Why in Busch Gardens?
"If it wasn't for that stupid Tanga-kanga whatever ride, none of this would have ever happened," she said, obviously distressed…
A/N Here's the chapter I should have written ages ago. This chapter is mostly about Tabitha on the plane. There are a few swears in here that aren't censored, so watch out for them. I guess that would make it very T rated. The F word is said I think once or twice, but that's the worst it gets, there are other more minor ones in there too. So, you've been warned.
Chapter 6 – Edible Wrappers and 1800 Calories
We ended up being able to board the plane around 1 o'clock, which is good because the kids defiantly didn't like waiting.
"Daddy, when's the plane gonna came to pick us up?" Lola complained.
"Well, the plane is already here, we just can't go on it," Oliver answered.
"But why!" she whined.
"Well, you see…" Oliver started.
"It will be here in a couple minutes, honey," Lilly interrupted her husband.
"I had it handled, dear," Oliver said.
Lilly laughed, "Okay, I just didn't want you handling it to make a scene."
"Miley is the plane here yet?" Lola whined again.
"Sorry hun, I don't think so."
Luckily at the moment an announcement came over, "Any passengers flying on 1496 to Charlotte, North Carolina please…"
"Finally!" Tabby shouted.
"But that's not even our flight, ours is to Florida," Lola whined again.
"We have to take this one, then another one to Florida, ok?"
"Yes."
The kids gathered their things and we met up with the other group. I quickly did a head count, "Where are Jackson and Elijah?" I asked, not even really wanting to know the answer.
"Over there, looking at some interesting stores," Aly said, pointing.
"Can you go get them Tabby?" I asked. She nodded and starting walking over to them and screaming at them to stop wasting time and to get on the plane.
"Where are we going to sit?" Ryan asked.
"Grace wants to sit next to me," Riley was quick to say, and Gracie smiled.
"And I want to sit next to Gracie," Rhia said.
"I want to sit with Riley too, though," Tabby said.
"I see I'm very popular for today," Riley said.
"Yeah right, Riley." Nick laughed.
I quickly thought of an arrangement in my head for the few of them, and looked at each of the tickets. "Riley, Rhia, and Grace can sit in the first row we have all together and Tabby across the aisle alone."
"With two random strangers?" Tabby said
"Yep."
"Cool."
"I call aisle seat!" Riley said, and Rhia quickly called window.
"The row behind Riley's will be Elijah, Ryan, and Aly, behind Tabby will be Nick, Rachel, and the window seat will be Riley extra seat that's empty because Carter will be behind that and he'll probably be kicking the seat a lot. And next to Carter we'll put," at that point I was just rambling and trying to put people in seats at least, "Lilly and me, I guess. And across from us Oliver, Lola, and Jackson. Behind my row Dad, Michael, and Kristen, and then across from them and behind Jackson's row will be Emily and Chloe." I took a deep breathe after that and realized that they were all staring at me like I either had 4 heads, or were anticipating a lot more for me to say, "Everyone got all that?"
The started nodding and agreeing to what I just said.
"You're pretty smart mom. Putting all the adults in the back of the plane away from the kids," Tabby said with a smirk.
Oops.
"Can we go now?" A few of them said together. We did waste a lot of time. I made sure each family actually had their tickets and we boarded the plane.
I took a while for everyone to actually get on the plane and in a seat, but we all made it eventually. Tabby ended up sitting next to a man and who I assumed was his daughter and they looked nice enough. Almost like I trusted them as if I knew them. I was an ordeal to get Carter car seat in but flight attendants are very nice these days. They helped.
The safety announcements had finished and we were about 5th in line for take off.
"Tabs, do you have any gum?" Riley asked.
"Yep," she said and pulled a packet out of her bag, "It's Stride, the kind where you can eat the wrapper too."
"You can't eat the wrapper, Tabby. It's paper."
"Yeah, but you can still eat it, it just blends into the gum."
"Do it then," Riley said, "I don't believe you."
She shoved a full piece into her mouth with the wrapper and gave Rhia and Grace pieces to try, "You have to suck on it first until the wrapper dissolves. Then chew."
"I'll just have a regular piece without the wrapper," Riley said. Tabby gave her one.
Tabby turned to the man next to her, "Want a piece of gum?" He refused, "Does she?"
"Sure!" The little girl said. She must have been Rhia or Gracie's age, "Thank you."
The pilot announced that there was one more plane to go before ours.
"4L 4R" a female flight attendant announced.
"4L 4R" another flight attendant. This one we were pretty sure was a guy, but was quite girly. Riley and Tabby looked at each other and started cracking up.
The plane was finally in air and everyone had ended up relaxing with music, books, video games, and all their other things. Many of the adults just feel asleep.
Tabby pulled her mp3 player and stuck the earphones in her ears and turned in on, "Shit. The battery died."
"Why do you always swear, Tabby?" Rhia asked, actually using the proper plane voice, very soft, unlike the others talking.
"Yeah, Tabby," Nick said, leaning around Riley's seat so Tabby could see him, "why do you always swear?"
Tabby looked a Riley, "Can you get kicked off a plane for saying the F word?"
Riley get gave her a look that said what-the-heck-are-you-talking-about-Tabby-you're-such-an-idiot-and-I'm-not-answerning-that-question-so-don't-risk-it.
Tabby instead looked to the man beside her and asked the same question.
"How old are you?"
"What's it matter to you?"
"Well, you look like you're at least 15, so I guess it would be okay, but in my opinion being-"
"Kay-thanks-byee," she said to cut him off, saying the last word in a high-pitched singing voice, she turned back to her step-cousin, "Fuck you, Nick."
