10. Chapter Ten
Chapter Ten
Hudson
Today is the worst day of my life.
Maybe.
Not really.
I think I’ve had worse, but today is shaping up to be pretty damn close. Top three easily.
Routine is key for me, and I was well aware that being on vacation would mess that up, but still, I tried my best to stick to a routine as best I could to prevent mishaps like this.
Which is why I don’t know how the hell I woke up late, and had to rush around like a chicken with its head cut off. This isn’t just a simple you overslept and you’ll get there late. No, this was a you overslept and now you’re going to miss your flight to get home to your comfort place .
Not to mention potentially making Trey late, too. Thankfully, he showed up at my door instead of waiting for me downstairs. I appreciate his thoughtfulness. He even brought me food and coffee, which helped, since I didn’t have time to make coffee before I hopped in the shower.
Riding to the airport with Trey is better than taking an Uber. The last driver I had wouldn’t stop talking, and I tried my best not to be rude, but I had no interest in what the guy’s plans were for the weekend, and he didn’t get the hint that I didn’t want to hear about it.
At least with Trey, the ride is quiet, outside of the radio and him asking a random question now and then.
“Oh, wow, look at that.” He points ahead of us, and I look through the windshield to see exactly what he’s talking about.
“We can fly through clouds,” I say, though I won’t lie—the grey haze spikes my anxiety a little. Looks like an oncoming storm.
“I know that, but they’re pretty dark.”
“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” I say.
“Yeah, of course it will be,” he adds confidently.
I shift in my seat and close my eyes, telling myself the plane ride home will be fine, despite the dark clouds that loom ahead.
Trey navigates through the traffic and into the rental drop-off area. We take our things and walk across the garage to the entrance, toward our gates.
Coincidentally, we’re on the same airline, so we’ll be able to sit near one another until I have to board, since my flight leaves first.
Both of us take out our phones as we make our way to the TSA lines. The woman standing by the entrance checks Trey’s ticket and waves him through, so he moves on ahead. She looks at mine and raises her hand to wave me through, but pauses.
“Let me see this,” she says, taking my phone and looking at it closer. “Sir, you’re at the wrong airport.”
“I—what? That’s impossible.”
She frowns, handing me my phone back. The line is filling up behind me, and I’m starting to sweat. “You’re at JFK. This ticket is for Newark.”
“That’s not even in New York,” I argue, taking my phone back to see what she’s looking at. I can’t possibly have done that.
She shrugs and waves to the person behind me to move forward.
I step aside, staring at my phone with my mouth wide open.
How the hell did I do this? How did I mess this up?
With trembling fingers, I go through my email to look at my confirmation email.
“Newark,” I whisper.
“Everything okay?” Trey asks.
I look at him with tears welling in my eyes, but push it away.
“I, uh… booked for the wrong airport.”
“What? Are you sure?”
He comes back to me, leaving the line, and takes my phone.
“Shit,” he hisses, then he looks up at me, recognition hitting him. “It’s fine. We can figure this out.”
“I won’t make it to Newark in time for my flight.”
“So, you can reschedule it. It’s not a big deal, Hudson. We can totally figure this out.” He holds up his own phone. “My flight was delayed anyway, so I have time to help you.”
“Trey—”
“It’s fine, Huds. Really. Come on. We’ve got this.”
I follow after him with no idea where he’s going, until he reaches the line for the rental cars.
“Just rent a car and drive over to Newark. It’s no big deal. You don’t have work tomorrow, right?”
“No, but I… I, uh, planned to be home at a certain time, and—”
“You have a cat or something?”
“No, I just… never mind.”
I go through the process of renting a car in a fog. I couldn’t tell you what kind it is or how much it was. After the car is rented, we go to the benches to sit.
“Just breathe, Huds. You got the car. Hard part is over.”
“I need to reschedule my flight,” I say, but make no move to do so.
“Let me help you.”
He holds his hand out for my phone, and I give it to him. I’m panicking silently. I can’t focus. I can’t do this.
“I need an aisle seat,” I say.
He does whatever he needs to do on my phone to get to the flights. He navigates through it like it’s his phone, and he knows where everything is.
“There is a flight leaving at 6:17 tonight. Plenty of time to get there. Want me to book it?”
“Please.” I lean forward, putting my head between my knees to breathe.
This isn’t that serious. I’m going to get home later, but it’s not the end of the world. It’s still the same day, just a few hours difference. Totally fine. No big deal, just like Trey said. It’ll get handled. I’ll figure it out.
“Here, all set.” He offers me my phone, and I shove it into my pocket.
“I can’t believe I did this.”
“Mistakes happen, Huds.”
“But this is a huge mistake. I just don’t understand how I messed this up so badly.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself.”
I sigh, leaning back in the seat.
“When does your flight leave?” I ask.
“They added an hour to it. It’ll likely get delayed again, though. I feel like that’s what happens… if it gets delayed once, it’ll get delayed again.”
“That sucks.”
“Eh… I’m used to it.” He gets to his feet. “Well, you should probably go, yeah? It’s a bit of a drive, and who knows if there will be traffic.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
I get up and grab my things, feeling absolutely defeated by this day, but I have to move on… I have to keep going until I’m home.
“Okay, so… yeah. I’ll see you around, I guess?” Trey says when we reach the hallway I need to take to get back to the garage.
“Yeah… maybe we should, uh, hang out again soon? If you’re ever in my area, since you travel often?”
There’s a goofy smile on his face. “Yeah, that would be great. Don’t be a stranger, okay? Text me.”
“I will.”
