World Men à la Mode

Chapter Two - Flight Conversations

The flight took off after a half hour of waiting for everyone to board and the safety checks and preflight speeches to be given. Oddly enough, Alfred seemed the most excited out of everyone going on the trip. You thought it was rather cute how his eyes lit up when the plane's engines began to whir as it took off from the runway. In all honesty, you had never flown before, not even between states. You had always travelled by car wherever you went because you and your family had always found it more fun. You thought take off was going to be a lot more intimidating than some people let on, but it wasn't even bad at all. Take off was rather smooth except for a quick bout of turbulence when the plane rose above the clouds.

When the seatbelt sign above you turned off, the plane erupted into slight chaos as people rushed to get to the bathroom first. You stayed in your seat, as did Alfred. You couldn't tell if any of your friends had gotten up, however. Well, except for Charlotte who ran past muttering about how badly she had to pee, and it really wasn't muttering either. She full yelled it as she sprinted as fast as she could to the plane's bathroom. Alfred and you couldn't help but chuckle at the comical sight. You then let out a sigh and pulled a book out of your carry on bag.

"Stephen King's It, huh?" Alfred inquired as he watched you flip to your bookmark.

"Yeah! Have you read it?" you asked with a twinkle in your eyes.

        He chuckled nervously. "Yeah, but I had nightmares for weeks afterward. I couldn't even go on vacation to Maine with some of my friends."

        "It scared you that bad?"

        "Don't get me wrong, I love all things horror related, but they make me so paranoid and anxious. I hate that about myself, but that's just how I am, and I've got to respect that. I'm all about the self respect and love thing."

        "I understand. I'm sort of the same way. I love the genre, but the genre doesn't love me back. It's the same way with greasy pizza or any food that you absolutely love but shouldn't have because it gives you indigestion."

"Dude! You nailed the analogy right on the head! That's exactly how it is. Like you just want to keep going back for more even though it's probably no good for you."

"Precisely. It's kind of crazy, isn't it?"

"What is?"

"The fact that so many people can just go through their own kind of torture simply because one thing pleases them so much despite the suffering it can cause them."

"Now that you mention it, yeah. We live in a society of masochists, I guess."

"But that means they enjoy having pain inflicted upon themselves by another person or party. I mean, I guess it could be masochism if you want to be technical about it."

"Yeah. Like the person kind of had the torture brought upon them by the person who wrote or created the movie or book or brought or cooked them the food."

You crinkled your nose slightly. "Masochism isn't doing it for me though. Is there a word for when someone finds enjoyment in self inflicted pain?"

"Probably, but I can't think of one."

"Me neither..."

"Well, I'll leave you to your book."

"Alright."

You offered him a smile before you began reading. You read for about an hour and a half, leaving you with about six hours left on your flight. You sighed and turned your attention to the movie Alfred had started to watch about twenty minutes ago. You ended up reading the subtitles he had on as he listened to the audio with his headphones. It looked like one of the Mission Impossible movies, but you couldn't tell which one it was since you hadn't watched any of those movies all the way through in one sitting. The movie ended, leaving you still staring at his screen as the credits rolled lazily up the monitor. You heard Alfred chuckle, which snapped your concentration.

"You know you could have just pulled the movie up on your TV or asked to share my earbuds."

"I didn't want to interrupt you since you seemed to be enjoying."

"It would have been okay. I wouldn't have minded."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course!"

"Okay..."

"Hey, I've been meaning to ask you something."

"You have?"

"Yep! Would you mind if I asked?"

"Well, you've asked me one questions already, so a second won't hurt. Shoot."

"Awesome. How did you and your friends choose all eighteen countries to visit?"

"We each chose two countries that we really wanted to go to. That got us to fourteen. Then we made a collective decision on the four remaining countries we wanted to go to."

"Nice! Everyone had to agree on all he countries though, right?"

"Yeah! It wasn't difficult though. We all sort of have the same thought process."

"You guys are so cute."

You blushed and looked down at your lap. "I wouldn't call us cute. Mostly because Darcy and Val would probably smack you. They don't like labels like that."

         "Not sure he first time I'd be slapped for calling someone cute."

         "You've been slapped for that?! By who?"

         "A friend of mine. He got all flustered when someone made a small advance on him, so I said he looked cute. He didn't take too kindly to that and smacked me. I laughed it off though. He can't hit very hard anyway."

         "Oh... Well, I'm sure Darcy and Val hit harder then him, so just to let them hear you calling them that."

        "Duly noted."

        You nodded and ended the conversation there. The two of you went back to watching movies, but this time it was on your own screens with your own headphones. Three movies tied you over until the flight was over, you had to admit that the landing wasn't as smooth as the take off, but it still wasn't as bad as you thought it would be, and the airline food wasn't that bad either. You still wouldn't call it the best though. The plane was dismissed row by row, and you managed to catch up with the rest of your group just outside the plane exit. Alfred made sure everyone was together before heading to the baggage claim area. Once everyone had their belongings, he led you all outside outside of the airport after everyone had a quick bathroom break. He turned to everyone, smiling.

        "My dudes, welcome to Germany!"

~Author's Note~

DreamsForDays here! Guys, next chapter will have our next two boys. I'm sure you can guess who they are. I was kind of pressed for time for this update, but I managed to get it out on time! Yay for that! I hope this chapter was enjoyable! Thanks for reading! Feedback in the comments is always appreciate! Until next time!