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I slip my feet into my soft slipper shoes and direct my attention back to him as I position my bag on my shoulder. “Sure. I can get it, though."
Leo shakes his head at me as we begin to walk together toward our terminal. "I got it."
There's a small coffee shop just across the hall and I see all the people we're flying with standing off to the side. Leo nods his head at them all in acknowledgement as he walks past and goes over to the small stand. I stare after him for a second and then go over to where everyone is.
"Good morning, Ari," Alanna says to me with a bright smile. "Are you ready to go to Germany?"
I smile back and nod at her. "I am," I admit. "I think I'm more excited to fall asleep on the plane, though."
She laughs quietly. "Not me. I don't do well with jet lag, so I want to be able to go to sleep at a decent time there tonight."
I laugh with her. "Well, thankfully we have a few days to acclimate."
Any time we traveled into a different time zone, we always flew a few days before any of the competitions so we could adjust. It’s a lot of stress on the body to have a significant time difference and to still be able to perform without being exhausted. Going early also gives us the time to get used to the arena we will be skating in and to get used to the ice. Even though it is a frozen surface with an entire cooling system, conditions still vary from one rink to the other. The extra practice is always welcomed too.
"Are you guys ready to head to our gate?" Coach Kincaid asks everyone. They all speak in unison and I involuntarily yawn. "The plane starts boarding soon, I think."
I nod and everyone starts heading in the same direction down the hall. I begin to walk over to the coffee shop and see Leo turning to face me with both of our drinks and a brown paper bag with the shop's logo on it. I stop a few feet away from him and he hands me the bag when he reaches me.
"What's this?" I ask him as I start to open it and look inside. There's a chocolate croissant and a cheese Danish.
He shrugs and looks down the hall where everyone went. "I got you some pastries."
"Thank you," I say softly, as I lift my gaze from the bag. He isn't even standing in front of me anymore. I look and see him a few feet from me, walking toward our gate. I half roll my eyes and let out a huff as I close the bag and shuffle after him.
I'm not far behind him, but I don't bother trying to catch up to him right away. He reaches the gate first and sits at the end of the group in a seat that's facing the window. I walk over to the window and look outside. Our plane is already out there and they're getting it ready for us to begin boarding.
Leo appears beside me, handing me the warm drink he bought me. "Here," he says quietly as my hands wrap around the cup. My fingers brush against his and he inhales sharply at the contact. His hand abruptly leaves the cup and I fumble with it, putting my other hand beneath it in an effort to prevent it from falling onto the floor.
I look over at Leo and he's staring back out the window. His jaw tenses and I leave him standing there as I walk back over to our group and sit down.
This is going to be one hell of an exhausting trip.
We all sit and wait until they begin boarding our plane. Leo hasn't moved from where he's standing by the window and I make no attempt to walk over to him. If he wants to be a grouch this morning, then he can enjoy his own company. I have no desire to interact with him until he's in a better mood.
Maybe he didn't get enough sleep and after we get in the air, he can get a nap in and be in a better mood when we touch down in Germany. I've never really seen Leo like this in the morning, so I can't tell if this is normal for him or not.
The girl by the counter at our gate finally calls our seating group and we all head over to the line to board the plane. I fall in step behind Alanna and end up being in the middle of the pack. Glancing over my shoulder, I see Leo still standing by the window. I swear to all things holy, if this man does not get on this plane, we are going to have some serious problems.
Like me having to hide a body kind of problems.
"Don't worry about him," Luca says to me quietly as he notices me watching Leo. "He's not a big fan of flying, but he'll get on the plane. He might be an idiot, but he's not that much of an idiot."
The line begins to shift and I start to move forward before I get the chance to say anything in response to Luca. I play over his words in my head as I show my boarding pass to the woman and she scans it before motioning for me to keep walking. Perhaps I wasn't giving Leo the benefit of the doubt like I should have.
This whole time I thought he was just being a grump because it was too early for him. Not once did I consider the fact that he was feeling anxious about the flight. If he doesn't like flying, that would make complete sense. I know when I'm feeling anxious, I tend to get snippy with people and become extremely irritable.
Maybe this is just how Leo is dealing with the anxiety he has about flying. It’s a common fear. I guess there really is a lot about Leo that I don't know.
We head down the tunnel to the plane and one by one, we step onto the aircraft and find our seats. I wasn't able to get a seat with Eva and Alanna since the flight booking system just randomly selected a seat for me when I booked my ticket.
Looking down at my ticket, I see that the row I am in is closer to the back of the aircraft. The line is moving slowly and it takes a solid ten minutes before I reach my row. I had to wait for everyone to get their carry-on bags into the overhead bins. It’s like trying to play Tetris with the way everyone has their bags shoved in there.
There’s one person sitting in my row when I reach it. It’s an older woman who is in the seat that is along the aisle. I got lucky and my seat is the one next to the window. The woman smiles as she stands up for a moment and lets me scoot past her.
As I sit down, she turns to face me. “I hope there’s no one in the middle seat,” she says in a hushed voice. “I like having the extra space.”
“So do I,” I agree with her while giving her a small smile as I pull my headphones from my personal bag. “I plan on getting some sleep, so I’m not too worried if we end up with another person.”
