Missing You Again

Hitching a Ride

"Let me grab that," Tom the cabin attendant said as he picked up the mystery cabin bag and stowed it. He'd already taken my briefcase and cabin bag and as he found places for them I noticed a familiar looking red bag already neatly stowed.

What the hell was going on?

I didn't know whether to be relieved or disappointed when the door to the bathroom opened and a smirking Brian appeared running his fingers through his unruly locks. His smirk resolved into blankness and he offered me a chin tip. "Kelly."

A flushed and giggling Steph appeared behind him. Had the world gone mad? I couldn't help myself and burst out, "What are you two doing here? Other than defiling the bathroom of my jet."

Steph cleared her throat but it was Brian who answered, "This is the upmarket version of hitch hiking. Ace was going stir crazy so I thought a little jaunt to London might cheer her up. Sean said we were welcome to ride along."

Sean was going to feel the toe of my boot when I saw him. They hadn't spoken to me in days and he thought it was okay to just offer them up a couple of seats on the jet? I'd had some serious plans for changing into my pyjamas and just moping for the entire flight. Now one of the reasons for my moping was going to be a front row observer of my misery.

Shit. I was going to cry again. How the hell was I going to kick brogrammer butt in London if I cried every five minutes?

Taking a deep breath I gestured at the empty seats, "Make yourselves at home." I then burrowed in to my seat as Tom prepared the cabin for take-off. To my vast annoyance Brian linked hands with Steph and drew her to a seat facing mine. Of all the places he could have chosen he'd selected a spot conveniently within my eyeline all the better to rub my nose in their blissfully happy relationship. I didn't try very hard to keep the sour expression from my face.

Brian happily accepted a beer and Steph a glass of wine from the ever helpful Tom. I was prepared to churlishly refuse anything until Tom mentioned he had pomegranate juice. As I sipped my way through the glass I hoped that Carley would train her replacement well when I promoted her.

We'd just been advised that it was safe to move about the cabin I turned my attention from the window I'd been sightlessly staring out of. Brian had leaned in to Steph and was murmuring in her ear as her face grew soft at whatever it was he was saying.

God I felt lonely. Being on the jet reminded me of the time Zacky had used its existence to persuade me to buy a luxury stroller. The rock on Steph's finger glinted as she raised her hand to cup Brian's cheek. Zacky and I'd had that. Even though no one but us had ever seen how good we could be together, we'd had that connection. And my thoughtlessness had ruined it. As my longing for Zacky welled up in my heart so too did the tears in my eyes. Try as I might I couldn't stifle my gasp at the agony that his absence made me feel.

Steph stared at me as I tried to blink away the tears before she dashed a hand across her own cheek. "Kelly," she said before she shoved Brian aside and launched herself at me. Landing in the seat beside me she wrapped her arms around me and wailed, "I'm sorry!"

Well that was unacceptable because she had nothing to be sorry for. My own wail was a loud protest of, "No! I'm sorry!"

And so it went, back and forth as we both became increasingly strident in our mutual protestations of sorriness. Until eventually Brian leaned forward and roared, "Can we just agree that your both really fucking sorry and preserve my hearing?" He raised his eyebrow at Steph and said in a more moderate tone, "Jesus Ace and they say metal bands need to worry about hearing loss? Just try being locked in a confined space with a pair of emotionally overwrought women!"