Always

"Well, here goes nothing." I say to myself as I stare out the small, round, and half frozen airplane window. I wasn't planning on ever coming back here. I moved out quickly and saw as much of the world as possible after turning freshly 18. Now, returning here after all this time, I can't believe it's been 7 years. 25 years old with a degree in hand and a lot of nothing to show for it. I guess besides my worldly experiences and best friend Desire who would follow me to the ends of the Earth as I would her. No, nothing weird, or romantic. She is just my person, my family, and the one person in this world I can always rely on. I have learned to rely on me and only me for so long that even letting her into my bubble of solitude was rough. She really fought for our friendship and loves me even when I wasn't so lovable. It's rare to find a friend like that.

"Holy buh-jeez-urs, are we finally here?" Desire says sleepily as she finger Combs her hair and tries her best not to look like she just had the worst sleep of her life. 30 plus hours of traveling will do that to a person. Once you're at a destination for a while it's great, but the traveling to and from can be the worst. Especially on our economy class budget.

"Yeah we just landed." I say almost sighing in the process.

"Oh chin up buttercup, you get to see your family and show me around Oregon. It's beautiful. Look at the mountains. Breath the fresh Central Oregon air." She says very theatrically trying to get me to crack a smile.

It works and I hate that no matter what mood I'm in she knows the trick to get me out of my own funk. "Haha, very funny. I know, I know. I'm trying not to be a negative Nancy. I'm just... I don't know... Nervous to see family who don't understand me, who don't get why I even went to college, who haven't traveled out of little ol' Prinetucky."

"Ok, ok, I get it. I really do. But look on the bright side. I'm here to suffer this horribly beautiful state with you. I will be here every step of the way, like always, and it's a fresh start to a new life." We always say that to each other every new place we go. If one of us feels uneasy or unsure. It's a fresh start to a new life. Kind of like a new place, new me, everytime we moved. It instantly makes me feel better and I know she is right.

"I know... I'll work on my attitude. Oregon is beautiful I have to admit. There are some pretty cool places I want us to check out."

"Your home, you are my tour guide. Show away my friend. You know I'm down." She says packing up the remainder of her things she has practically strung across the plane. I seriously still don't get how people just allow her to be in their space as much as she does. It's just her personality though. It's like people are drawn to her and instantly feel at ease.

We gather the rest of our belongings from over head and follow the herd of other travelers exiting the plane. Outside is decieving per usual Central Oregon weather. The sun is out and shining, but the cold crisp wind reminds us it's getting very close to winter. The surrounding mountains are beautiful with their snowcapped peaks. Making the rest of the world that surrounds them below feel small. The smell of juniper hits my nose like a good punch to the face. I'm going to have to remind myself to grab some allergy pills from the local store.

RDM is a small airport but the staff are always welcoming and helpful. Thankfully I've never had any luggage go missing or tickets that didn't exist like in other airports.

We wait for our bags to turn around the baggage claim area and Desire is the first to see hers. You couldn't miss it considering it's hot pink with yellow flowers and key chains dangling from everywhere of all the places we have lived/visited. I finally see my black bag with an embroidered name tag that says my last name.

Desire and I head towards the rental car desk which thankfully is directly across from the baggage claim in this airport. The lady at the counter greets us warmly.

"Hello, and welcome to the Redmond airport. Do you have a rental car with us?"

Desire cuts in " Yes, it should be under Desire Commins. "

The lady spends several minutes looking at her screen and shuffling through her car key drawers. "I'm so sorry to to say this but we seem to be out of cars at the moment."

Great...just what we need. Desire, who has a lot shorter fuse then I do, especially when she lacks sleep pipes up. "I'm sorry? I'm sorry we are out of cars? I'm sorry we are a rental car company and are out of cars?!"

The poor desk clerk looks genuinely sorry and simply nods. "I am sorry mam, we had a big rental day yesterday and we were expecting more cars back today, but several people extended their rentals and leaving us short on cars. We still have some set to be back later this afternoon."

I finally speak up. " How much later this evening? Are any around the size we reserved for or at the same rate?"

The lady goes back to looking at her computer and replies " Unfortunately no, they are much larger vehicles and the only one close to your class size won't be back until around 9:00pm tonight."

Desire who can't hold her tongue any longer inserts "Are you kidding me?! Fine, I guess we will go with another company then. Thanks for nothing and have a wonderful rest of your day." She proceeds to walk away from the counter while I mouth sorry to the desk clerk. She seems to understand that it is just a part of their every day business world.

We check every rental counter and noone has any rental cars and if they did, they were way out of our price range.

"Well... This is just wonderful. Now what are we supposed to do? I love your family and all Low but you said it yourself we can't rely on them for transportation." Desire sometimes calls me by Low as a nickname. I hated it at first but now it doesn't bother me since it comes from my best friend.

"I don't know Desire, I really don't."

"We can give you a ride." I heard from just behind me. The most sultry, pleasant, and seductive voice I had ever heard. I whip around quickly due to being slightly startled by this new and very close in proximity voice behind me.

"Excuse me?" Is all I can get out of my mouth when I see him. He is smiling the most onery and almost teasingly handsome smile I have ever laid eyes on. The kind of smile that reaches his eyes and makes his deep sea blue eyes light up. I want to do nothing but look into those eyes the rest of my life. I can't stop staring and looking him over. My eyes wandering over his athletic build, but not too muscular body, just how I like. I look up to his medium brown short cut hair. I envy his tan skin tone and how he manages to keep it in Central Oregon climate. He has a very small gap between his two front teeth that on most people may look funny. On him though it was the most adorable feature to his smile. What is wrong with me? I never get this overwhelmed by a guy, let alone even give them a second look. Clearly Desire notices my lingering gaze and flushed cheeks. She elbows me a little and nods towards his direction. He is clearly pleased with the response he is causing my to my body.

"I said, We can give you a ride here directly. If you would like?"

I finally snap out of my apparent embarrassing moment I was having. " I appreciate the offer but you don't even know where we are going and we don't know who you are."

He continues to grin and good Lord I can't determine if I want him to stop so I can focus or keep smiling and melt me to my core. "I understand it isn't typical to hop into a car with a stranger. Especially with being such a beautiful woman, but let me introduce myself. My name is Valeck, and my friend's name here is Gabe. He also happens to be my private driver. We can take you wherever you need to go."

Gabe gave a kirt nod and said "We really have to go sir one way or the other." Valeck gave Gabe almost a menacing look that sent shivers throughout my body. What a weird thing to call your supposed friend? Sir?

Valeck replied shortly "Yes, yes we do. So what do you ladies say? We are heading in the direction of Prineville."

Desire cuts in before I can reply again. "We are heading to Prineville too! We could use a ride, but don't try anything funny. We are armed."

I look at my friend with my mouth hanging so open I'm sure I choked on a couple of flies. "Excuse me?" Is all I could respond with as I yank my apparently insane friend to the side. "Desire. We do not know these men and we sure as hell aren't armed?" I tell her firmly under my breath. She looks at me with wide eyes and replies " I know we aren't, but they don't know that. Look, we need a ride. It's a twenty minute drive or a three hour walk with the shape we are in. Take your pick." With that, she pulls her bag back towards the men with a bright smile and asks "Alright which one of you gentlemen would like to carry my bags?" I silently face palmed in my head. I guess we are doing this. I guess if I die I won't have to face my family after all. And on that positive note, we headed towards the exit.