In Flight (5 page)

He gave me a soft smile that was all for me.
 
“That one is only for Bee.”

She clapped her hands together.
 
“Oh, oh, oh, is there a story behind that pet name?
 
I love stories!”

My nose crinkled.
 
She was laying it on a little thick today.
 
I shot a glance at the two pilots who were watching our interaction from the front row of seats in the huge van.
 
I was guessing that she liked one of them, from the affected way she was acting.
 

The First Officer was younger and better looking than the Captain.
 
Jeff, I recalled his name.
 
He had dark brown hair, and attractive brown eyes.
 
He was tall, with a rangy build.
 
But my bet was she liked the Captain, since he made twice Jeff’s salary.
 

The Captain, whose name I was ninety percent sure was Peter, was older, with balding gray hair, a beer gut, and eyes that never strayed north of a woman’s chest.

She reaffirmed my guess almost as I thought it, sending the captain a positively beaming smile.
 
“Don’t you just love stories, too, Peter?” she asked him.

He gave her what I thought was a slightly greasy smile.
 
“You betcha.”

Stephan shook his head.
 
“That story is between me and Bee.
 
But, Peter, I’m dying to know what song you’ll choose to serenade us with tonight.”
 
Stephan changed the subject easily, and with much charm.
 
He had Peter laughingly refusing to sing and steering the conversation in the direction he chose with no effort whatsoever.
 

CHAPTER FOUR

Mr. Beautiful

I awoke to the sound of my alarm with even less enthusiasm than usual.
 
I had tossed and turned for four hours.
 
I’d been trying to catch enough sleep to make it through until at least eight p.m.
 
I had failed.
 
I would be dead on my feet by late afternoon, I guessed.
 
I was in a positively sour mood as I stalked into my hotel room’s bathroom.

“We working out?” Stephan called out to me from his room as I came back out.
 

Our rooms adjoined, as they usually did when we were in this hotel.
 
We came here often, and knew the front desk staff well enough to arrange our rooms how we preferred.
 
We just kept the door between our rooms open.
 
We’d been roommates for years, and only recently become neighbors instead, so it was a relaxed, effortless arrangement.
 
We both found comfort in the other’s presence.
 

My only response was a mannerless grunt.
 
He laughed.
 
“The times when you don’t want to the most, are the times that you definitely should,” he told me.

I made a raspberry noise at him, and he laughed harder.
 

A moment later he came into my room, already in his gym clothes and carrying a cup of coffee from my favorite cafe on the corner.
 
The sight cheered me instantly.

He smiled at me, wiggling his brows.
 
“Will this change your mind?
 
Large mocha with soy, no whip, and an extra shot of espresso.”
 
He named off my order, though he hadn’t needed to.
 
I’d known as soon as I saw the cup that he’d know just what I’d want.
 

I grinned.
 
“You’re the best.”
 

“It’s a fact,” he agreed.

We worked out for an hour.
 
The hotel’s gym was tiny and unimpressive, with one treadmill, one elliptical, one stationary bike, and some free weights.
 
I stuck to the elliptical for the full hour, but Stephan flitted around from the bike, to the treadmill, and spent a half an hour lifting weights.
 
It was his usual routine, and I watched him, feeling good as I listened to music on my phone and worked out.
 

Stephan had been right.
 
I had been so tempted to skip a workout today, but it had ended up being just what I needed.
 
I felt worlds better when we finished up.

We grabbed a quick sandwich for lunch.
 
It was a beautiful late spring day in New York City, and I enjoyed our walk along the bustling street.
 
“Wanna eat in the park?”
 
I asked Stephan as we waited in line at a crowded local deli.

He nodded.
 
“For sure.
 
Picnic style.”

We didn’t precisely eat picnic style.
 
Instead, we settled for finding an empty bench to sit on and people watch while we ate.
 
“Whatcha gonna wear to the bar?” Stephan asked me between big bites.
 

We ate fast, as though afraid the food would disappear if we didn’t finish it quickly.
 
We both ate like hungry street kids if we didn’t make a conscious effort not to.
 
We didn’t bother eating any differently when it was just the two of us.
 
We had nothing to hide from each other.
 
It was one of the reasons we were damn near inseparable.
 

“Iyonno,” I said with too much food in my mouth.
 
I swallowed, washing the mouthful down with a big swig of water from the refillable bottle I’d taken to carrying around almost constantly, to save money on bottled water.
 

“I don’t know,” I said more clearly.
 
“It’s nice and warm, so some shorts and a blouse, I guess.
 
I don’t feel like dressing up, but I don’t wanna look like a slob when I know everyone else will be dressing up.”
 
I gestured at the comfortable gray workout T-shirt, black cheer shorts, and neon green running shoes I was wearing.
 
“What I’d like to wear is this.
 
But I know you’d harass me, so I’ll try to look halfway decent, I suppose.”

“You’ll have to help me pick out my outfit.
 
I wanna look really hot tonight.
 
I think I just might be ready to ask Melvin out this time,” Stephan said.
 
I smiled.
 
He had said the same thing for the last three weeks, but I just agreed.
       

 
We went back to our rooms to shower and get ready for the night ahead.
 
We chatted amiably as we got ready.
 

I chose some cuffed, pleated black shorts and a sleeveless black and white blouse with flowery ruffles at the neck.
 
It was the kind of outfit I liked best.
 
