Wolf Dream by M.R. Polish Page B

something to her as she and Jarak walked ahead of us.
    It didn’t take long to get through the ticket check. Ian carried my carry -on through the long tunnel to the plane just like last time. I noticed Jarak was unusually quiet since we arrived in Frisco and watched him while we waited to board the plane. He thrummed his fingers on his leg impatiently and kept shifting his weight.
    I leaned closer to ward Ian to whisper, “Have you noticed anything strange about Jarak?”
    Ian leaned back. “It’s Jarak. What’s not strange?”
    I let out a long growling sigh. “You know what I mean. He’s acting weird, not himself. He hasn’t spoken two words since we got here.”
    The line moved so we moved with it. Ian shifted our bags to rest more comfortably on his shoulder. “Yea h, I guess he has been pretty quiet. I’ll try and talk to him in a bit. See what’s up.”
    I linked my arm with his and reached up to kiss his cheek. “Thanks.”
    “Eww. You know we’re back here, right? We can see that.”
    I stuck my tongue out at Lauren over my shoulder. “You guys are just jealous.”
    “Oh yes, jealous. Please spare me. I’ve had Ian… ouch!”
    I spun around and saw Lauren rubbing her side and frowning at Ailaina. “Why’d you elbow me?”
    Ailaina shrugged. I gave her a thank you smile and we started walking again. This time we almost made it inside the massive double decker plane.
    Lauren might have had fun with Ian a long time ago , but now he had me. I needed to not let that bother me. Now was not the time to be jealous. I needed everyone on my side that I could get. That was the only reason I tolerated snooty-pants Julie.
    Finally we stepped inside the plane. I could hear the engines winding up , making it much louder than the last one we were on. A blonde flight attendant took our tickets and redirected us to the stairs on the left just around by the plane’s galley.
    I stopped in mid -stride. “Really?”
    She looked back at the tickets then handed them back with a smile. “Yes.”
    I followed Ian up the stairs, keeping a grip on the tail of his shirt all the way up. “Wow, this is so cool. At least Julie did something good. I was worried when we let her be in charge of getting our tickets.”
    We reached the top of the deck and Jarak grabbed Ian, pulling him off to the side. He leaned in close to Ian’s face and talked in a hushed whisper. Jarak glanced up and his eyes caught mine for a split second, but it was all I needed to see what remained of my friend before they turned back to ice.
    I let my shoulders fall as I walked forward. I lifted my ticket to see wh ich seat was mine. I was directly on the right in K-17. I slipped into the soft power seat and stared out the window. It felt strange to be rear facing, and I wasn’t too sure I was going to like it.
    I leaned forward to see around the corner where Ian and Jarak were , but all I could see was the back of Ian’s shirt. Sitting up a little higher, I twisted to look for Ailaina. She smiled and waved at me from across the aisle. At least Lauren and her had a forward-facing seat. I was so happy that she made such good friends with Lauren – it didn’t make me feel so bad for wanting to sit with Ian the whole time. I didn’t look for Julie. I didn’t care where she was.
    Other passengers helped fill in the remaining fourteen seats of the upper deck. Mainly older couples who looked sweet still holding hands in their old age, and a couple business-type men, who seemed more intent working on their handheld devices or reading paperwork that spilled out from their briefcases than they did the actual world around them. I hoped they remembered electronic gadgets like phones and iPads were not allowed on during flight. I really didn’t want to fall from the sky just because they couldn’t stop working. I knew it was a long shot that something like that could happen, but I was terrified enough that I didn’t need to add to my imagination or