September

10: Quiet Night

Night fell, and it was a much different sight in the air. Instead of looking up at the endless night sky, you were in it. The shades of black, dark blues, and dark purples were entrancing, the only thing that could make it more ethereal would be city lights.

Most of the other passengers were sleeping, and if they weren't yet, they were starting to drift off. I rarely fall asleep before midnight. Looking out of the window was the best part of the trip, for me, at least. 

There was a brush on my shoulder from behind me. I turned around, "You okay?" 

"Yeah," she replied in a hushed tone, "Sorry about that, I was just moving."

"It's okay."

"Okay." she replied.

Once again the plane was quiet, the only sound was the engine and the sound of the plane pressing through the air. 

"Can't sleep?" she asked after a few moments of silence.

"Yeah. There's too much to think about."

"I understand." 

"Same for you?"

"Oh yeah, The quiet tends to cause my thoughts to run wild," she said.

"Same, and it's a long downward spiral." 

"You're telling me," she let out a small laugh. "Of course I suppose you're much better at explaining it than me."

"You could get to my level if you wanted to." I replied, I rested my head on the head rest and closed my eyes to think.

"Unlikely," in the dark it seemed much different, a bit more at ease, intimate if I dared say, of course, most of the awkwardness between us was because of our past, not knowing how much was too far, yet wanting to get everything we had back. Not knowing where to turn to find the other, metaphorically, literally we've been running into each other a lot. If I was right it's been set up ninety-eight percent of the time but was this time also set up?  

"You never know, maybe you'll surprise yourself." I replied keeping my eyes closed. It was a different way to relax, somehow it gave a sense of peace.

"You wouldn't be surprised?" she asked. I could just imagine her dark eyes widening. 

"Of course not, I believe you could even surpass my level." 

"Thanks," she said.

Everything was quiet, it was much more awkward than it was a minute ago. But I fought the urge to speak, in case she was tired.

The quiet lasted another minute or two. Then she asked, "Do you think that everything happens for a reason?"

"I do, but just because there's a reason doesn't always mean it's apparent right away, but yes, I think things happen for a reason."

"Why do you think that?" she asked. 

"Well, I guess I look at it as every day, everyone makes a choice, and maybe you make the right choice, but someone makes a decision that may affect you, or it could be the other way around. But it's a reason."

"I've never thought about that. I really like that train of thought."

"What do you think? Do you think things happen for a reason?"

"I think it'd depend, of course, reasons don't always make sense. Like sometimes I annoy Emily just because I want to and that's a reason. So yeah, I'd say things happen for a reason, even if its a dumb reason."

"That's a good point," I replied. "I wonder if that's Dylan's reason for his poor driving."

She tried to hide her laugh but a small one still escaped her mouth. "Well, who knows. Maybe so... I wonder who's worse though. Your brother or Emily?"

"Given that I've never witnessed the plausible horrors of her driving I'd have to say it'll have to be a tie. Until further tests have been done."

"Fair," she paused, "You know I meant to say that, the whole proposal thing with Emily had to be the funniest scene I've ever seen. I would say just in person, but I'm not sure if I've watched anything on the screen that's quite reached it either."

"Well to be completely fair, Dylan dared her to prove it."

"Still, you asked her. And I don't think I'm going to stop laughing whenever I see that guy." at that moment she began to laugh uncontrollably but what made it funnier was that she was trying to stop. 

"His face made the whole thing better." 

"I know."

Our laughter died down and for the third or fourth time it was quiet between us. Only this time it stayed quiet. After fifteen or twenty minutes, I reluctantly fell asleep. 

 Peaceful slumber never lasts long. Something always interrupts, and in this case it was the fact that I hated sleeping on airplanes. It's hard to explain I just hate it, I hate the feel, I just don't like it. Okay, enough about airplanes.

Landing could not come soon enough.