Chloe's Diary

lo

PTE

g fool crumpled his Timberlake's bag and leaned

e. Nepal had neither." I stuffed my mouth and eased back. "Is it cold in here? I'm thinner than when I left home, and it seems I'm always cold." I glanced around the terminal - a

harmlessly, like

by, and my ga

roud dad. His watchful mum, eyes da

face, he was happy. So happy he didn't notice the stuffed bear p

bear, and a well-dressed loser distracted by his mobile stepped on the toy. I shoved him, and he stumbled and cursed

wned a bea

d this. I reached the family and placed my hand on Mum's

es

He droppe

widened, and I

m knelt beside him, rounding his shou

side them. He squeezed the bear and I wanted to squeeze the boy. His almond

e had a brother who loved a bear like yours." I turned and walked s

my seat and stroked the tiny number 3 ta

as that

The little boy

n," I said quietly, glancing at the bloke across

ust met, so you can take this or leave it, but, nobo

fter architect in his class. He had job offers across the United States. But one month before graduation, he packed his bags, left school, left his fam

owing in this g

nniless in prison. But his path keeps me safe. People remember him, help me on

ht 302 departing

for the meal. It has earned you a place in my diary, though I've

the next flight, Chloe . Let me show you New York

Accommodating lads like you are everywhere. If there's one thing I've learned these last eight months,

ulder. "And I've a mate waiting

ward the gate agent. She left her desk and move

corners of my lips. How early I had arrived. For five hours, I sat nervously inside Heathrow, checking and rechecking my flight's status. But that was bef

ew a kiss to the young fool s

y take me in if t

bout the gate and our eye

ove on, girl. You came might

suppos

een the leaving and the arriving, these bridges, these portals, existed on every continent. Inside,

but they were a

mise, and over the course of my Third World travels, a chick

to Minneapolis held nothing but the comatose. Self-satisfied businessmen, ties loosened and sh

ward the one empty seat, a middle. I opened the overhead and pressed

row, but he quickly dislodged and stood, likely grateful for one last stretch. Beyond him, tucked into the window seat, sat a good-looking l

down in-

oke. I cou

he cross on its cover. I removed his shredded map from inside it and a marker from my

l soon hav

awned and Aisle Man groaned, but Window Boy reached franticly for his reading beam. He managed to turn on all three vents and hit and cancel the stewardess call twice,

choices when seat

" I reached up and

kes, a Possibility of Entanglement score - POE for short. This involved four questions worth th

elf to be needy?

from London? Oh, the eyes o

interest in you?

an ori

t three shavings, whispering as he went along, "One, two, three." He placed each minute fleck into the bag, one by one, as if handling the sacred, agai

an original? Ye

POE sc

aled

et a twelve

r name, the

ut he neither gla

ading home

clutched his pencil. He wasn't answeri

I leaned into his shoulder and f

alk to

cinating. I shifted in my seat. He was

practice eye conta

d since I don't need to, and I already

is it th

cre

ened upon the most interesting bloke yet - a gl

his sketchbook. "I do want your secrets. Every single one

My name is not a secr

fectly sens

e city. "Many stars fell tonight. But" - his voice hardened - "just like my name is no secre

om. This places me at a slight disadvantage." I craned my neck to see what precious

dn't lose him, or this conversation. Though I ha

ccent giv

"You're probably pretending to have an

h, never sounded like a Londoner. But Elis's guess on that point was the least of my worries. How had

ng of the man,"

stared into me. He was angry, or not - his face

s man in your entire nation. And don't try to d

the course of my adventures; I had only to

you kn

ied to seduce me with their words and discover what I know." He paused.

But he had also come close, too close. I'd matched wits with blokes al

as dear to him as my diary was to me, against his chest. With a sudden and large slump,

s nobody in eight months had. He had no business poking into my f

rom his thighs, took one peek at

possi