The Chase by Amber Riel (story reading txt) 📖

Pop.  I look over and smile at the small four or five year old boy sitting next to me on the dark blue velvet seat of the plane.  He had short brown hair which indicated that he had got it cut recently.  His mother sat on the other side of him and eyed him for popping his gum a little too loudly.  “Henry, have a little respect,” she told her little boy.  “I’m sure that this young lady doesn’t want to hear you popping that gum.”  She looked over at me with sympathy in her eyes.  “I’m sorry about that.”

          I kept my smile to reassure the woman.  “It’s fine.  It doesn’t bother me.”

          “Oh well still I’m trying to teach him manners.”

          I kind of nodded and locked eyes with Henry.  His big, brown eyes just stared up at me like a puppy’s eyes filled with anticipation.  My smile grew as I had an unmentioned staring contest with the child.  The contest ended when he blinked and turned his attention toward the bathroom.  “Mommy, I have to go potty,” he told his mother.

          “Okay.  Come on.”  The woman stood up and she looked as if she hadn’t had any children because she was so small.  She was about as skinny as I was which was surprising but in a way she had kind of reminded me of my sister.  The only difference was her dark brown hair with a hint of autumn red highlights.  It was obvious that they were natural and not dyed.  I could always tell the difference between hair which was its natural color or if the person had dyed it.  One way I knew was by the eyebrows.  Eyebrows were always the natural color but for me there were other ways to tell.

          I sighed as they walked off and turned my attention outside of the window.  I looked down at the white clouds which had slithered past the moving plane and as I tried to look even further down I had figured that we were flying over the ocean.  I loved flying even though I didn’t do it often because I never really had the money.  My sister had sent a plane ticket for me as a birthday present.  I couldn’t wait to get to Landon to see her again.  It had been about four or five years since I had been there to visit her and her husband.  The last time I had seen them, I had met my niece for the first time but she was a baby then…. A tiny little thing and so fragile.

          I closed my eyes, leaning back on my comfortable seat, kind of pushing it back.  The memory of meeting my niece for the first time brought a warm face to my face.

          My sister had blonde wavy hair which almost curled.  She was a few years older than me.  At the time she was 21 and I was only 18 at the time.  Her hazel eyes smiled at me as she held a small baby in her arms.  She had taken after our mother where as I had taken after our father with dark brown almost black hair and dark brown eyes as a match.  “Sam, this Elaina,” my sister had told me as she walked over to me carrying this little bundle of joy wrapped up in a soft, pink colored, fuzzy but comfortable for a new born child blanket.  She handed the baby over to me.

          I took the baby carefully, placing my right arm under her head to keep it from falling backwards and held the rest of the baby with my left arm.  I felt kind of fearful of dropping the child on accident or squeezing the small little person too tightly in my arms but I managed to keep any of that from happening.  “Hi, Elaina,” I whispered as I looked down at the precious, sleeping infant.  “I’m your Aunty Sam.”  I looked over at my sister and smiled.  “She’s adorable, Annie.”

          “Thank you.”

          “So you three ready to go to the house?” my brother-in-law had asked as he arrived from picking up my league for me.  He was about a year older than Annie was but I had to admit she made a good choice with him.  He was charming, funny, attractive and one of the best men in the world.  I had wished I could find someone like him but I just hadn’t had that luck yet.

          “Yes, Ron,” Annie replied, shaking her head playful at him.

          “Thanks for getting my league, Ron,” I replied.

          “Your sister made me,” he joked.

          Annie smacked him for the comment.

          His laugh filled the air.  “I’m just joking, honey.  It’s not a problem, Sam.”

          “Please turn off all electronic devices, we are preparing to land,” the flight attendants voice had said waking me up.  “Please buckle up and if you have any trays down on the back of the seats please push them up against the chair.”

          “We’re here, mommy,” Henry’s little voice replied.

          “Ssshhh.” Henry’s mother had placed her left pointer finger against her lips so she could let Henry know that it was time to be quiet.  She handed him another piece of gum and offered me a piece as well.

          I smiled and shook my head.

          She took the piece she had offered me and unwrapped it and placed it into her mouth.

          Once I walked out into the airport, I looked around the crowded building searching for Annie or Ron.  I knew that one of them had to be there waiting for me.  I had decided to stop looking and go to get my luggage which I wasn’t able to carry on with me when I noticed a man who was standing there with a big sign which read: Samantha Moore.  I couldn’t believe that they had actually sent a chuffer to pick me up or at least someone I hadn’t recognized.  He was about 22 or 23 with short dark brown hair and he wore dark sunglasses to hide his eyes from the sun.  He wore a grey tank top which the cuts on the sleeves had indicated that at one time the sleeves weren’t short.  He wore dark blue jeans.  I couldn’t help but notice he had muscles which could easily be hidden under long sleeves.  I sighed and walked over to the man.

