“One of the perks of being insanely rich,” I replied, gesturing for him to take the movable stairs ahead of me.
“It’s nice to see you again, River,” the stewardess said. I had to hand it to her. She played the part well, her delivery was almost good enough to convince me that I’d met her before. “Your mother said to tell you that she’ll be meeting you herself when we land.”
Oh shit. That was going to be all kinds of awkward. I’d kinda hoped we would be picked up by a chauffeur and that the Montgomerys wouldn’t be home. It was a vain hope, but still, this was not the best way to meet my supposed parents for the first time. I schooled my face into a delighted smile, though.
“Oh, good! It’s been a while and I’ve got so much to tell her,” I said.
I went inside and she followed me in. The cabin door closed behind us as she pulled it to once a member of the ground crew wheeled the stairs away.
“Where do I sit?” Shannon asked me, whispering.
“Anywhere you like,” our flight attendant replied for me.
“Er, thanks, Ms., Ms.,” he floundered.
“Just call me Raquel.”
I shot her a grateful look at the deft way she’d let us both know her name. By her earlier words, River had known her quite well. She no doubt regularly worked the flights he went on between home and school in the past.
Shannon slid into a window seat, stretching his long legs out as he settled into the well-padded leather seat. “Man, this is the life. It’s like a super comfy armchair, but with seatbelts.”
I laughed. “Glad you like it, I don’t think we’d have time to buy new seats and have them fitted if you didn’t.”
He chuckled, the sound showing he was more relaxed now than he had been just moments ago in the car.
“Buckle in, and I’ll bring refreshments after we take off and it’s okay to unfasten your seatbelts.”
“Thank you,” Shannon told Raquel, dutifully fastening his seatbelt. I sat down across from him and did the same.
We didn’t have long to wait. Soon, we were up in the air and Raquel was by our side once more.
“The pilot says it’s fine to take your belts off now. What can I get you boys to drink? We have orange and grape sodas, fizzy lemonade, root beer, cucumber and lime sparkling water, blueberry cordial, and coffee.”
“What’s fizzy lemonade?” Shannon asked.
“It’s real lemonade only carbonated,” she said.
He raised his eyebrows at that. I had to admit that I’d never heard of anything like that before, either.
“I’ll try that,” he decided.
“Well, if you don’t like it, let me know, and I can get you something else.” She looked at me, expectantly.
“Orange soda is fine.”
“Would you boys like snacks with your drinks?”
“Sure,” I said. Breakfast had been a little bit of nothing, really. The cafeteria had put out Danishes and small cinnamon rolls for us, and nothing else. The diner was shut as well, not to reopen until after the New Year. A snack would serve to tide us over until we were served lunch. Speaking of which, “What’s the menu for today’s lunch?” I asked.
She smiled at me. “Crayfish and shrimp ravioli, wild rocket salad, and caramel flan. It’ll be ready at twelve on the dot.”
Fancy, but then as River, I was supposed to be used to schmancy pants stuff. At least I wouldn’t have to worry about which fork to use. That’s when I remembered the Christmas gala dinner. Shit, shit, shit. It was a black-tie event, which not only meant dressing up like an extra from The Great Gatsby, but lots of forks and spoons, and probably some of those weird little knives as well. I closed my eyes as Raquel padded away, my mind racing as to how I was going to deal with this obstacle.
Right, so, Shannon probably doesn’t know any of that fuckery either. I’ll just have to ask my fake mom to give us a lesson on dining etiquette for stuffy people so Shannon won’t feel embarrassed and out of place. Then we’ll both learn, and it’ll be fine. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“What’s the matter?” Shannon asked me.
I gave him a weak smile. “Just a bit of a headache. I get them sometimes, from after.” I didn’t have to elaborate on what it was after.
