A few minutes after takeoff, when the plane reached a comfortable, level altitude, the flight attendants came around with trolleys of drinks and snacks. A pretty, young brunette attendant stopped by Luke and Noah's row.

"Drink, monsieur?" The woman asked Luke with a French accent.

"Just water for me," he said.

The woman in bright red lipstick filled his plastic cup with a smile and handed it to him with a coy kind of wink.

"Thanks," Luke said, raising his glass to her.

"And you, monsieur?" she said to Noah.

He shook his head and held up a hand. "Nothing for me, thank you." The attendant pushed the cart away without so much as a second glance, and Noah leaned over to Luke. "I think she likes you," he said with a smile.

Luke looked over his shoulder at the woman. "Really?" he asked, turning back to Noah.

Noah nodded and raised an eyebrow. "She's pretty, right?"

Luke shrugged and put his tray down to set his drink on it. "I guess," he said. He took a sip and said under his breath, "Doesn't really matter, anyway."

Noah looked at him. "What do you mean?"

Luke laughed and lowered his head, seemingly embarrassed. "Well, I . . ." He paused, peering intently into his cup of iced water. "I'm gay," he said with a shrug.

Noah blinked and raised his eyebrows. "Oh," he said after a bit.

Luke took another sip. "Yeah." He suddenly looked at Noah. "That's not a problem, is it?"

Noah shook his head. "No, not at all."

Luke bit his bottom lip and shrugged. "It's not like I announce it to every stranger I meet on an airplane."

"Hey, it's cool—"

"And now that you know, please don't think I was, you know, coming on to you before. Like when I said I thought you looked familiar?"

"I didn't think twice about it," Noah said. "And, I mean, I'm glad you told me that you're, you know . . . gay. We may be strangers, but we're sharing a seat for seven more hours, right?"

Luke nodded and smiled. "Right." He took another drink, emptying the last of the cup in his mouth and set it back on his tray. "And now that that awkwardness has passed, it looked like you're not afraid to fly anymore."

Noah smiled. "Yeah, I . . ." he looked at Luke. "I feel more relaxed. And I'm sorry for freaking out during takeoff, I didn't mean to—"

"Don't worry about it," Luke said. "I'm glad I can be here for moral support." Noah grinned at him widely and Luke lowered his head, his cheeks burning. "Anyway, now that you don't have any competition to worry about, you should go after that flight attendant." Luke nudged Noah's arm.

"Naw," Noah said, looking out the window. "Contrary to what you might think, I'm a little awkward around women."

Luke laughed. "And here I had you pegged as a regular Casanova when I first saw you."

Noah looked at the man and Luke instantly avoided his gaze. He knew Luke was flirting, and whether or not it was intentional, he didn't know, but it didn't make him as uncomfortable as he thought it would.

"Yes," he said, keeping up the mood, "I'm a lady-killer, you found me out."

Luke laughed, keeping his eyes down. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it and unbuckled his lap belt instead. "Excuse me," he said. He raised his glass and tray and inched out of the row, moving to the aisle. He walked towards the bathroom. Noah watched him leave, then shook his head and looked out the window at the endless ocean below.

"What is wrong with you?" he mumbled to his reflection in the glass.

0000000

Luke looked at himself in the bathroom mirror and rubbed his chin. "What is wrong with you?" he asked himself.

Everything. Everything was wrong the moment he saw Noah in the seat by the window. He hadn't known at first if this stranger beside him was gay or not, but that didn't stop him from flirting uncontrollably, as if some switch inside of him were stuck.

Luke didn't feel like himself. It wasn't in his nature to be so comfortable around new people, especially someone as gorgeous, yet shy, as Noah—

"Stop it," Luke hissed to his reflection. He turned the water on and splashed his face, rubbing eyes. "He's not gay," he told himself. "He's not gay, so quit it."

And still, after insisting to himself that his neighbor would never in a million years be interested in him, Luke found himself straightening up in the mirror and checking his hair. He smoothed the wrinkles on his shirt and washed his hands. Luke exited the bathroom, realizing confidently but dreading what he knew he shouldn't do, and walked down the aisle to his seat. He smiled, ready to strike up another friendly, platonic conversation with his new acquaintance, but stopped suddenly when he saw Noah resting with headphones in his ears, his face turned towards the window.

Luke held his empty cup and put the tray up to slide back in his seat. He sighed and took out another magazine from the backpack he had put under his seat and began flipping through it.

"Figures," he said to himself.

0000000

About forty-five minutes later, after Luke grew bored of his magazine and decided to try and get some rest, he was jolted awake by a spurt of turbulence. His guts did a back flip as the plane dipped in the wind and leveled out again. Luke looked over at Noah and saw that he was still sound asleep, the buds still in his ears. He threw his empty cup in the trash as an attendant came by with a garbage bag and put his tray up to stretch his legs.

