Sing

Chapter 7: Eight Thousand Feet

"We're going in this?" Gerard hissed.

"Will you please just shut the fuck up for once?" Mikey hissed back. Gerard rolled his eyes and leaned back, away from the plane.

Well, if you could call it that.

The old thing was run down, and it looked like it hadn't been used since before BL/ind started taking over. Someone had crudely painted the exterior of the thing black, and it was already chipping away.

"I don't know, Mikey," I whispered. "Gerard might be right about this one. Are you absolutely sure it's safe to get this thing across the country?"

"Of course it is," Ray said. He gently patted the side of the plane, and I watched a flake of black paint come off and fall beside his foot.

"Who's going to be flying this?" Gerard asked. "Me," Ray said.

"You know how to fly a fucking plane?!" Mikey asked, amazement in his voice and eyes. Ray grinned and nodded.

"Bullshit!" Gerard hissed, and Mikey and I shushed him.

"Look, I can do a lot of things that might surprise you," Ray said. "But we can talk about that when we're not standing around trying to escape BL/ind."

We all nodded in agreement. "Now get in," Ray said.

He helped Mikey into the plane, then me, and then lifted Grace in beside me. He climbed up the side and looked back down at Gerard, who was still standing there with his arms crossed.

"You coming? Or are you letting us run away with your brother?" Ray asked. Gerard rolled his eyes again.

"Can I have a second?" he asked, an edge to his voice. Ray put his hands up in innocence. "Be my guest."

Gerard inspected the wing of the plane, wondering if he could scramble up as easily as Ray had. He thought about it for a second, then stepped back in preparation.

"This is going to be great," Mikey whispered, his breath tickling my ear.

Gerard lept onto the wing of the plane alright. It was when he didn't stop to get in that he fucked up.

He landed on the wing, then, trying to show Ray up, attempted to jump into the plane in one move. It didn't work, and he ended up nearly breaking the wing in half.

"Aw, shit," Mikey said, seeing the black liquid begin to drip out of the wing.

"No, no, we can fix it!" Ray exclaimed. He reached under his seat and pulled out a roll of black duct tape.

"Are you fucking serious?" Gerard asked.

"We don't time for this shit!" I hissed. "Gerard, sit the fuck down and shut the fuck up." I stood up and climbed out onto the wing of the plane, grabbing the tape from Ray's hand. I quickly stopped the liquid, then crawled back into the plane.

I threw the tape down on the floor with a loud, metallic bang. I turned to Ray.

"Now," I said. "Are we going to California or not?"

~

Grace was tucked under my seat. Her hair was mostly hidden by Gerard's. I thought about how weird it was that we were basically smuggling a child.

"Ray?" Mikey asked suddenly. "Yeah?" Ray said.

"Do you know where we are?" Mikey said. "Well, we've been up for about an hour and a half, so... No," Ray said. "But we shouldn't have too much longer."

Mikey nodded and sat back. "Is it going to be any warmer where we're going?" he asked. Ray shifted awkwardly in his seat. "Um..." he said. "Yeah. By a lot."

Mikey nodded again. "Good."

I heard Gerard sigh next to me and looked over at him.

"You alright?" I asked. He gave me a weird look. "I-I'm fine," he said. "Why?"

"Well, you sighed," I said, trying not to blush. "And... I don't know, you seem stressed or tired. Or something. I don't know."

"I mean..." Gerard trailed off. "I guess I am. Both of those things. It's like, I didn't think I was going to get involved with Grace. Or you or Ray, for that matter. I was happy just on the run with my brother. Now, I'm suddenly stuck with this situation."

I nodded. I could understand that. He had been living a good routine, but now he was thrown into something completely different and ten times more dangerous. But I was in the same boat. And so was Mikey. Why was he the only one complaining?

Besides, Ray'd had this shit on his shoulders since day one. He was watching his neice, who happened to be the number one most wanted person in the country at the moment. He'd been through a lot, yet Gerard was the one complaining?

"Frank?"

I jumped and looked back at Gerard. "Yeah?" I said.

"You zoned out for a minute," he said, sitting up. "Sorry," I said. Gerard shook his head. "No, don't apologize," he said. "It's normal."

I nodded. That much was true.

"Listen," Gerard said, running his fingers through his hair. "I... I should be the one apologizing. I've been a total ass. I think it's... Like you said, stress."

I nodded again. I knew he'd apologized to me before, then gone back to doing the same shit. I didn't want to hold a grudge, but when would Gerard not be an ass?

But then a jumble of words fell out of my mouth. They somehow formed the phrase, "No, it's totally fine. Stress sucks, but it's normal."

Gerard opened his mouth, but Mikey leaned in between us before he could say anything.

"Hey guys?" Mikey said. "Ray said we're going to be there soon. He miscalculated the time. He just didn't want you to be too surprised."

He started to lean away again, but I grabbed his arm. "Is there a problem, Frank?" Mikey asked.

"Um, no," I said awkwardly. I could feel my face going pink in the night. "It's just..." I lowered my voice. "You and Ray. Is that a thing, or...?"

"No," Mikey said, confused. "Why do you ask?"

The pink in my cheeks turned red. "I mean..." I started. "I might not have been asleep the other night when you two were... on the roof..."

Mikey's face twisted into a mix of surprise and confusion. "I know what you're talking about," he said, his voice low in my ear, "And it was only because we hit negative temperatures. Him?" He jerked his thumb in Ray's direction and chuckled.

"He's nothing but a human supply box."