Ethan
Almost as soon as we get on the plane, I realize there's a serious problem. I lead the charge here, heading to my seat, with Ashley walking quietly behind me. I check my boarding pass again and head to the right place, and...
What the fuck is up with this? There's only one empty seat here. Two seats total on this side, one is empty, and it's definitely mine, so uh... yeah?
I turn to Ashley. "Hey, what seat number are you?"
She checks her ticket quickly. "Um, K4," she says.
Do you know where K4 is? It's a lot farther along than this. We're at F2 right now, and K4 seems like forever away. I'm none too pleased about that, but I suppose there's not much I can do, now is there? I seriously have to spend the entire flight home sitting by myself over here with Ashley way in the back? Yeah, I guess so.
"It's fine," she says. "It's really not a big deal, Ethan."
"Yeah, I guess so," I say.
At least I have an aisle seat. That's nice, right? No, not really. I sit down and introduce myself to the man next to me while Ashley heads further down to her seat.
I watch her go, more than a little pissed off. I came all this way, did all of this, and for what? It's not like I need to be next to her, but I really want to sit next to her right now. I'm sure the guy next to me is cool and all, but he's not Ashley, and I doubt he's going to want to cuddle or anything. That's sort of a drawback. He's not much of a looker, either. Ashley's way cuter.
Ashley brings her bag with her, putting it under her seat. She's got a window seat, and there's a little old lady next to her. At least it's not some young guy. Definitely no flirting is going to go on, unless that old woman is a freak, which I guess is possible.
But still... man...
"Hey," I say to the guy next to me. "I'll be right back. Maybe."
He shrugs. That's what I would do, too. Shrug. He doesn't know me. It doesn't make any difference to him what I do, as long as the plane gets to where we're going safe and sound.
I march down the aisle to Ashley's seat. She's looking out the window at first, but when I clear my throat she turns my way.
"Ethan?" she asks.
I'm not talking to her right now, though. Not yet. Soon. Hold on, Princess, I'll get to you in a second.
"Excuse me, ma'am," I say to the little old lady. "Would you mind switching seats with me? Mine's right up there." I point to it.
The woman smiles at me and glances over at Ashley. "Oh, is this your girlfriend?" she asks.
"Yeah," I say. "That's her."
Ashley mumbles and blushes and looks away. The old woman laughs and pats her on the arm.
"Aww, you two look cute together," the woman says. "How long have you two been dating?"
"Uh, a day?" I say. I'm not going to lie to the lady. I'm a lot of things, but I'm not a liar. "Give or take."
She laughs again, a fully body one. Yeah, I guess it's kind of amusing, huh?
"That's the right attitude to have, young man," she says. "Treat every day like it's your first. Keep the love and romance between you two alive."
"Yeah," I say. "I'll definitely do that, ma'am. Promise."
She starts to rise from the seat. She's older than she looks, or she's got some health problems. Slow and frail. I feel kind of bad now. Yeah, so, I'm kind of a prick sometimes, definitely an asshole other times, but I don't want to ruin some elderly lady's day or anything. I offer her my arm and help her up, then I go with her over to my old seat. I even carry her bag for her. It's not that heavy. It's the least I can do. I could probably lift her up and carry her over to the seat, but I'm pretty sure she'd slap me and beat me with her purse. I've seen that kind of thing happen in movies. My life's already fucked up enough as it is, I don't need to add anymore disaster.
The woman sits in my old seat and smiles at me.
"Hey," I say to the guy. "It was nice knowing you, but here's your new seat partner. She's nice. Don't mess with her, alright?"
The guy chuckles and the old woman grins.
"If he causes you any problems, you let me know," I tell her.
"Oh, I most certainly will," the old lady says, winking. They both introduce themselves and I let them be. Yeah, she'll be fine. They both seem like good people. I have no idea who they are, but I like them.
And now, I have a date. My first date. You ever been on an airplane for your first date? Me either. Kind of fucked up if you ask me. You think I'm going to get lucky at the end of this one? Maybe just a kiss, or will we go all the way? I hear girls love it when you get them a tiny package of mixed nuts, a can of soda, and an inflight movie. Romantic as fuck.
I go back to Ashley. She's watching me this time, not looking out the window. A stewardess up front is giving me the evil eye, but I ignore her. I'm going, lady. Give me two seconds. I sit in my seat and buckle up.
Ashley confronts me, hands on her hips, which looks a little funny considering she's sitting in an airplane seat. Now she's giving me the evil eye. What the fuck is up with this? What did I just do? It's like I didn't just help some old lady to her seat. That's a nice thing to do, isn't it? I really should get some bonus points for that. See? I'm not a complete asshole. Fuck.
