Breathe Easy the Doctors Are About to Arrive

*THE NEXT DAY*

I sat back in the overly comfortable chair, looking out the window and clasping the arm for support. I had never been on a plane before, and I didn’t know how I was going to react to being on one now. Max laughed at me breathlessly, trying to hide the fact that he was frightened too. I chewed on the inside of my lip, as my hands started to get clammy. I glanced around the plane. It wasn’t very wide, nor very narrow. We were about to take off; some last minute changes with the seating arrangements were just being made. I made sure before hand that I got the seat next to Max; if I hadn’t gotten it, I probably would have had an anxiety attack. Max put his hand down on top of mine, pressing his fingertips against my nails gently, and practically forcing my hand to enclose up around his. Not like I minded. I squeezed his hand and buried my face into his shoulder, laughing at both myself and him. He smiled too, and Bryan smirked at us.

“Bryan, you wouldn’t understand, you’ve been on planes multiple times,” I told him, clearing my throat afterward, before the pilot came on the telecom.

“Be expecting some turbulence, please make sure your luggage is all packed away properly, and enjoy your flight ladies and gentlemen. Thanks for choosing American Airlines,” an overly cheery female announcer’s voice said. I sunk down into my seat, trying to calm the sick feeling in my stomach. I just wanted the lift off to be over with already. Max put the arm of the seat back, and pulled me into him; I welcomed it generously.

“God, you both are a couple of pussies, I swear,” Bryan commented, while Jessi just smiled over at us, nibbling on her lip ring. Luckily, they weren’t too far off to the side either. I flipped Bryan off and took a deep breath, containing myself by resting my forehead against the softness of Max’s shoulder. He rubbed up the side of my shirt, comforting me. I opened my eyes, and glanced at the few passengers around us as I heard the loud motor of the plane start up, and saw the entrance door close. A couple in their forties, with a kid that looked about 14 or 16, and a small 5 year old looking child was sitting in the front, facing us. The woman of the family stared at Max and I. It looked like she was silently hoping we wouldn’t start sucking face in front of her children or something. The little rebel inside of me wanted to do so, just to make them all mad, and/or squirm. I smiled a small smile, and latched onto Max as the plane lifted off. Bryan started laughing at me like a mad man, and I wished he was close enough for me to kick him right in the shin.

“Randi, you’re over reacting,” Jessi said, chuckling a little bit.

“It’s my fucking stomach!” I defended, wrapping my arms around myself this time, and letting Max enclose me with his warmth. Jessi and Bryan continued to laugh at us, regardless of anything. They were in their own little world, while Max and I were in ours. The plane was finally up in the clouds, and the turbulence was no more. I sighed and relaxed my tensed body against Max’s side. He did the same as I, but he was keeping a straight face and showing no emotion the entire time. I felt the infamous, random urge to kiss him, but I remembered the couple sitting in front and I hesitated. I didn’t think they phased Max one bit. I ran my fingertips underneath his jaw bone and glanced out of the corner of my eye at them, wondering if I could steal a quick peck and be satisfied all the same. The lady crossed her legs, and nobody looked like they were even paying attention. All of a sudden, I didn’t even care anymore. Max glanced down at me, just staring at me, wondering what I was thinking. I stretched my neck up, and he lowered his face down, touching his nose to mine so I didn’t have to strain. I pressed my lips to his gently, just one kiss. I hesitated and glanced sideways at the couple now. The uncomfortable feeling came back again. I wished to myself that I didn’t feel so uncomfortable kissing in public. Max rested his hand on my cheek, and tried to figure out why I was acting so weird.

“I can’t kiss in public,” I muttered, looking all around and letting paranoia suck me in.
Max snickered like it was nothing, and raised his eyebrow like he was making fun of me inside of his head. “I just can’t, I don’t feel comfortable…” I mumbled, staring up at him and wanting to hit myself.

“Well we don’t have to,” Max mumbled softly, staring ahead at the overhead projected movie that was playing. I just stared at him, at his eyes. His green eyes that showed no emotion whatsoever at the time. His lips twitched, and he raised his hand up to itch his cheek. I smirked at him and kissed him on the same spot that he touched. I felt his skin stretch in a smile against my lips and I just leaned my head against his shoulder. I stared at the movie screen, trying to remember what move it was. I knew the faces of the actors and actresses, but I just couldn’t get into it.