Luke held on to the armrests as more turbulence rocked the cabin and subsequently stopped, leaving just a slight after-effect of a sickly feeling in Luke's stomach. Noah made a noise in his sleep and stirred. Luke looked over at him and tensed as Noah shifted in his seat. He rolled his head to the side and fell on Luke's shoulder, resting ever-so-gently as he continued to sleep.

Luke's heart jumped to his throat, a panicking feeling growing in his gut. He wondered if he should move his neighbor's head, else Noah should wake and find himself embarrassingly parked on Luke's shoulder. Luke looked around to make sure no nosey passengers were making any assumptions about them.

"Um . . ."

Luke looked down at the top of Noah's head as he rested on him. Noah made another noise in his sleep and Luke felt himself smiling. He closed his eyes and savored the moment, bending his head slightly to take in the roses-and-earth smell of Noah's hair. He tried not to let the situation envelope him completely, tried to tell himself that after another second of euphoria, after just another moment of pure bliss, he would move his shoulder and wake Noah up. A minute passed, then another, then Luke was sure another five minutes went by and still Noah rested comfortably on his shoulder.

Turbulence rocked the cabin again, stronger and more commanding than before, and Noah awoke with a start. He sat up straight and looked at his neighbor. Luke stared at him wildly, hoping against hope Noah didn't feel embarrassed or upset that he had fallen on Luke's shoulder.

"Sorry," Noah said. His voice was husky and almost breathless, as though he had just come up for air after a passionate kiss.

Luke felt the air escape from his lungs and used all the energy in his body to etch out the slightest hint of a smile. "It's okay," he said. He cleared his throat. "Just a little turbulence, it'll pass."

Noah nodded, still staring at Luke with dreamy, wandering eyes. "Yeah." He blinked hard and licked his lips. "Would you excuse me? I need, to, uh . . ." Noah motioned towards the bathroom and Luke scrambled to get his seatbelt off, springing from his seat.

"Yeah, sure." He stood to let Noah pass, and just as the man was almost out of their row, another wave of turbulence came about, causing some passengers to shriek. Noah lost his balance as the plane dipped and leveled out in the sky, and he fell into Luke's arms.

"I got you," Luke said, his lips near Noah's ear.

Noah shuddered as Luke's breath caressed his skin and pulled his head up, his hands still gripping Luke's arms for support. The two men stared at one another for a moment, each saying nothing but their silence as loud as the boom of a fireworks show. Noah peered into Luke's eyes and saw the pupils of his brownish-green eyes dilate.

"I, uh . . ." Noah struggled with the words. He pulled away. "I have to—" Noah turned from Luke and stumbled down the aisle as more turbulence shook the fuselage. Luke sat down in his seat slowly, and stared ahead at the seat before him.

Noah locked the door to the bathroom and hunched over the toilet, certain he was going to throw up or cry or scream in that exact moment. He held his breath and let out a long sigh. Noah stood and looked at himself in the mirror. He splashed cold water on his face from the sink.

"Easy . . ." he said to himself. "Take it easy."

Something was wrong. His heart felt out of place, as though it were beating in all directions in his chest and couldn't decide which way to leap out. It was insane, everything his was thinking and feeling and even longing for. Sure, he may have questioned himself once or twice in New York, but his father would have never stood for something like that, especially not since Noah had lied to him about which school he was going to—

But it didn't matter. Noah wasn't gay. What he felt for this new acquaintance was gratitude and nothing more, the kind of attachment one feels for someone after they've saved their life. Transference, they called it in the psyche world.

"Yeah," Noah said to his reflection. "It's nothing." He dried his face with a paper towel and threw it in the trash. "It's nothing."

He opened the door to the bathroom and stopped dead in his tracks as Luke stood before him, fist raised in midair to knock on the door.

Luke lowered his hand and stammered. "I . . . I was just—"

No thinking, no feeling, no transference in that moment. Everything fell around Noah in a white blur and became nothing. He leaned in and took Luke's head in his hands, swooping in for a passionate, breathless kiss. With nothing but the aircraft separating them from the water and sky, Noah felt himself become weightless as he pressed his lips against Luke's, breathing his soul into this other man as though his body couldn't contain it anymore. He pulled away gently brushing his thumb over Luke's temple and stared into the bewildered man's eyes.

Noah held a breath as Luke leaned in closer for another kiss, then pulled away instantly as a flight attendant came through the curtain separating them from first class. Noah walked back to his seat, leaving Luke alone and dumbfounded near the restrooms. Noah slumped in his seat and pressed his head against the glass of the window, banging on it gently with his forehead, wishing he could escape and fly away.

To be continued