“I changed my plans,” she says, as if it’s that simple.
I can pretty much guarantee my mouth is hanging open in shock. “How do you just change your—you have a job lined up, and you have to walk across the stage and freaking graduate tomorrow, and?—”
“I don’t actually have to walk across the stage. It’s not a requirement. I earned the degree. The ceremony is just a formality. As for the job offer, I turned it down. They had a bunch of other candidates, so I’m sure the position is filled by now, and that’s fine. I applied for a job because I wanted something exciting, something different, but it turns out, there are lots of ways to have an adventure.”
Viv looks good enough to fucking eat, but that’s no surprise. She’s got on her standard uniform of leggings and a sporty bra top thingy. The only change is that she’s got a sweatshirt thrown over her shoulders. That checks out because planes get cold and since this is a long-ass flight, she’s probably going to snuggle up and fall asleep at some point. Right next to me. Jesus. But the kicker is that the sweatshirt she’s got on? It’s mine. It’s got my freaking name on the back.
She’s fucking killing me here, and I have to know whether this is about chasing a vibe, and just having fun, or whether it’s about something more. But I’ve learned my lesson. There’s no more guessing what she wants or needs, no more keeping quiet about what I need. That was my strategy before, and it back-fucking-fired on me. So, I open my damn mouth to ask the question. “Is that what you’re going to do in Poland? Have an adventure?”
Viv gives my hands a squeeze before bringing hers up to cup my face. “No, Mickey. That’s not what I’m going to do in Poland. It’s what I’m going to do with you, wherever we are. Yeah, I love the idea of traveling the world, but if we end up in New Jersey, or even back in Maryland, I’ll be happy if I’m with you.”
She’s saying everything I’ve wanted to hear for over a year now, but there’s one crucial detail she’s got wrong. “But you’re not with me. We’re not together.”
I hear her intake of breath, and I can tell my words cut deep. “I’m not trying to hurt you,” I say, pressing a kiss to her forehead because, dammit, I just need to touch her. “That’s not what I was going for. I wasn’t pulling the dagger out of my own chest and driving it into yours just so you could see how it feels. I just—the fucking last thing I expected was to see you on this plane. I’m not sure I can wrap my head around it.”
People are walking through the aisles, opening and shutting overhead bins and jamming their overstuffed suitcases wherever they can. Some folks are still looking for their seats. Everybody is settling in for a long flight, and a couple little kids are already whining, but I tune all of that out. None of it matters. Nothing matters except Viv.
She opens her mouth to answer me, and I do my damnedest to focus because this is the answer I need to hear, the one that might just determine the rest of my life.
But I can’t focus for shit with Viv practically in my arms. I don’t wait patiently to hear her answer. I don’t take time to process it. That’s just not me. I’m not reserved and thoughtful. I’m impulsive as hell.
So I slide my hand around her neck, my fingers tangling in her hair. I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her even closer to me. And then I kiss her.
Because the truth is that I don’t really care about why she’s here or what she’s missing out on or how long she’ll stay. Yeah, that’s all really important, but not nearly as important as the fact that she’s here now, in my arms, for at least the next seventeen hours, and I’m not going to waste a second of it.
Our mouths fuse together while we breathe each other in. It’s been too damn long since my lips have covered hers, and every cell in my body is determined to make up for lost time. We can’t get enough of each other, so all the questions and answers will have to wait for later. Right now, we just need to feel.
Until a flight attendant clears her throat, twice. Loudly.
Reluctantly, Viv peels herself off me so we can buckle ourselves in. I’ve got my hand on Viv’s thigh and she’s got her arm wrapped around mine. It’s like my body needs the reminder that she’s really here.
We sit and listen as the flight attendants go over all the safety stuff. Most of it is common sense stuff that even I know, so I kinda want to tell them they can save their breath. But that’s a dick move, and we’ve got seventeen hours to figure our shit out, so I stay quiet.
But it isn’t easy, and I deserve a goddamn gold star.
The pilot’s voice fills the plane, telling us a bunch of stuff that would make sense if we were also pilots. “Do you think they actually know what they’re talking about?” I ask Viv.
“The pilots? Uh, I hope so. Otherwise, this is going to be a very short flight.”
“I’m just saying,” I tell her, pressing a kiss to her temple because I fucking can, “that if I were a pilot, I would just make up elevation and wind speeds and shit. I mean, seriously, who would know?”
Viv laughs. “That’s probably illegal, but if you were my co-pilot, I’d totally let you do it.”
I smile because that pretty much sums up what I want out of life: to be Viv’s co-pilot.
The plane starts taxiing down the runway, and I reach for her hand, but she puts up a finger to let me know she needs a second. I watch her dig in her bag, and just when I’m about to ask what the hell she’s looking for, she proudly produces two sticks of gum and holds them up in victory. “Maggie stuffed about a million emergency supplies in here, but I knew there’d be gum somewhere,” she explains, offering me a piece.
I take it, of course, because I never even thought about bringing gum, but I clearly should have. “Wait,” I say, as her words click into place. “Maggie knew about this?”
Viv just laughs. Like, full-on belly laughs. “Of course. There's literally nothing Maggie doesn’t know. When I concocted this whole scheme, who do you think was my partner in crime?”
My brain is a circus most of the time, and it’s lust-fogged right now, but I’m finally putting the pieces together, and I think my buddy JT might have tricked me. And I fucking love him for it. “So, if Maggie knew…that means JT knew, too? Quick question…how’d you get to the airport today?”
“Of course JT knew, but we swore him to secrecy. And, yeah, he and Maggie gave me a ride to the airport. Calla was there, too, of course.”
I look down to see Viv’s small hand resting in my larger one. I don’t remember when that happened, but I don’t mind at all. “You said JT was sworn to secrecy, right? So does that mean that nobody else knew you booked a plane ticket to freaking Poland?”
“Oh, everybody knows now, but we didn’t tell Ollie until this morning because he’s terrible at keeping secrets.”
