“Lily. Fucking. Rodin.”
“Nico.” She smiles, as though this were a regular Monday morning, and she isn’t in the process of boarding my flight to Brazil.
Not in a million years did I think Lily would take me up on traveling this summer.
Few people can surprise me, but here she is in a pair of loose black shorts and a baggy sweatshirt, blinking at me with a straight face.
She stands a few passengers away on the plane, her hair knotted in a messy bun. A spiral of black strands falls around her face.
“Did you not get enough of the kiss last night?” I avoid sounding eager.
She edges another step closer, and I slide through the seats to stand in the aisle in front of her.
Lily’s eyes land on mine. “I’m going to stop you right there. No
mentioning the kiss, and no kissing ever again.” “Then why are you on this plane?”
“Believe me, Nico, I’m not so easily swayed by a nice kiss that I’d drop my entire life to chase after it.”
Nice?
Nice isn’t the word I’d use to define the chemistry we had last night. Maybe phenomenal, exceptional, unforgettable.
“That’s one way to describe it.” I lug her carry-on into the overhead compartment above our seats. “What do you have in here? Bricks?”
“It takes a lot to keep my skin looking the way it does.” Lily motions to her face.
“Should I be doing something to my skin?”
“Most definitely.”
I tentatively touch the flesh of my cheek. Hmm.
We slide into our cramped seats, and Lily stuffs her behemoth tote bag underneath the middle seat in front of her.
“You have to promise we’re going on this trip as friends,” she says. “In the grand scheme of things, last night was a careless mistake. I mean, look at you, and look at me. We’re only human. But we’re also just friends.”
The only things I want to be friends with right now are her lips, her skin, and the taste of her.
Apart from that, friends is quickly becoming my least-favorite word. It’s the exact nonsense my brother kept repeating last night after he interrupted our kiss on the cliff.
I shoot her a wink. “Whatever you need to convince yourself.” “I’m serious. Let’s not waste a friendship on a quick fuck.”
Her annoying, albeit valid, points sour my mood. “There would be nothing quick about it,” I bite back.
“Nico.”
“Okay, I get it.” I throw my palms up and rise from my seat. “Here, swap with me.”
She clocks me suspiciously. “You’re gonna give up the window?”
“If you don’t want it, then I’m happy to keep it.” I feign sitting back down.
“No. I—I do,” she says instantly, a smile lighting up her face. “Please and thank you.”
“Smart girl.”
She’ll be more comfortable there.
Lily squeezes by me. Her body presses into me, transporting me back to last night. My breath hitches. This is going to be a long flight.
“Are you as tired as I am?” Lily asks, buckling her seat belt. “My head feels like it’s been run over by a bulldozer.”
I won’t entertain her trying to change the subject. “What made you decide to come?”
“All the flights to the East Coast were canceled. Apparently, some kind of freak storm started last night.”
“So, you thought, fuck it, let’s go on a trip with Nico. Doesn’t sound like you.”
Lily unfastens her seat belt. “Do you want me to leave?”
“No.” I cough away the rise in my voice. “I’m just curious.”
“I’ve been known to make big moves in the past; besides, this will be a quick trip.”
“Quick?”
“Yes. I’ll hang with you for a month, and then I’m returning to New York. I already texted Avery and Molly my plans.”
My eyes widen. “What did they say?” “I don’t know. I turned off my phone.”
The string of safety announcements plays throughout the cabin. I click the armrest between our seats into the upright position. “Taking a page straight out of my playbook. Good for you, beautiful.”
“There, see? None of that.” Lily slams down the armrest. “No nicknames. No touching. No grinning, and most definitely no winking.”
“Does it turn you on?”
“Please don’t make me regret this, Nico.” Her voice fills with pleading.
I keep the flimsy metal bar down as a form of peaceful surrender. For now.
If Lily weren’t so stubborn, we could pass the lengthy travel time by joining the mile-high club. But what does my brother always say? Patience is a virtue or some shit. Four weeks is more than enough time to make her see reason.
“What are you actually doing here? I know a vacation wasn’t on the forefront of your mind.”
Lily doesn’t turn to face me; instead, she cycles through movies on the screen in front of her. “You were right. I needed a break.”
“I was what?”
Her face scrunches in confusion, and she repeats herself, louder this time. “You were right. I needed a break.”
I twist one of my fingers in my ear and lean closer to her mouth. “Can you just repeat that first part? I was what again?”
Realization dances across her pretty face. “For someone so smart, you’re unbelievably dense.”
We laugh together as she nudges me away. My knees bump into the chair in front of me as I stretch my legs. I forgot how small the seats are in economy.
It was impossible to resist changing my original flight. But she’s here, so I’ll gladly suffer a few hours in these sardine-can seats to be next to her.
Lily sighs and looks over at me again. “I’m a little nervous. I’ve never been out of the country before.”
“Wait.” I iron my face into a serious expression. “Joining handsome men on incredible vacations isn’t how you spend the majority of your time?”
Lily pretends to think about my question as though she is being asked to solve a string of faulty code. “There was one guy who took me to Aspen.”
“Aspen?”
“I’m not great at winter sports, but I am very good at being gifted cute snowsuits, being wined and dined, and of course, doing all the activities in between.”
I adjust myself in my seat, an intrigued smile not leaving my face. “So, I won’t be your first?”
“You’ll be the first to take me international.”
A rush of excitement floods through me. “I’m honored to be your guide, madam.” I stretch my arm into the air and fold my palm behind my neck. “It’ll be a blast, I promise you. We’ll do all the touristy things, and you can spend hours on the beach.”
“Sounds good. But, um…” Lily wraps the hem of her sweatshirt around her finger. “I hate to even bring this up. Look, I have some savings, but I may need help covering a few things here and there.”
“No worries. I got you.”
“Only until I can pay you back because I will pay you back. It may just take a little while. Is that okay?”
“If it makes you feel better, we can settle at the end of the trip. There’s no rush at all.”
“Thank you.” Her face relaxes. “So, how long’s the flight?” “Sixteen hours, with a stop in Texas.”
“What?” Her giddiness drains immediately. “What am I supposed to do for sixteen hours?”
“I’m sure you’ll do better than I did on my first long flight. I was so restless, the flight attendant threatened to duct tape me to my seat.”
Whoever said it’s about the journey and not the destination must’ve not traveled much.
“They supply duct tape on international flights? Maybe I can borrow some to keep you from chatting my ear off.”
I lean toward her and hand her my unwrapped blanket. “I’d let you gag me if you didn’t like listening to me talk so much.”
“For sixteen hours?”
“Don’t worry, it’ll blow by.”
“I’m not making a huge mistake, right?” she whispers, her voice low with worry. A shrapnel of vulnerability I’ve never seen from her before.
“I’d never let you do that,” I promise.
Her eyes wander out the window, following the fading tarmac as the plane takes off, and all the while, I watch Lily.
I’m glad we swapped seats.
