I Cherish You

Chapter 11

            “What are you giggling about?” Connor arched an eyebrow as he tried to shove his bag into the overhead.

            “Nothing. These pictures of us are really good.” Troye said without looking up.

            Connor gave the bag one last shove and sat down next to Troye. Their seats had originally been meant for Laurelle and Shaun, but they had insisted on giving them to the boys and taking seats further back. It was nice to have some privacy, but they would have to keep in mind that they were still only a few feet away from a row full of Mellets, so they couldn’t get too comfortable.

            “I like this one of you and Nana.” Troye said, reaching over to show Connor a picture of him smiling with his arm around his grandmother, who looked elated. “She was really excited to meet you. I’m glad you two got along so well.”

            Troye was unconsciously biting his lip as he scrolled through more photos, which made him look adorable, to Connor.

            “She’s a fascinating woman. I think she might be my favorite Mellet.” Connor joked with a smirk.

            Troye would have believed it. Everybody else would sit politely through one or two stories about his Grandfather or her life growing up, but Connor must have heard seven or eight in one night. He had seemed genuinely interested, asking questions and smiling or laughing at her jokes, which made her whole face light up. Afterwards, she had pulled Troye aside and told him, even though they hadn’t revealed themselves to most of the family yet, that Connor “was a good one”.

            “She’s actually the only funny Mellet, in my opinion. The rest of you just make puns.” Connor teased.

            Troye fake pouted and crossed his arms. “I make puns, Con?”

            “Okay, okay, point taken.” Connor laughed in defeat. “What do you have in this bag?” He kicked Troye’s carry-on, which looked like it was about to burst.

            “Stuff I need for New York. I heard it’s cold.”
            At that point, the zipper made an audible popping sound, sending what looked like at least ten winter jackets, complete with matching scarves, hats, and gloves, onto the ground around them. The two burst out laughing, mush to the annoyance of several surrounding passengers and the particularly strict looking flight attendant who came to shush them.

            “Troye. No one needs this much winter clothing.” Connor said, still holding back laughter.

            “Hey, we Aussies are not used to such a harsh climate. I have to protect my delicate complexion.” Troye could barely keep a straight face even as he said it.

            Connor chuckled, “Yeah, alright babe.”

            Troye paused. He and Connor used pet names, sure, but those could all be written off as between close friends. “Babe” was an outright statement of . . . . well not platonic friendship. He had actually always hated being called that, but it was somehow sweet coming from Connor. Troye continued to shove clothing back into his bag.

            “We’ll see who’s laughing when it’s 10 degrees out.”

            Connor rolled his eyes, but didn’t say anything. Every time one of them saw the comically overstuffed bag out of the corner of their eye during the flight, it would send both into another fit of laughter. This caused them to quickly make an enemy out of the flight attendant, but they couldn’t help it, so after their third round of “I will call an air marshal on you two” they resolved to try and get some sleep. They started out apart, with their own separate blankets and pillows, but Troye couldn’t sleep at a 45 degree angle with the arm rest digging into his side, so he pushed it up, and gradually slipped further over into the other boys seat, until Connor finally kissed him on the forehead and spread his blanket over both of them, with one arm around Troye until they woke up to the flight attendant serving breakfast, her expression slightly softened.

            “Sorry if we were being rude earlier.” Connor murmured groggily, still half cuddling Troye.

            “You know what, don’t worry about it.” She said with a small smile. “Life’s too short not to enjoy your time with the people you care about.”

I don’t want a perfect person, I just want someone to act silly with, someone who treats me well and loves being with me more than anything.