The intercom crackled on and the pilot came over the cabin speakers. “Hope you two are enjoying the flight. This baby doesn’t have autopilot, so I regret to say we have no in-flight service. However, if you look under the seats of the front row, I did put away a cooler of snacks. Nothing too fancy, just some Cokes and sandwiches, which my wife made for you. If you like pastrami on rye or roast beef on cracked wheat, dig in. If not, no offense taken, I’ll be happy to eat them on the flight back. We should be landing in about an hour or so.”
The intercom clicked off, and I looked over at Wesley. “I hate rye.”
“Me too.”
“Split the roast beef with you then?”
All traces of our uncomfortableness disappeared, and Wesley’s easy smile reappeared on his face. “Yeah, I’ll do that. You want a Coke? Trust me, don’t worry about the calories, you’ll burn plenty over the next week out here.”
“All right. I thought you computer guys were addicted to the stuff though, sure you want to share with me?”
Wesley chuckled. “Of course. We’re not all the same, you know. I mean, I don’t have a single Hello Kitty item in my entire home, and my Guy Fawkes mask is never worn.”
I laughed and nodded. I’ve collaborated with plenty of computer programmers with my work in robotics, and had gotten used to the coders with their own little quirks. “And I know you’re never going to be caught dead wearing an Evangelion t-shirt.”
“Never. I can at least appreciate that those types of programmers are at least following their hearts and not worrying about society’s rules, though,” Wesley said, getting the snacks and handing me the cold bottle of soda. He tore the sandwich in half and handed me my portion, still wrapped in the plastic. “I sometimes wish I could do that too.”
“What rules have you wanted to break that you haven’t already?” I said with a smirk as I took a bite of the delicious food. While the pilot’s wife wasn’t on the level of sophistication of Chef, she knew how to put together a good roast beef sandwich. “You planning on robbing a bank sometime soon or something?”
“No, but . . . ” Wesley said, before his eyes shot to the front of the plane. “What the hell?”
I tilted my head questioningly before I felt it too. The plane, which had been flying levelly for most of the flight, was descending, even though by my watch we were still at least forty minutes from our destination. Wesley got out of his seat to go up to the front when suddenly the plane descended more steeply, and he had to catch himself on the seat in front of him. “Strap in,” he said, looking out the window. “We’re going in.”
I hurriedly tightened my lap belt, staying where I was near the window. The trees came closer, and I could see the birds wheeling out of the way. A sharp crack from the cabin caused me to scream, and the plane tilted, pitching to the right in a slow turn. I felt Wes sit down in the seat next to me, quickly pulling the belt tight before wrapping his arms around my shoulders and pulling me into his chest protectively. “It’s okay, Robin,” he whispered in my ear as we heard the pontoons scrape against the tops of the trees. “We’ll make it. I love you.”
Before I could say anything, the cabin was filled with the shriek of pine boughs on the skin of the airplane, like a million fingernails on chalkboards. I could feel myself screaming but couldn’t actually hear myself as the sound got louder and louder. When the first crunching sound filled the cabin, I was sure I was going to die.
Lost in the cacophony, I could still feel Wesley’s arms around me, giving me at least the thinnest of hopes we would survive. In that moment, I realized that I never wanted any other man’s arms around me. It was like a light went on, and everything was clear now. All the boyfriends I’d gone through had been because I couldn’t admit to myself that I wanted my stepbrother. A river of emotions came flooding through me, and I could feel tears in my eyes as I hugged him tighter, thinking that if I was going to die, at least I’d go in his arms.
Crashes and ungodly sounds filled the cabin, and I could feel us being tossed around, shaken and rattled. Something, I wasn’t sure what, hit me in the head, and I felt the world start to spin. With a sudden, crunching stop, we came to a rest, and it took me a while to realize I wasn’t dead. The silence after the noisy descent was eerie. I could hear my heart beating in my chest, and I could hear Wesley’s heart where he’d pulled me against him. “We . . . we made it,” I stuttered unbelievingly. “What happened?”
“Are you hurt?” Wesley said in reply, slowly letting go and setting me back in my seat. “Is everything okay?”
I shivered, although I wasn’t sure if it was from the cold or the knowledge we had survived the crash, but I thought I was okay. “Yeah, no major pain. I’m going to have bruises on my hip bones from that belt though, for sure.”
“Those’ll fade,” Wes replied, unbuckling his belt. “You sure you’re okay?”