Page 2 of Intolerable Bishop

“Do you want the window seat? I don’t have to have the window, I like it, but it’s not necessary. I haven’t flown a lot, but I went to England over Christmas break, and it was incredible. Have you ever been to England? If not, you really should go. You could see so much flying in. What an incredible view, and the tube system—that’s what they call the subway—was like a maze of fast-moving worms. That was kind of gross, and it made me think of Dune. Oh, I’m sorry, do you want the seat?”

The mere idea of being trapped in the window seat with Ivy blocking the way out had me shaking my head as I sat down and pulled out my laptop.

“Okay, good, cause I would’ve given it to you, but I really wanted to sit here. I love watching the clouds when we take off.”

Ignoring her rambling, I pulled out my earbuds and phone, starting my music. I turned it up until her mouth was moving, but I couldn’t hear a thing. Not that she gave you time to answer anyway. Glaring at the twist clip on the back of the chair in front of me, I reached out and turned it. A tiny table fell down in front of me. You have got to be kidding.

Opening my laptop, I got to work. I was only a few minutes in when my shoulder was tapped, and I turned my annoyed stare up at the stewardess.

“I’m sorry, but you’ll have to put that away until after take-off. The table must stay up and in the locked position until the seatbelt sign goes off.” She pointed at the glowing red sign above my head. This was archaic. Who could stand flying like this?

I could feel Blake, Myles, and Ren staring at me from across the aisle, but as soon as I looked at them, they looked away. Jerks. They were all waiting to see how long I lasted before I blew a gasket. Well, the joke was on them because I wasn’t going to give them that kind of satisfaction.

“Yes, of course, my bad. I’ll put it away right now.” The stewardess smiled, and I glared at the three snickering asshats.

Ivy continued to yap like a dog as they made announcements—that didn’t make me feel any safer flying with this airline—before they taxied us out to the runway. This was my favorite part. The surge of speed reminded me of when I was on my bike and racing through the streets. Polly was as much my baby as Blake’s guitar was his, maybe even more. When I rode, I left it all out on the street as I became one with my girl.

The engines revved, and soon we were roaring down the runway, and the nose of the plane lifted off the ground. It was almost shocking that the bird could actually take off. I waited. It seemed to take forever, but as soon as the light went off, I pulled out my laptop again. My eyes flicked to Ivy, who was staring at me, and I realized she must be waiting for an answer.

“I didn’t catch that,” I said.

“Sorry, but I need to go to the bathroom,” she said and bit her bottom lip. Are you kidding me? Grabbing my laptop, I stood and held the tray up as she got out. “I’m so sorry, the plane always makes me feel like I need to pee every ten minutes. It’s terrible.”

“How are ya enjoyin’ the flight so far,” Myles asked and burst out laughing. Was it too late to demand they turn around?

I refused to get up every ten minutes, so while Ivy was gone, I moved all her stuff and plopped down in the window seat.

“Oh, you decided to take the window seat.”

“Very observant of you,” I said, and her face flamed red, but she turned the opposite way and began talking to Myles.

An hour later, I was so engrossed in the report I was working on that I hardly noticed the offer of something to drink. Ivy grabbed me some sort of soda in a plastic cup. I looked at her sad expression and sighed.

“Thank you,” I said, and her face lit up. She no sooner sat it on my tray when we hit an air pocket, and we all flew out of our seats as the plane dropped dramatically. My knees slammed into the underside of the tray, and I watched like a horror movie in slow motion as the sticky soda bounced and landed right on my keyboard. There were very few things in this world that made me cry, but I would rather the plane fall out of the sky than the blue screen of death that flashed on the monitor.

“Nooo. I hadn’t hit send.” I grabbed the laptop and turned it upside down to try and get the liquid out as the announcement came on to buckle up because we were hitting turbulence. I growled low, not caring about my seatbelt, as I used everything I could to try and sop up the wetness. “This did not just happen,” I said.

“Theo, I’m so sorry,” Ivy said, and my glare lifted to her as the plane shook like it was going to rattle apart. She screamed and grabbed the arm rests.

Nash owed me if I lived, and so help me god, he would pay for putting me through this.

MAY 13 – SATURDAY 11:40 AM

Ren

I linked fingers with both Blake and Myles and clung to them as I closed my eyes. I knew what turbulence was and what caused it. Planes were made to withstand the sudden shaking and drops, but that didn’t stop my heart from leaping up into my throat as a wild terror gripped me. This was only my second time on a plane, and all I could picture were the wings ripping off and us careening toward our deaths.

“It’s going to be okay,” Blake said and kissed my knuckles.

“I know,” I squeaked out and then gasped as we dropped violently again. The captain had said they were going to try and fly above it, and I could feel us rising, but it wasn’t getting better.

“Look at me,” Myles said, and I opened my eyes to see him smiling at me. “God knows I’m way too stubborn to die, so there is no way he’s gonna punish everyone in here for the sake of my soul.” Like he flipped a switch with his words, the plane stopped shaking, and everything was smooth once more, like nothing ever happened. “See, what did I say? But now I need to use the washroom.”

The seatbelt sign turned off, and Myles jumped up to get in the quickly forming line while my heart was still getting a workout in my chest.

“If he has magical powers, I can think of a few other things he could use them on,” Blake mumbled, making me smile.

“You and me both.” I looked over as Theo told Ivy to stop trying to help. “I think I’m going to go save them,” I said, giving Blake a quick kiss. I unbuckled and slipped out of the middle seat. “Hey guys, what’s going on?”