****
Joey yawned and stretched in his reclined seat before opening his eyes to see a very large male face in his view. He made a noise and rolled over for a more pleasant view of Sophie. She had changed from what she’d worn as they boarded the plane and now she was in sand colored linen pants and a sleeveless white blouse that hung open at her neck to allow a nice view of her collarbones. She sat curled up, her body a makeshift pillow for JC’s upper body while she read a book and ran her fingers through his hair as he slept.
“Morning Joey Beautiful.” She said softly, turning to kiss his nose. Joey smiled but didn’t answer. He reached down and dug through his backpack before finding a little bag and standing up. He couldn’t get past Mike, but he slid along the seatbacks in front of Sophie and the curled up JC, doing his best to not bother Dani, Chris, and Lonnie as they too slept. Sophie followed him with her eyes and smiled at him before returning to her book.
There was a loud grunt and Sophie looked over to see Todd shoving Big E’s arm off his face. Sophie giggled and Todd turned to face her.
“Oh sure, you laugh all you want, but let’s see you sit here on the way back.”
“Sorry Oddish.” Sophie whispered, but kept giggling as she watched him struggle more to get in a good position without having E’s hands all over him. Joey came back from the lavatory and slid back to his seat.
“Good morning my love.” He said, smiling and kissing her cheek. “Sorry I didn’t say anything before… morning breath.”
“That’s what I figured.” Sophie smiled. “How did you sleep?”
“Fine. But not as good as he’s sleepin.” Joey motioned to JC. “Out of all of us to cuddle, you pick the one who falls asleep standing up.” He shook his head, but his eye sparkled with mischief. Sophie smiled back, but looked down at the peaceful man in her arms.
“I picked the one with the most worries Joey Beautiful. This is going to be a long couple of days for him.”
“Yeah, but it’s his own fault.” Joey grumbled good-naturedly and put his head on Sophie’s shoulder.
“I know. But it’s never really our fault when we love people who don’t love us back.”
“That’s why you have to get it in writing.” A sleepy feminine voice said from the row in front of them. Dani stretched a hand in the air and held up her placemat from the meal the night before. All across it in Chris’ sketchy writing was “I love Danielle, no, not Fishell, the other one.” Joey and Sophie laughed and Dani’s head appeared over her seatback. “You don’t wanna know where I wrote my confession.” She wiggled her eyebrows and struggled to cross the sleeping Dre.
“That’s just wrong.” Sophie laughed softly.
“You think that, and you’ve never even seen the guy naked.” Joey replied, making a face.
“And you have?” Sophie raised an eyebrow.
“Ssh, don’t tell. Justin would be jealous.” He whispered back.
“Jealous of what?” The young man’s voice grumbled from across the aisle.
“I thought you were asleep.” Joey giggled.
“Not like I could, with you two laughin hyenas over there.”
“Sorry Sugar.” Sophie managed to say before dissolving in hushed giggles with Joey.
“Yeah yeah yeah.” Justin mumbled, struggling to his feet and heading off to the bathroom.
“Good morning to you too Sunshine.” Wes said, not even bothering to open his eyes as Justin simply crawled over him. Sophie and Joey just laughed harder. JC began to stir in his sleep and Sophie instantly quieted.
“You can’t wake him up by laughing Sophie my love.” Joey said. “Well, Chris could, but not you.”
“Still,” Sophie whispered. “I feel bad waking everybody up.”
“We had to get up sometime.”
“Well hey cowboy.” Joey said smiling up at Lance. Lance saluted his friend with one finger to his temple and looked at Sophie.
“Did you sleep at all?” He seemed worried.
“Of course.” She said simply.
“Oh, because whenever I woke up you were reading.”
“Maybe you just wake up at the wrong times.” She smiled at him, but it was a fake smile. He shook his head and moved on.
“I feel so much better.” Dani stood in the aisle and stretched her body up towards the ceiling. “Now to the daunting task of waking everybody else up and getting things moving.”
