So Far Away

Our plane was due to take off in five minutes and Zack still hadn’t boarded yet. My leg bounced nervously as I tried to look out the window, but I couldn’t get a good view. Where the hell was he?

“One minute longer and you would have got left behind,” I heard one of the flight attendants say. Footsteps came up to my row and the overhead storage compartment door clicked open. I looked up to greet Zack, but it wasn’t Zack standing in front of me.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” With a sheepish grin on his face Matt sank down into the seat next to me.

“Something came up last minute and Zack couldn’t make it so he sent me instead. There was no one else to take his place.”

“You have got to be kidding me! How could he possibly think this was a good idea? I’m getting off this plane.” I unlatched the seat belt and was almost to my feet when the plane started moving.

“I can’t believe that fucker did this to me,” I muttered angrily as I fell back into my seat and buckled back in before the flight attendant had time to bitch at me for trying to get up.

“It’s not the worst thing that could’ve happened. You could’ve been stuck with Johnny,” Matt said, the smirk on his lips pissing me off even more.

“I’d actually prefer shortshit over you,” I spat while untangling my earbuds and plugging them into my phone.

“Look, this is happening and you’re just gonna have to get over it. Why make this more miserable on yourself? We’re spending a week in fucking Hawaii!”

“Just stop talking to me,” I groaned and rolled my eyes.

I shifted in the seat as much as I could to get my back to Matt and pushed the earbuds into my ears and started playing music. With Slipknot blaring in my ears, I finally felt like I could relax. It didn’t take long for me to drift off to sleep.

I woke up a couple hours later completely disoriented. It took me a few seconds to remember I was Hawaii bound on a plane. I realized my head was resting on Matt’s shoulder. Groaning, I sat up and stretched.

“Nice nap?” Matt asked, looking up from the book in his hands.

“Well fuck, I guess it wasn’t a nightmare.” He just grinned and with a slight shake of his head turned his attention back to his book.

I got to my feet and stretched, it felt amazing after the odd angle that I was sleeping in then headed to the back of the plane to the bathroom. I splashed water on my face and brushed my hair out with my fingers. Once I felt awake enough to face Matt again, I slowly walked back to the seats. A flight attendant passed by shortly after I’d returned and I asked her to bring me a coke and Matt ordered something as well before giving her his signature dimpled grin. I rolled my eyes and slumped down into my seat, still not able to believe that Zack had done this to me. What the hell was he thinking?

The last forty-five minutes of the flight went by quickly and I was relieved that I’d be able to get away from Matt soon. A taxi took us to the resort and it was breathtaking. The ocean view from our room was amazing and more importantly, large enough that I could have plenty of space away from Matt.

I decided to freshen up a bit and change clothes then head down to the bar. I needed to unwind from the trip here and somehow come to terms with the fact that I’d basically be living with Matt for the next week.

He glanced up at me on my way out but didn’t ask questions which I was grateful for. I found the bar relatively quickly, trying to memorize the path there so I wouldn’t get lost heading back inside this massive place.

I was on my second beer when Matt sat down next to me. “Drinking alone is no fun,” he pointed out.

“I was having a wonderful time, actually.”

“Could you just pretend that you don’t hate me? For this week at least. We’re here together, it’s not changing, so we might as well make the best of it.”

Maybe he was right. The only way I could really enjoy myself on this vacation was to let go of all the problems from home.


Matt

After about an hour it was becoming clear that Jerrika needed to be cut off. She was laughing uncontrollably every time she looked at me, it was a bit unnerving.

“You know I used to have a thing for you,” she suddenly said, giggling obnoxiously. Yep, that was my clue to get her out of here.

“I think we need to get you into bed before you say something you’ll regret tomorrow,” I said and grabbed her arm. I got her to her feet and started to lead her to the door.

“I’m not getting in bed with you! We did that once and it was terrible.” She was giggling again and stumbling. It was all I could do to keep her standing.

“Well thanks. Good to know I’m terrible in bed.”

“No, not terrible like that. You were great.”

“You’re so gonna hate yourself tomorrow.” I finally got her outside of the bar and into the elevator. She was mumbling something I couldn’t quite make out. I forgot how funny she was when she was wasted.

We made it from the elevator to the room and I sat her down on the bed. I pulled her shoes off and wondered if I should help her get into something more comfortable. She’d probably murder me if I did that so I settled for pulling her jeans off and pulling the blankets over her. I pulled off my own shirt and walked over to my bed. I had just unzipped my jeans when Jerrika suddenly sat up.

“Matt will you come sleep in my bed? I don’t want to be alone.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“No. It is a good idea. Please.” Her lips formed into a pout and she gave me her best puppy dog eyes. How could I say no to that?

I quickly changed into a pair of athletic shorts and slid under the covers next to her. She snuggled closer and rested her head on my chest.

“I’ll only stay if you promise you won’t kill me tomorrow morning,” I teased.

“I won’t kill you, you’re too pretty.” Chuckling, I let my eyes fall close. The trip here and the alcohol had me exhausted. Plus I’d probably need the energy in the morning to defend myself when she tries to kill me. Despite her drunken words, I knew she would not be happy about finding me in her bed.

“No! Please no!” Jerrika’s screaming pulled me from my slumber. She was thrashing about and entangling her limbs in the blankets.

“Jerrika wake up!” I reached over to shake her and she sat up with tears in her eyes. “What was that?”

“Nightmare,” she mumbled. A tear rolled down her cheek and I reached over to wipe it away.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No.” I could see that she was trying to keep herself from breaking down, but she was failing. A few moments later she burst into hard sobs. Not knowing what else to do I pulled her onto my lap. I rocked her back and forth and ran my fingers through her hair, trying my best to soothe her.

When she finally calmed down, she rubbed her face and moved off of my lap. “I’ve been having the same nightmare every night since Jimmy...you know. It’s really terrible. He tells me that he wishes he would have never met me and he hates me.”

“You know Jimmy would never say those things. He definitely didn’t hate you. That’s not the kind of person he was.”

“Wait a second, why the fuck are you in my bed?” She shrieked and I couldn’t help but laugh. She flung one of the pillows at me and I tossed it back before sliding out of the bed.

“You asked me to sleep over there with you.”

“Are you on fucking drugs or something?” She was definitely sobered up now.

“You also said some other things that you probably don’t want to know about,” I teased.

“What? Tell me!”

“Nope.”

“You’re such an asshole, Matthew Sanders!”

“Okay, fine. So you may have mentioned that I was good in bed and that you kinda sorta used to have a thing for me.”

I wasn’t expecting her cheeks to flush, she normally didn’t get embarrassed by anything. “Drunk Jerrika is a fucking traitor,” she mumbled into her hands.

“Ah, so you really do think I was good in bed?”

“Shut the fuck up, no! But the other part..” She trailed off and I tried to ignore the feeling in my stomach. Was there hope for me after all?

“Okay I need details. You can’t drop a bomb like that and not give me details.”

“When I first started hanging around you all when I moved here, I had a stupid crush. It’s not a big deal. You were with Val then Jimmy and I became a thing so that was the end of it.”

I fell back onto the pillows, staring at the ceiling and wondering what could have been. If I wasn’t with Val does that mean...no I couldn’t let myself think about that. I’d had some wonderful times with Val that I would never wish away, but I couldn’t deny that it would have simplified things.

As I drifted off to sleep for the second time that night I couldn’t stop myself from being excited to see what else this trip had in store for me, for Jerrika, or maybe for both of us together.

Notes