Airplane Travel Is Such A Pain
"I'm sorry sir, there aren't two seats next to each other we can put you in." You groan, not wanting to deal with this. You are John Egbert and you have been awake for almost thirty-six hours due to flight cancellations. All you want is two seats that are next to each other so you and your sister can sit next to each other. "If you had gotten here earlier, we might have been able to do something about it."
"I WOULD'VE been here earlier if my flight hadn't been CANCELLED. Can't you just move some seats?" You say, trying not to be cranky and failing miserably. Your sister rests a hand on your shoulder.
"John, it's fine. It's just one flight." You turn to her, her green eyes willing you to calm down.
"Yes, Jade, it is just one flight, however, it 's twelve hours." You say. She just shakes her head and turns to the poor airline worker you've been yelling at.
"It'll be fine. He'll sleep the whole time anyway." She grabs your arm and pulls you over to some chairs as you wonder how she can still be so cheerful. "Jade, I really am not in the mood to sit next to some stranger." You groan as she pulls a sandwich out of her backpack and hands it to you.
"I'm sure it'll be fine. No one ever talks to the strangers they sit next to on planes. And you'll be sleeping anyway." She says, pulling another sandwich out of her backpack, this one vegetarian, for herself.
"You know I can't sleep on planes. The outside is too exciting!" You say as you bite into your sandwich. You've loved flying since you were little. Unfortunately, storms seem to follow you like a lost dog, which makes airplane travel a pain in the ass.
"You might not get the window seat, you know. Then you'll have to sleep! Which will be a good thing. You get really cranky when you don't sleep." She says, standing up.
"Where are you going?" you ask, grabbing her sleeve.
"On the plane. They just called for first class. You really are out of it, aren't you?" She asks, pulling you to your feet. You let her pull you to the gate and watch as she hands your boarding passes to the attendant. She's right of course. Jade always is. You hand your passport to the attendant and she checks it and waves you through. You check the seat number on your boarding pass, but the numbers start swimming, so you get Jade to read it. Instead she just leads you to your seat and heads to hers. You shove your backpack in the overhead compartment and sit down in the window seat. Whoever's sitting next to you will have to deal with it. You then realize you forgot your headphones, iPod, and book in your backpack, and that you'll have to get up to get it. You decide that you'll just wait until the person who will sit next to you arrives and ask them to just grab the whole thing. You'll just stuff it under your seat and hope it fits.
You jerk awake as something lands on your shoulder. You blink your eyes rapidly, looking to see what it was. It was the guy next to you. He had tapped you on the shoulder. He was asking you a question. "Sorry, what?"
"Do you want a drink? Or something to eat?" He asked, his voice smooth and deep.
"Uh, sure. I'll have a water." You say, suddenly realizing how dry your mouth was. You pull down your tray, wondering how long you'd been asleep. You take a sip before turning to the guy next to you. "Hey, uh, how long have I been asleep?" You ask. The guy had reddish blonde hair, was wearing really dark shades and had a red hoodie on. He was strikingly attractive. He turned to you.
"'Bout seven hours now. You were really out of it bro. Thought I'd have to slap you to wake you up or somethin'." He says with a slight southern accent. You laugh a little and reach out a hand.
"I'm John Egbert. Sorry I've been asleep for like, half the trip. I had been awake for thirty-six hours and I really needed some sleep." You see him raise his eyebrow a little, but then reached out and shook your hand.
"Dave Strider." He replied. "I don't usually fly first class, but my bro insisted on paying, so here I am."
"I travel a lot for work, so I have a ton of miles saved up." You say. "Hey, do you think you could grab my bag from the overhead compartment for me? I forgot to get some stuff from it when I sat down." He nods and is about to stand up when the pilot comes on the intercom and announces that there'll be some turbulence, and that everyone should remain seated. Dave reattaches his seatbelts and looks back at you.
"Sorry bro. It'll probably go away in a few minutes."
It, however did not go away, and the plane was going to have to land in Germany due to huge storms that were hovering over Belgium and the English Channel that looked to be heading your way. You groan and smack your head against the headrest a couple times. Why does this always happen? Everywhere you go, you're a fricking storm magnet. Dave looks over at you. "Dude, you okay?" He asks as you smack your head again.
