Work Text:
“I am not sitting here.”
“Ma’am,” the tired flight attendant replied, “I’m sorry that we had to downgrade you, we didn’t mean to overbook the flight-”
“Then find me another first-class seat! I can’t believe you think I would ever fly coach. I knew I should’ve invested in that jet-”
“Mrs. Monroe, we can’t leave unless you sit down. If you don’t comply, I’m going to get someone to escort you off.”
Linda Monroe was pissed. First, the attendants told her they overbooked their first-class seating. Then, they had to take her back to the poor part of the plane. And lastly, the only empty seat was next to her least favorite person in the entire world: Becky Barnes, who was trying to ignore Linda’s tantrum by focusing on her book. Not wanting to be further humiliated, Linda sat down in her new seat, mumbling about how she was going to sue the airline for emotional damages as soon as she got back to Hatchetfield.
The fact they were leaving from the same city at the same time on the same plane was an incredible coincidence. Becky was in New York City volunteering for the big “Change Maker: a Benefit for Children” fundraiser; Linda was in New York City to see the Damn Yankees Broadway revival. In Linda’s mind, the fact that both of their trips ended on the same day was a sick, twisted joke.
The blonde tried her best to get comfortable. Of course the poor person section of the plane had shitty little seats with little to no personal space. For a moment, Linda almost pitied the people who always had to fly this way before remembering that they should just stop being poor instead.
Becky was already over it. Linda was still causing a scene, silently but dramatically trying her hardest to get situated. The redhead tried her best to ignore it, but soon realized it was impossible. “Linda, don’t tell me you’ve never been on a plane before.”
Linda looked at Becky like she was stupid. “Of course I’ve been on a plane before,” she responded, “I just haven’t been in such a dingy little section like this before. I would say I don’t understand how you can put up with this, but we all know you don’t have any standards.”
Becky rolled her eyes and focused on her book again. The only good part about this situation was that the flight was only two hours long, assuming nothing delayed it. The blonde next to her pulled out a sleeping mask from her purse. Great, at least Linda would likely be asleep for the rest of the trip.
One take-off later, she was right. Linda was out cold by the time they got off the ground, most likely due to some “sleeping supplements” she snuck on with her. Thankfully, Linda was a quiet sleeper, giving Becky some peaceful time to herself. Until she felt something hit her shoulder, that is.
In her slumber, Linda rolled her head all the way onto Becky’s shoulder. The nurse felt conflicted. She could try to push her off, but that might end with Linda waking up, which was not something Becky wanted to deal with. The other option was just to let her sleep, which had the potential to end in Linda waking up and causing a fuss over why Becky let her lean on her shoulder for so long. Wanting to at least get a good chunk of her book read before starting a fight, Becky went with the latter.
The extra weight wasn’t a big deal. It’s not like Linda’s head bothered her so much, and it felt sort of… nice . It reminded her of the time she and Tom took a train into Detroit for one of Becky’s fundraisers. He had fallen asleep on the way there and ended up leaning on her, just the way Linda was now.
Wait, what? Why was Becky comparing Linda to her boyfriend ? She immediately pushed those thoughts out of her head and once again refocused on her book; Mr. Collins just proposed to Elizabeth, and she needed to know whether she would accept his offer.
The rest of the flight went without incident. Elizabeth rejected Mr. Collins, and by the time they made it to the Hatchetfield airport, she had decided to marry Mr. Darcy instead. In the actual world, Linda was still fast asleep on Becky’s shoulder. Not wanting to cause a scene, the redhead nudged the blonde gently. “Linda, hey, we’re here.”
Linda woke up groggily. It was obvious she was in the middle of a deep sleep. She took off her mask and rubbed her eyes, not realizing the position she was just in. “Already? Thank God this nightmare is almost over. That pillow they gave me was hard as a rock. Just something else to bring up in the lawsuit, they're really digging themselves a hole this time.”
Becky once again rolled her eyes. “Linda, they didn’t give you a pillow.”
Linda glared at her seat companion. Was she really going to start a fight over this? “Of course they did, what else would I have been sleeping-” looking around her, she realized there was no pillow in sight. Then what could she have been sleeping on? Confused, she looked at Becky, and immediately realized what had happened. Thoroughly embarrassed, she huffed. “Well, invest in shoulder pads before you offer your services to anyone else, Becky , you’re lucky I’m too busy to sue you for circulation loss.” With that, she snatched her purse from under her seat and hustled off of the plane, pushing several people out of her way in the process.
Becky stared after her in disbelief. Out of all the emotions she could have gone with, Linda chose embarrassed ? She expected her to stay and yell at her for at least five more minutes, or even laugh at how ridiculous Becky was for letting her sleep like that for so long. If Becky didn’t know any better, she would say her mortal enemy seemed flustered. The entire situation was strange, as if some mischievous entity staged the entire thing.
Pushing every thought about Linda out of her head, Becky started gathering her things in order to exit the plane. Tom was already waiting for her in the airport, and she wanted nothing more than to feel his embrace again after such a long trip. Getting her carry-on out of the overhead, she embarked on the last leg of her journey back home.