Shipping up to Boston Part II

The light was blinding him, and there was a sharp pain in the side of his neck. He blinked a couple of times and squinted, as his eyes adjusted to the light coming through the window. "What would you like the vegetarian or non-vegetarian option sir?" The piercing voice reminded him of why he'd woken up in the first place. "Uhh, vegetarian please", he realized how dry his mouth felt. "And what she will have the same?" the air hostess asked matter-of-factly. "Wha...who?" he mumbled, still groggy. As he saw the air hostess' eyes looking past him, he looked to his right and he felt the now-familiar jolt in his gut; Chaaya was fast asleep. So he hadn't been dreaming! "She's getting the vegetarian option." scoffed the impatient hostess, shoving a second tray into Aditya's startled hands.

Aditya stared blankly at his tray with half finished apple-cinnamon crepes. They were definitely the worst crepes he had ever tasted. He was used to shitty airline food though, so he bent down to take the next unappealing bite. He stopped halfway however, as he saw that Chaaya's tray was almost completely empty and she was sitting back in her seat, awake. "You don't like the crepes, huh." "Welluuh...n.not really." "Why are you still bending over your tray?" "Oh...uh..no reason, I was, looking past you out the window..." what the hell am I doing? "Well, thanks for getting me breakfast." "Anytime." Aditya replied instantly before he realized that it didn't sound casual at all. anytime? ANYTIME? i couldn't think of a better thing to say than "Anytime"? now she's going to think that i'm implying that i'd like to get her breakfast again. dammit.

"Do you really not mind if I take up the seats?" Chaaya asked, gesturing to the empty seat between them. "Oh of course not". "Thanks".

Aditya stared at the in-flight movie in order to avoid looking at Chaaya's feet which were now just a few inches away from him. It was some Richard Gere movie which was really long and didn't seem to have a point other than "women are attracted to Richard Gere". Aditya fell asleep within the first 30 minutes of the movie. When he woke up again with his headphones only covering one ear, his eyes immediately focused on the seat to his right; he suddenly clutched the left armrest of his seat, for Chaaya's orientation had 180'd, and her head was right next to Aditya's lap. Aditya stared at the back of the seat in front of him. He felt awkward, but he didn't want anyone to see it. He tried to go back to sleep, but he could only think of Chaaya's proximity.

Chaaya woke up just as the Richard Gere movie ended. It was as if their conversation from before had never stopped. "Do you drink?", asked Aditya. "No, my boyfriend wouldn't like that. He's Muslim." "Oh, is he really strict about indulgence?" "He's really controlling, he doesn't even like me talking to other guys." "That sucks, I hope you don't get into trouble for talking to me." "Nah its ok. What about you, you must have a girlfriend right?" "Uh...sure..." "Is she Indian?" "Nn..no, she's American." "Huh, how weird is that?" "Its a little weird, but its fine for the most part. We're both pretty relaxed and don't really take things very seriously." "Man your girlfriend is one lucky girl since you're not super-possessive. The standard of living in this country is so much better...sigh...its expensive, but everyone is still... chilling, you know?" wait, what? that doesn't make any sense "Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely."

"Do you use facebook?" asked Chaaya. "I'm on it." "We should look each other up on facebook!" "Absolutely..." "Actually, facebook is annoying, why don't you take down my phone number, if you're ever near the Boston Commons, give me a call and we can get coffee or something." Aditya whipped out his pocketbook and pen with Olympic speed.

The PA system chirped. "We will be landing in Boston, MA shortly. The local time is 10:15am and the local temperature is 28 degrees Farenheit. Have a good day, and we hope that you will fly with us again."