lips.
I smile back and quickly search through my memories of when Lance first came to us in Orlando after months of pestering. "I remember this tiny girl Lance called Bitty, she looked almost like you used to when you moved to Orlando," I bring up.
Lance walks up, dropping his bags on the floor and scooping her into his arms for a hug he's been waiting 3 months for. "Missed you, my Bitty."
"Missed you too, Bunky."
He puts her back on her feet and they glance at me, trying not to laugh at the confusion woven into my facial features. "Why do you call him 'Bunky'?"
"Dunno, just started calling him that and it stuck."
"Darren started calling me that because he looked at my monkey face when we were ten and said bunky. She was there and started calling me Bunky a week later, I've been her Bunky since," Lance explains.
"That was ten years ago," she calculates.
"Yes, it has been that long."
Justin and Chris tickle her, eliciting roaring laughter from her. They hug and Joey plucks her from the hug and squeezes her appreciatively, smiling. "We've missed you so much," Joey claims.
"He misses your food, we missed you," Justin corrects teasingly, pointing at Joey and then the rest of us.
"I missed her too!" Joey announces, hands on his hips.
"Yeah, yeah! You all missed me and my food! Settled," she dismisses, turning away and heading toward the van.
We've all gotten as settled as we need to be for one night's stay in the MGM hotel before getting together and hanging out. "How was the tour with them this time?"
"Better this time around, calmer and it went smoother than when I dropped off the roster."
"That was interesting," Chris says.
"I say we go out and leave the 3 youngings here," Joey says.
"No, we can't because we have to change and head to the award show in 45 minutes or so," I remind them.
"Still seeing dumbass?" Justin asks.
"Yes," she sighs sadly.
"Sounds very convincing," Lance remarks sarcastically.
"Stop being mean," Chris tells him, shoving him. "Why don't you sound happy anymore?"
She shrugs, looking at the floor and lets out a heavy sigh. "The emotions just aren't there anymore and I just keep the appearance up."
"Stop pretending," Justin offers.
"Mar atá tú i bhfad níos fearr?" she asks, raising an eyebrow and giving him a questioning stare.
"No, but that's beside the point. Just tell him."
"Fart in a wind storm," she comments, her head dropping back against the top of the chair by my knee.
I smile at her, sliding my hand from her forehead to the bottom of her hair. "It's the same thing with me and Bobbie."
"So, you're with her without really being with her?" she asks, her eyes lighting up.
"Eh, we're on hiatus right now, taking time apart to figure ourselves out and our lives."
"Of course and next week you'll be banging her at your place in 'Lando," she facetiously remarks, rolling her eyes and looking at Lance.
He shrugs, a neutral look on his face. "Not my relationship, not my business, not my problems."
"I know, but really?"
"Yeap, 'less he or you ask for an opinion."
I got lost the last time she said something, watching her walk away to prep for the show. She's going with us for once, namely Lance.
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