          “I’m Samantha Moore,” I told him.

          I watched as he surveyed me with his eyes still hidden under those dark sunglasses.  He nodded.  “I’m Louis Matthews,” he replied.  His British accent was strong which from what I could tell made him attractive but I wasn’t there to meet men so I shrugged off the attraction.

          “I have some luggage that I need to get before leaving.”

          “Whatever.”  His rudeness was apparent in his voice which was a definite turn off to me.

          “I’ll be back,” I replied, acting like I hadn’t noticed his tone.

          “Okay.”  Obviously, he didn’t want to be there so I decided that I would purposely take time getting my luggage.

          Riiing…. Riiing…. Riiing.  I pulled my cell phone out as I walked over to the area which indicated the luggage.  I pressed the small funny shaped talk button as I answered it.  “Hello?” I asked.

          “Hey, Sam,” Annie’s soft, sweet voice spoke.

          I had to smile a little.

          “Because you answered I’m assuming that you finally landed.”

          “No we’re still in the air,” I replied, sarcastically.

          Annie’s laugh filled my ear.

          “Yea actually I just landed---”

          “I’m sorry that Ron and I aren’t there.  Ron had to rush to work for a meeting and I’ve been busy preparing the guest room with some help from Lainie.  I had sent one of Ron’s good friends to go and get you.  Is he there yet?”

          I sighed.  “Actually, yea.  He’s kind of rude though.  I have to pick up my luggage so I’m taking my time.  Why him?”

          I could hear Annie take a deep breath over the phone.  She sounded kind of like she had lost some hopefulness.  “Well, he was the only one who was free and he’s single….” There was where the disappointment had come from.

          “Annie, I’m not here to meet men right now…. If I want to meet a jerk, I’ll just go back to America…. I’m just here to visit with you that’s all.”

          “He’s not all that bad…. He’s just going through a tough time right now.”

          “Annie….”

          “Sam….”

          I sighed.  “I’m not here to meet men.”

          “You don’t have to but please give him a chance at least….”

          I made a face which I was glad that she wasn’t standing right in front of me.  I sighed.  “Fine…. But this doesn’t mean anything…. I’ll just get to know him as a friend and that’s it….”

          “Okay.”  Her disappointment had left a ringing in my ear, but I had to decide what I wanted, not tell her what she was hoping for.  “Well, I’ll see you when you get here then.”

          “Okay.  Bye.”

          “Bye.”  I hung up the phone, placing it back in my right pocket.

          When I had my three other bags of luggage, I had found my way back over to Louis.  The jerk I really didn’t want to deal with at the moment.  “Okay.  I’m ready go to now.”

          “Took you long enough.”  He snatched my luggage out of my hands and began to walk out of the building.  I hurried behind him so I wouldn’t get lost in the crowd.

We arrived at a small, black car.  I wasn’t big on cars so I couldn’t tell you what kind it was but it was nice and still looked brand new.  I bet he’s the kind of guy who would choose his car over a girl, I thought.

He dropped my luggage on the ground, kind of throwing them down.

I dropped my mouth with anger.  “Be careful with those they have some breakable things that are important to me.”

He looked at me and shook his head.  Even though his eyes were covered by those sunglasses I knew that he was shooting me a dirty look.  “Important….” He kind of laughed, snottily.  “Whatever.”  He unlocked the trunk to his small car and lifted the lid.  He picked up my luggage and tossed them into the trunk one by one, not even trying to be careful with the breakables.

I shook my head out of anger.  I went to reach for the black small, slim door knob of to the side which was facing me.

“What are you doing?” Louis asked as he closed the trunk and locked it.

“I’m getting into the car.”

“That’s the driver’s side…. The passenger side is on the right.”

I shot him a dirty look.  Of course, I forgot that cars were made differently in Europe than they were in America.  I walked around to the other side of the car and opened the door.  Could have been nicer about it, I thought as I climbed into the car, sliding down on the black leather seat.

Louis climbed into the driver seat and lightly closed the door.

I closed the door to the passenger side as well kind of slamming it.

“Don’t slam that door.”

“Too late.”

“Stupid damn American,” he muttered under his breath.

“Excuse me?” I asked, kind of ticked off and insulted.

“Nothing.”  He placed the key to the ignition and cranked the car.

The air conditioner had popped on and slowly cool air began to fill the little car.  It was quiet for a while.  A long, awkward silence had filled cool air.  Neither of us were willing to speak to the other.

The silence was starting to annoy me and we still had a few hours before we finally had stopped at our