"Damn it!" Sadie yelled, and I looked over at her curiously as we took our seats on the plane headed to France. Rolling my eyes at her, I snatched the window seat before she even had a chance to react. Hey, I couldn't help it if I liked a seat with a view.
"If you tell me you broke a friggin' nail or something Sadie, I'm going to call airport security." I stated wryly. It was bad enough that I already moped over the state of my own sad cuticles without having Sadie's perfectly manicured ones to compare them to. Sadie threw me an 'I'd help you with your appearance if you'd let me' look before handing me the ticket book she had been holding in her hand.
"I was referring to a lay over we have in the states." She complained as I looked down at the paperwork—revealing that we changed planes in New York. Big deal. It was probably cheaper to do it that way. Have you ever noticed that any flight that is almost a direct, straight shot to a destination is incredibly expensive? Obviously, Sadie didn't care about the costs. But, then again, she never had. I rolled my eyes at her as she flipped through a copy of People magazine.
"You know it's perfectly alright to pretend you're a normal female homo sapien every once in a while, Jude. Repeat this slowly after me: There's nothing better than being a girl..there's nothing better than being a girl." She chanted in a sing-song voice in a tone that sounded remarkably like the tune from the Wizard of Oz. Okay, that was so not funny.
"I am a girl." I remarked defensively as Sadie perused my Interpol hoodie and holie blue jeans critically. I just threw my hands up in defeat.
"We're on an airplane for God's Sake!" I exclaimed as Sadie just 'tsskkked' next to me.
"Yes, but you never know who you're going to run into." Sadie stated knowingly as she primped her glowing hair while straightening up her sequined tank. She had to be kidding right. Okay, if I ever found out Elvis wasn't dead and would be waiting in the New York airport terminal for us to arrive, I might be impressed even if he was old and gray. He was a cultural icon. Sadie handed me a tube of red lipstick—nodding her head as if encouraging me to use it. I just drew a huge bulls eye with it onto the mirror she had been holding up before grinning over at her cheekily.
"Now you'll never miss your face." I stated with a wry quirk of my brow as Sadie squealed in horror.
"Do you know how hard it is to get lipstick off of a surface like that?" She asked as I just shrugged sheepishly. What? A little Windex, and it would be as good as new, right? Sadie sulked as I watched her put away her make-up in amusement. Geez, the girl was easily offended!
"It's alright to feel pretty sometimes, Jude." Sadie said suddenly in a whisper as I avoided her gaze stoically.
"Whatever floats your boat, Sades." I replied with a good-natured quirk of my brow before leaning my head back against my seat and closing my eyes. She sighed next to me.
"It's just that you were finally starting to dress up some before Tommy left. Now that's he gone, you just don't seem to care." She remarked knowingly as I opened one eye—looking at her with that warning glare that usually made her back off. Fat chance this time.
"He's almost seven years older than you Jude. It's disgusting. Besides, he's not even good boyfriend material anyway. He never listens to you, he ignores your needs, and he smokes when he's stressed even if he thinks no one notices that he does." Sadie commented with a shrug before stopping a passing stewardess to ask for a bottled water. I looked at the sudden white of my fisted knuckles before glancing over at Sadie angrily.
"I'm not even involved with him, Sades. Let it go. Besides, he's five years older than you. That's not much better, you know." I stated simply before twisting around so that I couldn't see her. I didn't want to discuss this right now. So I just lay there—glancing at the passing clouds outside my window as the day progressed forward. I blocked out Sadie's incessant chatter as the sun moved across the horizon—marking the passing hours until the New York skyline suddenly came into view.
"There it is." I remarked on a whisper as Sadie leaned over me to look out the window.
"New York." She breathed in awe as if she hadn't just been complaining about the lay over an hour or so before.
"The home of Radio City Music Hall and Julliard's." I murmured as Sadie nodded her head slowly.
"The home of Macy's and the top, best modeling agencies in the world." She reiterated next to me as we both laughed suddenly. I never could stay mad at her long—at odds with her maybe—but never mad. The plane skidded along the runway as I sighed before throwing off my seat belt.
"Let's just get to Paris." I remarked with a weary sigh as Sadie nodded in agreement.
"You'll love it, Jude." Sadie babbled as we walked—filling me in on every café museum, and tourist attraction there was in the beautiful city as I tuned her out again. Besides, she switched to French periodically without realizing it, and I couldn't speak a lick of the language except 'la ou est la sale de bains?' which means 'where's the bathroom?' and that's only because I had to ask a French teacher that once when I got desperate in class. Oh, well. Where were my headphones when I needed them? The terminal was crowded as we rushed toward our next gate once we realized that our plane was a little late coming in which meant our other one was already loading.
"There's a reason I don't do strenuous exercises." I mumbled on a pant as Sadie threw me a look while we walked through the connecting tunnel of our next flight. I gasped as she chuckled.
"You should try Yoga or Tao Bo. It really helps." She pointed out as I coughed to cover up a laugh.
"I'll afflict my ligaments with those distorted versions of physical torture when pigs fly or Tom Quincy shows back up." I stated sarcastically as Sadie stopped suddenly in front of me. I bumped into her back—stubbing my toe in the process, and I cursed at the back of her shirt before looking over her shoulder. And then I froze. I should really start watching what I say.
"Well, you better start flexing those limbs then, baby sister." Sadie whispered as I suddenly found it hard to breathe. There was no way in hell. Can you say coincidence?
"What did I tell you about you never knowing who'll you run into?" Sadie asked quietly in as stunned a voice as mine had been.
"Oh just shut up, Sadie." I exclaimed as the man we were ogling suddenly looked up. He dropped the newspaper he had been holding in his hand in astonishment as my eyes met with his.
"Tommy."