24. Bastian

BASTIAN

I saw Sterling sitting in the waiting area at the gate, wearing his designer sunglasses and thumbing his phone so fast he couldn’t possibly be taking in any of the screens he flicked through.

I knew I couldn’t ignore him.

I knew I’d look like a fool if I pretended we weren’t on the same flight.

Besides, he had my ticket, assuming he hadn’t asked for a refund, which, knowing Sterling, was far from likely. Sterling believed refunds were for scavengers and said they were beneath him. More to the point, he just couldn’t be bothered going through the hassle of asking for one, something that didn’t faze him in the least given his father was one of the richest men in Chicago.

Taking a deep breath, I sat myself down in the empty seat next to him.

Sterling turned, lifted his sunglasses—enough so I could see his red, teary eyes—then lowered them again and muttered, “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

“I assure you, I’m not. And I’m not here to get back together with you. I just need to get out of here.”

“At last, you and I finally have something in common. What happened to Mulligan’s Mill? I thought you were ready to die on that hill.”

“I did too. Maybe Benji’s not done being angry with me.”

“Or maybe you’re just not done running. For someone who’s been through cancer, you’re very good at it, you know. The whole running thing. It must be exhausting being you.”

He wasn’t wrong.

At all.

I changed the subject. “Do you have a ticket for me on this flight? You said you had a ticket for me. If you don’t, that’s okay, I’ll buy myself a new one.”

“Of course I’ve got a ticket for you. You know how much I hate applying for refunds. I was looking forward to the extra room, having an empty seat next to me. But I suppose having you beside me will be a good therapy session.”

“In what way.”

“We can pretend to be complete strangers. Like we never met. That’s probably the way it should have been in the first place. Although…” Only then did Sterling bother to notice my YMCA Elves sweater, wincing in revulsion like he just bit into a lemon. “Must you sit next to me wearing that?”

“You’re the one who raided my entire suitcase the second you arrived. This is pretty much all I have left. Not that I mind,” I admitted.

“No, I don’t suppose you do.” Something caught his attention and he pointed through the floor to ceiling glass windows to the plane pulling up at the gate. “Oh look, there’s our flight. Not long now before I can put all of this behind me. And that includes you.”

Sterling twisted in his chair, turning his back to me as he returned to scrolling through his phone.