"Thanks Tabby," he said sarcastically.
"Any time."
Rhia said matter-of-factly, "Tabby, you know Mom doesn't like it when you use that word."
Tabby shrugged, "Too late now."
"Riley, you're supposed to be in charge, why aren't you handling it?" Rhia whined.
"Yeah, Riley, handle it," Nick said in the same tone of voice he used before Tabby swore at him.
"I'm fine with what she just said. He deserves it," Riley then spoke to Tabby, "But when you say 'Come eff me,' that's when I slap you."
Tabby repeated what her friend just told her not to say (with the actual word in it of course) with a smile on her face, and giggling.
Riley slapped her. Tabby slapped her back. This was repeated for a while, then hitting each other on the face, arm, leg, anywhere. They were both laughing at the same time.
Riley hit Tabby on the mouth, "Crap, you broke something," she said, feeling around on her braces.
"I did not!"
"Yes you did!" The slap fight began again.
I finally saw them and I stage whispered, "Tabby, Riley, cut that out or I will have to separate you."
The girl both leaned back in their seats. Nothing was really broken on Tabby's braces at all.
"Riley, why are you and Tabby so mean to each other?" Gracie whispered.
"We're not really, hun. We just have a weird relationship."
"Oh. Okay."
"How long is this flight?" Tabby asked the man she sat next to. Everyone had found something to do at that point. Tabby hadn't done anything besides make small talk with the person beside her. The little girl next to him had been asleep for a while.
"4 and a half hours."
"How long has it been?"
"About 3 ½."
"Good."
"Where 'ya headed?"
"Tampa. We'll be at Busch Gardens almost all week."
"Us too, what hotel?"
"Are you, like, going to stalk me or something?" She didn't seem too impressed.
"No. That's okay. You don't have to answer," there was a pause for a minute, "Are you even close to being 15?"
"No," she said bluntly, "I'm really 32."
"Really? You're really, erm… underdeveloped for being that age."
Tabby rolled her eyes, Man, this guy's a genius, she thought. Tabby was relatively "underdeveloped" for a 13-year-old, because she was so skinny, Does this guy really think of that old? "Yea – thanks, and I have eleven kids too. All born at the same time."
"Is that even possible?"
"You, sir, are probably the stupidest person I have ever met in my life. Maybe the stupidest alive."
That flight landed at around 9pm on that same day – North Carolina time. The next flight was at 10:11. We were all just sitting in the terminal again – thankfully we weren't waiting for nearly as long as before.
"That flight was a good way to completely suck up a day of my life. Good lord," Riley said.
"I know, one minute its 6 then BAM! It's 9," Rachel said.
"It's very… depressing," Rhia said.
"How was the guy you sat next to, Tab?" I asked.
"Annoying. But, nice enough. Very gullible."
"What do you mean?"
"I told him I was 32, and he told me I was 'underdeveloped' for my age. And he was serious."
I laughed. That must have been interesting.
"I'm hungry," Lola complained.
"You just ate on the plane," Lilly said.
"There was food on the plane?" Tabby asked, shocked.
"Yea, it wasn't half bad either," Lilly told her.
"Wow. How'd I miss that?"
"Didn't you see that Chicken Caesar Sandwich I ate?" Riley asked.
"I can honestly say I didn't."
"You must have fallen asleep," Lilly said.
"Nah, I just think I'm weird."
"You two wanna go get Cinnabons or something?"
"Sure, money?" I gave her a few bucks and they were off, luckily we fly a lot, so she knew the airport terminal very well.
10 o'clock came quickly, Tabby had a Cinnabon and a half and three donuts from Dunkin Donuts. We were on the plane finding our seats when Tabby said, "Mom, I know it sounds unbelievable, but I'm still hungry."
"Tabitha, you just had, like, over 1800 calories. That's the same as what's in a pound of sugar. That's what some people eat in a day."
"Ha, cool."
The seating was basically the same, just a few rows back. Tabby ended up sitting next to the same two people on this flight – imagine that.
"Hello again," Tabby said to the man. After all that sugar, she felt a lot more kind.
"Hi, you seem happier."
"Yeah, I just consumed 1800 calories."
"You know, that's a pound of sugar."
"My mom told me the same thing."
"My girlfriend told me, well, actually, she wasn't really my girlfriend, but my life was really… complicated back them."
"My life's complicated now."
"Like how?"
"A lot of ways."
"Like…?"
"I had cancer when I was seven. I refused to eat when I was little because I had reflux and was fed by a feeding tube my whole life. After my mom decided I was ready for real food, I didn't understand the concept of eating. And I still have to have a feeding tube, well actually it's called a feeding button where the tubing is removable, because I had surgery that made it impossible for me to throw up. Want me to go on?"
"Uhh…"
"I was physically abused by a dentist a few months after I was in remission. I was a few unexplained seizures when I was little and they still-"
"You can stop now," he was numb in shock.
"Ok. Not a lot of people can handle it. There's a lot more too."
"Do you often go around telling people your life story?"
"Life story? Ha! There's a whole lot more to my life than medical stuff. It's not like it holds me back. I mean really, there's always more to a person than the physical stuff."
"Like what? For you?"
"I hate my father," she said, "so strongly it hurts."
Yup, that's it for now. Tabby spilling her gut to a completely random person on a plane. How many people do that daily? Most of this chatper is based on things that really happened. That was a pretty random chapter, and I don't think any of it will change the rest of the story, but I just wanted to get the plane stuff done. You kinda learned about Tabby's past in this one, that might help. The guy she talked to is just a stranger going on vacation. I'm really in the mood for writing right now so expect more soon. R & R please!