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“He thinks you’re a what?”

“A lesbian, Mart.  He thinks I’m gay.”

“No!!”

“Yes!  I finally put it all together.”  Melody leaned back in the armchair and looked out her hotel room window.  They were in London.

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The euphoria of the Letterman Show was replaced by the mundane boredom of transatlantic travel.  Nick was one giant mood swing, Melody decided.  He sulked in the car all the way to the airport.  Maybe he was missing Tamara already, she guessed.  When they all met up in a private lounge, he became positively giddy with excitement.  Going to Europe, he kept repeating.  Going to Europe.  The excitement immediately turned to anger when they started comparing seat locations and Nick discovered that he was in First Class and the rest of them were back in Economy.

“I specifically told Murray…I’m going to kill Rafe…”

The others told him not to sweat it but Nick wouldn’t be mollified.  He tried to talk each one of them into changing seats with him.  Each of them refused. 

“Enjoy the extra leg room,” they told him. 

That turned him to Rashad.  “You’re bigger than me, you take it.”  Rashad declined with thanks. 

“Melody?” 

“Leg room is not a problem for me, Nick.” 

Laughter.

“Tofu? You want to ride in First Class?” 

“No, Senor Neek,” replied Chris, in a broad Mexican accent.  “Dey don’ ‘llow no wetbacks in de Prima Classa.” 

Toby?  Gus?  Blaine?  Nick spread his hands.  Please.

“I guess you could just order one of us to do it,” said Melody, finally.

“Would you obey me?” asked Nick, surprised.

“No,” replied Melody simply, and they all cracked up again. 

Finally, Nick laughed too.  He held up the ticket.  Anyone?  Going once, going twice…Aw crap!

When they were in the air, Melody settled in with her crosswords.  She was in an aisle seat with Tofu next to her and Darryl by the window.  Ahead of her was Rashad, whose legs took up most of the aisle. Squeezed in next to him was Blaine and then Scott by the window.  Across the aisle from Melody was Toby.  Gus was in the seat across the aisle from Rashad. 

Jeff wasn’t with them.  He was flying over in two days.  His sister had had the baby, and Nick had given him a couple of days.  We can hook into the EMA security if we need it, he’d told Jeff. 

The seatbelt sign was barely off, when Nick appeared. 

“Everybody okay back here?” he said in a wistful voice.  He looked at the big bassist.  “C’mon Rashad. You’re squished in here like a sardine.  Wouldn’t you rather have my seat?”

“Go on, Rashad,” said Blaine.  “None of us will hold it against you.  And I might get the feeling back in my arm.”

Rashad said, no thank you, and shifted in his seat away from Blaine, hitting his knee on the armrest.  “Damn.”

“Yeah, Rashad, you might as well be comfortable,” said Tofu. 

Rashad sighed and was halfway out of his seat when Tofu added, “We won’t think you’re Nick’s boy.” 

Gus snickered.  Toby reached forward and poked him on the arm to silence him.

Rashad stepped into the aisle.  He looked over the seatback at Melody.  What did she think?

“It’s a six-hour flight, Rashad,” she said reasonably.  “You and Nick are the tallest.  Why don’t you do it in shifts?” 

Rashad nodded and turned to Nick.  He opened his mouth to accept when Melody added, “Teacher’s pet.” 

Now everyone was laughing openly.  Go on, Rashad.  Go ahead.

“Okay,” said Rashad.  “But I’m coming back here in an hour and claiming my seat.”

“It’s 4A,” said Nick, stepping aside to let the man pass.  “It’s a window seat.”  Nick slid into the seat beside Blaine and Scott.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Here he comes,” whispered Gus.  Toby swung out into the aisle.

“Okay,” said Rashad, “an hour’s up.  I want…”

“Sssshhh…”  A chorus of voices shushed him.

Rashad’s voice dropped to a whisper.  “What?” 

“He’s asleep,” whispered Toby, who stood in the aisle blocking Rashad’s view of Nick.

Rashad looked past the assistant.  Nick was sitting with his seat tilted back.  He was covered in a blanket, and a small airline pillow was tucked under his head.

“But…”  Rashad didn’t want to take advantage of the situation.  “They’re going to serve the dinner.”

“You go ahead and eat it,” whispered Blaine.  “I’m sure Nick wouldn’t mind.  He’s right out of it.”

“Jes’ sleepin’ lak a leetle baby.”  Tofu mimicked Prissy from Gone With the Wind.

Rashad heard a snort.  He looked around Toby again, but it was just Scott coughing and patting himself on the chest.  Rashad looked at Melody.  Please be the voice of reason, his eyes begged her.

“Go on, Rashad,” she said softly.  “I’ll come and get you when he wakes up.  Okay?”

