As the string trio were walking, with Hugh in the lead, the latter stopped.
"Guys, halt," he said, spreading his arms out.
"What is it, Hughie?" Melvyn asked, curious.
"Yeah, what happened?" Mik added. Not saying anything, Hugh silently gestured to the two to get in front of him. All of their eyes locked on a specific object.
"Oh, Melvyn... look," Mik said.
Like the other two, Melvyn's sparkling sapphire blue eyes scanned the area, until they locked on an enormous, blue-colored, smooth, fresh, shiny airliner.
Melvyn gasped.
"OH WOW!!! IT'S A PLAAAAANE," the clean-shaven cellist yelled. He jumped up and down for what seemed like 5 minutes. Mik and Hugh, peeling their shocked eyes away from the gorgeous aircraft, turned to look at Melvyn, startled.
"Errrrrm, how does he not get tired doing that?" Mik asked, ever so slightly uneasy. Hugh shook his head.
"Melvyn is just... Melvyn. You cannot question him. He transcends what we know about the universe and existence itself," Hugh replied, matter-of-factly.
Melvyn turned around with his eyes wide and his mouth wide open curled into a smile.
"Because, Mik... it's a plane! I love planes!!!" Melvyn replied, hyperactive.
"Uh... yeah... I can... see that you love planes... ahaha... ha..." Mik replied awkwardly.
"Not just planes!!! I LOVE SOARING!!!" Melvyn cried, throwing his hands in the air and looking up at the sky, his long feathery auburn hair flailing. Mik flinched and Hugh stood there silently staring at Melvyn.
Hugh cleared his throat.
"Um... okay then! Mel, your dream will come true!" Hugh replied, also awkwardly.
"REALLY?" Melvyn asked, grabbing Hugh's hands.
"Hugh, what do you mean?" Mik asked, confused. Hugh walked up to the plane.
"Wait, where are you going?" Mik asked, even more confused.
"HEY WAIT FOR ME YOU JERK!" Melvyn howled, charging after Hugh like an angry wasp. He left a puff of air as he ran after the younger cellist, the cool blast from the force of Melvyn's sprinting almost knocking Mik down.
"Guys, really. What are you two doing?" Mik asked, and he started jogging up to the two cellists.
"Oh, me? I'm going to fly the thing!" Hugh declared, flipping his long, shiny, glossy auburn hair out of his face. He stepped on the stairs of the airplane, with Melvyn behind him climbing them rapidly.
"What?" Mik asked, bewildered.
"Yes! You heard that right Mik! I, Hugh McDowell, am a qualified pilot!" Hugh declared pompously, standing in the plane. Melvyn turned around to face Hugh jaw-dropped.
"Are you sure? I don't believe you. Prove it," Mik spat, skeptical. He climbed up stairs to meet the other two.
Hugh stuck his hand in his dress shirt pocket and shifted it around in there and got out his pilot license and handed it to Mik.
"Yup, I ain't lying," the mustachioed pilot replied. Mik held the cold, plastic card in his hands and gazed at it.
"Huh... that's cool," he said, smiling.
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!!! YAAAAAAAY! THAT'S SO COOL!" Melvyn screamed, pulling his pilot friend close to him, giving him a tight hug. Hugh almost couldn't breathe.
"Oomf— grk... M-Melvyn please put me down... Hugh muttered, scared, and fighting for his breath.
Startled from Melvyn's sudden cry, Mik started leaning backwards and started flailing and yelled for one of the two cellists to help him.
"OH NO! MIK!!!" Melvyn cried. He threw Hugh off of him who landed on the floor of the plane and rushed over to Mik.
"NO! MY CARD!!!" Hugh wailed, struggling to get up. He rubbed the top of his head as it hurt. He couldn't stand, so he just sat there.
Melvyn pulled Mik back up and saved his life.
"A-are you okay? I thought we were going to lose you!" Melvyn asked, out of breath, his voice wavering.
Melvyn looked scared, his eyes slightly watery, like he was going to break down in tears.
"Yup! I'm fine!" Mik said, smiling.
"Ah... I'm so glad..." Melvyn replied, and brought the short, brunette violinist into a friendly, comforting hug.
They pulled away from each other.
"And I still have Hugh's card!" Mik exclaimed happily, showing the both of them the card. Melvyn squealed in delight, no longer on the verge of crying.
"Yay! My card is fine! And I'm also glad you're alright too, Mik," Hugh said, sighing in a relieved manner. Mik smiled at him.
"Can you please... give it to me please?" Hugh asked, visibly uncomfortable from being flinged onto the floor by Melvyn. Mik gave him the card back and Hugh put it back in his shirt pocket.
"Are you okay there Hugh?" Mik asked him.
"Yeah I'm—I'm fine... it's just that— ah... my head hurts... my whole body hurts actually..." the tall cellist responded, grimacing in pain.
"I'll help you up," Mik said, grabbing Hugh's hands and he pulled him up.
"Ahhh thank you Mik— AAAAH!" Hugh cried, standing still.