"No, I'm not. I have a fucking concert that I'm already cutting it close to be at! I've already had two delays and now this! I HAVE to be there!" You keep smacking your head on the headrest, hoping it will make you forget this whole thing. You really need the money from this concert.
"Dude, I'm sure it'll be fine. Were the tickets really expensive or some shit?" You shake your head, not really wanting to have to explain. Not that this dude looked like he'd be into your stuff, and he hadn't seemed to recognize you.
"It's not a concert I'm going to, it's a concert I'm PREFORMING at. And I need this money for repairs and the rent! Uggggggh." You groan again, still hitting your head on the seat.
"Dude, stop hitting your head. Your destroying your fucking brain cells." Dave says, grabbing your head, and you feel your face get really warm. You hope to God your face isn't red. "There. Now here, have some more water." He says, handing you your cup. "So you're in a band or some shit like that?"
"Something like that. I play piano." You say and drain your cup. Dave hands you his cup of apple juice.
"Here, drink more. So piano, huh? Pretty sweet." You down the apple juice, too, feeling much better.
"It would be sweeter if it paid better, and if I didn't have a crappy piano to practice on. It makes it hard to hear how things sound on a real piano when you just have an old piano that's always out of tune. So I really need the warm-up time that I had already lost due to the cancellations and delays. And now I'm not even gonna make the concert at ALL!" You say, half shouting as the plane begins its descent.
"Hey, calm down. It's gonna be fine. Just call them and ask them to reschedule the concert." Dave says.
"I can't. There are people coming from all over just to see me and I'm not gonna be there, and their all gonna want their money back and I'm not gonna have any money and I'm not gonna be able to make rent and I'm gonna be kicked out of my apartment and…" You trail off as it gets harder to breathe. You feel totally out of control and wish Jade was here. Dave shakes your shoulder a little, but it seems far away. Everything feels like it's on a different plane than you. You feel like your head is going to implode. Dave shakes your shoulder again and you realize he's saying something.
"Dude, DUDE, are you okay? You're freakin out pretty fucking bad." You can't see his eyes, but you can hear the concern in his voice.
"I need my backpack. Like, right now." You say, hoping he doesn't ask why. Dave nods and stands up. An attendant rushes over and tells him to sit down, but he ignores her and continues to get the backpack.
"Sir, sir, I need you to sit down. Sir? SIR SIT DOWN." He finally turns to her, throwing the backpack on his seat.
"Look, my friend is freaking out, and he told me to get his fucking backpack. So I got the backpack. Now I'm sitting back down. Calm down." And he pushes the backpack over to you and takes his seat again, buckling up. You search through your backpack and pull out your meds and a water bottle and swallow a pill. You then stuff your backpack under your seat and lean back, closing your eyes and trying to calm down. "Yo Egbert, you okay?" You nod, eyes still closed.
"Ya, I just…" You trail off not wanting to tell a total stranger all about your anxiety. "Never mind." You say, opening your eyes. Dave just shrugs and says an okay. "Oh god, how am I gonna pay for a hotel room when we get to Germany?" You whisper to yourself. Dave looks over at you again.
"Hey. I'll pay for a hotel. I got some money." You shake your head. You can't owe more money to people. You just don't have the money to pay them back.
"No, I can't. I already owe enough money to people."
"I insist. I won't make you pay me back. Just get me and my friend Rose and her girlfriend into one of those sweet concerts of yours, and we'll be even." You just continue to shake your head.
"It's not just me. It's also my sister. She's sitting somewhere else." Dave just continues to insist.
"No really, it's fine. Earlier, I said my bro insisted on paying? Well that was a bit of an exaggeration. I stole his credit card. But before you start going off on me, he was being a douche, and I do it all the time. He doesn't care or notice really. He has like 50 of 'em. I've taken some plenty of times. Never notices. He probably didn't even notice that I was gone. He's so absorbed in his stupid puppet business. He can't bother to pay attention to anything else. I swea-" You cut him off.
"Alright fine. Since you insist. And I'll see about getting you into one of my concerts. Though I wouldn't picture you as a classical music fan." You say, finally feeling a bit calmer.
"Well, I'm not really. But my friend and her girlfriend are, and I might as well get SOMETHING out of the deal. Plus, I like you Egbert. You seem pretty chill." Dave says and you feel your face get warm again.
"You seem pretty cool, too." You reply.
"Ya, I am." Dave says and you laugh, feeling a little better.