ɴᴇᴍᴇꜱɪꜱ ║ ᴛᴏᴍᴍʏɪɴɴɪᴛ

Chapter 36 : 8 hours of misery

Ray clutched onto the takeout box in her hands, a warm smile grazing her lips. She was currently in the process of returning to her group after having taken at least 20 tasty looking desserts from the buffet with the intention of surprising everyone.

After a while, she finally escaped the commerce section and began walking in between the dozens of gates, hers being at the far end.

"Hey there."

Ray jumped to the side, letting out a low, surprised scream. She instantly turned to find the perpetrator behind her startlement: the one and only TommyInnit.

"You fucking scared me!" She exclaimed loudly, with a pinch of anger in her voice.

"Didn't expect you to be a scaredy cat." Tommy shrugged, with a smug smile on his face.

"I only got scared because you creeped up on me and decided to talk literally 3 centimeters away from my ear." Ray ranted defensively, but that was only met with a humored chuckle.

"Sure, sure." The boy said, before stuffing his hands into his pockets and beginning to walk away. Not wanting to fall behind, Ray followed, now walking side by side with him.

Tommy side-eyed her, looking down at her hands. "What's that?"

"Oh, just some desserts for everyone."

"Why?" Tommy frowned.

"Why not?" Ray replied with a shrug.

"Who did you meet with by the way?" The boy continued asking.

"None of your business."
"Was it your super rich dad, is he here?"

Ray's walk suddenly came to a complete halt, causing Tommy to stop as well. She let out an annoyed sigh, glaring at him with a look that could kill.

"Did you have a fancy lunch with him in your private jet?"

"I told you, it's none of your business. Shut. Up." She hissed through her teeth, the anger seething into her words.

Tommy didn't reply, clearly stunned by the hostility. He didn't really get the time to do so anyways, because from somewhere beside them fan whispers erupted. Turning their heads, the two youtubers spotted 2 your girls talking and giggling whilst staring at them, already reaching into their pockets to take out their phones.

Ray put down the bag that she'd shoved her takeout boxes into and hurriedly took out her facemask, putting it on right before the sound of pictures being taken rung. She then grabbed her things and began walking away.

Tommy wanted to follow him, but couldn't as he was quickly swarmed by the two fans.

"Holy shit, you're TommyInnit!" One of them exclaimed, and the boy laughed awkwardly.

"Hahaha, seems like it."

🡆

After what felt like an eternity, the group could finally board the airplane.

Ray was beyond relieved, not having slept a wink because she wanted to conserve that for the flight so she could easily pass the time. She probably wouldn't have been able to fall asleep before anyways, the thought of her father's judgement swarming her mind. That had begun during her conversation with Ben, but Tommy's comments had made it much worse.

Speaking of Tommy, Ray had been avoiding him at all cost. It had been difficult, but she kept herself busy talking to Captain Puffy, AwesamDude and Ponk or editing on her laptop.

She didn't even know whether she was angry at him or just afraid of his opinion on her clearly shitty family situation.

But now there was no time to think about that, as she walked down the tube that led them to the airplane. The flight attendants greeted her warmly, but Ray couldn't miss the look they gave each other. They knew who she was.

Biting down on her bottom lip, Ray just decided to walk forward, eventually getting to her seat. This was the first time ever that she was flying economy, and she felt like a canned sardine as she uncomfortably slithered into her spot right beside the window. She had been the first to board, so she had no idea who would be sitting beside her.

Captain Puffy walked up right after Sam, and looked down at her ticket then at Ray.

"Sweet, I guess we're in the same row." Puffy smiled, and Ray exhaled a sigh of relief.

The elder put her luggage away in the overhead cabin before taking a seat in the aisle spot.

Ray frowned. "Who's sitting in the middle?"

She received a shrug in response, but the mystery was quickly resolved as a figure stopped in the aisle right beside them.

"You've got to be kidding me." Ray whispered to herself, staring right at him with irritated eyes.

Tommy shuffled uncomfortably, avoiding eye contact as he waited for Puffy to get up and let him through into the middle seat. There was a tense silence between the three of them, as well as their friends who sat around them and were also listening. Puffy opened her mouth to say something, but was stopped by George, who whispered something into her ear. She subtly nodded, simply taking a seat without another word.

Realizing that her prayers about switching seats were going to go unanswered, Ray sulked into her neck pillow that she'd bought at the airport along with some other fancy cosmetics of her choice.

After a while, she heard the clanging of flight attendant heels stopping right beside her row.

"Miss Marigold?"

Ray turned her head lazily, looking right into the eyes of the expecting flight attendant. The woman cleared her throat, taking a quick glance at both Puffy and Tommy before returning her attention to Ray.

"My apologies, I believe there must've been a mistake with your flight ticket, we can re-seat-"

"No, there wasn't any mistake." Ray quickly shut her down, nervously looked over at her peers who stared at the situation questioningly.

"Are you sure? I mean your fath-"
"Yes, I assure you there is no problem." The girl smiled, just wanting the flight attendant to leave her alone.

And although she now seemed to be questioning everything, the woman decided to not ask any more questions and just moved on.

Both Puffy and Tommy turned to Ray instantly.

"What was that about?" Puffy asked confused.

Ray looked over at the boy next to her. He didn't need to ask. He already knew.

"I don't... know." She exclaimed, looking back at Puffy. "I have no idea what she was talking about. Maybe there was a problem with the re-booking when they put us on this flight."

"I see." The latter muttered.

"Dear passengers, welcome aboard flight NY1727 with destination New York, USA. We will be taking off shortly."

'I can't wait to get out of here.'
Ray thought, embracing herself and shutting her eyes tightly, begging to fall asleep.

i wish i never had to fly economy damn, share the wealth mami