There was silence, followed by the sound of cars whizzing David him and the ambiance of quiet fading out of his existence. He felt like his conscious state of mind was conveyed from another place, but it gave him something of a headache to think about.
"Hey?" David asked, pronouncing his words rather loudly towards the car's touchscreen. "Hello? Are you there?"
Kaylon regained his composure, then his voice swiftly returned through the speakers. "Yeah, I'm here. Sorry, I spaced out."
"It's fine. Where are you right now?"
"Umm, I'm getting my bags. Seems like all of my stuff isn't here yet so might be a few minutes."
"Ok." Exiting the interstate, David took a right turn and onto a road that headed towards Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. "I'm on my way now. I'll see you at the terminal, ok?"
"Where do I go exactly?"
"I'm not sure. Which terminal are you again?"
"I dunno. I think it's number three."
"Are you sure?"
A second of silence passed, followed by static-like noises on the receiving end of the phone. "Sorry, it's two."
"Ok, got it. There should be a parking lot near, so should I meet you at the entrance?"
"Yeah, I'm down with it" Kaylon replied, distinctly. Audibly, it seemed like he was on the move, but it was difficult to determine. "See you soon, man."
"Yep."
David ended the call quickly, then transitioned his attention span towards the road. He continued on, passing by unloading zones and then taking a curve to the parking lot. Most of the spots were taken by cars, obviously. Looking around for a fleeting moment, some were a collection of sedans and crossovers, but there were also some of the periodic trucks and minivans. Some were newer, some were not. It didn't matter to him, either way, because he was just interested and nothing else.
As he pussyfooted the vehicle down a section of cars to find a perfect spot to park and rendezvous, he unsuccessfully went to the next section. Within that row, he nearly missed the perfect fit but he somehow he managed to get in before someone else took it. David clasped his right hand on the transmission and shifted it into park. Then, he twisted the keys out of the ignition switch and put them in his pocket, unbuckled and opened the door circumspectly. He took his phone from the cupholder before closing the door and finally walking towards the crosswalk.
The weather was certainly not warm, but it wasn't freezing either. It was a borderline chilly forecast. David was wearing a light jacket over a T-shirt, a pair of Wranglers and his regular set of New Balances and walked down the section. He traveled across warily, sneaking a couple looks at both sides to make sure he wasn't intimidated by buses and the bare expanse of dual tarmacadam. More wind came caressing his right cheek and the cold, dry surface of his hands, moreover than the denim fabric of his jeans. He stopped at the terminal entrance, in front of the eighth door, and pulled out his smartphone. He shot a quick text to Kaylon.
"Where are you, Kaylon?" He typed, pressing the send button with tolerable pressure from his thumb. He then slipped the phone right into his pocket and patiently waited for a reply.
After a few seconds, the phone rattled around in the free-formed enclosure of the right hand pocket, tickling the skin of his left leg. He casually glided the phone out of his jeans and examined the text.
"i'll wave How's that" Kaylon replied.
David chuckled a bit then replied. "That's fine."
He took in a deep breath, slid his phone into his pocket and stepped in the door. It was at least not as crowded as he first thought, but he felt a little awkward looking around for his friend. The whole terminal was a little crowded.
The baggage claims were the only area most people were at. They huddled around the luminous bonfire, waiting for their belongings to come around the corner. There was the occasional siren for new arrivals. While there, a young man began to walk towards David with his luggage. It was, for sure, Kaylon. David started to walk briskly towards the familiar figure, who grinned cheek-to-cheek.
"Hey!" Kaylon shouted at him.
It seemed that both had the appearance of pleasure and content when they faced each other. Within arms reach, the former was the first one to outstretch his arms, while the latter didn't requite that fast. Within hair's breadth, they embraced warmly and Kaylon buried part of his face onto David's shoulder. David just stood there with his arms around someone else.
As they uncoupled, Kaylon let out a sigh. Now facing other, the latter had his head tilted in a way that appeared three degrees off point zero. "God, it's been so long! How have you been doing?"
"Uh, good," David replied, correcting his position, "How about you?"
"Awesome! I was able to get the money for tickets, after a year or so. And I feel much, much better than last time."
Dave chuckled, afterwards beginning to tea. "Wait, you definitely sound a lot more... gay than I remembered. You gay, bro?"
