Heavy Turbulence

by Kimberly Fox

  My stomach is in knots and I feel it rumbling around with nerves. Please no. I might have to combine my two biggest fears: flying and shitting in public. Can it get any worse?

  The grumbling in my stomach starts to settle and I take a relieved breath. It’s just nerves. For now.

  There’s a knock on the door behind me so hard that the plastic door shakes.

  “It’s taken,” I say, before concentrating on trying to slow my breathing again.

  The person bangs on the door again. I’m already in a shitty mood and someone just barked up the wrong bathroom stall.

  Another impatient knock. Harder than the last two.

  “Jesus!” I say as I rip the door open ready to give someone a piece of my mind.

  The hot tattooed guy from before is standing in front of me in all of his glory.

  “Jesus,” I whisper to myself. Wait? Did I just say that out loud?

  He smiles the sexiest smile I’ve ever seen. “I’ve been called a god before but never Jesus.”

  I don’t doubt that. He looks like a statue of a Greek god. His body looks like it’s carved out of granite.

  “If you’re a god can you promise to make this plane land safely?” I ask, gripping the side of the door as the plane hits another bump. Maybe that was a bird sucked into the engine and we’re about to go down.

  “Afraid of flying?” he asks with a smirk on his delicious lips.

  “How can you tell?”

  “The pale skin, the sweaty forehead,” he says, pointing to my face.

  Great just how I want to look when I meet the type of man who comes along once every few decades.

  “The bloodshot eyes,” he continues. “The look like you want to vomit.”

  “Okay,” I say, holding my sweaty palm up. “I got it. I look like shit.”

  “I never said that,” he answers with the hint of a smile on his lips.

  Now my palms are really sweaty. I rub them on my pants as my mouth goes dry for some reason.

  “Come on guys,” a bald man in a tweed jacket says behind him. “I really have to go.”

  The hot guy lightly touches my arm and pulls me to the side. “By all means,” he says, waving the man in. “I’ll walk the nice lady back to her seat. She looks like her legs are a little bit wobbly.”

  My skin feels more sensitive than usual as he walks me back down the aisle. He never releases my arm. It feels good to finally have some support and comfort after being ignored all flight from my inconsiderate boyfriend. Plus I don’t think I could stand up on my own two feet right now without any help. But whether that’s from the fear of flying or from my knees weakening at being so close to such a hot guy I have no idea. I can’t tell any more.

  I cringe as he places his hand on my lower back to stabilize me. “Sorry about the sweat,” I say. This plane was making me sweat from every pore in my body but now this guy has my sweat glands working overtime.

  “I’m used to making women sweat,” he says, looking down at me with a grin. “It doesn’t bother me at all.”

  I swallow hard as he walks me past my friends and the two other bridesmaids at the wedding, Cynthia and Julia. Cynthia elbows Julia who is reading a book. They both watch us pass with wide open mouths and even wider eyes. I give them a little wink.

  My seat comes faster than I’d like it to. “This is me,” I say, turning and looking up at him one last time before he disappears to the other side of the plane and I can only stare at him creepily through a crack in the seat.

  Aaron finally looks up from his phone and jerks his head back when he sees the god of a man who I’m with. I hide my smile. That will teach him to ignore me.

  “Well,” the hot stranger says, his eyes lingering on mine longer than necessary.

  “Well,” I say repeating him. “Have fun in Cancun.”

  “I will,” he says, letting go of my arm and heading back to his seat.

  I bet you will.

  How many girls will he be sending home from vacation with a big fat smile on their satisfied faces? Lucky bitches.

  I slide into my seat and tighten the seatbelt around my waist until it digs into my hip bone and hurts my stomach. My savior walks back to his seat as smoothly and confidently as a tiger walking through the jungle.

  Aaron frowns at me but turns back to his phone. Thankfully I don’t have to explain why a man way hotter than him was touching and flirting with me. I wouldn’t even know how to explain it. There are way hotter girls on the plane than me. And there’s one of them now.