Melvyn whipped his head around.
"Hugh? Why did you scream?" Melvyn asked, clueless. Mik felt the same way to be honest.
"My feet... have muscle strain... maybe I shouldn't wear these platform heels all the time," Hugh complained.
"Maybe it's best you don't move so much," Mik interjected, concerned. Hugh shrugged.
"Nah, I'll be fine," he said. Mik sighed and didn't say anything.
"I'm really, really sorry, Hughie. I didn't mean to hurt you—it was just that... I was really, very excited and I just... I don't know what got into me!" Melvyn exclaimed, feeling guilty. He put his face in his hands and sat there in one of the passenger seats, sniffling and whimpering.
Sighing, Hugh walked over to the distraught man and wrapped his arm around his shoulder.
"Hey, it's okay Melvyn... I know you wouldn't ever intentionally hurt me in any way. But I have to admit, I didn't expect someone with a small and lean build like you to be... so strong.." Hugh said softly, giggling a bit. Melvyn looked up, his face wet.
"Haha yeah," came the reply. He wiped his face as he didn't want Hugh to see him cry.
"Come on, let's go explore the plane! Mik can come to if he wants," Hugh said, trying to cheer him up.
Melvyn shot up into the air like a rocket!
"YEEES!!!" he cried.
And so the three string players walked along the inside of the plane.
"Hey, it smells really good in here. It smells like..." Mik said, trying to think of the scent.
"Cookies???" Melvyn asked.
"No... it's more like... I don't know..." Mik muttered, scrunching his eyebrows and snapping, trying to stimulate his brain.
"It smells like cake to me..." Hugh blurted.
"Yeah! Cake! That's what I was trying to think of!" Mik explained, his eyes lighting up and his mouth morphed into a satisfied smile.
Melvyn inhaled aggressively.
"Mm... it smells very good! We must find the source of this delicious scent!" He cried triumphantly.
"Yeah he's right, I wonder where this scent is coming from..." Hugh asked, scratching his hairless chin.
"Maybe someone made a cake in here?" Melvyn asked eagerly. The other two looked at him.
"Yeah no, I highly doubt it," Hugh replied. Melvyn pouted.
"Maybe someone ate a cake in here?"
"Melvyn I don't think someone could fit an entire cake in one seat. Besides, I don't think they'd be allowed to," said Mik.
"Perhaps we could walk all the way to the end of the plane and find out if they have an air freshener somewhere, no?" Hugh asked, gesturing to the end of the plane on the inside.
"Good idea," Mik said.
And so the string trio walked all the way down to a plane and noticed that at every four sets of seats, there were air fresheners.
"Woah, those are air fresheners? Why didn't I notice that before?" Hugh asked.
"I don't know," Mik replied.
"Hm, oh well~" Hugh said.
Melvyn giggled.
"What's so funny, Mel?" Hugh asked.
"Hehe it says 'Beverley's Aromas'," Melvyn replied, referring to the brand name.
"What?" Hugh asked. He pulled out his phone and googled the name.
"Founded in 1910, by a woman with the name of Beverley Rhodes, this brand has changed the lives of many by making the inside of their homes smell good. From bakery sweet scents to more fruity scents, she has made quite the living for herself. People around the world have said that their lives changed for the better after spicing up their homes with her air fresheners, and they will continue to," Hugh recited.
"Well, that sounds nice," Mik said.
"Oh? That is quite nice indeed—it is funny now she shares the same name as Bev, as I almost thought it was Bev himself that came up with the product!" Melvyn replied, chuckling. The other two broke out in laughter.
"We do have to tell Bev when we get home," Hugh declared.
"So are you going to fly the plane or not?" Mik asked, slightly impatiently.
"Oh! Why yes—silly me, I forgot all about that!" Hugh responded.
The string trio headed back to the start of the plane, and they were pretty tired from all that walking.
"Whew! That was a workout," Melvyn claimed.
"It sure was— and you're right Hugh, there are air fresheners all over this place," Mik said.
"Hahaha 'Beverley's Aromas'," Melvyn parroted, finding the brand name quite funny.
"Haha yeah and it was funny that we didn't notice them," Hugh said, climbing into the cockpit. Melvyn sat right behind Hugh while Mik sat in the seat across from Melvyn on the other side, and fastened their seatbelts.
Hugh got the plane started and the plane started to move forward.
"This is so exciting!" Melvyn cried cheerfully.
"I guess you could call it a discovery!" Mik added.
"Yes!" Melvyn shouted, "more like: a disco-very! Hugh, to celebrate, pop in our Discovery album into the CD player!"
"Right on it!" Hugh cried as he reached into his right pink pant pocket and dug out Discovery and put it in the CD player. Shine A Little Love, the first song on the track, played as the string trio took off and lifted into the sky.
Author's Note: The name "Beverley Rhodes" is completely made up by me, as she and her brand name "Beverley's Aromas" are fictional and therefore not real. If there are any real Beverley Rhodes out there, and if there is a real brand named "Beverley's Aromas" then I apologize for the coincidences.