Page 93 of Fly with Me

“Oh my god, it’s the couple from the TODAY show,” said one of a group of women. The women were all wearing oversized vintage-looking coats and thick hipster glasses. “You know, the pilot and that nurse that saved Mickey Mouse.”

Olive groaned. “I didn’t save Mickey—”

“Ermigod. I love you guys. Your story. All of it.” The hipstery-est hipster shook both Olive’s and Stella’s hands.

When her hand was released, Olive’s body locked up and suddenly she had no idea how to stand next to Stella. They had gone from that carefree, casual tipsy PDA to a level of awkward generally reserved for fourteen-year-old reluctant homecoming dates trying to pose in front of Styrofoam columns and fake ivy walls. Though maybe Olive was just having flashbacks to that year she and Derek had gone to that awful dance together before either of them were out. Holy shit, that’d been awkward. But now? It was the same even though it was usually so easy to touch Stella.

Where was Olive supposed to be touching Stella that would imply We are comfortable doing all the sex things without looking like she was trying to emulate said sex things in public?

Olive realized she’d been staring back and forth between her hand and Stella’s perfect ass for a couple of seconds before the giggles of the group of women brought her back to the moment.

“Can we take a quick video of you so we can put it on my TikTok? We’ll tag you, Stella.”

“Stella’s not on TikTok.” Olive couldn’t help laughing. The idea of Stella being on TikTok was so absurd.

“Uh… she totally is. Unless this isn’t you?” The girl swiped and held up a page that yes did look exactly like Stella doing one of those choreographed dances with a group of younger kids who looked a little like her.

Stella grimaced. “My cousins made me do it last summer.”

“Why aren’t you following her?” said one of the girls to Olive.

“How did you not know that?” said another of the group.

Recovering from her shock, Olive squeezed Stella to her side, feeling Stella go rigid against her. “Oh, right. Just slipped my mind. Forgot about all those TikTok dances I’ve seen you do, hon.”

Olive made a note to self to please never call Stella “hon” again, because it definitely gave Cracker Barrel waitress delivering biscuits vibes rather than want to do all those aforementioned sex things to your biscuit vibes. And why was the word biscuit just so dirty?

Focus, Olive.

“Sure, we’ll be in a video,” Stella said, giving Olive a tiny nudge. “Won’t we?”

“Oh, yeah. Right. Sorry.” Olive winced as she rested her chin on Stella’s shoulder. The small muscles around Stella’s mouth were tight, so even though she was smiling, it didn’t reach her eyes.

“So, uhhh… can you guys just smile?” One of the group of women was holding up her phone. “And like look normal.”

Olive’s cheeks burned. Normal?

Stella nodded encouragingly, which gave Olive only enough time to force a grin before the women flashed a few poses and then eventually skipped away from them and inside the bar with calls of thanks.

As the door slammed, Stella pulled away from Olive. Her posture was back into the stiff pilot mode she used when she was working or for their interview, but didn’t have its usual warmth. “Didn’t you read the binder?”

“The binder?”

“In the questionnaire I mentioned that I had the TikTok account underneath the part where I listed all of my social media handles. I—uh—I don’t want to seem like a hard-ass about this, but if people find out, I’m really going to look ridiculous. This isn’t a joke for me, okay?”

Olive reached to take Stella’s hand, but Stella was already walking toward the curb where her cab would be arriving. “I’m sorry. I’ll read over everything, okay? I know it’s not a joke.”

“Because if this is too much for you right now…”

Olive locked eyes with Stella. “I said I’d do this. I’m sorry I wasn’t taking it seriously tonight. I’ll even make Stella flash cards if I have to.”

Stella chuckled. “I’m really good at making flash cards.”

“You know I might not have your questionnaire answers memorized, but I think I would have guessed that.”

A streetlight near the parking lot made the misty night air glow gold.

“Least we could do a convincing kiss in the bar tonight,” Olive said, her voice more gravelly than usual.

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