Safe Harbor Ch. 01

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Chloe finds herself drawn to a mysterious stranger.
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MariLeigh
MariLeigh
834 Followers

"Thank God we didn't have to pack for the party."

Tash forced the overhead bin closed, wincing when the plastic creaked in protest. It finally shut with a faint click and Tash sighed in relief. Her checkered duffel interpreted the rules of the carry on bag liberally, but no one had stopped them as Tash hefted it through security and down the gangway.

"I thought everything we packed was for the party," said Chloe, thinking of their checked luggage--two bags each, all full of cameras and other supplies for the shoot.

"There are about ninety pounds of film in that carry on." Tash flopped into the seat across the aisle from Chloe with a sigh. "But I meant party clothes and stuff," she said. "They're providing all of that."

"I brought blacks," said Chloe with a shrug.

Tash laughed. "And if you think I'm letting you get away with hiding in all black during one of the most exclusive parties we will ever attend, you've got another thing coming."

"We're photographers. We're supposed to blend in."

"Black won't blend, Chloe," said Tash. "Not in this crowd. Sparkles are camouflage to these people."

"Tash--" Chloe warned. "These people" were paying their way from New York to London.

Tash came from old money--old enough that most of the money was gone. Her parents had managed to pay her way through the fancy boarding school where they met, but only with the help of frequent "loans" from her rich uncle. His daughter, Ursula, had attended school with them and the family were convinced the girls were inseparable friends. Ursula was indifferent to Tash, mostly because paying the school fees wasn't enough to keep up with the crowd at Briarleigh. Still, Tash had graduated from Briarleigh and then from Wesleyan without any debt except for her family's expectations. Tash took it all in stride, but part of her defense against the constant worry over belonging was a healthy sense of disdain.

"Who's going to hear me?" Tash responded to Chloe's warning by sweeping an arm to indicate the empty seats around them.

"Yeah, that's kind of weird," said Chloe. "Where is everyone?"

"On the other side of the curtain," said Tash. "Didn't you see when we came in?"

Chloe vaguely remembered a red curtain that had screened the front half of the plane as they entered. "Is that first class? It seems like coach class should be bigger."

"It's first class. This is a chartered flight. The seats back here are only for the help."

Tash's voice carried that familiar joking tone, but Chloe knew her friend was annoyed at the obvious distinction. Tash loved her job. She was a great photographer and photographing the rich and famous gave her an opportunity to show off her art. At the same time, the job at times served to highlight the same divisions that had shadowed Tash's childhood. Always on the outside looking in. Tash wouldn't have cared so much if her mother hadn't been obsessed with leveraging the family's status to rebuild their wealth. Her daughter was meant to find a mate among her rich prep school classmates, not pursue a job photographing them. Tash was happy, but she struggled with the mismatch between the career she was building and her parent's expectations.

Chloe didn't have the same experience of money and class that her friend Tash did. Her family had never had any--money or class.

Her father had died shortly after she was born and her mother had drowned her sorrows in alcohol and drugs until her daughter was finally taken away at age five. Chloe had grown up with her maternal grandparents--solidly blue collar, lower middle class people who loved her deeply, but at arm's length. The only reason she had attended Briarleigh was the fact that the towering school was located within a stone's throw of her grandparent's small farm in Virginia. The school offered a local scholarship and Chloe had received it after coming in first in her seventh grade class.

Despite her five years at Briarleigh, Chloe had never learned to be fully comfortable among all the trappings of wealth. Tash fit in better than she did. Chloe had learned to fit by fading. At Briarleigh, that meant good grades and rejecting some of Tash's more ambitious schemes. Now, it meant working happily behind the scenes. She had started as a photographer like Tash but over time she had learned that she had a knack for helping people with media strategy. She was better at setting up pictures and playing with them afterwards than she was at taking them. She was a social media consultant with a client list that was growing to include some major players. Her business, Snappy, had easily claimed her focus from photography. But when Tash needed a second for this party, Chloe couldn't say no. The chance to spend a weekend away in London with her best friend was worth spending a few days disconnected from her clients.

Mostly.

