Fated Ch 02

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Captain has turned on the Fasten Seatbelts sign..."

It seemed to take forever for the plane to finally land, even longer to taxi to the terminal, and worst of all, our assigned gate was empty, but there was no flight crew at hand to guide the plane into position. After several weeks apart, I longed – I ached – to once again feel the loving arms surrounding me.

The twenty-minute wait until the plane finally reached the gate was agonizing. Since I was in the very last row of the plane, it seemed to take even longer for the passengers in front of me to disembark. Navigating through the airport terminal to the baggage claim area where we were to meet was even worse given the insane number of people traveling on a Thursday afternoon.

When we found each other at last, however, it was worth it to simply see the smile upon my big brother's face. Being crushed in his bear hug was even better.

*****

I had been to Eric's apartment a few times. It was a small studio, stuffed to the proverbial gills with his belongings. He truly needed a much larger place, and our new apartment was just perfect for that.

On entering his apartment, the bed was prominent: It was at the center of the tiny space, unmistakable, unavoidable. On previous visits, I had simply considered the bed's placement a necessary novelty due to the lack of space in the apartment, and I had slept alone in his bed while he had slept in a sleeping bag on the floor.

On this occasion, however, we both knew that neither of us would be sleeping on the floor, and not because there were countless boxes stacked seemingly everywhere.

In the car, the conversation had been quite active. Within minutes of arriving at Eric's apartment, however, we were in complete silence, cuddling upon the bed, each of us thankful that the separation had at last come to an end. To simply be in my big brother's presence once again filled me with a renewed energy, with a fresh outlook on life. It was almost as if he was a much-needed drug.

Eventually, however, we got up long enough to order pizza, then cuddled on the bed again until dinner arrived. As we ate, however, he suddenly became pensive:

"One last meal in this place."

I knew that, despite how much he had complained about the tiny space, he was subconsciously quite fond of it, so I was not particularly surprised by his comment. I reached for his hand and enjoyed his firm grasp, looking into his eyes and seeing him remember various events which had taken place here.

I looked around the tiny space. Even though I had been here several times, the number of boxes and the height of their stacks was amazing. Each box represented at least one memory for him. Strangely, his bed even represented a memory for me, as I thought of sleeping there when in the past the bed had been significant only for its placement.

Soon, however, the bed would be in

our

apartment, and ideally we would share his bed on many, many occasions.

After dinner, we went for a walk through the neighborhood. Living on the edge of a major university campus, there was plenty of traffic and plenty of students roaming about on a Thursday night. The booming music from the several bars was quite loud, competing with the loud opera music coming from an Italian restaurant across the street. I believe that Eric and I maintained a good, respectable distance between ourselves as we roamed the streets.

One of the bookstores near campus was still open. "We'll have a long drive," my big brother reminded me. "Do you need to get anything to read?"

I thought about that for a moment, and realized that two books may not be enough. Thirty minutes later, I had bought three more books compared to his one magazine, since Eric insisted on doing the majority of the driving during our road trip. "You should've bought the latest

Playboy

issue," I joked with him, and an older lady passing us on the sidewalk gasped in shock – whether because I had mentioned the name of an adult magazine or because it was a young woman making such a comment to someone who was obviously her brother, I am uncertain... not that it really mattered either way.

Back at the apartment, however, there was really not much to do. The television was still plugged in, but the cable had been disconnected already, and the DVDs were all packed away. Since he had been using cable Internet, there was no online option since all the neighbors' wireless networks were properly secured. Other than the leftover pizza and a few drinks, there was nothing left in the refrigerator, a true testament to the fact that he was about to vacate this space permanently.

We spent the rest of the evening on the centrally-placed bed, surrounded by boxed memories. It was sad in a way to see my big brother's apartment like that, and clearly he has a little distressed by it as well, so I did what I could to help to soothe his thoughts.

I hugged him. I touched him. I kissed him. I even nibbled along his collarbone.

In time, I held his hand to my chest.

I was not his sister. Instead, I was the woman he loved, and although we did not make love that night, our extended play brought us both even closer together than I could have thought possible.

*****

We awoke early to finish packing the final elements. The things which would be traveling with us were placed into the bathtub to be out of the way, and we waited.

Soon, the Allied truck pulled into the parking lot. Nearly two hours later, the apartment was empty of everything except what was in the bathtub and two cans of Mountain Dew. An hour after that, after we each had taken a quick shower and inhaled the last of the drinks, we loaded his old Honda and hit the road, a short adventure ahead of us.