Rashad looked down at Nick again, but the blond man hadn’t moved.  “Okay,” he whispered and disappeared up the aisle.  Once he was gone, the snickering and chuckling began in earnest.

Nick’s head appeared at the top of his seat.   “So you’re gonna rat me out to the big guy, are you, Mel?” 

“Hey, I’m sitting behind you, Blondie.  How will I know when you wake up?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Knock it off, Tofu.”

Nick listened to the voices from the seat behind him.  Melody was trying to do her crossword puzzle.  Tofu was bored.  He’d read through the in-flight magazine and gone through the channels on the headset twenty times, finding nothing he liked.  So he decided to amuse himself by pestering those around him.  Darryl didn’t have much to say at the best of times, and he'd gone right to sleep after the meal was served.  So that left Mel.

“What’s 86 across – a New Zealand parrot?”

“Kea,” said Melody.  “K-e-a.”

“How do you know that?”  Tofu had never heard the word.  Neither had Nick.

“Because I’ve done thousands of these,” said Melody, pulling the book away from his view.

“Why do you keep doing them then?”

“Because every one is different,” she answered and then added, “and it keeps me from having to listen to boring little shits like you.”

“Ah, you love me,” Nick heard from behind him and then what sounded like a kiss.

Nick shifted in his seat.  They had fooled Rashad twice more, and he hadn’t appeared again.  Nick guessed he’d gone to sleep.  At least, he hoped he had.  Nick was a tall man, and he wasn’t comfortable in the economy-class seat.  He couldn’t imagine Rashad crammed into it for the whole overnight flight. 

Nick loved the way the whole thing had gone down.  Everyone laughing.  Everyone getting along.  Everyone making fun of everyone else, even him.  Just one of the guys.  That’s what he wanted to be, just one of the guys.

“44 down.  Bacchanalian cry.  What the hell is that?”

“Evoe,” said Mel.  “E-v-o-e.”

“Great,” said Tofu.  “What the hell is ‘Bacchanalian’?”

“Tofu, leave me be.  Go to sleep.”

Nick looked around the cabin.  The lights had been turned off.  Mel’s was the only one still on.  Most people were asleep.  He stood up and made his way to the washroom.  When he came back, he leaned in and said, “Tofu, switch places with me.”

“Why?” asked Chris.

“Because it’s my turn to annoy the hell out of Mel.  It’s not fair that you get all the fun.”

A couple of funny ripostes came into Tofu’s head, but he decided against both of them.  Instead, he stood up and swung his way past Melody’s legs.

“Scoot over,” said Nick.  Melody clicked the seat belt open and moved to the middle seat. 

“Here,” said Tofu, picking up the pillow and blanket from Nick’s seat and shoving them at him.

“Aren’t you going to sleep?” said Nick, half to himself. 

Mel’s voice whispered in his ear.  “Once we’re all asleep, he’s probably going to go nail one of the flight attendants.”

Nick chuckled to himself.  Man, if Tofu got half the chicks he said he did…  He turned to Mel.  “Are you going to go to sleep?”

“Yes, in a bit.  Do you want me to turn off the light?”

“No, it won’t bother me.  I’ve learned to sleep just about anywhere.”

“Okay, goodnight then.  See you in Europe.”  She smiled.

Nick smiled back and closed his eyes.  Both of them had trouble breathing for a moment.  Melody worked on her puzzle.  When she finished one, she looked around.  Everyone else was asleep.  She looked over at Nick, and he took her breath away.  He was beautiful,   His blond hair fell over his eyes, and his face in repose was that of an angel. 

Melody reached over and smoothed his hair off his face.  Nick sighed in his sleep, and she pulled her hand back.  She reached up and turned off the tiny light.  She lowered her seat back and pulled her legs up under her.  She shifted her pillow slightly and curled her body so that her back was to Nick.  She was almost immediately asleep.

Nick shifted in his sleep.  He opened his eyes for a moment and was aware of Mel sleeping next to him.  She might be cold, he thought, and turned his body, throwing part of his blanket and his arm over her before sliding back down into oblivion.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Toby was the first to wake up.  He checked on Nick immediately and was surprised to see Chris in his seat.  He looked around, and a frown came over his face when he saw Nick with his arm over Mel.  When had that happened?  How?  And why?

He kept an eye on them as they woke up.  But he couldn’t see anything unusual.  They just did what all the passengers did.  Woke up.  Made their way to the bathroom, their complimentary toothbrush gripped tightly in their hand.  Tried to shake off the sleep and wake up in a personal space slightly smaller than a phone booth.  With 300 roommates.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So was it on the plane?  Did you figure it out on the plane?”

“No, Mart,”  said Melody softly.  “That’s not what I figured out on the plane.”