It was comfortable but feminine.
 
Some earrings and the right shoes, and it was dressy enough for just about anything.
 
Add practical shoes, and poof, not overdressed.
 

I chose sandals with a short heel tonight.
 
I picked silver hoops from the small bag of jewelry that I always packed.
 
I wore my hair down.
 
It was pin-straight and the pale length hung to my mid-back.
   

I put my makeup on quickly, just opting for mascara and some soft pink lip gloss.
 
I finished getting ready first, since I didn’t particularly care how I looked for the outing.
 
I sat on Stephan’s bed and patiently watched him try on everything he’d packed.

We finally settled on a fitted pale gray polo with some blue and gray plaid cargo shorts that hung from his slim hips in a very attractive way.
 
He adopted the preppy look often, and I thought it suited him.
 
He looked like a live Abercrombie and Fitch ad.
 
I told him so.
 
He laughed it off, but I could tell that he was pleased by the comparison, though it was only the truth.

We got to the bar a little before four p.m., but it was already a bit of a crush.
 
It was not a fancy bar, just an old fashioned Irish pub with a few karaoke nights a week, but it was in the heart of Manhattan and it was friday night, so I was not at all surprised by the crowd.

Stephan worked his magic and within minutes we had snagged seats at the bar where Melvin was working.
 
I’d had no doubt that he would.
 
He had a rare combination of charm and charisma and he just seemed to make things work out that way.
 
Most of the people in this place would never find a seat on a night this crowded.
 

We greeted Melvin warmly, and he seemed genuinely pleased to see us.
 
Especially Stephan, though he was very nice to me.
 
I always went out of my way to try and befriend anyone Stephan was interested in.
 
He was my only family, and it was important to me that I be friends with anyone he found significant.

I guessed Melvin was about our age, somewhere in his early twenties.
 
He was just shy of six feet tall, and very slender, nearly delicate.
 
I couldn’t begin to guess his race, a mix of some kind.
 
His skin was a naturally pale coffee color, his black hair cropped very close to his head.
 
His eyes were a pale green.
 
He was very handsome, and had a very engaging smile.
 
Stephan has great taste,
I thought.
   

“What can I get you?”
 
Melvin had to raise his voice a little to be heard above the growing crowd.
 
I bit my lip, looking at Stephan.
 
I hadn’t had any kind of alcohol in so long that my mind went blank.
 
Stephan just shrugged and winked at Melvin.
 
Whoa, that was bold for him.
 
Melvin blushed a little and smiled back shyly.

“Surprise us.
 
Something with liquor,” Stephan told him playfully.
 

Melvin grinned.
 
“Shots or cocktails?”
 

“One of each.
 
Make us your favorite of each,” I declared.
 
He left with a happy whistle to accommodate us.

I was distracted by the sound of some out-of-tune singing.
 
We were far enough from the stage not to be deafened, but close enough to have a perfect view.
 
That was always how it seemed to go around Stephan.
 
He led a charmed life.
 
“They start the Karaoke this early?” I asked Stephan, surprised.

He shrugged.
 
“I guess so.
 
It does seem awfully early for that, though.
 
They need to let us get a little more buzzed before we have to listen to that.”

I agreed, laughing.

Melvin was back in short order.
 
He’d made us each a Pom-tini, which was delicious enough that I didn’t think it could possibly get me drunk.
 
He’d also brought us a shot he called ‘surfer on acid’.
 
I’d never heard of it.
 
I smelled it, and my nose wrinkled.
 
It was strong.
 
“What is it?” I asked him.

“Jagermeister, pineapple juice, and coconut rum.
 
Trust me, it’s good.”

Stephan grinned at him.
 
“I trust you,” he declared, and downed it.
 
He
 
gasped as it went down.
 
“Damn, it is good.”

I downed mine.
 
There was only one way to do a shot, as far as I was concerned, and that way was fast.
 
They were right, it was very good, and I felt a nearly instant, fuzzy buzz.
 
Okaaay
, I thought.
 
I needed to slow it down.
 
Even one shot was a shock to my system after so much time without.
 
Though it
was
a shot that packed a hell of a punch.

Melvin brought us each a glass of ice water without us having to ask, then went to tend to the growing crowd.
 
Stephan would have to stay late into the night if he hoped for much of Melvin’s attention.
 
The bar was getting more crowded by the second.
 

Melvin was extremely busy, but still managed to stop near us to have short conversations with Stephan every few minutes, and I took this as an encouraging sign.
 
He was definitely giving Stephan special attention, beyond being simply friendly.
 
I finished my first Pom-tini way too fast.
 
“Damn tiny martini glasses,” I muttered to Stephan, my voice way louder than I’d intended.
 
Yep, I definitely needed to slow it down on the drinking.
 
Stephan laughed at me, finishing his as well.
 

Melvin immediately had martini and shot refills in front of us.
 
Okay, we were definitely getting special treatment.
 
He wagged a finger at us.
 
“Your next round will be a new surprise.”
 
He winked at Stephan as he walked away.
 
I smiled broadly at Stephan.
 
He smiled back at me.
 
He was the happiest I’d seen him in a while, and it brightened my mood a lot just to see him like that.
 
He’d been majorly hung up on his Ex from a year ago, and it was a relief to see that he was finally moving on.
 
“We better drink these fast.
 
I want to see our next surprise,” Stephan teased me.