by Ashley Lowe
Ali and I smooth talk a few local high school kids in front of the motel into letting us hitch a ride to the next major city. It turns out that we’ve been only twenty minutes from Montgomery, Alabama all night. Who knew? There’s no international airport there, but the one that’s there will do.
The kids, as friendly and nice as they are, are purely interested in getting to their destination. Thankfully, they let us ride in the back, though. For the most part they discuss what their plans are for their big, awesome weekend in the city. Oh, boy, are these boys sheltered. Before this trip began I would have laughed at the thought. At the moment, I’m pretty stoked that they’re on their way there.
I zone out—for the most part— for the duration of the trip to Montgomery. There’s a lot on my mind. I’ve always been weary of the unknown. I’ve never really been able to put myself in situations where I wasn’t in outright and complete control. This is definitely not a comfortable situation for me. This is totally Ali’s forte, though. She’s all about the unknown and getting into wild adventures. I’m pretty thankful for that, too.
Only one thing sets my mind at ease. That’s the fact that Ali is here with me all the way to the end. She’s right here by my side holding my hand. Honestly, that’s really all that matters to me anymore.
I still can’t help but ruminate on a few things despite the calm that Ali provides me. What is life going to be like when we get to where we’re going? Are we even going to make it to Tampa? What about living situations? What if something happens? What will we do for work and money and food? I guess, like everything else so far, we’ll have to figure that out when the time comes. I think I’ve gotten pretty good at thinking on my feet. The only problem is the apprehensions that come along with all the not-knowing. I should just shut my brain up. I wish it were that easy, at least.
The high school boys drop us off outside of Montgomery Regional Airport. Apparently, the airport was on their way to wherever they were going. I was too submersed in my own head to really pay attention and listen to what they had to say. Ali slips them a twenty and they’re on their way.
“Good luck,” she yells at their tail lights. I wonder what that was meant for.
As we walk into the ticketing area several members of the staff and some travelers eye us like we’re from a circus. Maybe it’s the hair? Maybe it’s the fact that we’re two ladies holding hands? Who knows what it is? In any case, I could not care less. Let them have their thoughts and whispers. I won’t let them bother me anymore.
“Fuck them,” Ali whispers to me. She’s my backbone. I wish I could be as amazing as she is. I’m working on it, though.
“Where are you headed?” the attendant at the counter asks us. I can tell she is curious about where we are coming from. Her eyes flicker across our faces, more towards our bumps and bruises than anything else. The bandages from the car accident had completely fallen to shambles, and they were packed with sweat and dirt, so we threw them away back at the motel. Ali’s eye is still kind of blackened, but the makeup pretty much covers it all up.
“Two tickets to Tampa,” I say in the most confident manner I could possibly muster. “I can do this,” I think to myself silently.
I’m trembling. I know what happens to people trying to take one way flights to other states. Those people get hassled. We don’t have anything illegal in our bags, but still. There’s always a risk that they’ll fuss over something. Isn’t that always the case? We’re no celebrities regardless of the chaos in our current lives. I’m afraid that they’re going to make a big deal out of something. I need to come up with a plan, like, yesterday.
My main fear is not getting out of Montgomery. I am trying to be strong against the gawking and murmuring, but I can’t get relaxed here. Ali gave me some great advice, but we are obviously not welcome and not accepted in Alabama. I honestly shouldn’t be surprised by that. What if this lady won’t give us the tickets to Florida? We need to get out of here. I need to get out of here. At least we’re not trying to get out of the country. That would be much worse. “Calm down, you can do this,” I repeat back to myself.
“Let me look some things up here. What do you girls do for a living? Are you from around here?” she asks us unassumingly as she worked on our request. I think she’s simply trying to make conversation. But, I still can’t help but feel like she’s meddling. Why does it have to be her business?
“We’re actresses,” Ali says, glancing over at me slyly. She completely avoids the last question the lady asked us.
“Smart move, Ali,” I think to myself as I look back at her. “She’s got this,” I think to myself. She’s so smooth; always so calm and collected. I try to feed off of Ali’s unwavering energy.
