All's Fair in Love and Las Vegas

Chapter Four

        I knew I had to talk to Grayson on the plane. The question was: when? Certainly not at the beginning, because then I'd make the whole flight awkward. Not that I wouldn't be able to avoid him; the plane was the size of a small house. Bigger than my apartment. There was a whole bedroom, full kitchen, and a full bathroom. Plus a regular part where you sit, although the seats were much more luxurious than any airline I'd ever flown.

        Grayson and I were in the main section of seats, although we kept a desperately-needed seat between us. At the airport, Grayson had gotten me a phone, insisting that I needed one and that it really was no trouble. At this point, I was convinced that an asteroid hitting the planet would've been "no trouble" to him. Anyways, I was texting Nina, updating her on everything and asking if her mother was okay.

        Sneakily, I looked up at the little monitor in the back of the headrest of the seat in front of me. The map showed that we were already over Oregon. Figuring that now was as good of a time as any, I took a deep breath and asked, "Can I talk to you for a minute about something?"

        Grayson nodded and set down his phone. "What's up?"

        "I just wanted to apologize because this, this whole thing, those pictures, that is not at all who I normally am," I said, grimacing. "I'm normally super responsible. Like I never take risks, never go on adventures. I stay home and read. And I go to work, and I'm there on time and ready to work hard. Kylie and Nina trusted me to be the one in charge of the money and the plans and all of us being safe and I totally blew it. I know, I have a really, really bad first impression with you, which I totally deserve, but I thought I should tell you."

        He gave me a half-smile. "I've honestly been really impressed with how you've handled this whole day. You seem responsible, except for the part where we obviously got married."

        "Obviously, yeah," I said, trying to seem confident in my responsibility.

        "But yeah, don't worry about it too much," he said. "You've been very kind to me. Based off our six hours of interaction, I'd say you're a good person."

        "You do too, actually," I said gratefully. "You're so nice, when you could've been really horrible."

        He smiled again. "You could've too. Guess we got pretty lucky." 

        I nodded and sat back in my chair, staring out the window at the clouds. All was quiet and peaceful until Grayson asked, "Was I your first?"

        "First?" I asked, confused.

        "Y'know...from last night," he said, mildly embarrassed.

        "Oh, um...yes," I said, squeezing my eyes shut. My face felt like it had burst into flames, because how many more chances do I get to humiliate myself? It must be thousands.

        A couple seconds later I heard Grayson say, "You were my first too."

        I didn't really know how to feel about that. On the one hand, it was slightly comforting, to know that he was pretty much in my same situation. On the other hand, it still made me feel rather foolish. The comforting feeling must've won out, because I opened my eyes a moment later. Grayson was awkwardly curled up in his seat, a blush scrawled across his face.

        "You're also my first husband," I offered, feeling braver. "And technically first boyfriend, although it sounds like we dated for about an hour."

        He laughed a little under his breath. "I find it hard to believe you've never had a boyfriend."

        I was embarrassed again, but for different reasons. "Ah...yeah. I uh, I kinda work too much," I said sheepishly. "I think it's on the edge of totally crazy. I love my job, it's not like I have to work as much as I do, but it keeps me busy. I'm helping a lot of people. But that doesn't leave a lot of time for things like boyfriends."