Page 26 of Praise Me: Pilot
I’m so wrapped up in fantasies of Haylo, I assume I’m imagining the prickle of awareness that climbs the column of my neck when I walk past a young woman in an oversized dress down to her ankles and a red wig. She’s not even facing my direction, and I know, I know it in my bones that the woman is Haylo.
I’d know her in a pitch-black desert.
What is she doing here? In disguise, no less?
She’s in the waiting area for my flight to Barcelona.
Relief overflows inside of me like a waterfall. I don’t have to be away from her, after all. At least not this time. But if this is the relief I feel when she’s close by, my decision to move my profession closer to Haylo is only cemented.
Why would she disguise herself on one of my flights, though?
She’s reassuring herself, isn’t she?
That I’m nothing like her father.
I hide my smile on the way past the check-in desk, feeling Haylo’s gaze on my back. If this is what she needs to do to feel more secure, then I’m all for it. I’ve got nothing to hide, plus there’s a bonus of having Haylo with me in Barcelona?
Consider me a happy man.
The fact that her father will be there as well?
We’ll cross that bridge when we arrive at it.
Haylo
I don’t fly on airplanes all that often, mainly because I grew up resenting air travel and the big, metal machines in the sky that were constantly stealing my father and leaving me lonely back on terra firma. But flying isn’t so bad, I guess.
For one, I’m bumped up to first class for no discernable reason.
Just a random upgrade, said the pretty flight attendant, flashing me a smile.
I think of turning it down, because an upgrade will bring me closer to the cockpit and what if I’m outed in front of two hundred people as a stalker in a wig? A video of the whole ordeal would probably go viral. I’d be a meme by tomorrow morning.
In the end, I can’t pass up the chance to be closer to Joel, though.
Where I can suss his behavior out, of course.
He emerges from the cockpit pre-flight to speak with the crew, which consists of one man and two pretty, polished women that are way more age appropriate for Joel. He’s nothing but professional with them, however. Even when one of them laughs at something he says and lays a hand on his forearm, he politely removes her hand and steps out of her reach, returning to the cockpit.
My stomach gives a jealous gurgle.
“All the hot ones are taken,” mutters one of the flight attendants to the other.
“Ishe taken?” her co-worker says back, out of the side of her mouth. “As long as he’s been flying, he’s never gone out partying with the crew. No hookups that I know about. But he’s never mentioned a girlfriend, either. There’s still hope.”
“No, there isn’t. He just told me he’s engaged to an angel.”
The flight attendant’s shoulders slump, but there’s a charmed tilt to the corner of her lips. “Lucky bitch.”
“Yup. Guess we’ll spread the word that Captain Sizzle is off the market.”
My stomach gurgle dies a quick death. I sink down into my big, comfortable seat with a smile. At least, until my phone vibrates with a text from Captain Sizzle himself.
Joel: I miss you, angel.
Haylo: I miss you, too.
J: How bad?
