Chapter 4

Iwas na?ve to think that missing my flight was the worst thing that would happen to me today. Of course it wouldn't be. Bad luck doesn't end with one unfortunate event. It tends to linger, like a storm cloud.

I wasted eight hours at the airport doing nothing but scrolling on my phone and spending money I definitely don't have on things I definitely don't need. I figure it's alright just this once as a sort of reward for the effort I'm going to for this new job. It's not often I buy something as trivial as a snow globe keychain—in fact, it's more like never. These days, the only splurging I'll do is buying the expensive coffee rather than the cheapest one, and I only do that because Ash would lecture me about bean quality if I didn't.

The realization of just how bad things could get slapped me in the face when I made it to my seat and found out that the most unfortunate and unlikely person is my seatmate.

Lucy Marino.

She's the one person on the planet that despises me—for absolutely no reason, I might add. If anything, I should be the one who despises her. She ruined my junior year of college, all because one professor liked me better than her. And why shouldn"t he? I was smart, engaging, and people naturally gravitated towards me. She, on the other hand, was aloof and utterly unapproachable, always burying herself in books and shunning any attempt at friendship.

But as I sit here, trying to ignore her presence, a nagging voice in the back of my mind forces me to confront an uncomfortable truth. I wasn"t exactly innocent in our rivalry. Back in college, I was different—cockier, more self-assured, perhaps even a little vain. The attention and praise I received were intoxicating, and I let it go to my head. I enjoyed it.

Looking back, I can see how my behaviour might have come across as arrogant, even maybe cruel at times. Still, there is no way I did anything so bad to warrant the sort of hatred this woman has for me. She took every opportunity possible to bite my head off in class, and she didn't hold back.

Shaking my head, I push those thoughts aside. The past is the past, and dwelling on it won"t change anything. My only option now is to grit my teeth and endure this flight with her. I make a silent vow to ignore her completely, to pretend she doesn"t exist for the next few hours. If I don"t, if I so much as breathe in her direction, I risk her making a scene. And that"s the last thing I need. I cannot be kicked off of this flight. My future, my family's future, is riding on me making it to Providence by morning. I will not let Lucy Marino be the reason our lives are ruined.

I do alright at first, keeping myself busy watching one of the in-flight movies. But then little miss priss pulls out what was the center of our college conflict—her old copy of Little Women.

Un-freaking-believable.

She opens the book and starts reading like she's so innocent, but I know the game she's playing. She's doing it on purpose. Without a doubt.

She's trying to egg me on!

I attempt to resist, using every ounce of willpower I have. But I can't help but give into her petty little game.

"Still obsessed with a book written by a dead lady?" I ask, the words slipping from my mouth uncontrollably.

Without skipping a beat or even bothering to look away from the tattered pages of the novel, she snaps back, "Still a self-absorbed piece of shit?"

I want to be impressed by the absolute audacity this woman has, but I won't give her the satisfaction.

"The doctors tell me it's incurable," I hum pleasantly. "Kind of like your lack of human empathy, although I've heard a lobotomy might be helpful with that." I tap my chin thoughtfully.

"If you want to tie me down so badly, Noah, all you had to do was ask."

She finally glances over at me, unbothered, with a lazy little smile on her face. I hate that I've let her win, because I'm sure I look like an idiot with my mouth hung open and cheeks burning bright red; I know that's exactly how she wanted me to react.

I doubt Lucy has ever given up control long enough to let someone tie her down.

I start to stumble my way through a rebuttal, but before I can even think about what to say, a garbled announcement comes over the sound system.

"Good evening, folks. This is your pilot speaking. We've got an update for y'all, which is that unfortunately, due to some unforeseen weather, we're gonna have to make an unscheduled landing in Charlotte. It's just a precaution to keep everyone safe, and we will do our very best to get to Providence as soon as possible. We'll be landing shortly, and as quickly as a gate becomes available for us, we'll get y'all off this plane. Thank you for understanding, folks."

The pilot might as well toss me off the side of a cliff.

Lucy and I slowly turn toward each other. She looks about as horrified as I feel.

"This is not happening," she declares, but the slight squeak in her voice suggests she knows all too well that it is, in fact, happening.

I shake my head.

"Nope. Not happening."

This is the worst-case scenario. But the worst-case scenario cannot happen. I cannot be stuck next to Lucy Marino on a runway, two states south of a job interview that starts in thirteen hours.