A young blonde woman led two small, well-dressed children into the cabin. Chloe guessed that the kids were probably around five or six. Her across-the-hall neighbors in Astoria had kids around the same age. These kids, a boy and a girl, were well-dressed and well-behaved as the woman settled them into two window seats and handed them both an iPad. Chloe thought the woman was probably a nanny--she looked too young to be the children's mother. Tash, ever friendly, waved hello and went to help the woman lift her bags into the bin. Chloe took advantage of her distraction to sneak a peek at her phone.

No messages.

She had answered about ten while Tash was in the airport restroom. Danica had needed advice on a series of sponsored Instagram posts and another client, a small shoe company, was still managing the fallout from an accidental posting on their accounts. Chloe hit the button to darken the screen, nervous about the coming order to turn it to airport mode.

"I saw that Chlo," said Tash amicably, settling back into her seat. "Your business won't burn down in three days."

"Sorry," said Chloe. "Just checking before we're airborne."

"Her name is Petra," said Tash. "The kids' parents are attending the party."

They were joined by a few more people--another nanny with a little boy, a teenager, and a young guy with a guitar.

Chloe checked her phone again, but her nerves were starting to shift from business worries to the impending flight. She had never enjoyed flying. She didn't like feeling out of control. When she confessed her fear to others, they inevitably told her: Don't you know flying is safer than driving?

Her standard response was, "yes, but cars don't crash by plummeting thirty thousand feet out of the sky."

"Getting nervous, babe?" asked Tash.

After five years as roommates at Briarleigh, it was hard to hide anything from Tash.

"I'm okay," she said. "But why did I let you talk me into this?"

"Because you love me. And because you've never seen anything like this party. I hear that there's going to be live music from someone too famous to name. And the house where we're staying has something like three hundred rooms. Or maybe that was gardens."

"It must be something special."

"Rich people do shit like this all the time, darling. What's unusual is you and me being invited."

"Tash."

"It's fine," said Tash. "I'm just cranky because I didn't sleep. Once we're airborne, I'm taking an ambien and sleeping until London. I'll be my usual sparkling self by the time we land."

Chloe laughed. "Oh good. I wouldn't know what to do if you didn't sparkle."

A flight attendant appeared at their elbow wearing a tailored lavender uniform. She had short dark hair and wide eyes that seemed to match her outfit. She looked at the seat numbers over their head and then at her clipboard.

"Natasha Asperger and Chloe Green?"

"That's us," said Tash.

"Which of you is Ms. Green?" asked the flight attendant, looking from Chloe to Tash.

Chloe raised a hand. "That's me."

"Welcome to the flight, Ms. Green. Ms. Asperger," the woman nodded at them. "Ms. Green, it seems we have not yet received your signed confidentiality agreement."

"Oh, right," said Chloe. Tash had emailed her the paperwork a few days ago. The instructions had said to mail it in, but Chloe had been concerned it wouldn't arrive in time and the papers said that an electronic signature wasn't acceptable. She pulled her backpack out from under her seat and retrieved the blue folder with her paperwork. "Here it is."

"Lovely," said the attendant. She stood up straight and flipped through the file, scanning each page. "Everything looks to be in order." She slipped the file under her arm and gave them both a wide smile. "You can put your bag in one of the overhead bins if you'd like. Everyone is on board now and we have plenty of room."

"Roger?" She spoke to another flight attendant passing down the far aisle. He was pushing a metal trolley with a gold wire basket of fruit resting on top. "Ms. Green and Ms. Asperger have their paperwork in order."

"Great," said Roger, flashing each of them an equally bright smile. "Here you go." He reached over the empty seats next to Tash and handed each of them a cloth bag. Chloe felt the contents shift as she clutched the bag in her lap. There were definitely glass bottles inside and something that squished like fabric.

"Thank you."

"My pleasure," said Roger. "Would either of you like a snack or anything to drink?"

Tash accepted an apple and Roger and his fellow attendant moved on down the aisle, stopping to speak to Petra and the children.

"That woman looks like Snow White," Tash whispered loudly across the aisle.

"Shh," Chloe said, giggling. "What is this stuff?"

Unceremoniously, Tash turned the bag upside down onto the seat next to her. "Shit," she said, as the contents scattered everywhere. They both looked up sheepishly to see if the flight crew had noticed, dissolving into giggles. Chloe unhooked her seatbelt and dived under the seat to retrieve a glass bottle before it could roll towards Snow White's feet.

