Happily

Chapter Six: Thank You Turbulence

The bus ride was absolutely peaceful. On my part. Eventually I ended up falling asleep and subconsciously leaning my face on the top of Marcel’s head. When we got to the airport Niall woke me up, and none of the other students paid much attention to Marcel and I’s position. I slowly adjusted myself and shook him awake. “Marcel,” I muttered quietly in his ear. “We’re here.” He grunted a bit and sat up, looking wildly at me. “Was I…?” I chuckled and nodded, “it’s fine Marcey, I did too.” He nodded and blushed, staring at me. Why was he staring at me- oh that’s right, we reached the airport. I shook my head slightly and stood up, stretching my arms and yawning. Grabbing my duffel bag and carry on, I exited out into the allyway and out the bus, Marcel following behind. It was relatively windy, and his curls were blowing in the wind a bit. It was beautiful.

            “Students, this way! Security is through the doors to the right. We’ll go into the Club Room.” Mrs. Sivan led the class through security checkout and into the Club Room. When Marcel arrived in the classroom, he had been wearing a sweater over his T-Shirt. During security he walked over to Mrs. Sivan and whispered something in her ear, followed by her nod. He walked over to a security scan machine and put his hands up, letting the machine search him. He never took his sweater or shoes off.

            We all waited for each other to finish through security before we found our seats. A lot of students had became close friends with their partners- Marcel and I not so much. Almost everyone sat with their partners, so Niall, Zayn, Stan, and Liam all shacked up next to Marcel and I. We all pulled out our phones and discussed Hawaii. What would we do, what would the weather be like, are the people nice, are the girls hot- which then got to the point where Liam gave Niall a death glare for bringing up girls since of course, a member of their pathetic cult was ‘digging for the d’ as Stan had phrased. My eyes widened and I turned to Marcel; I hadn’t told him about my sexuality yet. Stan laughed and put his hand on my shoulder. “Lou, don’t let your testes explode mate, he can’t even here us,” he said, nodding towards Marcel. 

            Marcel’s nose was in ‘Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire’ even though his reading level was clearly over that book. His eyes were clouded with interest and admiration- he had no idea what was going in anything but his book. His cheeks were tinted with small blotches of pink. I sighed in relief and nudged Marcel. His eyes snapped up and looked at me in discomfort. “Um, yes?” he mumbled uneasily. “That book good?” I asked, pretending not to notice his tone. Immediately, his eyes lit up and a small smile cracked on his face. “Yeah,” he nodded excitedly, “it’s great! I’ve read it before of course. I just love reading the series though, it’s wonderfully written. And it, like, gives me everything the real world can’t. It’s like- oh. Um. Sorry, I’m rambling uh…” Colour rose to his face and he looked down at his hands. I stared at him and turned around, realizing that Niall, Stan, Liam, and Zayn were too.

“Marce you’re all good.” I reassured him.

            The way he spoke was amazing and he had all the reason to keep going for gods sake keep going because his voice was low and hot and definitely turned me on. “Eh, um. I’m just gonna,” and with that his nose was back in his book. I turned to my friends and they shrugged confused. I whispered to them, “he thinks we’ll beat him up or something,” and their eyes widened. “Legit?” Stan asked and Niall nodded chuckling. “Yeah, he’s shit scared of us.” Right then, the teacher announced that “the plane is here and if you lot don’t get up now we’ll miss it and have a one way ride back to school.” All the students shuffled and got up, grabbing their luggage. I too got up, nudging Marcel to let him know we were leaving. Taking a deep breath, I smirked at Liam and walked forward, brushing my shoulder against Marcel’s. I was going to America.

            The plane was big. And when I say big I mean immaculately large. Marcel and I had side seats and he took the window. It worked for me because I had Niall and Stan on my side in the aisle seats and Liam with his partner and Zayn with his in front and behind me. Thankfully Nick was in the back of the plane, so I didn’t have to worry about that. Our flight was mid-afternoon, meaning we would end up spending the night on a plane, which was relieving. A good part of the ride I could just sleep. During the beginning couple hours, I leaned over the aisle to chat with Niall and Stan, trying to waste time. I’d never been on a fight that long, so time was ticking excruciatingly slow.

            Later that night, I found myself tapping furiously at the screen in front of me, searching through the horrid collection of ‘hot new’ films. Deciding on The Avengers, which- if I can add- is not a new film, I kicked my carry on completely under the seat in front of me and pushed my seat back. “Looks like you picked the newest film on the list,” Marcel remarked (rather boldly). I turned to him and grinned. “You do with what you got yeah?” He nodded smiling a bit. His eyes drooped slightly and I could tell his new-found spunk was just the sleep talking. “You’re very tired aren’t you?” I asked. He just shrugged and leaned his head against the window, eyes closing subconsciously. His large book was still open on his lap and within five minutes, he was out cold. I chuckled muttering to myself, “yeah, a bit tired you are.” Marcel’s tray-table was still down so I grabbed his napkin put his table up, turning the lever to secure it shut. Folding the napkin, I grabbed his book and slid it in as a bookmark. I placed the book in the seats-front pocket and plugged in my headphones and faced the screen, pressing ‘start.’ 

            Mid-film the ride got a bit bumpy and turbulence had people jolting and shuffling in their seats. Unfortunately for Marcel, the rough air had a more… painful effect. A large ‘bump’ had him banging his head on the window he was leaning on. “Ow, fu-,” he stopped, “fudgesicles. Ugh ouch.” His hand went up to rub his forehead and he winced. I held back a laugh from his utterly profane language and tried to put on a look of concern. “Shit Marcey are you alright?” He looked at me, eyes awake.

“Uh, yeah, just a little bump.”

“No kidding. I don’t think that window it gonna do you justice for a pillow.” I told him.

“What do you mean? I don’t just carry around pillows. The window will make do just fine for me.”

“Here, hold on.”

“What are you doing?”

“Wait a second and you’ll see!” I whined.

“Louis, um, I don’t…” Marcel just stared blankly at me. I had pushed up the armrest so there was no barrier in between us, and scooched closer to him. “Use my shoulder as a pillow,” I instructed. Then winking, I said, “I’ve been complimented on the luxurious experience, and here I am, offering you a go- for free. You can’t refuse now.”

There was a dead pause and then a sarcastic snort from Marcel’s end. I tried to portray an offended look and Marcel began to giggle. He fucking giggled. “Maybe,” he began, but stopped. I lightly swatted his shoulder and he sighed giving in. Positioning himself comfortably, he laid his head on my shoulder and closed his eyes. My heart began to speed up and everything was silent.

            No one was talking- it was very late at night, I supposed. All I could hear were the quiet breaths from Marcel and the low rumble of the plane engines. The occasion shifting of seats from other passengers added to the environment too. I continued my film and had a mini-panic attack ten minutes afterwards because Marcel’s arms had snaked their way around my waist and ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod this was happening really happening. An air hostess came by and noticed me awake and asked if I wanted anything to drink, which I relied with a tired smile and a “no thank you I’m alright.”

“He’s a good one,” she said. Her name-tag said Amy.

“Excuse me?” I looked up at her in confusion. She smiled.

“Him,” she nodded towards Marcel. “You’ve chosen well. You both are a cute couple. I saw him reading a while ago. Looks smart. You both are lucky.”

I shook my head and answered quietly. “Oh, thank you but we’re not… you know…”

“Well,” she continued to smile, “you better take him quick. Or else someone else will.”

            And she left, leaving me to choke on her dust trail of realization.