Ski Lodge

3// The Plane

Sunday

We all single-filed onto the plane once our group was called. The mothers all leaked off towards the front, then Weston and Dr Greene, and then Dr Becker and my dad. And finally it was just me, Laura, and Becker.

I found our seats and began to sit in the window seat I was assigned when Laura said "no!" And rushed past me. "I want to see the ocean!" She whined as she buckled herself into the window seat.

"You told her she would be able to see the ocean?" Becker looked at me confused.

"No, I didn't. It was Weston. She just... I mean it's fine..." I sighed as I sat in the middle seat and tried to shove my bag between my feet.

"Do you want me to put that in the overhead compartment?" Becker asked me. There was no way I'd accept help from him; and not wanting to look helpless, I declined firmly.

He shrugged and sat down on the edge seat, immediately pulling out his phone to text his friends.

I humored Laura by playing I Spy out the window to her right, feeling Becker glance at the back of my head occasionally, probably still mentally criticizing me about the ocean thing or the fact that I didn't brush my hair this morning. I smoothed my hair down just in case.

The flight attendant walked past us a few moments later, and looking directly at my feet saying a little too sweetly, "ma'am, if the bag doesn't fit under the chair in front of you, you need to put it in the overhead compartment so it doesn't move when the plane takes off."

Becker smiled at the flight attendant, "I tried to tell her."

I huffed at him before handing my bag to the flight attendant and thanking her for putting it away.

"It's just like you to flirt with the flight attendant," I said to Becker once she was gone. It was probably a little rude of me, but my pride was wounded by the issue of the bag which now sat in the overhead compartment. The bag that held my book and snacks, which I would miss until after take off.

"I wasn't flirting," he said defensively.

"Yeah right! I know about the stories people told about you in high school."

"What stories?" He turned in his seat so that he was facing me. I continued looking forward.

I whispered so that Laura wouldn't hear when I said, "that you would date multiple girls at once, and hide under the bleachers with them at sports games, instead of cheering for your team, or..."

"Well," he loudly interrupted, "at least I wasn't a total prude."

"What's a prude?" Laura suddenly joined in.

"He said, 'prune.'" I lied bitterly looking around to see who had heard him.

"What's a prune?" Laura blinked.

"A fruit, I think," I said more calmly.

"Is it?" Becker added.

"I think so," I snarled.

"Not a berry?" He questioned.

"I don't think so," I clipped.

"I think you're right," he looked thoughtful.

"I always am."

Becker rolled his eyes and returned to his phone.

"You have to turn that off for take off," I nagged him.

"They didn't say that."

"It's common knowledge."

"Like putting your oversized backpack in the overhead?"

I glared at him, which he found amusing.

The plane took off, and the moment it leveled out in the sky, Laura looked at me and said, "I have to pee."

I looked up at the seatbelt sign and saw that it was still on. "We have to wait for the sign to turn off." I showed her.

"But I really have to go!" She whined, "I can't hold it."

"Just let her go quickly," Becker sighed before standing up in the aisle. I looked around to see if he'd get yelled at, but he didn't, so I shuffled out of the seats and let Laura go.

"Come with me," Laura grabbed my hand before I got the chance to respond.

It was pretty obvious why the seatbelt sign was still on as I almost fell into about three strangers' laps on the way to the back of the cabin.

Laura went into the little bathroom stall and told me to wait for her outside. I had to hold on to the walls of the compartment to not topple over. I waited for almost ten minutes before a flight attendant appeared from behind a curtain, scaring me half to death, but asking me to politely make my way back to my seat.

"I can't. I'm waiting for the girl I babysit. She's in the bathroom. She's seven."

The flight attendant smiled and said, "I'll escort her back to her seat, but miss you really need to sit down."

One more jolt almost sent my feet flying forward, and I nodded before crawling back to my seat.

"Where's Laura?" Becker asked when I had made my way back. He kept sitting which left me stuck in the aisle, wobbling around as if I was in a blender.

"She jumped out of the plane."

Becker glared.

"She's in the bathroom still. Flight attendant told me to sit because of turbulence."

Another sudden jolt lifted me a few inches off the floor.

"Will you let me in, please?" I gritted.

"Go ahead," he smiled, moving his feet under his chair.

I tried to shuffle past him and to my seat, but the moment I had stepped in front of him, a jolt of the plane sent me flying backwards and into his lap!

"That's not your seat," he laughed at me.

Embarrassed, I shifted over to my seat. "Don't tell our parents that happened," I said.

"Oh, I definitely will!" He wheezed.

I stuck my tongue out at him before settling in to my seat. A few moments later, Laura came back hand in hand with a flight attendant. Becker stood up to let Laura in, and I slid out after him.

"You couldn't have been gentlemanly earlier," I asked him as I stood.

"No, the seatbelt sign was on," he slyly responded.

"Fine. While I'm up, I'm going to grab something out of the overhead," I said once Laura had sat down in her cherished window seat.

"Be careful, it could have moved around with all that turbulence..." he said as I opened the compartment. The first thing I saw was my bag sliding towards my head. I couldn't quite reach it and braced myself for the impact of it hitting my face when two arms flew past on either side of me and caught the bag. I felt his torso press against my back as he pushed the bag back into the compartment, my book falling out of the side pocket from its momentum. I caught it and smiled.

"Is that what you wanted? From the compartment?" Becker asked, looking straight down at me.

I tilted my face up to look him in the eyes. His arms were still held up on either side of me.

"Yes... thanks," I replied. My face felt flushed as I sat back down, and not wanting him to notice my beet-red face, I stuck my nose into my book for the rest of the flight. He chuckled as he sat but returned to his phone.