Page 28 of Spark

I lean into her, like I’m telling a juicy secret. “When I made eye contact with Kai during the drive to the airport, I double flipped him off in your honor.”

She purrs and pats my shoulder. “You’re my knight in shining armor.”

“I try.”

She snorts. “Rightly so, since I’m your BFF, and Kai’s only your stupid big brother.”

“What he did was dumb, but it wasn’t malicious.”

Ruby agrees. “But, still, let’s let him suffer a bit longer.”

We start looking for a show to watch together, but when the flight attendant comes by with food and drinks, we ditch that idea and dig in.

“It’s a bummer we didn’t get to test my theory about your insomnia,” Ruby says, chomping on her food. “If you’ve forgiven me by the time we get to our hotel in Vancouver, we can try then.”

I’d kill or die to make that happen. But still, I reply calmly, “I’m too annoyed with you to make any firm future plans.”

Ruby rolls her eyes before pointing at my tray. “Are you gonna eat that second piece of toast? It looks awfully lonely over there.”

“Go for it.”

“Thanks, bestie.”

I watch her scarf down my toast with gusto, and I can’t help grinning at her adorableness.

“What?” Ruby asks when she catches me staring at her. She pats her chin. “Do I have jam all over on my face?”

“I’m amused at how much you like plane food.”

“It’s the best. Do you have any butter? I’m all out.”

I hand her the butter, and she opens it with enthusiasm.

“Being a horrible friend works up an appetite,” she says, making me chuckle against my will.

“I wouldn’t know.”

“No, you wouldn’t. Because you’re the best friend, ever, and I’m a monster. The worst friend in the history of the world.”

“Not the worst.Close, but not quite.”

“Gotcha.”

“Shit. I just reassured you, didn’t I?”

“Oldest trick in the book, my darling.”

After a bit more conversation, we finish our meals and a flight attendant takes our trays away. With a yawn, Ruby pulls out her phone and connects to the plane’s Wi-Fi. It’s what she always does before hunkering down to sleep on a long flight: she catches up with her parents, just in case things go badly while she’s fast asleep. It’s a morbid approach to flying, if you ask me, but Ruby says it’s the only reason she can fall asleep so easily: because she knows she’s said what needs to be said to her loved ones as her last conscious act.

“Oh, fuck,” Ruby says, looking down at her phone. “Crap.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I just got a text from my building manager. A pipe brokeabove my unit and three others, and they all got water damage.”

“Shit. How bad is it?”

“He doesn’t know yet. He says not to worry, it’ll be covered by insurance, and he’s got a crew already there assessing the damage and figuring out what needs to be done.” She looks up, frowning. “He says there’s a good chance I might need to be out of my place for as long as a week after we get back.”

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