“I don’t think it’ll be that hard.” Sophie said. “The flight attendants are getting ready for breakfast anyway.” Just then, there were clanking sounds as the breakfast carts were being readied.
“Sophie, child you are a wonder.” Dani laughed.
“I’ve been telling you that forever.” Chris’ voice came from his seat. His head appeared, very bedraggled. “She never listens to me Sofa-girl, never.” He complained.
“What was that honey?” Dani smirked. Chris bounded over Dre and hopped into the aisle. “Oh no, not till you brush your teeth. You had pickles last night, and I don’t want to know what they’re like now. Lonnie?” She called, holding a puckered up Chris at arms length. “Could you reach in Chris’ bag and pull out his toothbrush? I’ve already got the toothpaste.”
“Shue.” Lonnie’s groggy mouth formed as he woke up just enough to do what he was asked. He tossed the brush to Dani who managed to catch it as she jumped away from Chris who chased her the rest of the way to the bathroom. They flew past Justin as he walked back to his seat, scratching his head in a very non-hearthobish way.
“Mile high club?” He asked with a playfully grossed out face.
“God let’s hope not.” Wes answered with a yawn. Justin came to stand by Mike’s seat and seemed to see JC’s sleeping position for the first time.
“Lucky bastard.” He smiled. Sophie blushed and chuckled. “I aim to please.”
“Then could you maybe move France closer to Tennessee? I think my butt fell off a few hours ago.” Lonnie complained as he stood up.
“Turn around Lulee.” Sophie said, twirling her finger. The man shook his head and laughed, but turned around, giving his rump a shake.
“Nope, still there.” Joey proclaimed. Lonnie laughed and headed off.
“Alright, next time someone else is sitting here. I can’t take it anymore!” Todd cried as once again Big E slapped him in the face.
“I’ll sit there if it means I don’t have to hear you whine. God, I thought the kids were bad.” Mike grumbled loudly. Both men stood and glared at each other before laughing.
“Did I miss something?” Justin asked.
“If you did, so did I.” Joey answered.
“I think they were just taking a piss out of each other.” The guys looked at Sophie. “They were just goofing off.”
“Ooohh.” The two said together, nodding.
“Sir, we’re about to begin serving breakfast, so we ask that you take your seat and leave the aisles clear.” A flight attendant said, touching Justin on the shoulder. He sat down and wiggled happily in his seat.
“Hey Lance, wake Randy up.” Joey called as Lance returned to his seat. Lance nodded. “And you should pry wake Prince Charming too.” He said lowly to Sophie.
“But he’s such an angel when he’s sleeping.” Sophie replied looking over at Big E.
“I meant JC, knucklehead.” Joey laughed.
“My mistake.” Sophie giggled. “But somebody really should wake E-ner too.”
“I’ll do it.” Chris said, coming up the aisle.
“And I’ll wake Sweets.” Sophie looked at the man in her lap, his mouth was parted slightly and he looked very peaceful. She rubbed his arms. “Sweets, it’s time to get up. They’re serving breakfast.”
“It’s the most important meal of the day.” Joey said softly into JC’s ear.
“Come on Sweets, wake up.” Sophie kissed his hairline and patted his chest.
“I’m up.” JC mumbled, stretching his arms back, narrowly missing Sophie and Joey’s faces.
“And that’s the thanks we get.” Joey huffed. Sophie laughed and JC seemed to wake up suddenly.
“Oh my gosh,” He jumped up into a sitting position and spun on the leather seat to face Sophie. “How long have I been sleeping like that?”
“Most of the night.” She replied, wiggling her toes to regain sensation in her legs.
“Why didn’t you wake me up?”
“We just did.” Joey said, shaking his head.
“Don’t worry about it Sweets. They’re serving breakfast soon, so do what you have to quick before they block the aisle.”
“Sleep well JC?” Lonnie smirked as he walked past.
“Best night of my life.” JC returned, but he wasn’t looking at Lonnie.