Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad by Scarlett Rossi
Chapter 56 -

Весса.

As the plane took off from the airport, I tried to come to terms with what I had done. I was leaving Miami with Neal and headed back north to the lands I knew. It was disheartening to know things had gone as bad as they did, but I accepted it. Glancing over at Neal, I saw that he was busy typing away on the laptop in front of him. The man had been on one business call after another, and it reminded me that just because someone has money that doesn't mean they don't work for it. Like James, Neal was a busy, successful proprietor.

It now made sense why he said he didn't want to leave his partner when he had to go off to another location. He wants to be part of the relationship and not constantly away. Which was sweet, but seemed lonely. "Thank you for letting me catch a ride."

Looking up at me, he smiled. "You don't have to thank me. I'm more than happy to help you out."

"Why though? I mean, you barely know me."

Neal looked at me for a moment, as if contemplating what he was going to say next. "Do I really need to know you all that well in order to help you?"

"I guess not..." I replied, feeling embarrassed I'd said anything.

What he'd said was true. I supposed you didn't really have to know somebody in order to help them, but I was still confused.

He was spending a lot of money helping me, and he barely knew me outside of knowing Allegra loved me to death. I decided not to press the issue any further. The last thing I wanted to do was upset somebody who had been nothing but kind to me.

"Regardless of it all, I still thank you for helping me. Once I get to New York, I will have to figure things out."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I've got to make my way back up to Yale and replace a new place to live, as well as move my stuff out of the apartment I was in. It's going to take a bit of time."

"I forgot you were living with Tally," he replied with a sad smile.

"Yeah, but it's okay. I will figure it all out. Before she returns to school, I want to get out of there. I don't want it to be weird having to deal with her," I said as I looked out the window of the plane. The pilot came over the speaker to inform us we had reached cruising altitude.

"So, how did you guys get that place? Will there be a deposit you can get back or something?" Neal asked after a moment of silence between us.

I could tell he was trying not to pry, but I couldn't help but laugh at his question. To think about Tally paying rent was amusing.

"No, unfortunately not. James was the one who funded that apartment. He actually bought it and owns it outright. I stayed there with Tally, so I had a free place to live while I was attending college."

The depth of conversations I'd had with Neal in the past had never really been too much about what I was really doing up north or about my family.

He knew my mother had died, and he knew I was going to school at Yale, but he didn't know every single detail.

Closing his laptop, he placed it back into his bag, and unclipped his seat buckle, making his way towards me with a glass of dark amber liquid in his hand.

Something about him made me feel some kind of way, but I wasn't sure what it was. He didn't spike my interest like James did, but there was something comforting about being around him.

Taking a seat next to me, he made himself comfortable before setting his glass down. "I guess we really never had private conversations about ourselves to a degree. At least not about you. Why don't you tell me about your family? What does your father do for a living?"

Talking about my family wasn't something I typically did. I was a private person and enjoyed not having many people know about who I was. I couldn't ignore his question, though. Not after he had been so kind to me.

"Well, my father is retired from the military. He was a pilot and then taught aviation school. However, he ended up retiring again when my mom got sick." Neal's eyes looked on in admiration at what I said.

There were many things Neal was, but cruel was never one of them, nor did he ever judge a single person he'd ever met that I knew of. Of course, the exception being Tally and Allison. But then again, everybody had a reason to judge them. "What kind of planes does he fly?" Neal asked with curiosity.

"Um-I don't know specifically. He flew cargo planes or something in the air force, and I do know that he did get licensed at one point for helicopters. I think he just did that for fun, though. Honestly, you would have to ask him." I laughed thinking about the crazy ideas my father has had over the years.

"I may have to do that if I ever manage to get to meet him." Neal laughed. "It sounds like he is a good man. Did he ever take you up?"

"He is a good man. Unfortunately, he took me up in a plane one time, and it was not for me. I have a slight fear of flying if you can't tell. I popped a Xanax before we got on the plane."

Neal laughed, nodding his head. "I wondered what you had taken, but I didn't feel like it was my place to ask."

The curious glances he gave me as he sipped on his drink didn't make me feel as uncomfortable as I thought I would feel. Instead, I felt pleasantly content with being around him.

Neal was a good man, and even though my thoughts often drifted back to James, it didn't change the fact things were more complicated than I wanted them to be.

Thinking about everything that happened earlier in the day, my eyes filled with tears I refused to let fall. I quickly blinked them away, and as I did, Neal's hand rested upon my knee as he gripped it gently.

"Don't let everything bother you. You come from a family that has worked hard to get to where they are, and everything will work out in the end."

A mixture of a laugh and a scoff left my throat as I sighed, trying to act like I wasn't bothered by what had happened. "Anyway, when I get back, I have a lot to do."

"Why don't you just stay at my place? I mean, I'm only gonna be there for a couple of days, and then I have to leave again to go overseas, and I'll be gone for another week. It'll give you time to figure things out," he suggested, catching me off guard.

"Oh, no! I couldn't possibly do that, Neal. That would be too much of a burden on you."

As nice as it sounded to stay at Neal's place, I didn't want to impose on him. Yet, Neal wasn't the type of person to take no for an answer.

He leaned back in the chair and gave me an 'are you serious' glance while raising a brow in my direction. "You're going to be staying with me, and that's final. When we land this plane, I expect you and your luggage to end up in my car and at my place."

I couldn't hold back the amusement I had over the way he was acting. I could tell he was trying to be serious, but he couldn't hide the smile crossing his lips.

"Neal " I said with a smirk.

"No, no. My sister would hang me if she knew that I just let you wander out there on the streets without a place to go, and honestly, the company would be nice if you'd stay with me."

"Okay, if you're sure," I replied, agreeing with his demands.

I knew how he felt about the company situation. As much as I wanted to deal with everything that happened on my own, I also didn't want to be alone.

Just an added addition to my complicated and conflicted feelings....

A comfortable silence filled the space between us, and as it did, I couldn't stop my mind from going back to James. The things that had happened earlier in the day were still so fresh, and I wondered if I had made a mistake with the way I'd acted.

Why was it I always ended up being attracted to men who just wanted to hurt me?

I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to date a guy like Neal. Would he be sweet and romantic? Would he treat me right and give me no reason to question him?

Could I live a life with someone who was always gone and traveling?

It was weird that I was even wondering what it would be like, but then at the end of my thoughts, I was trying to compare him and James as if there was a competition.

James had seriously f*cked with my mind, and the realization was agonizing.

"I promise I will only be there for a week. I don't want to overstay my welcome," I said, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

Neal wrapped his arm around me and pulled me close to him, my head resting upon his shoulder. "Never feel that you are a burden to me or the fact that you would overstay your welcome. You could stay with me for years if you wanted, and I would enjoy your company."

"Years are a long time," I chuckled, causing him to laugh as well.

"You are a very kind woman, Becca. Any man will be lucky to have a person like you in their lives, and I know that one day, you're going to make a man very happy. I'm just sorry to see that James could not realize that."

It was at that moment that the dam broke, and my eyes filled with tears quickly flooding down my face. Through everything that I had gone through, I'd still come out on top with my head held high.

I didn't allow Allison and Tally to break me.

In the end, yes, they pushed me towards the point of leaving, but I didn't leave broken. I refused to admit I was broken because even though my heart felt shattered, I knew it could be put back together again.

It would just take time to do so, and time was something I had plenty of. All I had to do was have faith everything would work out. In the end, I was positive it would.

Maybe one day I would run back into James, and if I did, we could rekindle what we'd had. If we couldn't, though, at least I could look at him as a friend and know, at one point in time, we'd shared quite a lot in common.