Page 10 of Flight of Fancy

Then turbulence came out of nowhere. Sometimes, it was so quick that she didn’t have time to get to the jump seat and buckle her belt.

“Ah!” Arianna’s voice echoed in the First Class cabin. So did Charmaine’s. The other woman was in the galley, valiantly attempting to latch a cupboard shut before the contents spilled onto the floor. Esther was already in the jump seat between First and Business Class, keeping an eye on everyone from either side of the curtain.

“Miss Song!” she shouted down the aisle. “Please find a safe place to sit until the captain says it’s over!”

No shit! Arianna would pay ten grand to say that out loud, but as long as she wore this uniform and flew on this plane, she was nothing but pleasantries and decorum. Even if her heart leaped in her throat and her feet flew out from underneath her.

Arianna had walked upright in hundreds of flights that met this level of turbulence. Yet it didn’t stop her whole body from falling to the left the moment she attempted to walk down the wide aisles of First Class. And whose lap should she have fallen into, knocking an iPad on the floor and nearly spilling a drink that had been capped at the first sign of shaking?

“You okay?” Elizabeth asked.

“I’m… I’m fine.” Arianna attempted to sit up, but the plane weaved in the other direction. The lights flickered. A dozen passengers yelped in fear and confusion. Charmaine crawled to the jump seat and wove the belt over her lap. Arianna was still in Elizabeth’s, struggling to stand up until the passenger latched an arm across her waist. “Please, you don’t have to…”

“This is your captain speaking,” spoke Capt. James Pei Fan over the speakers. “Everything is under control and we should be through this in the next five minutes. Everyone, please remain seated and buckled up for your safety. Flight attendants, please be seated.”

“Think you’ve managed that fine,” Elizabeth quipped.

“I must get to the jump seat… oh!”

She instinctively wrapped her arms around Elizabeth’s shoulders as the two of them clung to one another through the next dip of the plane. The passenger in the seat behind Elizabeth finally jerked awake and asked what was happening. A baby in Economy cried so loudly that even Arianna heard it up in First Class. She knew that they would be fine in the next few minutes, but the prehistoric part of her brain flashed the red lights of danger and told her to take comfort in the nearest person before she met her maker.

That person should have been Charmaine up in the designated seats for flight attendants. Yet while Charmaine assumed the position with her arms before her and her head down to keep from banging her skull into the wall behind her, Arianna slid across a passenger’s lap and almost lost one of her shoes.

“You’re not going to offend me if you hang on tight.” Was Elizabeth chuckling? “This isn’t exactly fun. Or is it?”

Arianna lost half her lunch with the next lurch. But, like the professional champ she was, she promptly swallowed what she tasted and said, “You and I have different definitions of fun, Ms. Sparrow!”

“Please. Call me Elle.”

Was this really the time to exchange such introductions? Because Arianna would be lucky to remember the name, Elle, never mind get through this in one piece. She may be used to the fury that was ruddy bad turbulence, but even she had a limit before she couldn’t deny the panic settling into her sinew. It’s okay. We’ll be okay.

She realized she had been muttering that to herself – in Mandarin, no less.

“Yes, we’ll be all right. I promise you.”

Arianna opened her eyes, realizing she had buried her face in Elle’s shoulder. One of the passenger’s arms was still wrapped around her waist while the other was firmly pressed down upon Arianna’s thighs. She wouldn’t go anywhere. She was also much too intimate with a passenger!

“You speak Mandarin?” Arianna squeaked.

“Sure. I sort of have to. For work.”

Arianna had no idea if Elle said that in Mandarin. She was too busy squeezing her eyes shut and pressing her forehead into a shoulder that was warmer than the air and firmer than the grip holding her down. I haven’t been this close to another woman since… Well, not since her last hookup, which was probably a year and a half ago at this rate.

Why am I thinking about that!

“What…” Arianna forced herself to make conversation as the lights in the cabin flickered again. “What do you do?”

“Boring business shit. I think your job is much more interesting than mine.”

How could she be calmer than Arianna right now? It’s my job to be calm during these conditions! Yet here she was, heart thumping and adrenaline spiking as she refused to get up and make her way to the jump seat. She hoped Charmaine wasn’t worried about her.

“Does this happen often?” Elle asked.

“No! Not like this!”

Just like that, the plane stilled, and Captain Fan came back on to say that things would be smoother. However, everyone should remain in their seats.

Elle eased her grip on the flight attendant in her lap. Arianna yanked her head up, realizing that everyone saw them.

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