“We’re going back to finish some work on a film there,” I say as I nod in agreement. Ali picks up my hand. I do my best to make my eyes sparkle in the awful lighting above us. The attendant at the kiosk notices Ali’s flamboyant gesture and pulls a cute, pink triangle necklace from beneath her collared shirt. Could she have been any more obvious?
Her eyes glittered at Ali. This simple signal made my blood boil. The temperature in my hands and face had to have increased at least by ten degrees. My palms started to sweat and I felt like I was going to scream. She’s friendly, alright. She’s a little too friendly for my particular taste. Ali sees my fists clench, digging my nails into the skin of my palms. She touches my shoulder for reassurance. “Calm down,” I say to myself. I seem to be thinking that frequently these days, don’t I?
“Oh, nice! I don’t recognize you from anything. Should I?” the attendant asks us. Her gaze seems to lighten up at the thought of booking flights for two celebrities. Maybe she was just happy to see two other lesbians in Alabama. I honestly couldn’t tell the difference.
“We’re indie,” we both say at the same time. We chuckle in unison, holding our hands to our mouths. Ali winks and bats her eyelashes at me.
“Pinch, poke!” She says to me, pinching my right shoulder. “Looks like your buying drinks when we get inside.” I like how she can act so calm and still be so playful. Given past experiences, this is just Ali all over. I don’t think she’s acting at all right now.
The associate smirks at Ali’s silliness. “That’s probably why I don’t recognize your faces. I’m more of a mainstream movie-goer,” she says and pauses to take a moment to look at the screen. “Okay, ladies, I’ve found two tickets. There’s a layover in Atlanta. One way, or would you like to book a return trip, too?”
“I’m not too sure when the film will wrap up in Tampa. We better make it a one-way trip for now.” Ali leans in towards the attendant. “You know how this stuff works, I’m sure.” What a freaking flirt! I secretly want to punch her in the arm for being so frisky. But, then again, if it works in our favor, I’m all for it.
“Oh, of course!” the lady behind the counter says firmly. Out of the three of us, not one of us has any real idea what we’re talking about. “I just need to see some identification and a method of payment. This will be no problem. Here’s my card for when you get back in town. I can show you some really nice places around here for people like us.”
We’re sitting in the terminal, waiting for our departure to Atlanta when Ali puts her hand on my knee. “Guess what I don’t see?” she asks me, looking around us.
“A Starbucks? A bar? There are a million things I can think of, Ali,” I say sipping down some of my nice, cold water.
“Those, too. But we haven’t been spotted yet. Think they’re still looking for us?” she asks me disinterestedly as she screws on the lid to her water jug. She has to understand that they will be looking for us. Tom would never give up that easily. Would he?
“Probably. I highly doubt they’ll be able to notice us anymore, though.” I laugh and rub my palm playfully over her five o’clock shadow of a hairdo.
Ali is just as beautiful as ever. If anything, she’s more stunning now because I can actually see her face. There’s nothing keeping me from looking at e
very angle of her jaw line and nose anymore. Her mop of hair was always sliding from behind one of her ears or the other. I have to admit. It’s great from my vantage point. She emits an aura of pure radiance. There’s more sparkle in her glow now.
“True that, sister! A toast to our new identities!” she says to me after pushing my hand away from her head. She raises her water bottle just above her shoulders.
“To our new identities and our new life,” I say back. We smash our water jugs together and chuckle as the crew for the flight starts to file down the stairs and out onto the tarmac.
“Ready or not, here we come!” Ali yells out in excitement as we watch through the window across from our seats. She stands up and pulls her backpack over one should and takes my hand. “I love you, Val.”
“I love you, too, Ali.”
Shortly after the crew members take their places aboard the aircraft, the intercom rings out, “Now boarding Delta flight to Atlanta.” The attendant at the kiosk repeats herself a few times and we descend down the stairs after the aircrew.
“Florida, here we come,” I say out loud to no one in particular.
CHAPTER 17
Atlanta has a Holding Tank?