Kaylon rebuffed him, but not without smiling. "Seriously? You need to work on your humor, man. That shit was terrible."
A chuckle from David. "Yeah, I know. I'm just messing around with you."
"But seriously, that wasn't funny."
"Ok, sorry then. Should we get going, then?"
"Sure."
"Ok then."
—
The duo escaped the rather small terminal and into the outside world, through door eight as well. At this time, David began to observe Kaylon, as he hadn't seen him since high school graduation four and a half years ago.
He was still about the same height as Kaylon, if not a bit smaller than him. In comparison to physique, Kaylon appeared to be built slimmer and with endurance while David's build was more muscle-oriented. Kaylon's straight light brown hair was about chin-length versus the short hair from high school. By contrast, David still kept the short hair from middle school.
"Where's the car?" Kaylon asked.
"It's just across the street." David replied.
"Aight."
David also noticed the wheeled luggage that Kaylon had. "Do you want me to get that for you?"
"Nah. I'm fine."
And then the duo started to walk from the entrance towards David's SUV, parked in the parking lot. The rolling of Kaylon's luggage was clearly audible within its auditory range, which both of them were in. In order to keep the other person captivated, Kaylon started to talk.
"So, while I was on the plane ride here, I remembered this weird memory that happened back in middle school." Kaylon expressed, "Do you want to hear it?"
"Sure. Speak your heart out."
Kaylon began to talk, becoming more and more carried away than more he rambled on. "So, back then, I used to stay up on some days because I was either bored or something or I was on the phone, which was rare in my opinion but I did use it more and more. I did sleep in during school, so..."
"Oh, I did see you doing that a couple times.."
"So this one time, it was Friday and that usually meant that I could stay up until whenever I wanted, so I watched YouTube for the past two hours or so because I was, again, bored. Then I started to get thirsty, so I went downstairs to get water but I notI went to go check it out and I found the bedroom door slightly open. And there was moaning and some gruntin-"
David was surprised, already captivated by the story. "Wait, wait, wait. Are you saying you saw parents having sex?"
"Absolutely! " Kaylon started to giggle and David was already laughing in disbelief.
"No way!" David replied, "Did they even know that you were there?"
"No, man! I even forgot to tell them when I remembered this."
"I don't believe that, man. How do you just walk in and stare at possibly the weirdest thing ever besides ?"
"I know, right? I didn't even see a condom on."
"Goddamn...."
"So that's pretty much it. Any questions?"
"No. I think I'm good."
At this point, they had already crossed the road and already entered the parking lot where David's car was. They were walking up the sections of varied cars, like the variety dozen of storebrand donuts from Fry's, and they then took a left to the section that his car was in. Everything seemed normal then.
Until Kaylon heard the suppressed echo of a footstep some ways behind the duo. Tilting his head just enough to the left to avoid being detected by whatever was behind them. Rapidly, he turned his head enough to see what was behind them. It was... a woman? He turned back his head in a straight position and talked to David.
"david.." He whispered, "there's someone behind us."
Not seeing the problem but suspecting something to be wrong, David reacted in a whisper. "there's someone behind us?"
"yes. it's a woman."
"what should we do?"
"keep walking. if she gets closer to us, then walk faster or run towards the car."
Suddenly, the woman walking behind them began to walk faster towards them. Kaylon and David could hear this and started to walk faster than her, towards the latter's SUV.
"H.. Hey, wait up!" She speaks out towards them, in desperation.
The duo then stopped progressing and turned around, both on the right foot. From some distance behind them, a young woman was standing before them. She had shoulder-length red hair that had a scruffled look to it, along with a beanie covering most of her head. She was wearing a light jacket over a vintage T-shirt and a pair of jeans. She also had a wheeled luggage similar to Kaylon's, but it was a different brand.
David was just staring at her, nonplussed at her perceptible beauty and looks. Kaylon, looking at him, smirked at his reaction.
"Hey." Kaylon called.
"What?" David said.
"Looks like you have a thing for redheads." He spoke softly to David, noting his focus.
David was a little frustrated by Kaylon's childish nature. "shut up."
She began to talk once more, in a more serious and sound tone than her previous vulnerability. "Are you guys Kaylon and David?"
After a few seconds, they looked at each other with concern. Then David looked towards her.
"Yes."
ns 15.158.61.6da2
