Elliott sat a few rows behind Ruthie on the plane for the trip to New York. He told himself it was just a coincidence where he sat, but he knew he'd boarded ahead of her on purpose, just so he could. Because of his height, he could tip his head up a little, and see the top of her curly head a few rows up. She was wearing a bright yellow sweatshirt that said, "I'm not short, I'm just fun-sized," which he'd seen her wear a dozen times. The color really suited her, as did the saying. She wasn't particularly short, but she gave the impression of being a little thing, a dynamo of expressions and entertainment.

That was how Elliott saw her, anyway.

He noticed that Joanna Barnes, she of the tight sweaters and short skirts, had somehow finagled the seat next to him, while another girl whose name he couldn't quite remember was sitting across the aisle from him. God, this was going to be a long plane ride.

He remembered the last time he'd been on a plane, flying to California from England, so full of sorrow and hate, feeling so sorry for himself.

Things were better now, he told himself. He no longer harbored the deep-rooted feelings he'd held toward Samairah all those years; quite the opposite, in fact. And, even after just those few short days together, he found he actually missed little Liam and his cute baby ways. And he had Ruthie--

Except he didn't, did he? He'd brought that shit storm on himself, he knew, but he also knew he was right. Maybe if they'd met when they were older, or at least when both were where they wanted to be.

But he, Elliott, had a life in England. This sojourn to California had been against his will, a brief, unplanned and unwanted interlude to this cultural wasteland. He needed to get back on track. Ruthie, on the other hand, had another year here, then four years of school somewhere that wasn't England.

They had no future together. Not now, at least.

And how could it matter? He, Elliott, was only eighteen, it wasn't possible that he'd met his life partner already. And it definitely wasn't possible that said life partner was a mere girl, a loud, emotional and immature fifteen year old child who cried at the drop of a hat and flew off the handle at least once a day.

Was it?

The announcement to buckle up and prepare for take off came over the speakers, and he heard Ruthie's squeal of excitement. He could see her hair bouncing up and down as she turned to the person next to her. He could even see her face between the seats, her opal eyes huge, her smile contagious.

He was pulled down into his seat by Joanna, who grasped his arm firmly.

"I hope you don't mind," she said with a titter. "Flying makes me so nervous. I'm glad you're here for moral support."

Elliott sighed. He was sure that explaining the mechanics of flight wouldn't help the loud girl next to him.

He wondered how it could be that being around Ruthie, who was at least as loud as Joanna, was so much fun, while sitting next to Joanna was such a chore. He shifted away from her and into the aisle a little.

"I'm so glad I'm sitting by you, Elliott," the girl across the aisle chatted. "You're just about the hottest guy in the whole school, you don't even know how happy I was when I saw you. And your accent!" The girl's voice went up in pitch, nearly taking his ear off. "Could you say something? Has anyone ever told you you look like Timothée Chalamet? And Douglas Boothe? Like if one of them was a girl, and they had a baby, that baby would be you."

Oh my god.

Now the girl had turned to the girl next to her. "Don't you think, Paige? Don't you think Elliott looks like a totally hot Timothée Chalamet and Douglas Boothe combined?"

Paige nodded, smiling and looking over at Elliott, who cringed at the comparison. "You're right, he's like a hotter version of the two of them combined."

Now the plane was revving as it sped down the runway, preparing for the moment it would slip the bonds of gravity and surrender to the air.

Elliott could see Ruthie's hand as it grasped the armrest, her knuckles white. She reached over to pull the hand of the person next to her closer, and Elliott could see the cuff of an argyle sweater. She must be sitting next to Gordon, then. Good.

Elliott knew that Brett hadn't returned to school, because of the pending warrant for his arrest, but that Leroy and Mark had a few days ago. They'd been stripped of Prom and the New York trip, and gotten some community service hours, which really didn't seem like much punishment to Elliott.

He could still remember how he felt when he saw his beloved spill out onto the hard surface of the parking lot in nothing but her pretty little bra and jeans, how he'd wanted to tear the three goons to shreds. He remembered how bravely his Ruthie had stood up to them, every single time they were confronted, and his heart swelled with love for his girl.

But he'd let her go, and he knew this was the right choice. He could see her hand now resting loosely in her lap from his view between the seats, and he knew she was sleeping. This seemed like a good idea, and maybe a way to shut down Joanna, who still had hold of his arm, hugging it to her generous breasts on accident on purpose.

"I'm knackered, I think I'll sleep a little bit," Elliott. "The pressure really gets to my ears, you know?"

Joanna nodded eagerly, saying, "Ooh, that sounds like a good idea. Me too." And she proceeded to pull Elliott's arm around her so she could snuggle into him. She settled down, practically purring at how close they were.

