Adrenaline

04 | fight or flight

According to Brendon—while Sydney has more to see, Melbourne has more to do. It makes sense considering the self-proclamation that it's the sporting capital of the world.

Jun peeks around the corner of his seat with a mai tai in his hand. "What?"

"Nothing." I tuck my phone back into the slot by the armrest. "How much longer do we have?"

He leans forward in his seat and presses the screen a few times, bringing up the flight status. "Two more hours."

"Great," I grumble. "Remind me why I agreed to go to this thing."

"Because you like to prove a point, even if it means sacrificing yourself to half a day of flying."

It's tempting to open the window and look outside so I feel less like I'm stuck in this bubble—literal if we count the plane as one—but I'm not a dick who wants to piss everyone else off in the cabin. If there's one thing I've learned about flying first class, it's that people with excessive disposable income will complain about every little thing.

"Admit it," Jun teases, leaning across the armrest to get in my face. "You're excited."

I shove the divider up in his face which he quickly slides back down. "I'll deny everything if you tell anyone else," I warn.

Jun mimes zipping his lips shut.

"It's mostly 'cause I can't wait to try all this food," I continue, pulling up the notes app so I can show him the places I want to go to. We're there for less than a week so it's unlikely I'll be able to go to all of them, but a girl can dream. "I brought an extra duffle bag just for snacks and omiyage."

"I'm sure Marty will appreciate the reminder he couldn't come with us."

"Damned if we do, damned if we don't," I reply. Our assistant Jenny is sitting in front of us with her nose buried in a book. "Jen is smart. Jen doesn't have kids so she can go wherever she wants, whenever she wants."

"Getting paid to do it doesn't hurt either," Jun laughs. He crumples up the straw wrapper from his drink and tosses it in her direction, earning a middle finger in return.

"You mean to say she doesn't stress out over us because it's her passion in life?"

"I don't think that's the case, no."

Jenny turns around in her seat while her finger continues to scroll down the page she's viewing on her phone. Multitasking is her real passion, as she's proudly stated before.

"So, who wants to go shopping tomorrow?" she asks.

Jun and I look at each other. "We're going to Chinatown and stuffing our faces."

She grimaces. "After Chinatown then."

"I don't know but it'll probably involve more food."

"Stevie," she moans, resting her chin down against the top of her seat. "We have one day before we're whisked away into a tornado of gasoline and too much testosterone."

I cross my arms in front of my chest and lean back in my seat. "Why do you want to go shopping there anyway? It's expensive. You're better off blowing all your money back home."

"Because," Jenny rolls her eyes so hard they look like they're going to spin a full three-sixty, "you're morally obligated to spoil yourself on vacation. There's no guilt involved."

"Speak for yourself," Jun scoffs.

"Fine," Jenny huffs and drops back down into her seat. The seclusion of her first-class seat hides her from view, but we're aware she's emotionally flipping us off. "I'll rope Lauren in. She never lets me down."