Someone to Hold

Call of Duty Free

Brooks rubbed his eyes and squinted as he filled out his arrival card. Shit they asked a lot of questions. Next thing you know they'd want to know the colour of his underwear. None. His jaw cracked as his mouth stretched into a yawn. Nearly fourteen hours was way too long to be on a plane. Even a flat bed seat and a set of comfy pj's didn't make that shit any better. Still he could have been stuck back in cattle class with the other poor saps instead of in business class so that was a tiny positive in a generally miserable experience.

"Wow man, you practically unhinged your jaw. Are you part anaconda?" Johnny snatched the pen from his hand looking way to perky behind his sunglasses for such an early hour of the morning. Brooks didn't even have the energy to flip him off.

Johnny glanced quickly at the orange card, scrawled out his responses and flipped the pen back at Brooks. "You might want to consider your answers a bit more carefully," Brooks frowned.

"Nah man," Johnny grinned, "It's all good. We don't all have to be Mr Methodical like you." He grabbed the handle of his cabin bag and bounced enthusiastically on his toes.

"You won't be saying that when they snap on the rubber gloves to give you a body cavity search," Brian shot Johnny an evil grin as he breezed by one hand holding the handle of his own cabin bag and the other holding his fiancée Steph's hand.

"Fuck you Gates, last one to the duty free can eat a dick!" The arrival card in Johnny's hand crumpled as he gave Brian the finger and set off in the direction of the arrivals hall in a stiff legged speed walk.

"Like fuck!" Brian dropped both Steph's hand along with his carry on and took off after Johnny at more of a jog than a walk.

Steph just shrugged, picked up Brian's bag and took off after them. Brooks scrubbed his hands over his face. He was only a few years older than the rest of them but sometimes it felt like decades. He sighed and picked up his own bag as well as his wife Kelly's and began to trudge after the others.

"All good man?" Zacky asked as he fell into step beside him along with his girlfriend Kelly. There was another minor annoyance; the name of Zacky's girlfriend who was also Matt's future sister-in-law. Kelly. Could her parents not have christened her with any other name but Kelly? Shit got confusing sometimes. Still Zacky had pretty much dealt with the name confusion by giving his Kelly a multitude of nicknames.

"Everyone gone on ahead?" Zacky asked as he pushed two four wheeled bags along back to back and looped his other arm around Kelly's shoulders.

"They've hit the duty free shop," Brooks replied as the promised land with shelf after shelf of premium liquor came into view.

"Well I'm out," Kelly who was rocking a baby bump sighed with a longing look at the bright colours and substantial savings ahead.

"You'll still get your allocations worth though right?" Zacky looked hopeful then frowned. "But I can totally not drink if you'd prefer it." Zacky's expression was that of a man who was prepared to suffer deprivation but hoped he wouldn't have to.

Brooks's lips twitched, the guy like Brian and Matt was totally whipped. He remembered that stage, the one before you realised that your partner wasn't perfect and a relationship involved give and take.

Kelly's lips curled in a sympathetic smile as she leaned in to her boyfriend, "Would I do that to you Poodle? I know how much you've been looking forward to drinking cocktails on the beach. Pick four bottles of what you want and a jumbo pack of headache pills."

Brooks had to agree with Zacky, the prospect of drinking cocktails overlooking the ocean was an alluring one. Hopefully he and his Kelly would not only be able to do just that but also find some time alone. The usual parental guilt had kicked in when they'd decided to leave their boys at home for the duration of their trip Downunder. Well obviously they hadn't left the boys home alone, they were hanging with one of Brooks's brothers which meant inevitably any and all rules put in place around bedtimes, healthy diets and appropriate language would fall by the wayside because...uncles.