Among The Roses

Chapter 52: Buon Viaggio

"Would you like to sit by me?" Drew asked. He couldn't keep the hope out of his voice.

"Okay," Chiara agreed, and she couldn't keep the amusement out of her voice.

The flight from London to Milan was less than two hours long, surely it didn't matter where they sat? But no, Drew was beyond happy that Chiara was sitting next to him for the short flight across Europe to Mara and Luke's wedding.

"You know it's my first time on a plane?" she told Drew as she buckled up. "And my first time out of the UK, not counting Ireland?"

"Really? How marvelous. Then you must have the window seat," Drew declared.

"No, it's okay, we're already all buckled and everything, they're preparing for takeoff," Chiara protested.

"I absolutely insist." Drew was already unbuckled and rising from his seat, so Chiara had no choice but to do the same. The flight attendant saw them and rose disapprovingly from her seat to see what they were doing, but Drew waved her off, showing that they were just switching. Once they were seated, Chiara had to admit that it was more fun to have the window seat, to watch London tilting away from them in the late morning sun, to see the world famous landmarks becoming miniatures before her very eyes as they rose into the dark blue sky.

They hit some turbulence when they got out over the English Channel, and there was just one dip too many for Chiara. She quickly unbuckled her seat and began to rise to run for the bathroom, but a passing flight attendant told her in no uncertain terms that she had to keep her seat.

"Oh no," Chiara said in a small, distressed voice. She began to paw desperately through the seat pocket in front of her for the air sick bag, afraid she wouldn't find it quickly enough. She found it just in time, and turned away from Drew, embarrassed, as her breakfast came roiling back out of her and into the bag.

"CC--Chiara, are you okay, you poor thing?" Drew commiserated, leaning as close as he could to rub her back. She tried to make some kind of reassuring noises in between her retching and push him away, but he resolutely stayed where he was, and pushed the button for the flight attendant. Ellie, who was sitting across the aisle from him, looked on with concern.

"Oh dear," said the perky flight attendant, "Too bumpy for her? Would she like some seltzer water?"

And Chiara, who was finally finished, closed the bag and handed it to the attendant, saying, "What I would really have liked would have been to be sick in the toilets in private like a normal human person, but since I wasn't allowed to leave my seat, here you go." She smiled sweetly. "And yes, please, a little seltzer would be lovely."

Drew kept a straight face until the attendant left with the bag, then he laughed at Chiara's words. "Always with the piss and vinegar, aren't you?" he said admiringly. "And we're over land now, somewhere over France, I think, so turbulence shouldn't be a problem for the rest of the flight, all right?"

"Wonderful," Chiara replied with a wan smile as she popped a piece of gum in her mouth. "I'm so sorry about that, Drew," she said. "I don't know what happened. It just suddenly felt like a roller coaster."

"Please, don't apologize," Drew said, continuing to rub her back. "I've been sick on planes plenty of times. All better now?"

Chiara nodded, sipping her seltzer.

Drew took it from her after a few minutes, setting it down in the cup holder. He pulled her head down on his shoulder. "We still have over an hour left, why don't you just close your eyes for a bit, hm? We'll be there before you know it. They've planned a beautiful al fresco lunch for us, with some kind of walk to the village and lake or something, so we'll have plenty of fresh air and lovely things to look at, doesn't that sound nice?"