Page 26 of Jalen & Colby

He’s vanished into the other room by the time I regain my senses.

Damn.

Being called ‘Daddy’ feltexactlyas amazing as I hoped it would.

CHAPTER11

Colby

I’ve never leftthe continent before.

The only reason I already have a passport was because I’ve flown over to Auckland a couple of times to visit my mum’s sister. But it’s really sinking in as I rub my fingers against the armrests of my seat that I’m actually going to Europe.

I can’t decide if I’m terrified or ecstatic.

Taking a few deep breaths, I remind myself that it’s going to be fine because Andreas is in charge, and he’ll take care of everything. We’re going back to his home country, so he’ll know how to do everything. If I was traveling by myself, I’d be worried sick about using the wrong money or saying the wrong thing. But he’ll make sure I don’t do any of that.

Jalen asked if we could all wear our ugly Christmas jumpers for the flight, and Andreas enthusiastically agreed. He stressed several times to us how cold it can get on the plane, especially when you’re trying to sleep, and how crappy the weather is going to be when we land in London.

In fact, he apologized several times in advance for how cold, wet, and especiallygrayit’s going to be when we get there. I surprised myself by firmly reminding him that I’m so excited to be doing something so different and completely out of my comfort zone that the whole point is to have unusual weather. He chilled out after that.

The other thing he apologized for was ‘only’ being able to get us business class seats because first class were all sold out. But that still gave us access to the fancy lounge with all the free food and drink, and now that we’re on the plane the seats are so big and comfy, and the staff are already being so nice to us—bringing us hot towels to freshen up our hands and faces as well as complimentary drinks before the plane has even taken off.

This is incredible. I feel so…special. The nice lady serving our area smiles at me every time she passes and calls me ‘hun’ whenever she gives me anything. Jalen is bouncing in his seat, and Andreas…

Well, he just keeps beaming at me and my best friend like he’s won the lottery. I don’t get it and I hate when the doubt starts creeping in. Because I know I’m nothing special. I’m pretty certain I’m not a bad person like my family tried to make me believe. Jalen has drilled that into me. But I’m not the kind of person who gets swept off their feet in crazy, romantic gestures.

No. I’m here because of Jalen, and that’s more than fine. I wouldn’t want to be sharing this experience with anyone else in the whole world.

“Are you okay?” Andreas asks, reaching between the partitions to slip his hand over mine.

We’re in the middle set of three seats, but his is facing backward while mine and Jalen’s are facing forward. It means we all have some privacy, but I can still see them if I try. Plus, apparently, there’s a messaging system you can use between seats via the interactive screen in front of me, so if I really need to talk to Jalen privately, I can. Not that I feel like I have things I want to keep from Andreas, but he’ll probably fall asleep, and I can see Jalen being hyper and awake the entire time.

“I’m great,” I answer truthfully. “This is like something out of a dream.”

Andreas laughs and rubs his thumb against the back of my hand. It’s such a small thing, but it feels enormous to me. He’s just being nice, I’m sure. But it makes me feel so squirmy inside.

“You’re probably not going to feel that way after seven hours, but I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself now.”

I frown, not quite remembering what he said before. “Is it only seven hours to London?”

“No, hun,” he says kindly. “That’ll take us to Singapore. When we get there, we’ll all get off the plane for about an hour to stretch our legs while they refuel. Then it’s another thirteen hours to Heathrow.”

“And that’s the London airport?”

“One of them,” he says. “The biggest in London—actually—it’s the biggest in all of Europe, if I remember correctly.”

I bite my lip. “Oh,” I say, immediately worrying about getting lost. But he shakes his head.

“We’ll probably only see a bit of one terminal, so it won’t seem so massive, I promise.”

I let out a breath. “Okay, then. Sorry, I know I worry a lot.”

He links our fingers together. I love it when he does that. “Worry as much as you need to,” he says, which surprises me. Jalen is amazing, but he always just tells me not to worry, which I don’t know how to do.

“Really?”

He chuckles. “It’s natural to worry about unknown situations. Just promise me you’ll always ask me any questions you have or run any concerns by me.”

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