Late, but as requested

We rushed to the airport and found out that our plane wasn’t there. Instead of the commercial plane we were waiting for, we were met on the runway by a sleek black plane. This was so cool. I would never get over how cool my job was. I got to skip school – after all, that’s still a plus side when you don’t even have your drivers permit and your sixteen – travel all around the world, and spend time with my two best buds. Could it get any better?

I was about to go searching for a laptop, when one of the guys who worked on the plane came up to me and handed me a bright red laptop. A little post-it note said: For you, Love Dad. I went with it, deciding I could write him later. I was about to launch myself into the World Wide Web and research my topic when Tonia sat down across from me along with Adam. Both had their favorite sodas in hand, but, of course, so did I. Tonia sipped on a Dr. Pepper, Adam, being Greek, preferred the classic Coke because he hadn’t been exposed to other kinds of soda, and I had my personal favorite – ginger ale.
“So, who’s the client?” Tonia asked looking out the window.
“Mr. Dmitri Gorbachov, he’s Russian,” I replied. Tonia stiffened a little. She was Russian too, but didn’t really appreciate her culture – she said she didn’t want to get into that stuff.
“Mythical creature?” Adam asked, leaning in and putting his elbows on the table.
“The,” I looked at the notepad with the notes from Alex’s conversation, “Russian Firebird.”
“Huh?” Tonia asked. “What’s that?”
“The Russian Firebird – I’m looking it up right now,” I said, typing into the laptop. Legend-Seeker toys were amazing. I loved it – laptops, cell phones, jets, and ‘friends’ who liked to do favors.
“Whoa,” I said pulling up the Legend-Seekers webpage. We had an elite search engine that gave us what we needed. Also, we received files and email accounts – my email held very little information, but at least there was information. “Okay, the Russian Firebird – Zshar Ptitsa – is a miraculous Phoenix-like bird. Supposedly, its feathers shine like silver and gold and one of its feathers is rumored to light up a dark room. Its eyes are a likened to crystals. Its chants heal the sick and cure the blind. Last, but not least, when it sings, pearls fall from its mouth… talk about a bird that makes the owner loaded.”
“Wow, that’s, like, no information at all,” Tonia said frowning. “Okay, who’s after this bird?”
“Um…,” I said scrolling down the email. “Xander Demidov Senior. He’s the owner of a Russian chocolate company. He’s been blind since the day he was born – that’s the only reason he would need the Firebird – I mean, a guy who’s as famous and rich as he is doesn’t need a bird who sings pearls, right?”
“Right…,” Adam said hesitantly. “A chocolatier. Doesn’t anyone else find a chocolatier going after a bird strange?” The jet turned midair. And Adam turned unstable. Tonia reached over her arm and steadied him. I took another sip of soda. A man – from the aircraft – approached us. I could tell that Tonia wanted to ask me more about Gorbachov, though.
“Excuse me, miss,” he said in a low voice. “There’s someone who’d like to see you.” I looked at Tonia and her eyebrows shot up. She cocked her head to one side and stood up. After scooting around Adam, she went with the man to check who it was. She came back beaming.
“Tonia?” I asked as the man urged me to follow him.
“Go ahead, you’ll be pleasantly surprised,” she replied. The fact that she said pleasantly must mean it’s someone I knew, right? I looked at her again and she smiled to me. “Go.”

I thought that Tonia, Adam, and I were in a pretty high class part of the plane – and I was so wrong. I went into the back part of the plane – wow. I looked around because I was curious. The guy who showed me around said to “wait here,” so I did. I leaned against the wall and looked out the plane window.
“Hello, Tess,” I heard whispered right behind me. I turned and was in the arms of Adyin. He was as looking good as ever. The air was suddenly heavy with the amount of sexual passion he put in that greeting. His lips hovered over mine. I could feel his muscled arms on my back.
“Hey, Adyin,” I whisper back. “Looking good.”
“So are you – you’re looking better than I could ever look,” he replied smiling at me. His lips come closer. Our lips brush against each other. And then, romantic kiss goes out the window.

Cough, cough, “Hello, Tess,” my father said, looking sort of shocked, but pretty happy.
“Oh,” I said slipping out of Adyin’s arms. “Hey, Dad, what’s up?”
“Just business as usual,” he replied. “Nice job landing that first assignment.”
“You heard about that, did you?” I asked him. I hadn’t really “landed” the job at all, though.
“I did,” he said. “Listen,” he looked at his watch, “We’re landing in a few minutes. I’ve got to get ready to go. You’re staying on for the flight all the way home.”
“Oh, okay,” I replied. “See you later, Dad.” He kissed my cheek and walked off. I didn’t mention the laptop because, when you’re talking to my dad, you don’t talk about anything unless my dad brings it up.

My dad is pretty pleased about me dating one of the richest people in the business. I admit that, though Adyin is pretty hot, there’s no electricity – none of that famed love-fire that consumes other people, but that's for me at least, I'm not so sure about Adyin. I’m pretty sure that I’ll never find it and that Adyin will be left out on a limb forever. I remember my mom telling me that, when she was in love, she lost weight thinking about my dad. I’ve never felt that. But, there’s still hope for me, I’m only sixteen, after all.

When the plane landed, my dad left with Adyin, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I needed to work on this assignment – not worry about my romantic status. I sat down with another glass of ginger ale and started delving into the assignment – but I didn’t get anywhere. Adam sat across from me, with his feet on my seat and mine on his, and worked on his laptop, but I didn’t know what he was doing. I shut my laptop in frustration and Adam looked up from his work.
“What’s wrong?” he asked patiently.
“There’s, like, almost nothing on this bird!” I cried. “No information, no nothing!”
“Calm down, I got an email saying that we’ll be meeting our employer and his bird at his estate in the-middle-of-nowhere New York. He’s going to fill us in.”
“I guess that works,” I replied still frustrated. I spotted Tonia coming out of the cockpit with one of the workers, talking and laughing. I also noticed that Adam was looking rather jealously at the guy and wistfully at Tonia – major crushing was happening and I got to watch it all.
“Hey, guys,” Tonia said, coming up to us. The guy, who looked really familiar, had his arm around her waist – and she had her arm wrapped around his shoulder. “Remember Felix?”
“Um, no,” I replied. “Should I?”
“He’s your third cousin – like Adam is – and he’s also the one who decided to become a guardian,” Tonia explained. Then, I remembered.
“Felix?” I said in disbelief. “Felix Ashby?” I hadn’t seen him in forever. It was amazing. I smiled.
“Hey, hey, Tess, how’s it going?” Felix replied, flashing me his everlasting smile. Felix dropped his arm from Tonia’s side – much to Adam’s relief – and gave me a tight hug.
“Gosh, I missed you,” I said after we hugged. “It’s been what? – three years?”
“Four,” he grinned. He sat down next to me after hugging Adam. “What you been up to, Tess? Getting into trouble like we always did?”
“Good times, good times,” I replied ruefully. “No, sadly. Trouble is Tonia’s area of expertise.”
“Tonia,” Felix said, raising an eyebrow. “My, my, Tonia, it seems like we have more in common than I thought.” Another jealous, anxious glance from Adam.
“Indeed,” Tonia replied back to him. “Mischief, mayhem, my work is done.” Felix laughed. I was jealous of Tonia and the way she could carry on a conversation with a bunch of guys – and never break a sweat. I couldn’t do that at all. “I get bored a lot and I like to have fun,” she explained when Felix asked her why she got into so much trouble.

All my love,

Asiat