Page 49 of The Plan

“I ask you all to please stay seated and fasten your seatbelts. We are preparing for an emergency landing. I’m going to try my best to get us out of here, but it isn’t looking good. May God be with us all.”

The plane has some turbulence again, and I grab onto my seat. “Wait, is something actually wrong with the plane?”

He looks at me like I’m speaking a different language. “Of course not. You told me to be dramatic?” Shit. Well, this plane is a paid actor because talk about good timing. I get up to go see the actual show. When I walk past the curtains, August and Hazel are back in their seats, and he’s hugging her like he’ll fall out of the plane if he lets go.

He’s saying a prayer, and Hazel is taking in deep breaths with her eyes closed. As soon as August sees me, he starts yelling. “SIRE! SIT DOWN, HURRY!!”

I almost burst out laughing at the panic in his voice, but Vidia’s head shoots up in my direction from between her legs, and she looks like she’s crying.Fuck. This was only meant to scare August, not her.

I walk over and sit in the seat next to her, and she immediately hugs me. I can’t help but hug her back out of reflex. She’s holding me so tight. I feel so bad for this. “We’re going to die, Sire.” Fuck, this is making me feel like shit. Seeing her cry is like a punch to the fucking gut.

“We’re not going to die, my love. I promise.” She hugs me tighter and sobs in my arms. I can’t take this shit. “We’re not going to crash. The pilot was joking. I was trying to scare August. Please stop crying, Vid.” She looks up at me, confused. I wipe her tears away and hold her face while my words set in.

She looks between my eyes, and a part of me wishes I could hold her for a few more minutes. But then I see the realization set in her eyes, and any second now, our moment will pass. I quickly lean forward and plant a kiss on her forehead.

“We’re not going to crash?” I shake my head, and after a few seconds, she pulls away, taking my heart with her. She pushes my chest and wipes her tears. “You’re such a fucking dick. What about that is funny to you?”

August starts yelling again from behind us, causing our attention to break from each other. “Sire, I love you so much! I was the one that crashed your car senior year in high school. I’m so sorry, and I’m also sorry about turning your favorite white hoodie pink back in eighth grade. It was also me who washed it with Sage’s red blanket.” I fucking knew it.

Hazel starts with her apologies next. “Vidia! I love you, babe. I’m also sorry, but I totally read your diary in ninth grade. I know it was a complete violation of your privacy, and I carry that guilt with me every day.” Wow, I guess the fear of death really does make people confess.

“I fucking knew it!”

I turn to Vidia, and we both laugh at the same time. “Should we let them keep confessing?” She thinks about it for a second, and we look back at them. I could be wrong, but I think August is actually crying. “August!” His eyes shoot to me, and they’re bloodshot red. No fucking way. I throw my head back, laughing, and I hear Vid laughing beside me.

We finally calm down, and I look over at August, and he looks beyond pissed. “I left a voicemail to Sage, you fucking asshole.” I immediately shoot up from my seat in panic. This idiot.

“August, tell me you're lying.” I can’t tell if he’s joking or not, so I look for his phone to check, and he’s called her three times.

“You bitch! She is gonna call Mom crying about our deaths as soon as she hears these.” The last time he told her I died, she bought a casket, and she didn’t sleep until she saw me in person. That was for three whole days. I'm going to give her something to cry about and kill this idiot.

“Good. Maybe Mom will yell at you for joking about something like this.” Okay, bad joke. I get it, but he didn’t have to be a bitch about it and call our sister.

I flick his head on the way to my seat. “You better call her as soon as we land because I promise you, I’m kicking your ass ifshe cries, and if she bought a casket again, we’re putting it to use this time.”

He looks back at me like what I just said confuses him. “You better not be mad right now. If anything, you’re the one going in the casket for this pathetic excuse for a joke. It’s not my fault I wanted to say goodbye to my twin before I died, you dickhead.”

I’m not mad. I just hate seeing only two people in this entire world cry: one of them is this idiot's twin and the other is on this plane.

“Noah, you’re our opening pitcher.Get on the field.” This can’t be my life. Noah gives me an apologetic look, and the rest of my team runs out on the field as I walk over to our coach.

“Coach, let me open the game.” He finishes writing something on his clipboard and then turns to me. He looks pissed, but I’m about to be more pissed if I don’t play today.

“You can pitch when I swap out Noah.” Like hell I can.

“Just put me in now.”

“Am I the coach or you?” He gives me a warning look, but I don’t give a shit. “I was informed that you need to take it easy, so this is me helping you do so since we both know you're too stubborn to put your health before the game. You’re welcome.” He turns to leave but stops short at my words.

“No, thank you.” He turns to me and holds his clipboard against his chest. “I’m in perfect health and have made a one hundred percent recovery. I can open the game.”

“You made a full recovery and need to take it easy,” he corrects me, and I grind my teeth together. “You can pitch a bit slower with your injured arm or with your right arm at whatever speed you wantwhenI swap you in for Noah.” He walks away from metoward the field, and that just pisses me off more. I hate when people walk away from me.

“Coach!” He ignores me and keeps walking. You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. I storm out of the dugout and quickly make my way down the steps. As soon as I spot Vidia’s curly hair in the physician's room, I make my way straight for her. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

She gives me a confused look, but as soon as she hears the announcement that the game is starting soon, she smiles. Little shit. “Did you get injured before the game even started?” She knows I’m not here for an injury.

Rolling my eyes, I take a step closer to her. “Stop playing dumb, Vidia. You are so fucking immature for telling my coach on me like we’re kids or something.”

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