Chapter One
“We are in preparation for landing in New Orleans. Please make sure your seatbelts are fastened, seatbacks are upright, and tray tables are secured. We’re coming through the cabin now to pick up any items you would like to dispose of. We will be landing soon.”
Victor gazes dreamily out the airplane window at the New Orleans skyline. The sun gleams brightly, casting reflections off the downtown buildings and areas below as the plane glides overhead. It’s Victor’s birthday weekend, and plans are to spend it in New Orleans with his friends. The hope was that this trip would cheer him up. Victor’s boyfriend of five years, nowex-boyfriend James, had just broken up with him. And right before Victor’s birthday. What an ass.
“Earth to Victor,” says one of his friends. Victor doesn’t seem to hear his friend calling out to him. “VICTOR!” Victor snaps back into reality.
“Huh?” Victor responds indifferently. His friends stare at him with some concern.
“Are you okay, Vic?” asks Elliott with a bit of worry in his tone.
Victor shrugs his shoulders, “For the most part.” He turns his attention back toward the window. He tries to hide the pain in his eyes behind his sunglasses.
Elliott and Frank are two of his closest friends. All three met when they started training to become flight attendants almost 10 years ago. Elliott is tall and muscular, and he likes to dress as though he’s still in college, wearing simple T-shirts and jeans, even though he’s in his early thirties. When out of work, you can always catch him wearing one of several favorite baseball hats. Elliott loves to eat, but you wouldn’t know since he’s at the gym almost every day.
Frank is lean and toned like Victor, but a couple of inches taller and likes to dress more stylishly in designer collared shirts. He’s not afraid to brag about his handbags, or his “murses.” Frank loves to be the life of any party and hosts one at his place at least once a month. Even out in public, he is your typical social butterfly, always talking to strangers. He likes to say, “A stranger is just a friend you haven’t met yet.” He also says he cares about Victor more than anyone else, but Elliott will dispute that argument.
This breakup has been hard on Victor, and they wanted to make sure their friend enjoys his weekend. Elliott and Frank were both by Victor’s side when the break-up happened. While Frank wanted to slash James’ tires, Elliott wanted to be Victor’s emotional rock. These two friends have always been at Victor’s side whenever he needed them.
Frank sits in the aisle seat and leans over Elliott in the middle seat to speak to Victor. Elliott gives Frank an annoyed look, but Frank doesn’t care. “Come on, Vic,” Frank says, “we are goingto have a good time. Your birthday is on Fat Tuesday this year. Mardi Gras, baby!”
Elliott pushes Frank back into his seat. “Do you mind?” Elliott snaps. “It’s bad enough that I’m stuck in the middle seat between you two skinny bitches. You won’t even share the armrest with me.”
“You know how this game works when non-revving,” Frank responds sarcastically. “If you don’t check into the flight on time, you get what you get. You snooze, you lose.”
“Will you two shush already? I’m tired of your voices right now.” Victor’s other friend, Amber, calls out from the row in front of them, where she’s sitting with her girlfriend, Lupe. “We’re here for Victor.”
Amber met Victor a month after she finished her flight attendant training over seven years ago. They both hit it off on their layover in Seattle, where she brought Lupe. Ever since Victor met her, she’s always had a pixie haircut. Her favorite hobby is kickboxing, which sometimes scares Victor when he watches her in action. Although Amber is athletic, she occasionally dresses up as a girly girl. Sometimes it shocks Victor when he sees Amber in a dress.
Lupe isn’t a flight attendant, but she definitely enjoys the travel benefits. She is a little shorter than her girlfriend. Compared to Victor and his friends, Lupe is the shortest of the group. Her hair is a long braid of silky, dark hair draped over one shoulder. Lupe lets Amber be the spitfire of the two because she knows no one is safe if Amber blows a gasket.
“Babe, just let the boys bicker,” Lupe tells Amber.
“If it weren’t for my air pods dying, I wouldn’t give a crap about them,” Amber responds to Lupe as she holds her hand.
Lupe smiles too cheerfully and gently squeezes Amber’s hand. “I told you to make sure everything was charged before we left.”
Amber narrows her eyes at her girlfriend, “And I told you to put the cords in your backpack, not the checked bags. Yet here we are.”
“Who invited her?” Frank asks Elliott.
“Who knows? I think it was this dried-out husk of a man sitting next to me,” Elliott responds as he nods to Victor. Frank and Elliott look at Victor with worried, sad expressions. Elliott places his hand on Victor’s upper back and gently rubs circles between Victor’s shoulders.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Elliott asks Victor.
“Mmhmm,” Victor responds without turning away from looking out the airplane window.
As the plane lands and parks at the gate, Elliott gently shakes Victor. “Hey, Vic, you ready to get off the plane?”
Victor looks over at his friends. His heartbreak was masked behind his sunglasses. “Yeah,” he says unconvincingly.
It had been only a couple of weeks since Victor’sex-boyfriend James broke his heart. Victor didn’t even want to go on this trip. All he wanted to do was stay home, eat ice cream, and stream sad movies. But everything for his birthday weekend was planned and paid for before the breakup happened. As Victor’s friends make their way off the plane, he stays behind for a few moments before he collects his belongings and walks off.
Victor falls behind the group as they make their way through the airport terminal. He doesn’t have the energy to keep up with his friends, who are excited to start partying. Elliott slows down and waits for Victor to catch up.
“Hey, did you want to get some beignets to take with us on our way to the hotel?” Elliott asks, pointing to theCafé Du Mondekiosk on their way to the exit.
“Yeah, sure. Why not?” Victor answers in a monotone.
