Chapter 1

|| Three Years Prior To The Present ||

Being an air stewardess was very thrilling and exhilarating for someone as adventurous as Joslyn Patel, but unfortunately, as exciting as it was, it also bagged a lot of stress, lots of legwork, i.e. standing and walking around, lots of sweet smiles (whether faux or genuine, but mostly, faux) and lastly, lots and lots of jet lags.

The belief that if you continued to do something perpetually, you would eventually grow accustomed to it, was a lie. A big one at that and Joslyn was a living witness. No one ever grows accustomed to jet lags. 

So, imagine the magnitude of irritation she truly felt when her best friend, Sigourney Lapointe, had tenaciously dragged her jaded and jet-lagged body down to the clubhouse, two hours after she had landed from a 50hr+ flight to and from Kathmandu, Nepal.

Joslyn groaned loudly when the words, The Airliner, illuminated in neon lights at the entrance of the club blared in her line of sight. She had had enough of airplanes and anything air for one day. But unfortunately, as much as she hated the word 'air' right now, she still had to breathe.

'Well, at least I'm breathing in oxygen, not air,' she tried to justify herself.

'Oxygen is one of the constituents of air,' her subconscious retorted.

'Eh...' She had no counterattack. Somehow, her subconscious had always seemed smarter than her, so dejectedly, she could only grumble in response. She had lost to air and to her Einstein of a subconscious.

Displaying their IDs, they walked past the security guard at the entrance, Joslyn trailing begrudgingly behind her best friend whilst hoping that she would just forget about her existence somehow, but that was too farfetched a wish. Unfortunately, her friend was on a mission to get her laid tonight.

"Oh, come on, Jos," Sigourney finally stopped walking and turned to face her glowering friend. "Stop with the grumblings and scowls. You're gonna chase away all potential fuckers," she smirked, placing her hands on both her shoulders, causing Joslyn's scowl to house a new neighbour-a grimace.

Her best friend could be quite vulgar when she wanted to be and Joslyn was already used to that character of hers, but having sex tonight was far far away from Joslyn's plans. 

All she wanted to do was soak her fatigued body in warm vanilla scented water in her abnormally colossal sized bathtub-where she had been before Sigourney had barged in with a Cheshire smile like a madwoman who had just escaped from the mental asylum-then sink into her cloud-soft queen-sized bed. Being an air stewardess had its perks; with the generous salary, also came other bounteous perquisites.

But here she was, in the anteroom of a club named after her present worst enemy-airlines. What else could possibly go wrong?

"You have absolutely no choice but to wipe that expression off your face if you don't want to spend the night alone, Jos," Sigourney chastised with her left hand resting on her hip, one of her eyebrows raised in disapproval.

"How will I spend the night alone when you're going to be here with me, Einstein?" Joslyn spoke for the first time tonight, her tone laced with boredom and palpable disapproval. 

"I will only be with you for a few minutes tonight. Say," she looked at the Chanel wristwatch wrapped around her right wrist (yes, Sigourney was weird like that) before continuing, "for the initial ten minutes."

At her friend's words, Joslyn's eyes zeroed in on her figure and narrowed dangerously, her gaze turning sharp. "And why's that?" She asked lowly. "Don't tell me you dragged me all the way here just to ditch me?"

She thought of how she could've been asleep in her bathtub with warm water cocooning her body by now, or how she could currently be parading the land of dreams with much needed peace and quiet, or how she could presently be stuffing her face with peanut butter; the ethereal sensation she always derived from that crunchy kaleidoscope of sweetness was inexplicable.

Anything, just about anything, other than being on another flight, would be better than being here.

"No! That's not it," Sigourney tried to pacify her friend's anger. Wringing her hands against each other in nervousness, Sigourney mumbled sheepishly, "I invited Wesley," unable to meet Joslyn's eyes.

"Ugh," Joslyn groaned in annoyance again, rolling her eyes as her hands instinctively flew to her hair, ready to grip them tightly (a bad habit of hers that always surfaced whenever she was stressed, angry or in pain) but Sigourney was quick to slap her hands away, preventing them from ruining her 'killer hairdo'-Sigourney's words.

"You shouldn't have brought me along, then. You and Wesley could have had your perfect date and I wouldn't be here, third wheeling." Her hands itched to grip something, hard, so she pulled Sigourney's hands into hers and held tightly, watching her wince slightly. Good, that was her punishment.

"Stop acting like such a loner and live a little, Jos. How could I have fun and leave you alone to yourself in that huge condo of yours? What kind of best friend does that make me, uhn?" She winced again, shooting Joslyn a glare.

"I don't know... a smart one, maybe?" She winced when Sigourney also pinched her in return. "And I'm not acting like a loner, Sig. I am a loner and I'm perfectly happy with it because it ensures my peace of mind. Plus, I've had just about enough fun to last me a lifetime. I have traveled to basically every country out there, Sig." She pinched back.

"Yes, you have. But besides work, do you actually explore these countries for your own personal pleasure before returning?" Sigourney pinched again.

"Of course, I do. I explore the interiors of whatever hotel and resort we cabin crew stay at. I get you souvenirs from their purlieus, remember?" The battle of the pinches continued, each woman wincing and glaring at the other while passersby looked at them weirdly as they let out series of 'ow's and 'ouches'.

Sigourney rolled her eyes, "And that is only because everytime, I threaten to disrupt your peace and beauty sleep if you return without a keepsake. I don't know, have you ever tried planning an itinerary for maybe when you visit your dream country or city?"

Yes, she had done that countless times when she had first started the job but she hadn't been able to follow up with them. However, her friend didn't have to know that.

She opened her mouth to reply but Sigourney interrupted, "And actually follow up with it?" She gave her a knowing look that clearly indicated that she couldn't lie her way out of this.

"Fine. I'll stay in the stupid club. Like I had a choice anyway," she pinched her friend for the last time and slapped her hand away.

"Good," Sigourney smirked and pulled her into a hug before whispering into her ear, "In your wildest dreams if you think I'd let you have the last pinch."

Sigourney didn't give her time to react before she began tickling Joslyn mercilessly, eliciting hysterical laughter from her. She giggled as she watched Joslyn squirm, her hands on her knees as she tried to keep herself from falling to the ground.

"P-please, s-s-stop," she tried slapping Sigourney's hands away but to no avail. "Enough!" Joslyn shouted as she pushed her away and shot her an unamused glare. "Never. Do. That. Again," she gritted and burst through the double door entrance of the club, leaving a laughing Sigourney behind.