  The redheaded stewardess goes to see Mr. Perfect again to see if he needs anything: a glass of water, an extra pillow, a blowjob. He’s in coach and getting first class service.

  He talks to her for a bit and I wonder if she’s going to be one of his Cancun conquests. She’s slim and pretty and by the way she looks at him she’s down for whatever he’s into.

  I open my seatbelt and shift in my seat, craning my neck past them to see if he’s sitting beside a girl. A smile breaks out across my lips when I see a man so old that he looks like he might have been a passenger on the Wright brothers’ first flight.

  The stewardess walks to the front of the plane and I can’t help but wonder if he got her number. What would this guy have done before cell phones? If he was born thirty years earlier he would have had to carry a black book the size of a phone book around.

  I jump in my seat and whip my head around when someone taps my shoulder.

  “What the hell was that?” Cynthia whispers in my ear. She has one of those travel pillows wrapped around her neck under her curly brown hair.

  “What?” I ask, pretending that I don’t know what she’s talking about.

  I get startled again when Julia sticks her head next to Cynthia's. “Don’t play dumb with us,” Julia says, stroking the hair on her black ponytail. “He was touching your arm.”

  “And her back,” Cynthia adds.

  I glance over at Aaron. The movie is still playing on his phone and he’s still oblivious to what’s going on. Yeah, and it will probably be the most action I’ll get all week.

  “He’s so hot,” Julia says, staring at him. She moves her head forward trying to get a better view.

  “Will you stop looking?” I ask. That’s all I need is for him to turn around and see three girls gushing over him.

  “I can’t believe that he’s Lucas’ cousin,” Cynthia says, biting her bottom lip as she stares at him.

  “What?” I ask, her words ringing in my head like a bell. “He’s coming to the wedding?”

  They both turn to me with mischievous smiles on their faces. “You didn’t know?” Julia asks.

  My heart starts pumping. Hard.

  “He flew in from Chicago two days ago to come down with us,” Cynthia adds. “His name is Ethan. And he’s single.”

  Too bad I’m not.

  The redheaded stewardess walks down the aisle towards us. Julia and Cynthia move to let her pass but she stops at my seat. “A ginger ale,” she says, handing me a little plastic cup full of bubbling liquid that looks like champagne but smells otherwise. “From the gentleman over there.”

  He turns his head looking straight at me and winks.

  I gulp. Loud.

  Cynthia laughs. “You can say that again.”

  Chapter Two

  Tanya

  Day One

  “Finally,” I whisper as I step onto the solid ground of the airport. I have seven more days until I’m forced back onto that death trap. I can’t get away from that plane fast enough.

  And it appears that Aaron can’t get away from me fast enough. He’s already walking ahead through the airport, leaving me behind. I catch up with him and ask him to watch my bag while I go to the bathroom.

  A long pee and a few splashes of water on my face later, and I’m good to go. I even got some of my color back.

  “What the?” I mutter to myself when I see my bag sitting in the middle of the hallway being passed and walked over by dozens of
people. I ask Aaron to do one thing and he won’t even.

  He’s a few feet away at the baggage claim talking with Stephanie of all people. She throws her blond hair back like a teenage groupie and laughs exaggeratedly at what he said. He smiles and puffs his chest out.

  You’ve got to be kidding me? He hasn’t said one word to me all day and here he is flirting with the one person on this trip that I hate the most. I’m starting to wonder why I even hang out with him. He was fun at first but lately, he’s just mean.

  Stephanie sees me watching them and turns back to Aaron. She steps in close to him and strokes her hand down his arm.

  I turn away in disgust. What is her problem? She only hates me because I’m so close to Megan. Or…was so close.

  A Mexican family tramples over my bag and I rush into the swarm of people and rescue it off the floor. A warning keeps repeating through my head: Do not leave your bags unattended for any period of time no matter how short.

  I drop to a knee and unzip it wondering what kind of illegal contraband was stuffed inside. I always bring a large carry-on bag full of clothes, a bikini and other necessities just in case they lose my luggage like they did last time. You can always tell the travelers who have had their luggage lost by an airline by the size of their carry-ons.