Ashley just keeps grumping at me, though. Pouty lips. Holy fuck, she looks kissable right now. Probably more, but we're on an airplane. It's not like I can molest her right now, even though I kind of want to.
"When did I even agree to date you?" she asks.
"Wow. Seriously? I saved your ass and you're dumping me already?" I shake my head side to side and sigh.
"I can't dump you," she says. "We aren't even dating. Also, how's this going to work? We can't date, Ethan. It's only supposed to be a week. That's rule number one."
"Fuck rule number one," I say. "What rule are we on now? I forget."
"Sixteen," she says. "Or nine."
"I have no idea how that works. Is this some kind of calculus problem? Listen, Princess, I'm not great at math. Give me a break."
She punches me. Wow, she really is getting feisty. Who'd have thought it?
"It's not a math problem," she says. "I was thinking about it before, and I realized we never made a rule number nine. The last rule was number fifteen, though. Does that mean we just keep going to sixteen or do we have to have a rule number nine, too?"
"Nobody likes nine," I tell her. "Fuck rule number nine, too. It's almost as bad as rule number one. I'm striking it from the records."
"Oh, very official, Mr. Ethan Colton. Are you a judge now?"
"Yeah," he says. "And I'm declaring rule number sixteen right now. Rule number one is null and void. Over and done with. Get it the fuck out of here. I'm asking you out right here and now."
"What if I say no?" she says.
There's people looking at us. They probably think we're crazy. They'd probably think we were crazy if they realized Ashley's my stepsister. Do I look like I give a fuck, though? Nah, I don't care. Screw them.
"We had some other rule, too," I say. "Remember? The lying one. No lying to me, Princess. You can't say no, because we both know you want to say yes."
"I would like to say yes," she says. "That's true. I just... um... I really don't think it's a good idea. How is this going to work?"
"Fuck if I know. We'll figure it out together. We have the entire plane ride to do it."
"He's going to tell them anyways," she says. "That's... Ethan, that's why I went. Jake is going to tell them. They'll know. They probably already know."
"I don't care," I say. "Come here."
She does. We're both buckled in, thankfully, because when some stewardess passes by, she looks like she's going to freak out if we're not. We are, though. She gives us a strange look, then goes on her way. I don't care. Ashley's with me now, and she's cuddled close. The seat divider between us is lifted up and pushed into the seats between us, and she's leaning against me. I put my arm over her shoulder and hold her close.
"Don't you ever do something like that again, though," I tell her. "I get it. I really do. I know why you did it, but you don't have to do something like that. You should have told me."
"Sorry," she mumbles, looking down and away from me.
"You don't have to apologize, Princess," I say, reaching to lift her chin up.
I kiss her on the forehead, then the nose, and finally her lips. The last kiss lingers a little. I love the way her eyelashes flutter when I kiss her, like she's blinking away the brightness of the sun or something. It's beautiful.
"Everyone makes mistakes," I say. "It happens. Whatever. I'm not going to lose sleep over it. I'll still come rescue you again. I won't leave you like that."
"Do you think this is a mistake?" she says.
"Do I think what's a mistake?"
"This," she says again. "Us, I mean. What we're doing?"
"Nah," I say. "I've never been more sure of anything in my entire life."
It's true, too. I don't know when it happened. I didn't think it'd ever happen. I just... yeah... I don't want to lose her. It's as simple as that. Nah, that's not even it, it's not even simple. I can't lose her. I can't even imagine losing her. It's like an impossibility, except it almost happened, too.
I just kind of hope she feels the same way, too. Yeah, I'm a cocky, arrogant asshole, and I'm sort of a prick, but when I put my all into something, when I give it everything I've got, body, heart, and soul, I mean it. This isn't some fling. I don't want to fuck around and have a little fun. I'm in it for the long haul.
Yeah, maybe that's fucked up. This is my stepsister, you know? I never asked for that. I never even wanted it. I'm not going to blame my dad for falling in love. I hope he's not going to blame me for doing the same thing.
We cuddle the rest of the way home. Ashley falls asleep on my shoulder. Yeah, I'm tired, too. Shit, we've both been awake since nearly three in the morning. She woke up even earlier than me. I don't know about her, but I couldn't sleep on the plane ride to go get her. It was impossible. I kept thinking of everything bad that could happen, as if everything bad hadn't already happened.
This day started out bad. For all I know, it's going to be worse when we get home.
It's got to get better sometime, though. Tomorrow's a new day, too. Right?
Fuck, I hope so.