Page 15 of Mark

Mark tugs his hand away, mumbling, “Sorry.”

I press play on my iPod and lean back against the seat, ignoring his existence.

This flight is eight hours long, and it will go a lot quicker if I don’t spend the entire time bickering with him.

CHAPTER FOUR

Freya

We have twenty more minutes before we land. Twenty minutes until I get out of this tin can and away from the infuriating man next to me.

Hour one was spent listening to him squeal every time someone moved in their seat. Hour two was spent with him talking non-stop—long after people stopped responding to him. Hour three, he took my headphones off me and refused to give them back. Hour four, he stole most of my food, and when I started to drink to blot him out, he stole that too. Hour five was spent arguing with the infuriating man about things I don’t even remember or care to. Hour six was spent fighting for the food he didn’t steal. It also involved more drink, and by cup five, I thought I was on to something: I could get him drunk enough to pass out and finally give me a moment’s peace. But it’s like the alcohol switched an on button inside of his head because he hasn’t shut up since. And when we hit some turbulence not even forty minutes ago, he gripped my hand so tight he cut off the blood from going to it. When I finally got free, he went on about being young and needing to live.

“If you could put your seatbelts on, we are preparing to land,” one of the cabin crew announces over the intercom.

She continues with her speech, so I turn to Mark. “If you touch me in any way on our way down, I will break your nose, and I will enjoy it.”

“Why are you so mean?”

“Because I’m seriously debating whether to go home to get psychiatric help,” I snap. “Do you have an off button?”

“He’s normally the calmest,” Faith admits as she leans between our two seats.

That really doesn’t soothe me since they are all crazy insane.

“It’s true,” Hayden calls back. “Be glad you aren’t sitting next to my dad.”

She has a point. He’s done nothing but talk the entire flight too. If they hadn’t already explained he’s Mark’s uncle, I would have sworn he was his dad. I’m pretty sure the flight attendant is purposely ignoring Max’s call button because he hasn’t stopped bothering them. He wanted to stretch his legs, but after a few minutes, she asked him to sit down, which didn’t go over well. Then he kept asking if he could go up front so he could see where they were going. It didn’t matter that all there is to see is sky. He acted like he was in the backseat of a car. At hour three, he had most of the plane singing Taylor Swift and Sweet Caroline. That was the exact moment when Mark took my headphones off me, so I had to listen to it. It went on for so long, I can still hear his voice ringing in my ears.

“I am going through a really emotional time right now,” Mark squeaks out. “Does that not concern anyone?”

Most of the plane answers, “No.”

“I am deeply hurt,” he remarks with a huff.

“Oh my god, will you give your gob a rest for five minutes,” I cry out. “Seriously. I can’t take much more of this.”

He turns so he’s fully facing me. “I’ve been nothing but kind to you this entire flight. I spoke to you when you had no one else to speak to. And this is how you repay me?”

“I never asked you to. I would have been happy enough to stare out the window at clouds rather than listen to you. If you had asked, I would have told you to leave me alone.”

“She really doesn’t sound like she’s obsessed with you,” Liam mutters.

“Of course she is,” Mark snaps.

“No, I’m really not.”

“Don’t lie. It doesn’t suit you,” he taunts. “You liked having someone to speak to.”

“If you were any other person, then maybe. But you aren’t. You are you,” I argue, annoyance lacing my tone. “And you never spoke to me. You’ve yelled at me the entire time.”

“I’ve been under a lot of stress,” he states, his voice pitching at the end.

“Then why did you get on a bloody plane?” I snap.

“Because it’s my sister’s honeymoon-slash-hen and stag-do,” he growls.

I want to ask why on earth she brought her entire family with her when it should be their time, but I don’t want to go off track. It took me forty minutes to get back on the last time I did. “Again, why did you get on a bloody plane?”