"Soap?" she said, reading the fancy label.

"It's a gift basket," said Tash. "Look, there's a neck pillow, a blanket, soap, toothbrush--" She sifted through the pile. "Hey, these are really nice wireless headphones."

Chloe opened her bag more carefully than Tash and rummaged around to retrieve the headphones and a silk eye mask. She pulled out something slim with a leather cover. "Oh wow," she said. "This is an e-reader."

She pressed the button under the screen to confirm her suspicions and the device sprang to life. The screen was backlit and it opened to a library full of classics. Chloe also recognized the titles of a few bestsellers. "This is awesome," she said. "Do we get to keep this?"

"I think so," said Tash. "Clarissa Ryding doesn't kid around when it comes to fancy parties. It was nice of her to give these to us, too."

Chloe could tell that the gesture had gone a little ways towards softening her friend's attitude.

"There's candy in here," said Chloe, pulling out a Ritter Sport. "This lady is awesome."

Tash laughed. "For sure."

The plane hummed to life and started moving. Tash untangled the silk mask from a glittery notebook and slipped it over her head, wearing it like a headband. Then, she took a swig from the bottle of water that had been included and swallowed a small pill. "I'm out, love," she said to Chloe. "Wake me up if you need me. Or if there's champagne."

Chloe watched as Tash pulled the sleep mask over her face and felt around blindly to find the neck pillow. A moment later, her seat reclined and she was out. From years of experience, Chloe knew that waking Tash wouldn't be so simple. If the plane went down, she estimated about a fifty/fifty chance she'd be able to rouse Tash before impact.

The female flight attendant came back down the aisle, frowning slightly at Tash's gift bag items spread over the seats. "We're preparing to taxi, Ms. Green," she said. "If you would please turn any electronic devices to airplane mode. And if I may remind you, please note that the agreement you signed bars you from taking any personal photographs beginning with today's flight."

Chloe nodded. "I'll take care of that," she said, nodding toward the mess Tash had made.

"Lovely," the flight attendant said. "Be sure to re-fasten your seatbelt."

Chloe quickly gathered Tash's gifts back into the bag and moved her own backpack under the seat next to her. She switched off her phone and set the gift bag on her lap, trying to calm her nerves by sifting through the contents. She found a slim card and opened it to discover a set of vouchers on heavy card stock offering free treatments at the private spa located in the grounds of the house they were visiting.

"Fancy," she said to herself. The plane picked up speed and Chloe squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath. When the wheels left the ground, the plane dipped gently and her stomach flip-flopped. She glanced at Tash for reassurance and settled back into her seat, touching the items in the gift bag without really seeing them. She checked that the e-reader was in airplane mode and then flipped through the offerings, opening a popular mystery she had been wanting to read. After two attempts to take in the first few pages, she turned the e-reader off and leaned back in her seat.

A weekend away.

The plane ride would be worth it. And chances were, it really would be safe. Chloe sighed and shifted in her seat, glancing around the cabin. She accidentally caught the eye of the young guy with the guitar. The guitar was buckled into the seat next to him. He smiled at her and she smiled back before averting her gaze. Guys with guitars--especially cute ones--were dangerous. It had been a while since she had let herself get distracted be a relationship. She had Tash and their small circle of friends and she had her business. It was plenty. Especially when she never met anyone that seemed to be what she wanted.

Tash would say she was too picky, but Chloe thought it wasn't so much that what she wanted was too specific as that she didn't know what she wanted.

On that note, Chloe fished out the wireless headphones, finding that she could use the screen at her seat to transmit music and movies. She picked a random radio station and closed her eyes, trying to ignore the movement of the plane.

The first time Tash has asked her to accompany her on the trip, Chloe had reluctantly said no. Her second choice second photographer had backed out four days ago and Tash had convinced Chloe to step in. It had been easier to say yes when she knew Tash needed her.

"It will be an adventure," Tash had said.

Chloe tended to avoid those. Seeking thrills, numbness, hope--something--had turned her mother into someone who couldn't care for her. Careful and steady. That was Chloe.

"A party and a spa treat aren't exactly dangerous, Chloe," she said to herself. "You could use an adventure."

