Mark My Words

73 | Seattle Awaits

Rosalie sat stiffly in her window seat with her carryon backpack wedged under the seat in front of her. She pulled up the blinds on the window where the morning sun was streaming in and she squinted at the horizon to keep herself from looking at Drew Mendoza, who dropped into the seat directly between Rosalie and Joanna.

Joanna was still standing in the aisle looking pissed as all hell. Rosalie glanced over at her, but out of the corner of her eye, she could see Drew with their head tipped back against the headrest, smiling smugly at her. Joanna gestured frantically to Drew, who had denied Joanna's access to their seat five times over.

"So are you two dating then?" Drew asked.

Rosalie's jaw dropped, and she looked at Joanna, who shut her mouth. Drew's eyes were on Rosalie so they wouldn't see Joanna shake her head. "No, we aren't," Rosalie said.

Lennie was just arriving behind Joanna in the aisle. He stopped at the question Drew posed, and then looked from Joanna to Rosalie with wide, perplexed eyes. Rosalie stared him down as Joanna took her seat reluctantly. Lennie narrowed his eyes at her, and she could only imagine what he was thinking.

Rosalie settled back in her seat with a deep frown on her lips. She could feel Lennie looking over at them as the Lieutenant offered to switch her seat with Lennie. "So you can share the aisle with Joanna," the Lieutenant said.

"We aren't even friends," Joanna snarked.

"I will absolutely take the aisle seat," Lennie said.

"Choke," she seethed at him.

Drew laughed, clapping their hands together. Rosalie covered her face and looked out the window as Lennie offered to put the Lieutenant's bag in the overhead compartment. As the Lieutenant took the middle seat in the row across aisle, Lennie reached up to stuff his jacket and the Lieutenant's duffle overhead. Meanwhile, Drew leant over in her seat to look around Joanna to check out Lennie's ass. Joanna slumped even further in her seat, shielding her view of Lennie with her hand.

Drew turned to Rosalie to say, "You have befriended so many hot people, how do you do it when you look so..."

"Look like what?" Rosalie squeaked, heat flushing to her cheeks. She thought back to when Joanna had completely upended her duffle just that morning.

Drew crossed their arms and shrugged. "It's just... You exude depressingly straight vibes. Your external sapphic energy is so subpar, it's underground—no offense."

Joanna's jaw dropped as she leant over and, likewise, gave Rosalie a view of Lennie staring wide-eyed at Drew before making absolute eye contact with Rosalie. Rosalie clamped her mouth shut from where her jaw had fallen into her lap.

"I-I'm not gay, Drew," Rosalie whispered, looking frantically to the window. Still, she couldn't stop herself from looking back at Drew, whose eyes quickly shot up from where they had been checking out Rosalie's outfit. "Stop that!" Rosalie hissed, slapping them in the arm. "I'm not!"

"I'm just saying that your look has more potential than this. You've gotta upgrade."

"We're on a six hour flight. Of course I'm not gonna be wearing a dress."

"We're on a six hour flight and I still look good. You have no excuses," Drew said, gesturing to their, quite frankly, stellar lazy outfit.

Rosalie ground her teeth together to stop herself from saying, You'd look good in a trash bag, idiot.

Drew glanced at Joanna then, who was staring at them with wide, fascinated eyes. Though, as soon as they met eyes, Joanna seemed to remember who she was looking at and went back to scowling. "You haven't said anything. I'm assuming you agree?" Drew said.