Ashley
(after, in the airport)
"What are you even doing here, Ethan?" I ask. He's dragging me through the airport and bringing me to one of the ticket counters.
"Rescuing your ass, Princess," he says.
"I didn't ask you to rescue me!" I shout at him. I didn't think I was being that loud, but people start to look at us. Hushed, I say it again, "I didn't ask you to rescue me, Ethan. You don't understand what's going on."
"I understand," he says. "Just shut the fuck up for a second, alright? Sorry to be an asshole about it, but we're leaving. I'll explain everything to you after."
"You are an asshole," I say. "Thank you for saving me, though."
He grins, cocky and arrogant and just like himself. I laugh and roll my eyes at him. I feel better already. I feel lighter and lifted, completely unlike the dread and anxiety I felt when I stepped out of the airplane.
We wait in line. Ethan looks like he's going to start strangling people and shoving them out of the way, but thankfully the line isn't that long. We get to the front soon enough. The woman behind the counter balks when Ethan glares at her. I don't think he's glaring at her so much as he's just been glaring this entire time at nothing in particular. Unfortunately she's in front of him right now, though.
"Sorry," I say to her. "He's a little on edge at the moment."
"Fuck off," Ethan says.
I stick my tongue out at him. He rolls his eyes at me in return. And then he kisses me. It's fast and quick, but passionate and intense, too. The woman at the ticket counter gapes at us, then she starts to giggle.
He... he kissed me? Oh my God, Ethan kissed me, and right here in front of everyone. Oh my God. No one knows, though. They don't know he's my stepbrother. It's fine. It's...
"Tickets," Ethan says. "We need two plane tickets." He tells her where. She browses through a list on her computer.
"When do you need them for?" she asks.
"Right the fuck now," Ethan says. He doesn't say it angrily or annoyed, just very calm and matter-of-fact. It sounds so strange, almost offensively inoffensive. It's weird.
"Um... we... we have something for thirty minutes from now?" she offers. "That should be enough time for you to get through security if you're fast. Do you have any bags to check?"
"You want to check your bag, Princess?" Ethan asks, turning to me.
"No," I say, shaking my head.
"Oh, sorry," the woman says. "This happens sometimes with flights that are about to leave. There's only one seat left, though. The other was just booked."
"No," Ethan says, firm. "There's two."
"No, really. I'm sorry, but there's just one. I can get one of you on this one and another on the next one in... three hours? Is that fine?"
"Ethan," I say to him. "I don't mind waiting. Really."
It doesn't matter if we wait. No matter what, it's going to be terrifying once we get back. Maybe it's better if we wait.
"Can everyone just hold on a second?" Ethan asks. "Please. I've got to make a phone call."
"Um, sure?" the ticket woman says.
Ethan reaches into his pocket, grabs his phone, and dials a number.
"Yeah," he says to someone on the other end. "Yeah. Uh huh. She says there's only one. I need you to talk to her. Get this sorted out. Right? Yeah."
"Um...?" the ticket woman stares blankly at Ethan.
"Hey," Ethan says to her. "Your boss wants to talk to you. Here." He hands her the phone.
"My boss?" she asks. She holds the phone up to her ear. "Hello?"
Her eyes widen. "Oh my God, Mr. Wentsworth. Yes, sir. I didn't know, sir. Sorry, sir."
"Mr. Wentsworth?" I ask Ethan.
"Yeah, he owns this shit," he says. "Him and my dad are friends. They do business a lot."
"He owns... what?"
Ethan shrugs. "You know? The planes. The airline. Everything."
"Ethan! You seriously called up the owner of the airline to get her to give us tickets? Don't you think that's a bit much?"
"Nah, not really."
Something dawns on me. "Inclement weather? That was you, wasn't it? I knew it sounded stupid. It was beautiful out. What sort of inclement weather is that? There's not even such a thing as a rubber widget on an airplane, I bet."
"Is that what they said? Listen, Princess, I needed your flight delayed. Had to catch up, you know? I got a direct flight here, but even still it landed five minutes after you. You have no idea how fucking pissed I was about that. They said they couldn't fly the plane any faster, though. I would have taken my dad's company jet, but they need time to prepare and shit. Wouldn't have worked."
"You're unbelievable," I tell him. "I really can't believe you did all of that. Are you crazy or something?"
