Aim to Please (wlw)

ch. 6 • transatlantic

AN: translations will be added in the comments

The long-awaited moment was finally here. Before the sun could even rise, at the tail end of a balmy August, I was whisked away from the sidewalk outside of my apartment, 2 suitcases tossed into the trunk of a Lyft. NY to Atlanta was as smooth as a dream, but—

"Sale fils de pute!" Laurie growled with animosity. "Casse toi et ta mère!"

The aggression of the French language was truly daunting. Moreso, the ease it took for their temper to rise. We were stalking down the International terminal in Atlanta, where we just found out that our flight was rescheduled— to 15 minutes earlier.

"Laurie, stop! It's this one," I called out, pointing up at the gate signage.

She skidded to a stop and returned to my side. A smiling flight attendant was standing at the door. I bowed my head to her and handed her our tickets while my supervisor grumbled and mumbled like a crotchety old woman.

We were, obviously, some of the last to board the plane. I felt a sense of discomfort rising from the depths of my stomach. I spent hours calculating the sizes of different seats on the plane, anxiety tearing a hole in my psyche. But that, as a whole, wasn't what truly caused me a great amount of upset.

I didn't want to be in the middle seat.

Laurie led the way, maneuvering past the business class seats. My brows furrowed and I glanced at our tickets, noticing that neither of us were in business class.

And we were seated together. The attentive woman stopped at our aisle and motioned to the 2-seat row to her right. "Window or aisle, doll?"

My shoulders fell as I relaxed. "Window, please," I murmured.

She took my backpack and stuffed it into the overhead while I situated myself. The approach Laurie took to traveling with me was different than anyone in the past— my parents, my classmates, my ex. I mentioned my discomfort to her a few weeks ago, and instead of pushing me aside...

"Get comfortable, darling," she murmured in my ear. "It's going to be a long flight."

I nodded and settled into the seat. I was out cold before the flight attendants even finished their display.

•

"---enzie," a voice softly called for me. I felt a warm breath tickling my ear. "Mackenzie, darling. It's time for dinner."

"Mm?" I moaned, stretching my arms outward. They were trapped beneath the fleece of a blanket. Begrudgingly, I opened my eyes and lolled my head to look at Laurie. "Mmkay."

She chuckled quietly. "Thank you, Miss. I'll make sure she eats."

"But sleep," I whined, my eyes slowly closing again.

"Mackenzie," Laurie's commanding whisper sent shivers down my half-sleeping sentience. "If you don't eat now, you will be hungry when we land in London. It will be 1 AM."

"Don't fuss at me," I mumbled, half-lidding one eye to glare at her. As much fun as it would have been to aggravate her, I conceded due to the smell of the food making me hungry.

"If you didn't listen, I was going to spoon feed you," she teased, slipping my food onto my tray.

Without an inch of a thought, I snorted. "Yes, please."

We both froze. Tension crackled between us as we refused to look at each other. Wordlessly, we both agreed to look over my slip of the tongue.

•