Disasterpiece

I stared out the small plane window, looking out into an expanse of black where the sky and the ocean seemed to have melted into one. The stars reflected off the clam deep sea and shoon brightly above in the sky. Every now and then we would pass through a dark grey cloud, but other than that the world outside the plane window seemed still and perversely quiet. The inside of the plane however, was filled with light snores and the turning of book pages.

Beside me, Joey was one of the many contributing to the low snoring drone. A small smile crept on to my face when I turned to watch him, his mouth hung open just enough to let the tiniest trail of drool slide down the corner. I bit my lip in amusement and adoration, he looked so perfect as he slept, curled up on the reclined chair with the blanket the air hostess had given him draped over his body. After twelve games of Uno, a detailed discussion about every page of his drumming magazine and as many games of naughts and crosses as we could fit on a scrap of paper, I was not surprised that he was fast asleep, but I just wished I could fall asleep as well.

Leaning back into my chair I took a deep breath and rolled my ankles round in circles to try and get my circulation going. What I really needed to do was a few laps of the corridor, but I couldn’t get out without disturbing Joey. Figuring the best I could do was stand up and walk on the spot for a bit, I hauled myself to my feet, stretching out my arms as far as they would go and adding a giant yawn for effect.

I began to walk on the spot as lightly as I could and look around the plane at the others. Everyone else, save Corey who was reading a book, was asleep. Across the corridor from him slept Josie and Sid, in a somewhat compromising position for two ‘friends’. They had lifted the arm rest between them so Josie could put her head into Sid’s lap; Sid was reclined back in his chair with one hand entangled in Josie’s hair and the other resting peacefully on her hip bone, actually just slightly lower than that.

A pursed expression passed over my face, as much as I was trying my best to ignore the nagging feeling in the back of my head it was becoming more and more apparent that I would have to accept the reality about these two soon. And that reality involved a reason as to why Josie had rejected Daniel’s proposal. My mind snapped back in to current reality when Corey’s waving hand flittered through my vision; focusing my attention back on to him he greeted me with a huge smile. I smiled back and stopped walking on the spot as he got up and made his way towards me, stopping in the corridor along side Joey once he did.

“You ok?” he asked in a quietly, which was actually a huge challenge for Corey who could never usually, or never wanted too, control the volume of his voice.

“Yeah just stretching, how come you aren’t asleep?” I whispered back, Corey shrugged.

“I can’t sleep on planes unless I’m dead tired,” he explained. “So what’s your excuse?” he added with a cheeky grin directed down at Joey. My heart skipped a beat as I glanced down at Joey then back up at Corey, unsure but fearful of the meaning behind that grin. I blinked a few times and swallowed, shaking off the feeling that Corey was insinuating something.

“I um, I’m just having trouble getting to sleep I guess...” I responded slowly, so as to make sure that I didn’t give Corey any ammunition to insinuate anything else. Corey dropped his grin, but gave me a look of knowing before holding out the book he was reading.

“Here read this, once you start you’ll nod off pretty quick,” he said. I took the book cautiously from his grasp and read over the title that I had never heard of briefly. I looked back up at Corey and gave him a weak, appreciative smile.

“Thank you,” I murmured. He winked at me then leaned over Joey and kissed my forehead.

“Sweet dreams VJ,” he whispered before heading back to his seat. I sat back down and held the book carefully between my hands as I thought for a moment. What could Corey have possibly meant by that grin? Shaking off the tingling feeling rising up from my tail bone unsuccessfully, I reclined back in the chair and opened the book Corey had given me. Manoeuvring myself further into the back of the seat I stared blankly at the first few lines of text, trying to take them in. But the more I tried to understand what was on the page the blurrier the words became, until the book slipped from my fingers onto the floor and I fell into a much needed sleep.

Hours later, as consciousness came back to me; I stirred quietly in my seat, pulling the blanket that was over me tighter around my shoulders. I nudged my head further into my pillow only to realise that instead of feeling soft and fully, my pillow felt hard and...bone-like. My eyes snapped open furiously and burnt in the over head light. I sat up straight, rubbing them profusely in an attempt to gain sight as quickly as I could.

Once I was sure I could see I re-opened them and looked to where my head had been moments before. My stomach churned when I came face to face with Joey’s shoulder, I felt my face burn up hotter than it ever had before, every cuss word in the history of the English language ran through my head.

“Morning sleepy head,” Joey said biting his lip in amusement; his face seemed a little flushed. I cleared my throat uneasily, pulling the blanket up higher with my left hand as my right patted my hair down timidly.

“Uh...morning,” I replied shyly, completely embarrassed by the whole situation. I suddenly realised as I held onto the blanket though that I didn’t fall asleep with a blanket on me. “Oh, is this yours?” I asked Joey quickly, holding out the blanket just a little.

“Yeah, I hope you don’t mind but you looked cold,” he said, with an anxious glint in the weak smile he offered. I blinked in surprise and shook my head, why would I mind an extremely, ridiculously good looking guy giving me his blanket?

“That was really sweet of you; I hope you didn’t get cold,” I replied, looking right at him for the first time. It was then that I realised that he looked really uncomfortable, his right arm was wrapped across his waist tightly and his left hand was in his lap twitching nervously. I followed the length of his left arm down from his shoulder into his lap and had to hold in my gasp of shock, Joey quickly jumped; realising where I was looking he tried his best to cover the protrusion with both his hands. But I had already seen it.

“Oh!” I exclaimed quietly, rapidly looking away from him while trying to think of any possible way to get out of this situation. I twisted the blanket nervously in my hands, my brain and heart pounding in fierce unison, my eyes burnt with the shocking image.

“Shit fuck,” Joey cried out under his breath. It was embarrassing seeing it, but I couldn’t imagine how Joey felt and I felt wretched for noticing something so private. The feeling escalated when I realised that he probably had been sitting there for a while trying to get rid of it, but not wanting to disturb me as I slept on his shoulder. My throat was dry as I searched for any way out of the predicament, that’s when I remembered the blanket in my lap.

“Here Joey you should give this back to the hostess,” I said suddenly, just a little louder than normal so any eaves droppers could hear. I thrust the blanket at Joey without turning to look at him; he eagerly swept it up, catching on quickly to my plan. Held bunched the blanket into a messy ball and held it against his waist as he stood up.

I glimpsed up at him as he turned to go to the bathroom, he glanced down for a split second and mouthed “thank you” before hurrying off. I sunk as low as I could into my chair, my red face still blazing hot.