"Yeah probably," Ethan says, grinning. "You want to make something of it, Princess? I'll argue. We can argue right now. All the way to the departure gate, then all the way back home on the plane, and then I'll sit your ass in a taxi and argue with you all the way back to the house. I don't give a fuck. There's consequences to arguing with me, though. You'll like them, don't worry. You might be screaming something, but you won't be mad at me anymore."
Is he... oh my God, yes he is. Sex! Is that all he thinks about? I blush and then I slap him on the cheek. It's not very hard. He grabs my hand and pulls it to his lips, then kisses my fingertips.
"Yeah, I'll show you rough later, Princess," he says. "Keep it up. Keep that anger inside you. I want to put it to good use."
"Shut up," I say, turning away from him. "Don't say stuff like that."
He takes my chin in his hand and makes me look at him. I think he's going to say something, but he doesn't. He kisses me instead. I... what? This is the second time! I don't even think he realizes what he's doing. Ethan is crazy. He's gone insane. He really really has.
"Yes, um... Mr. Colton?" the ticket woman says, interrupting us.
"Hold on," Ethan says. To her, not me. To me, he goes back and keeps kissing me.
"Ethan!" I hiss between my teeth through our kiss.
"Fuck, you're difficult. Can't you just enjoy a good thing?" he asks.
"Buy the damn plane tickets! Cut it out!"
"Whoa, feisty! Didn't think you had it in you."
I glare at him. He grins at me. Ugggghhhh!
"Yes, um... Mr. Colton, I apologize about before. We've just arranged for one of the other passengers to take a later flight, so we have two seats left. The plane will wait for you to board, too. You don't have to worry about missing it, but please try to be prompt."
"Look, we're not going to fuck around here," he says. "As soon as you give me those tickets, we're going."
"Um, right. Alright. I just need to see both of your IDs and a credit card or cash if you'd prefer."
Ethan reaches into his pocket and gets his ID to hand to her. I give her mine, too. He pays with a credit card.
"How about a first class upgrade?" he asks. "That available?"
"No," she says. "Um... I'm very sorry, because I did try at first." The look in her eyes says something like, 'Please don't call Mr. Wentsworth again.'
I nudge Ethan with my elbow and whisper in his ear. "Be nice to her, please. She's trying her best."
"I am being fucking nice," Ethan says. He even asks her! He asks her! Who does that? "I'm being nice, right?"
She smiles and nods but doesn't say anything.
"It's alright," I tell her. "He's not being nice. He knows it, too. He's just a rude, arrogant asshole. Don't worry. I know you can't tell him that, because this is your job, but I'll make sure to tell him it for you. A lot of times. As many times as I can."
The woman looked scared before, but after that, she giggles.
"Oh, funny jokes, huh?" Ethan says. To the ticket woman, he adds, "Hey, sorry about that before. I didn't mean to be a dick. You are doing a great job. I really appreciate it. If you ever need a favor or something, here's my number. My family knows people. I've got you covered."
He takes a card out of his pocket. It's one of his dad's business cards. Ethan grabs a pen from the ticket counter and writes his cellphone number on the back, then hands it to her.
"Um... thank you, Mr. Colton," she says.
"Don't you dare think about calling to try and seduce him, though," I add. "No flirting or anything like that."
"Of course, um... Mrs. Colton?" she asks. "Are you his girlfriend? I'm sorry, I didn't think to ask." She checks my ID quick, since she still has it. "Oh, Mrs. Banks."
"Yeah, girlfriend," Ethan says. "We just started dating, but we've known each other since second grade. Cute, huh? Real romantic."
"Awww!" she says. "That is nice. I've known my fiance for a long time, too. We met in middle school, but we didn't start dating until we ended up going to the same college together."
"Is he a nice guy?" Ethan asks. "I can rough him up for you if he needs. I don't mind. I owe you one, right?"
She laughs and winks. "No, he's nice. I'll tell him he better stay on his best behavior, though."
"Yeah," Ethan says, smiling. "Sounds good."
We get our tickets. Everything is good now. Sort of good. It's good for now, but I don't know how long now is. Now is at least as long as it takes for us to fly home and take a taxi back to the mansion.
We go through security and head to the boarding gate. We're the only ones there, but they're waiting for us.