  I unzip my bag and start rummaging through my clothes looking for guns, drugs or stolen diamonds.

  I’m searching through my makeup bag when someone kneels down in front of me. My eyes dart up and I gasp when I see Ethan, the hot stranger from the plane, looking back at me with a smirk on his face. “It’s a little late even if you did forget something,” he says.

  I shove the makeup bag back under my clothes, trying not to look as flustered as I feel.

  “What are you looking for anyway?” he asks, clearly amused.

  “Drugs,” I answer as I pull out my beach hat and look inside.

  “You might want to wait until you get to the hotel before you start pulling out your illegal contraband,” he says. An airport security guard eyes me funny as he walks by clutching an M16 to his chest.

  “No, I’m afraid that someone might have put it in my suitcase,” I say, sliding my fingers into my shoes up near the toes.

  “Huh?”

  He’s even hot when he looks confused.

  So far my bag looks clean but drug dealers are crafty so I keep looking through my beach clothes. “It was left alone while I was in the bathroom.”

  His laugh is like an orgasm in my ears. “People don’t smuggle drugs into Mexico.”

  “Right,” I say, suddenly realizing how ridiculous I must look right now. I try to hide my red face as I start shoving shit back into my bag.

  Ethan reaches in and pulls out a pair of bright green, lacy underwear that I bought for Aaron. I wanted to reconnect and try to spice things up in the bedroom this week.

  My stomach drops as I see it dangling from Ethan’s index finger. He’s grinning.

  If I thought I was red before I must be glowing right now.

  He crumples them into a ball and stuffs them into his pocket without saying a word.

  It’s such a bold move that I’m initially confused that it even happened.

  “Did you just?” I ask, tilting my head to the side.

  “I did.” He winks and stands back up.

  “Uh,” I say, looking at him in disbelief. “Can I have them back?”

  He shakes his head. “Nope.”

  My heart starts racing. “Those are mine.”

  “Correction,” he says. “They were yours.”

  His audacity throws me off balance and I don’t really know how to act. I’ve never met a man so brazen that he would steal a woman’s underwear right in front of them.

  “Give them back or I’ll scream,” I say.

  He shrugs. “Then scream.”

  Damn it. He called my bluff.

  He just smirks and walks away. “Thought so,” he calls back over his shoulder.

  The fluttery feeling in my stomach is back as I start to panic. I wore them this morning. I was planning on wearing them on the plane to surprise Aaron when we arrived at our room to get the vacation started off right, but I panicked.

  I kept thinking of the plane crashing and the medics finding my mangled body with bright green lacy underwear on, and just couldn’t. I took them off at the last minute before leaving.

  But I was wearing them all morning and they still have my scent on them.

  And now they’re in Ethan’s pocket.

  A tingling sweeps up the back of my neck and across my face. Is it possible to be embarrassed, aroused and angry all at the same time? I think I’ve discovered a new emotion. They’ll probably name it Tanya after me.

  I try to clear out the lightness clouding my mind by shaking my head. It’s not working too well. Ethan disappears out of sight in the crowd of people.

  I stuff all my shit back in my bag and zip it up. The baggage carousel is groaning to life and bags are falling down the chute like rocks tumbling down a hill, crushing any valuables inside. Relatives and friends of Megan and Lucas start grabbing their bags and heading towards the customs’ booths.

  Aaron is still talking to Stephanie. Her head is tilted, her long blond hair falling straight down. How does it stay so straight even in this humidity?

  I picture walking over there and shoving her onto the baggage carousel where she’ll disappear into the bowels of the airport never to be seen again when she touches Aaron for the tenth time. This time on his shoulder. She’s just doing it to fuck with me.

  “Hi Tanya,” a warm, familiar voice says from behind.

  “Mrs. Carson,” I say with a smile. Megan’s mom wraps her short, fleshy arms around me and pulls me in for a hug. Megan’s dad is standing behind her smiling at me. “Congratulations guys,” I say. “This is going to be so fun!”

  I’ve always loved Megan’s parents. Megan was an only child so growing up they took me on all of their family vacations. They had a little RV that I still have so many fond memories of.

