I watched my bank account balance grow and grow, and every time Kiegan decided to be an asshole for no reason, or put me down in front of groups of people, I turned to my phone and opened my bank account to look at my new balance. It was all going to be worth it.
Or so I told myself. Deep down I could feel the anger growing, like a smouldering fire that hasn’t quite gone out yet, that grows a little every time a small breeze stokes it. I tried to quell the flames, but I couldn’t do it completely. I knew one day it was going to become an inferno, as much as I tried to stop it from happening.
That day came on my birthday. December 7th. Of course I hadn’t expected Kiegan to remember it was my birthday. I wasn’t sure if he had ever known when my birthday was. But it came, and I was no longer a teenager. I was a woman in my 20s.
I woke up in a suite in one of the ritziest hotels in Miami. Man, I’m never going to be able to go back to that apartment, I thought to myself as I turned off my alarm and stretched in the giant king bed. My 20s are going to be awesome.
I got up and ordered room service, left a tip on the table, then went into the bathroom to have a shower. When I got back a streaming tray with pancakes, scrambled eggs and sourdough toast was waiting for me, along with a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice, and a jar of pure maple syrup.
Glancing at the clock, I knew I had a little over an hour before I had to meet Kiegan and the crew to head out to where the next episode of Kiegan Versus the World was being filmed. I knew this was going to be a big episode. Usually when Kiegan was filming I stayed at the hotel and organized his things, doing my job. But today, I decided I wanted to watch. This stunt sounded amazing. Kiegan and some guy who played college football were going to fly up in a helicopter over the water, with a cargo net set up under the helicopters, going from one side of the doors to the other. The goal was to cross under the helicopter via the cargo nets without falling off and falling over 100 feet into the water below.
I had to give it to Kiegan, he didn’t seem to have any fears at all. That much was true.
Taking my breakfast out onto the balcony, I soaked in the sun and the gorgeous view of the ocean. Even though it was December, it was still over sixty five degrees out, and I was definitely going to take full advantage of being warm on my birthday for once in my life.
“Happy birthday to me,” I mumbled to myself, toasting myself with my orange juice, and wondering what the year to come was going to bring. Little did I know.
*
Two hours later we were at the helipad. I watched as groups of people came and went in the hustle and bustle that came with filming a show. Josh was in his element, ordering people around, double checking the views from cameras, making sure that the GoPros used to film a bunch of the stunts were all in place and working. The man was a pro. Kiegan was being interviewed about the upcoming stunt, standing in front of the Bell helicopter with a grin on his face and his hands on his hips, wearing only a Miami Dolphins t-shirt and a pair of American Flag board shorts. Despite the gorgeous sunny day, floodlights and reflectors were still pointed in his direction.
The college football player, Antoine King, was about fifteen feet away, also being interviewed. I had to admit, if I were a betting person, I would probably put my money on Antoine. His dark, muscular arms had to be at least twice the size of Kiegan’s, and it wasn’t like Kiegan was small. The football player was at least 6 foot 6, and built like a tank. Surely he had the strength to get across a cargo net hanging over water. Surely. Suddenly, Josh clapped his hands and yelled out that it was time for takeoff, and if I thought things were chaotic before, it was nothing compared to now.
I tried to stand out of everyone’s way as they began filming Antoine and Kiegan getting into their separate helicopters, the pilots coming in from the building a few feet away, the helicopters’s rotors beginning to spin, and finally the takeoff.
Two more helicopters took off behind the ones carrying Kiegan and Antoine, each filled with an extra camera crew that would be filming the whole thing.
I had expected the helicopters to just fly a few hundred feet from the docking station and do the stunt there, but they quickly flew off far away from the coastline, hundreds of feet out into the open ocean.