He gives me his back and takes two steps before I call his name.
“Trey!”
He looks over his shoulder at me, raising a brow. I walk to him and throw my arms around him. “Thank you.”
“Oh, uh…” He laughs, hugging me back. “No problem.”
He relaxes into me, and I hold on to him for far too long.
Trey has always been someone that I was comfortable with, and not having seen him for so long, I wasn’t sure it would be the same.
But despite the anxiety I had over this weekend, Trey was still a comfort for me.
He was a support. Even if he doesn’t know it.
I don’t want to have the conversation with him and explain it all, so this is the least I can do.
Try to let him know in other ways that I appreciate him as a friend.
“Text me,” he says firmly before stepping away and heading back to TSA.
I stare at him as he goes, and he doesn’t look back even once.
But his shoulders are hunched and he’s walking quickly.
I don’t think it’s because he wants to get away from me, but maybe he’s stopping himself from turning around?
But why?
I didn’t think this day could get any worse, but hey… it did.
The rental car is small, but it fits me and my things in it.
I only need it for a couple hours, so it’ll be fine, but it’s not ideal.
I am not a small man, and the least I could be is comfortable while I drive.
Not in this. The problem is the rain has started and the alert I just heard on the radio is about the storm that I’ll be driving into any minute.
I consider stopping and waiting it out, but it’s supposed to last a while, and I don’t have time to wait. I need to catch this flight to get home. I need to go home.
The rain picks up the further I drive. Everyone on the highway is going no more than twenty. I can’t see more than five feet in front of me, and all I have to go by are the damn taillights ahead of me, because I can’t see the ground.
I’m white-knuckling the steering wheel, the wipers are on high, the radio is off because I don’t need any more bad news, and I am in full-focus mode. I keep going though, because I just want to get there and be done with this day. I want to be home, in my bed.
But then the unthinkable happens because of course, why not throw some more shit onto my shit mountain?
There’s a dull pop, the car swerves, and steering it becomes difficult. The screen behind the wheel has a flashing tire on the little picture of the car, and I am certain I won’t make it through the rest of this day.
I pull over slowly, merging into the breakdown lane, my chest aching.
I put the car in park and just sit, trying to breathe, but I fucking can’t.
I can’t breathe, and I don’t know what to do.
I know how to change a tire, but I can’t change a tire right now—not in this rain and not in this mental state—if this go-cart even has a spare to begin with.
I take deep, shuddering breaths and release them slowly, but each one gets harder to pull in. With shaky hands, I reach for my phone, needing something to distract me before I go into full-blown panic mode. It hasn’t happened in a long time, and I really don’t want it to happen right here.
I need something…
I need—
I tap on Trey’s contact and press the call button.
“Hey, Huds. You make it already?”
I grit my teeth, wanting to speak, but nothing comes out.
“Hello?” he says. This time I open my mouth, but no sound comes out. “Helloooo?”
I might be having a heart attack, my chest hurts so badly.
He ends the call, and I don’t blame him for that. I squeeze the phone in my palm and bang my head on the steering wheel.
Why can’t you just fucking speak, Hudson?!
My phone vibrates, shocking me for just a moment. I glance at the screen.
Trey.
I swipe it to answer and put it on speaker.
“Hello? Are you okay?” he sounds concerned now.
And finally, I’m able to respond.
“No.”
“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” The panic in his voice is evident; there’s no denying I’ve worried him. That wasn’t my intention, I just need someone to talk to, someone to distract me from going over the edge. Normally I’d call my mom, but Trey… “Hudson, tell me what is wrong.”
“I… I just…” A choked sound leaves me, and I take in a ragged breath. “Panic attack.”
“Fuck. Shit. Okay. Just breathe, okay.” I hear him getting up and shuffling around. I rest my head on the wheel again, the rain drowning out the sounds around me. I focus on breathing, the way I know I need to, while I listen to him mumble to himself. “What can I do? How can I help?”
“Just… talk,” I say.
“Uh, okay. Um, shit. The airport is really fucking busy, and there was this guy across from me that was definitely cheating on someone . You ever seen those videos of people finding cheaters and then blasting them all over the internet? It’s actually kind of funny.
I thought about doing that, but I didn’t really want to get in the guy’s business, so I just let it go.
But I heard him get off the phone with someone, and the conversation felt very partner-y , and there was even an ‘I love you’ at the end.
Then he gets a call from someone else, and the conversation was definitely flirty, and he mentioned meeting at a hotel in a tone that told me it wasn’t for work. ”
“You’re so nosy,” I say with a laugh.
“Some things never change, Huds. Where are you? What’s going on?”
“Got caught in the storm. My tire blew. I’m on the side of the highway in a torrential downpour.”
“Fuck,” he hisses.
“I can’t… I just can’t… do this right now. Sometimes I—”
“You don’t have to explain it to me, Huds. Not right now. Just focus on yourself, okay.”
I let out a shaky breath, closing my eyes as I try to focus on the sound of his voice, but it’s difficult. My heart is racing, my skin is too hot, and there’s a weird smell coming from the vents that I can’t be certain was or wasn’t there before…
“Where are you?” he asks firmly.
“Don’t know.”
“Send me your location.”
“What? Why?”
“Just do it!”
I stare at my phone, confused for all of two seconds before I realize what’s happening.
“You can’t come here, Trey.”
“Like hell I can’t. You need help. I’m not far. Send me your location, Hudson. Don’t make this difficult for me because I’m leaving this airport whether you like it or not.”
A tear strolls down my face as I send the text to him with my pinpointed location.