  “Were you okay on the plane dear?” Mrs. Carson asks, looking worried. She touches the back of her hand to my forehead. Always the worried mother. She’s so cute.

  “I was fine, thanks,” I lie. “Aaron was with me.” Doing absolutely nothing…

  “Oh good,” she says, looking visibly relieved.

  Mr. Carson lets out a chuckle. “Remember that time we brought you to Disney World with us? You puked on my lap.”

  How could I forget? I was humiliated. “Sorry again about that,” I say for the hundredth time in my life.

  “Poor girl,” Mrs. Carson says, shaking her head. “It was her birthday too.”

  “Poor girl?” Mr. Carson asks, jerking his head back. “Those were my favorite pants!”

  “I’m sorry,” I repeat.

  Her mom looks around and then leans in, placing her hand gently on my forearm. “Are you upset that you’re not the maid of honor?” she asks.

  Mr. Carson lets out a huff of air. “Maude, will you stay out of it?”

  “I just want to know if her feelings are hurt,” she answers defensively.

  It’s a sensitive topic. I glance over at their daughter Megan and sigh. She’s taking a selfie with her fiancee Lucas beside their luggage. They both look so happy and so in love. They kiss while she snaps away. Lucas is a great guy and to be honest, I am so thrilled for her. He’s good looking, he’s setting up a dental practice so he’ll make a good living, he’s sociable, fun and he’s as nerdy as her. Everyone loves him. They’re going to have a long, happy life together and I can’t wait to see them grow as a family.

  “I’m just so happy that she’s happy,” I answer. And it’s the truth. Even if Megan and I never speak another word to each other I’ll always hope that she’s happy. I’ve never loved another person as much as I’ve loved her. She’s my best friend and my favorite person. Even if she did hang me out to dry.

  “Good,” her mom says, nodding. “I just h
ope there’s no drama this week and we can all have some fun in the sun.”

  She looks over in Stephanie’s direction and her eyes narrow. “I don’t know why Megan chose her. That girl is a drama factory.”

  “Will you stay out of it?” her dad asks again with a pinched expression on his face. “Come,” he says grabbing her arm. “I don’t want to miss the bus.”

  “It’s our personal bus, Frank,” Mrs. Carson answers as she’s getting pulled away. “And no one is on it. It’s not going to leave empty.”

  Those two are my favorite couple. So in love yet always bickering. It makes for an entertaining pair.

  Aaron is still chatting with Stephanie. He’s said more to her in the past ten minutes than he’s said to me all week. Time to break this party up.

  I carry my bag over and they stop talking when they see me, turning and looking at me like I’m a stranger who just interrupted their important conversation.

  “Thanks for leaving my bag alone in the middle of an international airport,” I say.

  Aaron just shrugs like he doesn’t give a shit. Which he doesn’t. “I was watching it.”

  Stephanie steps forward. “We were watching it.” I cringe at how she emphasizes the we. “Don’t worry, no one, not even the poorest Mexican, is going to steal your clothes.”

  My chest tightens as they both laugh.

  “Oh, relax, Tanya,” she says, slapping my shoulder when she sees the look on my face. “It was a joke.”

  She rolls her eyes and leaves, shaking her head. God, I hate her.

  “What’s your problem?” Aaron asks rudely.

  He doesn’t really want to know what my problem is because he places his headphones back in his ears before I can tell him that he’s being an asshole.

  The airport is packed full of annoyed, sweaty and cranky tourists who just want to get to their resorts and jump in the pool. I can relate. I’m one of them.

  We find our suitcases on the baggage carousel and then head for the customs’ booths. Aaron speeds ahead and I try to race through the crowds of people to catch up with him but it’s hard with my large rolling suitcase. The sign says that couples traveling together should go through customs as a group, but either Aaron can’t read or he doesn’t consider us a couple because he goes through alone. I was really hoping to reconnect with him during the trip, that I paid for nonetheless, but it seems like he has other plans. Maybe there was nothing really to reconnect to in the first place.