“Max?” I asked, noticing his body was limp, resting against mine. “Max, are you asleep?” I probed. My eyes were too fixed on the movie, that I could barely hear, to look up and see for myself.

“I was,” he grumbled, sighing.

“Sorry…” I uttered, not knowing what to do with myself. He stared at me, and watched my movements as I leaned against the window now, and not him. I stared at the clouds, and thought about how odd it was to be piercing through them and the sky, like they were cake, and we were some kind of needle or something. I could still feel Max’s eyes on me. I swore we stared at each other more than any two people I’ve ever known of. It was sickening.

“Are you okay?” he asked sweetly, snaking his arm around my neck, and resting it on my shoulders. I closed my eyes, and thought for a second; I felt light headed from all the stomach sickness.

“Yeah I’m okay, Max… just bored, I guess,” I told him, crossing my legs and tracing patterns in my jeans with one long nail on my fingertip.
“
Well, we could go have… FUN … in the bathroom,” Max joked, his lips twitching as he stared into my eyes and tried not to smile, or make any at all for the matter. I punched him in the shoulder, turning fire engine red as the elderly man sitting in the seat in front of us turned his head and looked at us like we were a couple of heathens. Max bit his bottom lip, and tensed up as my fist collided with his shoulder blade, and the man stared at him. The man turned his head forward again slowly, and I could tell he wanted to forget he even heard what he just had.

“Max,” I scolded, after I was sure the man couldn’t hear. Max started laughing hysterically like an immature, hormonal, high school boy. I busted out in fits of giggles, trying to subside my laughter by hiding my face against the window. I was no better than him. But as I looked out, watching the sky fly by underneath us, it made my stomach lurch. If anybody on the Earth, or that plane rather, was plane sick, it was me. “Oh God, no,” I whined, clutching my stomach and leaning as far into Max, away from the window, as I could.

“Huh?” Max asked, looking like he was silently hoping that I didn’t just see the end of the plane catch on fire.

“Stomach,” I muttered, resting my head against the back of the seat.

“OH MY GOD!” I heard Max squeal delightfully, almost like a girl. I widened my eyes in surprise as he clapped his hands together. It was all random, but I guessed I should have been used to it by then. “THIS PLANE SELLS ALCOHOL!” Max yelled again, watching the hostess push the cart down the isle.

“You fucking serious?” I asked, leaning up instantly to get a better look.

“Alcoholics,” Jessi murmured, pressing play on her iPod again after she found out what all the noise was about.

“So,” I retorted, lying across Max’s lap to see what kind of booze I was going to be drinking tonight. Every one in the whole sitting area was staring at us, wishing we weren’t on the same plane as them. All I could so was laugh about it. The hostess noticed we wanted some, and we seemed to be the only ones out of the passengers in this area that did. She looked uncomfortable by our obnoxious festivities, but stopped for us anyhow.

“Get the Jack,” I urged, bouncing up and down, while my eyes shined on the lone bottle to the side.

“No, that’s for depression only,” Max said absent mindedly.

“Do you have any Jager?” he asked the lady in a fake sweet voice, covering my mouth with his hand like he was containing a hyper child. I went to take his hand off of my mouth but rested my fingers against his instead.

“No, no we don’t. I’m sorry,” the hostess replied, straightening out her dress.

“Jack!” I insisted behind Max’s hand, but only it sounded like “vjeg!” instead. Max rolled his eyes, and paid for the Jack.

“ID,” the lady stated, clearing her throat afterward.

“Does it look like-” Max started, tilting his head in mock insult while his voice broke into a much higher pitched tone.

“Max, give her your ID, and shut the fuck up,” Bryan said, with an annoyed edge. Max bit his tongue, I could tell because his jaw clenched underneath his skin by his jaw line. The lady was so tense that the back of her legs looked like they were going to explode off of her red stilettos. I sat there, awkwardly, as Max dug every where for his wallet. The hostess straightened up, and cleared her throat, like she was trying to convince herself to stay more comfortable than she looked and acted. I felt Max’s wallet underneath me, just when he saw it, and he ran his hands underneath my bottom and got it, making me sit up at reflex. Max kept grumbling incoherencies, but shifted his fingers into his wallet to fish out his ID all the same. He finally got it, and showed it to the hostess. She glanced at it, and nodded. She handed us the lone bottle of Jack on the bottom, and I wondered why it was in a bottle and they didn’t have a machine for it, or anything along those lines.

