“I’d love to go with you.”
Mark never mentioned his family. Well, rarely, anyway. I’d gotten the impression that his family and his childhood weren’t things he wanted to talk about. Every time it was brought up he good moody and distracted. To me, that was perfectly fine. It went well with my complete distaste of talking about my own family, and we lived in a comfortable acceptance that neither one of us wanted to talk about our pasts.
The next Saturday morning Mark and I flew out to New York City. I had gone shopping the day before for yet another expensive dress; Mark insisted on buying it for me, and I definitely didn’t mind. In a way it was nice, having someone willing to buy my nice things. I knew the amount I was spending was like pennies to him, but I still liked the fact that he was willing to do it. I had never had such a nice wardrobe before in my life.
The dress bag was in the back of the car as we headed to the airport. I assumed we were flying commercial, but to my surprise, rather than heading towards the departures section of the airport, the car driving us instead made a turn down a service road. Dust flew up behind us until we finally reached a gate. The driver spoke to the guard for a minute, then we were waved through and driven to a hangar where a private plane stood, waiting for us.
I couldn’t believe it. We were going in a private jet?
“Is this really for us?” I asked, looking at Mark.
He grinned, noting my obvious excitement.
“Yup, certainly is. I don’t like flying commercial. Too many chances for delays, it’s not as comfortable, that sort of thing. Besides, we’re flying on business, so I can take the business’ jet to get there.”
He took my hand and led me up the stairs into the interior. Leather seats lined one side of the plane, with tables in front of some of the chairs in case anyone wanted to get some work done. On the other side of the plane was a long banquet table with built-in dishes, I suppose so they didn’t slip during takeoff and landing. At the back of the plane was a conference room with a large table in the center. This was incredible! I didn’t even know planes looked like this. I mean, I knew businesses had private jets and all that, but I had never stopped to think about what they might look like inside. This was definitely nicer than the flight we’d taken to Hawaii. Not too shabby for my third ever flight on a plane.
I sat down in one of the leather seats and did up my seatbelt. When the plane took off, I grabbed the side of the chair, still not used to the sensation of flying.
“Not a confident flyer?” Mark asked from his seat across from me. He had opened up his laptop and I knew he was planning on getting a presentation he had to work on for next week finished.
I shook my head. “No, I’m not used to it.”
“How many flights have you taken before?”
“Um, well, the trip to Hawaii was my first time ever on a plane.”
“Oh! Well, then yeah, that’s completely understandable. Don’t worry, you’ll eventually get used to it.”
“Thanks. Once the plane levels out a bit I’m usually better. It feels more normal, you know?”
“Yeah, I do, definitely.”
Just then the stewardess came by to take an order for breakfast. To my surprise, she was able to order whatever I wanted. This definitely wasn’t like the flight to Hawaii! I ordered some fruit and pancakes, while Mark wanted some eggs, toast and coffee. We munched away, Mark trying not to drop crumbs into the keys of his laptop while he worked.
The closer we got to New York, the more nervous I found myself getting. I wasn’t sure what to expect with Mark’s family. Hell, he hadn’t even told me their names.
We arrived in the middle of the afternoon. I’d never been to New York City before, and I marvelled as I looked out the window of the car driving us downtown.
“One day I’ll take you here for a holiday or something, so you can really get to know the city. I would have loved to do it now, but coming into the holidays and the end of the year I’m afraid I can’t spare the time away from the office.”
“That’s alright,” I smiled. It was true that Mark had been spending a lot longer than he usually did at the office lately. It was still nice to be able to spend a whole day with him, even if we’d lost three hours due to time zone changes and were going to one of those fancy rich people dinners.