Playing For Both Sides

1

//Unedited//

'Ladies and gentlemen welcome aboard Flight LAX to Canada. This is your Captain, Luke Hemmings speaking from behalf of myself and the rest of the crew, we hope you enjoy your flight.'

The announcement finishes and I look over to see Luke putting the intercom down. He reaches up and flicks one of the switches on the head board and then proceeds to check the altitude that we are flying at without making eye contact with me.

"I need to use the bathroom" he says and turns, leaving the cockpit while I move into the captain's seat and take over flying the plane. I hear a small ding coming from my bag and go over to check my phone.

"That should be on airplane mode" a voice growls behind me and I turn around, startled to see Luke behind me. I ignore him and go to check the message.

"You should've been concentrating on flying the plane and not be distracted by your phone." he continues when I don't reply to him. I read the message; State your status. I'm about to reply when a large hand reaches over my shoulder and grabs the phone out of my hands and switches it off.

"I told you to put it onto airplane mode." he says, his voice rough. It's obvious that he doesn't like me. The feeling is mutual though.

"Are you always this much of an asshole?" I say before I can stop myself, my hands fly to my mouth and I'm about to apologize but he surprises me by laughing, Luke shakes his head before sitting in his seat. I pick my phone up from where he left it and switch it back on, while keeping on eye on Luke, making sure that he doesn't turn around and see what I'm doing.

Plane will be landing in approx. 30 minutes I message back. Luke still has his back to me as I sit in the co-pilot's chair and take a sip of coke. An awkward minute of silence passes as we both sit in our chairs. 

"Why do you have such an old phone anyway?" Luke finally asks, breaking the uncomfortable silence. Because it needs to be disposable  I think to myself. 

"I guess I never really felt the need for an update." I reply as I reach over him to put my phone back into my bag. As I am about to open the bag, my phone falls out of my hand, landing in Luke's crotch. I reach for it, then stop once I realize the awkwardness of it's position. I take a step back and wait for Luke to retrieve the device for me, but instead he makes no move. I weigh up my options and decide that I'll just quickly grab it and hope for the best. As I go in to take my phone from Luke's lap, he decides it's a perfect time to retrieve the phone for me and I end up grabbing something that is not my phone.

"-uh" I stutter, trying to collect myself and think of what to say. He looks up at me with surprise and then his expression turns into one of amusement at my embarrassment. Luke hands me my phone and I silently take it and put it into my bag. 

"How long have you been flying with Pan-Am?" I ask in a lame attempt to cover up the sudden sexual tension that has arisen in the cockpit. 

"7 years, obviously longer than you seeing as you don't even know to put your phone on airplane mode." he replies and all the sexual tension that was in the cockpit suddenly disappears and Luke goes back to being an absolute dickhead. If only you knew  I thought, if only you knew that I've never flown a plane, or studied flying in my entire life. 

"What about you?" 

"3 years" I say, not wanting to hurt his ego "I started as a flight engineer a few years ago though." 

"What equipment have you been on?" he asks, obviously trying to sound smart

" seven-o-sevens and I love 'em" I fire back and Luke backs off, a little.

"Where did you study?" he asks, sure that this one will catch me off guard.

"Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University." I say smugly, knowing that he'll leave me alone now.

"Really? So you're from Florida? Tell me about it." he says, seeming genuinely interested. Shit I think. This was not on my list of things to study.

"You don't have to be from a place to study there, idiot." I say with so much sass that I might as well have been a Kardashian. 

"But you lived there while you were studying, didn't you?" he says with an equal amount of sass.

"I did an online course." I explain, even though I'm not sure whether or not they have any online courses. He nods and I breathe a sigh of relief after just dodging that bullet. He checks his radar and messages the people down in the hangar, asking if its safe for us to land. After getting an all clear he picks up the intercom.

"Ladies and gentlemen you're on board flight LAX to Pickering, Ontario. We will be landing shortly, so please return your seats to the upright position and stow all tray tables to their original position. The time in Pickering is currently 3:32 pm eastern standard time. I hope you've enjoyed your flight and thank you for choosing to fly with Pan-Am and on behalf of myself and the rest of the crew, I hope you enjoy the rest of your day."

Buckle up I think it's going to be an interesting ride.