Page 143 of Love Unavoidable
We make it on to the plane, step by step, Tenley is sitting in row seventeen, seat D in the aisle whereas I am in row twenty-two, seat A, by the window. I see a glimpse of Tenley’s future husband’s cast a few rows ahead of us and the top of his baseball cap. He’s looking down at something. I’m eager to see his face since Tenley said he was so good looking. But he doesn’t look up as I inch past. All I can see is his one hand messing with his phone and the bill of his cap, which reads SSFD.
I wonder what that stands for. Super Studly Fine-looking Dude? I chuckle to myself. Tenley, behind me in line, talks to him as she passes.
“Hey, you lucked out with your seat, buddy.”
“Yeah, I did,” he laughs. “I see you got one though, you’re on the plane.”
“Way in the back,” she says.
“I’ll say hi if I get up,” he says.
“I’ll hold you to it,” Tenley says. He has a nice voice. It’s deep like Ethan’s. He even laughed like Ethan. Man, I’ve got it bad when I think random guys sound like him.
I’m so pathetic.
We reach Tenley’s row. “See ya later, Sadie-soo.”
“Yeah, don’t mind me all the way back here by my lonesome,” I say. I find my row, stash my suitcase in the overhead bin, then squeeze past the couple in the aisle and middle seats to my seat by the window. The flight attendants go through the safety check and before I know it, we are launching into the air. I thumb through the SkyMall magazine and the safety brochure, pick at my cuticles, check my hair for split ends, open and close the window shade, and try to ignore the couple sitting next to me who are literally cooing at one another.
The captain turns off the seatbelt sign and they begin the beverage service. I contemplate getting a bourbon. If for no other reason than to try to relax during the flight. And, bless their dear hearts, the attendants start the service at either end of the plane so the first and last rows get served first and so on until they meet in the middle. I love it when they do that so much more than when they start at the front and it takes years for them to get to the end.
I order a bourbon on the rocks, pay the attendant, and sip my drink slowly. By the time I finish, I feel relaxed and warm from the inside out. I look up and see Tenley standing at the end of my row.
“I didn’t figure you’d be so close to the restrooms,” she says.
“It’s okay. I’ve got a window seat, I’m good.”
“You hanging in there?”
I nod and smile, my head heavy and loose. She smiles at me then heads into the restroom. I doze for a bit. When I wake, I check the time, convinced we should nearly be there, but we’ve still got about ninety minutes of flight time left. I stand and squeeze past the cooing couple, both sleeping, so I can use the restroom. Both are occupied. I step back into the attendant area to wait for one or the other to open.
And wait.
I don’t know about you, but it makes me uncomfortable when people take a long time in a bathroom stall and then I have to go in after them. My entire body tenses as I prepare myself for the worst. Whether that be cleanliness or smell or both. I hear one of the door locks disengage and take a deep breath, ready to hold it if need be. A hand enclosed in a brightly colored cast pops out first. Then ducks back in and I hear, “Shit, my hat.”
Finally, I get to see Tenley’s future husband. And how funny he still sounds like Ethan when he speaks. But how sad will it be if he made a horrible mess in the restroom and I have to tell Tenley he’s a stinky disaster? She’ll never get over it. I smile to myself and step to the side.
The man walks out and looks to the front of the plane first, and then to the back towards me. “Sorry it took so long,” he says. “With this cast I can’t—”
“Ethan?”
