Lethe Vita

Chapter 29

It was the first and perhaps last time he had been given a seat in business class, and with the continued bickering beside him, he couldn't even enjoy it.

"Get up," he told Valerie.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because you and Silver are about to give me a blinding headache," said Brandon as he switched seats with Valerie. "You bickered all the way to Copenhagen and woulda kept it up in the airport, if you hadn't been silenced by that woman at border control. I'm not listening to it all the way to Toronto."

Or on the car ride from Toronto to Buffalo.

"He shouldn't have come," said Val, for perhaps the twentieth time. "And why does Kelly get a seat to herself?"

"You want to switch?" asked Kelly. "I'll switch with you."

Brandon didn't mind the new arrangement, but David certainly did.

"You act like I've never met Abby before," David leant forward to say above Valerie's head. "She likes me, remember?"

A flight attendant happened by, to scold David for being unbuckled in the airline's runway preparations.

"My mother likes you until she doesn't," they heard Valerie say. "And I don't want to find out what happens when she decides she no longer likes you."

Brandon was surprised to realize he had fallen asleep before takeoff, and that his head rested upon Kelly's head, who was also asleep.

He slightly lifted his shoulder, trying to untangle from her.

"Hey," he said as her eyes opened.

"Hey," Kelly yawned as she looked around, "did we fall asleep?"

"Must have." Brandon offered a slight smile. "Looks like we missed dinner." He nodded towards the empty dishes of the other passengers.

"Damn," said Kelly. "It was supposed to be a good one, too." She looked over at David's vacant seat, then noticed that Valerie's was also vacant. "Where do you think they went?" asked Kelly.

"Maybe to see which one will push the other off the plane first," said Brandon.

"You're terrible," Kelly giggled.

"I don't know how two people who were so in love with each other not even a year ago can fight this much," said Brandon.

"It is a mystery," said Kelly.

"Yeah." Brandon dove into Kelly's eyes. "A mystery." He turned his head to sever eye contact. "The Mile High Club," he said.

"What?" asked Kelly.

"They could be joining the Mile High Club," he said.

"Or maybe David's trying to keep Val from joining it with anyone else, someone it would be a huge mistake to join it with," said Kelly in a somber tone.

"Are we speaking from experience?" asked Brandon.

"Maybe," said Kelly.

Brandon decided he would prefer to remain blissfully unaware of the details.

He removed his laptop from its case and began to type, only for Kelly to move the laptop away.

"Hey, I was using that," said Brandon.

"Your work can wait," said Kelly. "How often do you get to enjoy business class?"

"I did tell him economy would be perfectly fine," said Brandon.

"Dylan's not gonna buy a flight for his brother and put him on economy," said Kelly.

"He didn't have to buy my ticket," said Brandon.