Long Past Dawn

First Call

"You seem happy," Bethany, fondly called Beth or Bettie, said to her best friend, Delaney, in the changing room in preparation for their next flight.

Across the room, a set of twins, Iris and Ivy, were gossiping and blowing chewing gums. No one really liked the twins. They dressed the same - which was usually slightly different than other attendants would, said the meanest things about anyone, had threesomes - always threesomes - with passengers that wanted it while in the plane, for money, and thought they were better than other flight attendants although a few would argue that they were the worst.

Delaney grabbed her white polo shirt and grumbled. It was see-through. The airport managers seemed to give them uniforms like this on purpose.

She threw her black hair over her shoulder and turned to look at Bettie.

"Yes, Beth, I am happy."

"Please tell me this has to do with your love life? I can't believe you haven't met or hooked up with any dude since Kelvin. Are your hormones dead, girl?" Bethany looked genuinely concerned.

"He was an ass," Delaney quipped in, lost in thoughts for some seconds.

"Yes, he was. But..."

Delaney suddenly snapped out of her trance. "...But you should know better than mentioning him, Beth." Delaney rolled her eyes at her friend. "I forgive you though." She pulled the uniform over her body and squeezed her face in dislike. She could make out the shape of her breasts and the faded purple of her bra. It didn't help that her breasts were naturally larger than most people's.

"Thank you. So, are you going to tell me about him?"

Bethany playfully pinched Delaney's side and they both giggled.

"On our flight back to Boston, yes. But right now, we should already be out of here. Passengers will be asked on board in some minutes."

"Yikes."

X

"A bottle of Chateau Margaux wine and two glass cups will be fine," a blonde gentleman dressed in an ox-blood suit said to Delaney. He flashed her a bright smile and winked seductively.

"On it." Delaney hurried away from the man who was obviously flirting with her with mixed emotions. Somehow, this passenger reminded her of Malcolm.

She arrived at the wine cabinet seconds later to see Bethanie watching her with hands folded and obvious interest.

"Will you stop staring at me like I am some bug for an experiment?" Delaney casually asked as she pulled out the Chateau Margaux tray which was the second of five cabinets. There were at least half a dozen cold bottles of Margaux. She whisked one away from the lot and gently put it in the silver tray in her hands.

"Not until you tell me what's up."

"With who?"

"Mhmm. You are now so hot many guys are after you and it's difficult for you to keep up with them all," Bettie said sarcastically.

"You don't have to act this way," Delaney said with a laugh.

"Till you get a man, it is up to me to bring drama to your life. You're welcome."

"You mean that man in the first class section, don't you?" Delaney arranged the glass cups next to each other. "You are stalking me."

Bethany winced as though she was hurt by Delaney's words. "Watching over you sounds more appropriate, Del. But yes, I mean him. He is obviously flirting with you. He seems cool too, and loaded."

"There's more to a man than money, Bettie."

Bethany rolled her eyes. "And there you go again, sounding like a granny." She walked towards Delaney. "Anyway, what's it with him?"

"Nothing."

"Really?" If there was one thing Delaney and Bethany had different opinions on, it was on men. Delaney was rather reserved and conservative while Bethany went with the flow.

"Yup."

"If you are not interested in him, how about I take his drink for him and try my luck?"

Delaney laughed. "I saw this coming."

She went mute for a while as she considered the options before her. This passenger seemed like a real gentleman. But still, she couldn't look him in the eyes for a full second without having her head flooded with images of Malcolm which was weird because they hadn't met and had barely spoken since their first meet-up.

"You have a boyfriend, Beth. What about Clayton?"

Bethany shot her a friendly glare. "What about him?"

"Hmm, nothing. I don't mind after all." Delaney bit her lip painfully as she handed the tray over to her best friend. She wasn't sure if this was the right thing to do, but she felt like even if it wasn't, it wasn't very wrong too.

"Wish me luck, Del," Bethany sang out as she catwalked out of the storage room, leaving Delaney to her thoughts.

Delaney's "good luck" didn't get past the door.

X

As Bethany approached the man that had ordered the wine, she felt the bile of irritation gather in her throat as she spotted the twins hovering around the man like bees around honey.

It took intense self-control to stop herself from throwing the tray in her hand at the twins and screaming at them at the top of her lungs to get away from him.

"Do you both promise me a good time?" She overheard the man ask Ivy, who was slightly bustier than her twin sister.

"You'll get a refund if you do not enjoy…" Ivy replied seductively but came to a halt the moment she noticed Bethany some metres away from her.

If glares could kill, Bethany would have either melted right on the spot or would have been flung out of the plane.

"Here's your drink, sir," Bettie retorted meekly, feeling foolish for taking the drink from Delaney. Of course, she should have expected the twins to do something like this, but a part of her had hoped this won't happen.

"Thank you." The passenger gave her a sly smile and that was it. His eyes were feasting on the twins already.

Minutes before the plane landed in Boston, Delaney saw the man sneak out of the staff's toilet, toying with his zipper which seemed to have gone bad. When he noticed that she'd noticed him, he blushed, mouthed a "hi" and hurried to his seat.

X

"You should have expected the twins to do something like that," Delaney laughed as she stepped out of the aeroplane. Bethany fumed silently behind her. Cat-walking ahead of them, hand-in-hand, were the twins.

The weather in Boston was dull, grey and gloomy, in contrast to the bright, exhilarating climate of California, where they had just flown in from.

The duo wriggled through the airport security and passengers into their staff room, where they had to submit their uniforms, badges, and leave a written report on how the flight went.

"You didn't tell me about the other guy."

"Malcolm?"

Bethany opened her eyes wide. "That's his name? I had no idea."

Delaney shrugged. "Let's have dinner at my place. I'll tell you all you want to know."

Bethany squealed happily and seemed to have easily forgotten all about the twins.

"Let's make it a sleepover. We can watch The Free Wives TV show."

Before Delaney replied her best friend, her phone rang. She reached for it and when she pulled it out, her heart throbbed as she swiped on the screen.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Delaney." There was an underground scuffle, then the voice got clearer. "Are you busy? I need you at Santa Lucia. There's a shopping mall at the Heart of the Town, that's where I am."

Delaney instinctively toyed with the edges of her hair with her free hand. "Nah, I'm not busy. When should I be there?"

Another slight pause followed. "In an hour and thirty minutes, at most. When you get are almost here, let me know."

Bethany watched Delaney with curiosity in her eyes as the call ended.

"Who was that?"

"Malcolm."