#

When the plane finally touched down, it took a few minutes for Chloe's brain to catch up. She still felt the wild, out-of-control panic of being airborne, picking up speed and feeling the plane go lower and lower.

"All you all right?"

Chloe looked up to see the Snow White flight attendant peering at her with polite concern.

"Um, yes," said Chloe. "I'm a nervous flyer."

"Oh," the woman pulled a face, "Well, we're on solid ground now."

"Yes. Thank you," said Chloe. She glanced over at Tash, who was still sleeping.

"Wake up, Tashie," she said, ticking her friend's neck. At school, she had been forced to resort to extreme measures to wake Tash up for their early morning classes. After a year, she had given up on dragging Tash to breakfast. Instead, she changed her own morning schedule so that she had time to return to the room after breakfast with an extra cup of coffee to lure Tash out of bed.

Tash groaned and stirred slightly, trying to turn on her side away from Chloe. Her seatbelt stopped her and she sat up, surprised. Her hand shot up in the air and she felt around until she had untangled the silk sleeping mask from her curls. She squinted at the sudden sunshine and ran a hand through her hair, leaving it more wild than ever. Blearily, she surveyed Chloe standing in the aisle next to her.

"How do you look like that after seven hours on a plane?"

Chloe laughed and rolled her eyes. "How do you look like that?"

"Seriously, Chlo. Why are you so pretty?"

"Shut up, Tash. You're gorgeous. But you need to brush your hair."

Tash groaned. "You don't brush these curls," she said, teasing her hair to make it stand more wildly on end, "you tame them." She started gathering up her things, pulling her hair into a messy twist using the free pen in the gift basket. "We've got to hurry," she said. "I don't know how baggage works for a private flight, but I don't want anyone throwing around the bags with the cameras."

Chloe handed Tash her packed gift bag and a bottle of water. Then, she hefted Tash's heavy suitcase over her shoulder. "Snow White helped me get it down," she explained while Tash blinked sleepily at her efficiency. "Come on, Sleeping Beauty."

The exit turned out to be a set of steps and the flight crew explained that their bags would be waiting outside security in a few minutes. They climbed another set of stairs into the airport, arriving in a small seating area. They were obviously in a private section of the airport--there were actual velvet ropes closing it in--but the rest of Heathrow stretched just beyond, bustling with people and shops. There was a small, well-dressed group standing to one side waiting to board a row of golf carts.

"They don't even have to walk?" said Tash.

"Some of them look older," said Chloe. "And the kids."

"Shit," said Tash. "I left my phone in the seat pocket. I'm going to go get it."

She hurried away, suddenly more alert, and Chloe watched as she engaged in frantic conversation with the man standing by the doors before he caught another employee to escort her back towards the plane.

Chloe set down Tash's heavy bag and stretched, taking in the crowd. Talking to lots of people at once made her nervous, but she liked being in crowds. People watching.

Suddenly, she heard a loud sound, like a wail, and shouting. Alerted by the noise, a worker at a nearby gate looked up and whatever he saw caused him to spring swiftly across the terminal.

The noise was coming from a young woman. She had a scarf over her hair and she was surrounded by luggage. She was holding a toddler by the arm and a baby in her arms. The baby was crying, but the sound was barely audible over the woman's own crying and shouting. She gestured angrily at an airline worker and slapped him away when he tried to pick up one of her bags. The little boy crawled closer to her legs, almost tripping her. The airport was growing quiet around them as everyone turned to look.

"Ma'm, I don't know how you got all this luggage through security, but it isn't allowed. You didn't book a seat for the baby, so you may only have carry on items for yourself and the little boy. Ma'm--"

The woman kept crying, talking rapidly in a language Chloe didn't recognize and gesturing as airport security guards moved in. Chloe could tell that she was trying to communicate something but the guards and airport staff were treating her like she was crazy or dangerous. She suspected that had something to with the woman's headscarf and the fact that she didn't speak English.

She knew that interfering might make the situation worse, but she had to do something. She started towards the group, pushing past the gawking crowd. Perhaps she could help by offering to repack some of the luggage or helping with the baby. She hoped she could communicate her good intentions even without being able to speak the woman's language.

"Ma'm, you need to put down that bagright now."

MariLeigh
MariLeigh
834 Followers