Chapter Eight

We were at the airport.

Zach picked me up early in the morning, spoke to my family again, and tried to assure them that I will be back safe and sound. I listened in on his conversation with them, and I have to give it to him, he was good. He gave great arguments, was cool and collected, and it didn't hurt that he was actually my doctor.

I was standing in the crowd now, and looking at all the monitors, trying to read out all the places the planes took off to, trying to figure out where we were going, but Zach just kept saying that it's a surprise. Still, I was looking at all the flight lists, and still had no idea. So many cities. I narrowed it down to warm countries or islands, but that was as far as my investigation was progressing, when he began to urge me to move.

We passed all the controls and boarded on the plane. He found our seats, and began tucking in our bags, in the cabinets above us. Once he did that, he placed his cute ass, yes, I did check him out while he walked in front of me, next to me. Soon enough the stewardess started her safety instructions speech. It was at that moment I remembered that this was my first time flying, and that I was not indifferent about it, as I might have thought. I took a deep breath trying to calm myself down, and focused all my attention at her, trying to memorize every detail, but it wasn't working. Damn it, damn my missing piece of brain.

He noticed my nervousness, and touched my hand, "Don't worry, this is the safest way to travel, statistically," he grinned. His hand was so warm and soft, and felt good on mine. It calmed me down a bit, "Yeah, I know, it's just… The irony of it all if it did…"

"It's not going to. Now, how is it going with that boyfriend of yours?"

The question stunned me. How did he know about Michael?

"How do you know about him? And, apparently, he's not my boyfriend anymore. You know, coma and all. He's getting married in two weeks, actually," I sighed angrily.

He looked at the stewardess, but spoke to me, "He visited you every day for a couple of months, then he stopped coming….," he looked at me, "Life goes on."

"It went on for all of you, not for me. And I didn't have a choice in it. Wait, did you operate on me?"

"Yeah, I did. Your previous doctor, Doctor Jenkins, retired, so… I just continued where he left off." He smiled, except there was something different about his smile. I felt like there was more to it, like he was hiding something.

The previous doctor, Doctor Jenkins, who was my doctor for years and who suggested the operation in the first place, was a good one. He was old, but experienced. That's what they all told us. I went to sleep, looking at his face, and woke up with Zach's face. Even so, something was fishy. How can a doctor retire, in the middle of the operation? I didn't want to press on, so I let it go. And, at that moment I looked through the window and realized that we were already in the air, flying. I also realized his hand was still on mine, and I wasn't pressing on that matter also. I smiled.

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing. Just remembered something," I lied.

"You keep remembering things. That's good."

We both smiled. I leaned back and felt myself drift off to sleep. The treatment and these left of cancer cells were making me feel tired more often and without doing any big activity. I couldn't wait for the adventure to begin, but I also knew I needed to rest and charge my body with energy. I fell asleep with those thoughts.