Gee, but it's lonely being alone...

(Obviously my brain is fried, because as several of you mentioned, I forgot about Cumulus. I did edit it to add him in. I'll post this note at the top of the page on the next posting so if you read this before the edit, you can come back and see where I added him in. Thanks for letting me know!)

I ended up falling asleep on the plane, and when we touched down, I woke up discombobulated. I stretched, feeling stiff, and shuffled off the plane. I regretted sleeping, now I was seriously tired and grumpy. The nap had done nothing to improve my mood or up my energy, and I also realized I had no idea where I was going, who I was looking for, no idea where to go. This is when I needed to be sharp, and instead I just felt fuzzy and muffled.
Stepping off the plane, I turned on my phone and waited to see if I had any messages. We had gone over so much about the job, I just didn’t even think to ask about who would be picking me up, or where to go. I had a missed call and a couple of missed text messages. Even though I was checking to see if the director messaged me, I was really hoping one of them would be from Drew. I still couldn’t believe he didn’t even bother to say goodbye.

No messages from him. Of course not. I had one from my mother and Matt, both requesting I check in so they knew I arrived safely, and one from an unknown number, telling me they’d meet me at baggage claim. I assumed that was my ride.

I tried to shake off the mood I was in. I didn’t want to give a funky first impression to someone, so I plastered on a smile as I made my way to the baggage claim. Arriving, I looked around and spotted no one that seemed like they were looking for me. I contemplated texting the person back, asking for a physical description or something, but figured that maybe they were just running late – my plane had actually arrived on time, so maybe they were banking on me being late. I grabbed my bags and lugged them to the wall, out of everyone else’s way, and proceeded to text Matt and my Mom and let them know that I was OK. Matt called about thirty seconds after I hit send.

“Miss me already?” I asked.
“Just wanted to see how your flight was. And yes, work is a little boring without you.”
“It was pretty uneventful. I fell asleep.”
“You OK? You sound weird.” He asked. I heard his chair squeak and I pictured him, back at the agency. It made my stomach clench.
“Can I be homesick already? I’ve only been here for like, five seconds.”
“Home is sick for you too.” He said, his voice going soft.
“Well. I better go. I need to look for whoever is supposed to be picking me up.”
“I miss you.”
“Matt…” I said, sighing. I didn’t want to go there.
“What?”
“Nothing. Nevermind. Miss you too.”
“Call me later?”
“We’ll see. Bye.”

I hung up the phone and glanced around. There was a man scanning the area, obviously looking for someone. I felt weird, approaching someone I didn’t know, but I didn’t really know what else to do. When I caught him looking in my direction, I offered a half wave.

“Ella?” The man asked, his voice deep.
“Yeah… Are you my ride?” I asked, smiling.
“Yes. Do you need help with your bags?”
“Um, if you don’t mind? That’d be great.”
He walked over to my bags and grabbed the biggest one, leaving me with the three smaller ones. I slung one over my shoulder and picked up the other two, following behind him. He walked briskly, and I had trouble keeping up. I wanted to ask him to slow down, but I didn’t want to seem like I was whining, or like I couldn’t keep up. Our job was an awful lot of hiking, and the buildings looked like they were a good distance from each other. I didn’t know if he was a boss or simply a co-worker, but I didn’t want to appear lazy.

We were almost on our way out when I remembered Cumulus. How I could possibly forget my dog, I have no idea.
"Um, I forgot, I have my dog... I just need to go pick up his crate."
"I'll wait here." He said.
I wasn't sure I could handle his crate and my bags, so I left them by his feet and hoped he'd keep an eye on them.

I got Cumulus, and thankfully was given a cart to wheel him on. When I got back to the guy, whose name I realized I didn't even know, I set my bags on the cart and wheeled him out. We finally reached his truck, and he threw my bags in the back.
"You care if I walk him for a sec? It's been a long flight." I asked.
He shrugged in response. I let Cue out of his crate and took him for a short walk, letting him do his business. When I arrived back at the car, the guy had loaded the crate into the back.
"Go ahead and put him in the cab with us." He said "I don't have anything to secure the crate with, and you don't need him to jump or fall out."

All three of us squished into the tiny cab and settled into uneasy silence - which I couldn't handle.

“So. How long have you been working for the program?” I asked.
“Awhile.” He answered, then after an awkward beat of quiet “I think this is my sixth year.”
His tone in his voice was clear that he didn’t want to converse, but after a few minutes of silence, I couldn’t take it anymore.
“It sure is really pretty here. Did you grow up nearby?”
“Nope. Grew up in Cali.”
“How’d you get here?” I asked, and then worried after the fact that it could be considered nosy.
Again, he was quiet for a long while, and I began to fidget.
“I was in the program, actually. When I graduated, I just sort of stayed on. Left a bit for college, but came right back.”
“Oh….”

I couldn’t think of anything else to say. We spent the rest of the trip in silence, and walked to my cabin in silence.

“This is your cabin. The girls will stay upstairs and you get the room downstairs. Unfortunately, there’s little privacy, as your room has the only exit, but it’s to prevent the girls from sneaking out at night. You can unpack and get settled in, there’s a staff meeting in a couple hours. I’ll come back and get you before.”
I nodded and tried not to cry. The walls were blank, the bed was hard, and all I could think was this was clearly not home.