Page 96 of It Couldn't Be You
“Definitely that one.” I put my mug down, laughing.
I walked over to a row of snacks. Gabriel stood by my side and then picked up two bags.
“This,” he waved a bag of flaming hot Cheetos, “or this.” He then waved a bag of Funyuns.
I snatched the Funyuns from his hand and said, “Funyuns forever.”
I walked over to the tall shelves of books, then grabbed a small James Patterson paperback and a formerBachelorcontestant’s tell-all.
“Which one?” I said, holding them both up in front of him.
He tapped the tell-all, whispering salaciously, “You know I can’t resist juicy gossip.”
I nodded, “Plus, she was my favorite contestant that season.”
After we purchased Funyuns and the tell-all for the plane, we found ourselves sitting by the gate waiting to board, still playing this or that.
“Coke or Pepsi?” he asked.
“Do you even have to ask?” I said, a woman with standards. “Okay, road trip or plane ride?”
“Road trip, every time,” he said. I raised my eyebrows in surprise. Then he asked, “Coffee on the first date or dinner?”
“Depends on who I’m with,” I said, twisting in my seat to face him. He turned to me, too.
“You’re with me,” he said, like it wasn’t an option, it was a fact.
“Dinner,” I said before I had anytime to overthink. “And coffee.”
He liked my answer, I could tell by his smile as he looked down at his hands. He tapped his seat mindlessly.
“Dashboard Confessional or Fall Out Boy?” I asked.
He chuckled. “You know I can’t decide between them!”
“Did I finally stump you?” I asked with pride.
Then, they began boarding. I felt like I was waking up from a dream as if the airport had been a little world where just the two of us existed for a bit, and I had forgotten we had plans and a place to be. We lined up together. Gabriel kept poking me with his boarding pass.
I anxiously kept checking and rechecking that I had my I.D. Gabriel saw me check for the third time and caught my eye and winked, and instead of feeling embarrassed, or like I needed to make fun of myself, I felt like somehow it was likeable, like it was seen, like it was okay.
“Remember how I almost bought a flight out for your last trip?” he leaned down a little, his voice low and breathy against my ear. “I knew I would end up on one of them.”
Thirty-Five
We realized as we filed onto the plane that our seats weren’t together. I felt my heart, which had been fluttering around my chest all morning, rebound a little.
“Oh,” I said when I found my seat. I glanced behind me at Gabe who was looking at his seat number and realizing they were far apart. “I guess this way, we can get some work done.”
“That doesn’t sound like fun,” he said low, just for me to hear. I gave a small, half laugh. I tucked into my seat as he walked away. It was a two-seat row, and I had the aisle seat.
I pulled out of my phone and was turning it to airplane mode when suddenly Gabriel was standing before me with a smiling elderly lady.
“Hi?” I said.
“Hi, I’m Doreen,” she said, a small woman with a big voice.
“Doreen was my seatmate, but she offered to trade seats with you, so we can sit together,” Gabriel explained.