And of course, Pepsi took this moment to stand up an turn in her seat on Ruthie's other side to say something to Linda, who was sitting behind them. She saw Elliott with his arm around Joanna, all cozy, and her eyes widened.

Great. That was just ace.

Elliott gently but firmly pulled his arm back to himself, explaining, "I'm not a cuddly sleeper, so sorry. I need to be un encumbered when I nap, yeah?"

Joanna looked disappointed, but shrugged and leaned on him anyway, not asking if this, at least, was okay. She then pulled out her phone for a selfie of the two of them.

Elliott gave a half-hearted peace sign with his forefinger and middle finger, not even bothering to smile.

He did manage to sleep a little bit, until his phone dinged with a text. He unceremoniously pushed the snoozing Joanna off himself and into the person on the other side of them so he could pull out his phone. It was from Ruthie.

"I hear you're getting chummy with Joanna?"

Not 'chummy,' she's just been ll over me, nothing I can do about it, is there?

Right, it's just like a moth to a flame, isn't it lol?

Elliott wisely decided to change the subject.

Are you okay up there? Comfortable?

I'm fine, though Gordo has drooled on my shoulder in his sleep.

Oh no!

Nah, it's just a little circle. He's even neat in his sleep lol.

They chatted for the next half hour or so, and they found out that Ms. Pomerantz, who'd organized the trip, had put Elliott and Gordon in the same room, a room they' share with two other boys, and that Ruthie, Linda, and Pepsi were only two rooms down. She must've done this on purpose, which was very kind of her. When they'd requested the rooms this way, though, Elliott and Ruthie had still been together, of course, and things were a bit different now.

Elliott wondered how awkward it was going to be to share a room with Gordon. He'd always suspected that Gordon's amorous feelings were towards Ruthie and not himself, so he wasn't surprised when Ruthie had confirmed this.

Lucky Gordon, who was able to declare his love for their curly-haired pixie, and still sleep next to her and drool a little circle on her shoulder.

Once, Ruthie rose a little and looked back at him, offering an uncertain smile that was so beautiful it nearly broke Elliott's heart on the spot.

He waved at her, and this action awakened Joanna.

Wonderful.

Elliott immediately pretended he was still sleeping, closing his eyes and lying back in his seat. He heard Ruthie's tinkling laugh, and he knew that she knew what he was doing. He smiled slightly with his eyes still closed, and remained this way until they began their descent into Newark's Liberty Airport in New Jersey.

And even though he told himself over and over not to do it, he couldn't help it; he got in the bus line right behind Ruthie, and managed to sit next to her for the trip into Manhattan from Newark.   Ruthie looked surprised, but said nothing, merely unzipping her coat and sitting on it.

The same could not be said for her friends, though.

"Ruthie, want to sit up here with me?" Pepsi called.

"No, I'm fine," she replied. "Got a window seat, so I can see everything, I'm good."

Elliott saw Pepsi's normally sunny countenance cloud over as her gaze passed from her friend, whom she loved, to Elliott, whom she most definitely did not.

"Okay," she finally answered reluctantly.

"I can't believe I'm here, you know?" Ruthie said, turning to smile at Elliott. He could see she was higher than a kite, and it made him inordinately happy. Ruthie shivered in pleasurable anticipation as the bus pulled out of the airport parking lot and into the chilly evening.

"Oh my god, Elliott, look, there it is, there it is!" Ruthie squealed, grabbing his arm in her enthusiasm. "New York City, look, look!"

Elliott felt as if he'd lit the city up himself as he smiled at her joy.

"Oh I hope we don't take a tunnel into the city," she was saying next to him. "I hope we take a bridge so we can see the whole time. But no, maybe it would be cool to take a tunnel and then just, you know, pop out into Midtown or whatever.

"I don't care how we get there," she concluded, as Elliott had known she would.

He breathed deeply of the fragrance of her hair, her skin, of her, as surreptitiously as he could.

"Aren't you excited?" Ruthie asked, shaking his arm.

"Yeah, I'm chuffed," he answered. "But I've been here before, we had an apartment here and everything," he explained. He wondered if the Banks still owned the tiny co-op in Kip's Bay, or if it had been sold when his father died. He believed he even still had a key to it on his ring.

They did take a tunnel into the city, and Ruthie gasped when they emerged into the concrete jungle of midtown, and the lights and hustle and bustle of the early spring evening.

"Look, look! Where do you think those guys are going?" she asked.

"Probably just home from work," Elliott answered.

"No, come on! They're--they're, um, let's see, they're on their way to dinner at a super hip bar and grill, and after that they're going to take a nighttime helicopter tour of the city before they fly out to the Hamptons, how's that?" Ruthie turned to Elliott to see the effect of her words, and caught him smiling at her.

Her own grin faltered a little, which broke Elliott's heart again, and she turned back to the window. She was quiet for the rest of the ride to their hotel.