“Do you want the first drink of it?” I asked Max, offering him my beloved whisky, while he shoved his wallet into his tight pocket.

“No. You can have it all if you want,” he mumbled, staring off into the distance.

“You’re a hater,” I stated, unscrewing the cap off with my strength and taking a burning gulp of it. I simmered in the burn and the feeling for just a second, closing my eyes and getting a hold of myself. I smirked toward Max, and he turned to me. I put my mouth right under his nose, and blew my breath into his face. He just stared down at me.

“You’re a hater,” Max repeated my words; inches away from my mouth, as a late come back.
I smiled, and looked up at him from underneath my eyelashes.

“Jealousy isn’t attractive, Maxwell,” I said, tilting my head back and taking a gigantic gulp of the whisky once more.

“Give me that,” he teased, grabbing it out of my hands as soon as I swallowed. I tensed up, and he could tell. He stared at me competitively.

“Don’t drink all of it,” I snapped at him. He smirked at me and took about one fourth of it down his throat. I ripped the bottle out of his hands and he watched me as I took a deep breath in and drank down half of the rest of the containments in the bottle. I sat the bottle down beside me, and screwed the cap on gingerly. I looked over at him, my vision already getting dizzy. I smiled up at him, and licked my lips, tasting the bitter taste once more on my own flesh. He stared down at me, like the alcohol was igniting hunger within him. I giggled at him, and before I knew it, his lips crashed into mine. I was more tipsy than I thought. He rested his hand on the small of my back, and I felt his tongue run across my bottom lip over and over again. I mumbled things into his mouth, and held him back away from me with one arm. I was using the other arm to balance myself up on the seat. I glanced at the family in front of us, but they were gone. I stole a quick look over to where Jessi and Bryan were at, and neither of them were looking. Jessi was listening to her iPod and staring out the window, and Bryan was falling asleep. I looked back up at Max. I was practically lying down on the seat, and he was hovering over me, waiting for me to give in to him. I shook my head, and he shifted up off of me. He looked around, to see if anyone noticed, and started fixing his hair like it was all a joke. I chuckled at the both of us, and looked over at Bryan. He was staring daggers at us, like a father would, and I stared back at him awkwardly. He was resting his chin in his hand, with his fingers drumming against his upper lip.

“What?” I shot at him, looking at him like he was crazy.

“You guys are going to get us kicked off of this plane,” Bryan said, shaking his head, and shifting in his seat so he was staring forward.

“You can’t get kicked off of a plane while it’s in the fucking air, Bryan,” I retorted, squinting my eyes at him.

“Sometimes I feel like you two are my children, and Jessi and I are your parents,” he said, shaking his head, and ruffling his hair, sighing. Max dropped his jaw and stared daggers right back at Bryan.

“I’m not a child, bro,” he laughed, brushing it off.

“Could have fooled me,” Bryan mumbled, and fixed his neck rest.

The rest of the plane ride was filled with the usual shenanigans. Max and I drinking ourselves to sleep, eventually falling asleep all huddled together, drooling on one another, embarrassing all holy hell out of Bryan, Jessi not paying attention to anyone and finding suffice in her own little world of music, every one staring at all four of us like we belonged in a zoo-the usual. When it was time to switch planes, and finally finish the other half of our trip to Florida, I decided I’d sleep for the remaining time we had left. Max hated it, because he was bored, and he of course drove Bryan off the hinges. I woke up multiple times from Max laughing at Bryan being annoyed at something he did. I guess if you thought about it, for right now, Max and I were-and acted like-Bryan’s children. But that’s just what happens when you take two people under your wing and sort of let them depend on you for a while; they become your children in some way. I would always think of Bryan as my best friend though, not a father-no matter how big his head got with the fact that he basically helped raise me since I was 16, along with the help from my unstable self, of course.