"Well, just the two of us," I pointed out since we had been on trips for his channel. Only three over the hundreds he'd been on, but we had been on a plane together a few times before. However, we’d always been accompanied by members of his crew.
"Yeah. It feels different though, right? Without Jed and Priscilla?" He named the two people who had worked with him on his channel the longest, but I still didn't like that Priscilla had already found her way into our conversation. Not that she shouldn't. She was about to marry Easton, for goodness’ sake. But I still didn't like it. Jealousy was not only ugly, it often didn't make sense.
"It does," I said as I waited for takeoff so that I could lean my seat back and take a much needed nap. My brain felt muddled, and I didn't like talking to Easton when I was in such a state. Especially considering I was already feeling jealous.
"Was yesterday crazy with all of the relatives coming into town?" I asked, and then I snapped my rogue mouth shut. Why did it keep opening? And really, that was what I was going to ask Easton? About his wedding prep when I was already ready to let the green-eyed monster reign free?
But somewhere, part of my poor, sleep-deprived brain tried to make its tired argument. I'd avoided any talk of his mom and Priscilla's family and friends coming into town thus far. I was Easton's friend. Shouldn't I at least ask?
Evidently in my sleepy state, my brain was not only jealous, it was a glutton for punishment. The last thing sane Josie wanted to talk about on our very first and last trip together was Easton and Priscilla's wedding plans.
"Yup." Easton popped the p on the word, a tell-tale sign that he was agitated by the situation. Easton didn't do annoyed often, but when he was irritated, he popped his p's.
I knew Easton hadn't loved wedding prep, but I hadn't realized it was annoying him as well. It made sense that I knew nothing. When was the last time I hadn't run when anything wedding related came up in conversation? Even if I didn't want it to happen, especially now knowing Priscilla was just using Easton, so far, it was happening. And as Easton's best friend, I should know more. Maybe I couldn't handle being more involved in the actual preparations, but I could at least talk to him. See if I could facilitate a happier mental state for him.
I looked over at the man who I needed to be a better best friend to. His chestnut-colored hair stood straight up from how many times he'd run his fingers through it, telling me he was not only annoyed and aggravated, he was stressed. The poor guy needed a friend, and I'd been running away.
"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked the question I would’ve given my right arm to avoid, but I loved Easton more than my right arm.
"Not really," he said as he pulled his phone out of his pocket to put on airplane mode. I fumbled around in my pocket to do the same when Easton groaned.
"Why are they already up and planning this early?" he asked. His phone must’ve been full of text messages, considering the way he was scrolling and clicking from one conversation to another.
"My mom says I'm irresponsible for leaving right now," Easton said, and I changed the settings on my phone while not looking at it. Fortunately, I knew my phone pretty well. Evidently, despite Easton's earlier claim, we were going to talk about this.
I couldn't exactly disagree with his mom. If Easton had been leaving days before I was going to marry him, I'd be upset as well. Why was he leaving?
"I just needed a break, you know?" Easton said as if he could read my mind. We'd been friends for so long, maybe he could. Except if he could, he would know how I felt about him, and I doubted he'd be sitting here calmly if that were the case.
"This whole wedding thing came out of nowhere, and now it's here so fast and ..."
I wanted to ask Easton if he was having second thoughts. But would that question be for me or for him? Even if I planned on killing all wedding plans within the next couple of days, for now, it was still happening. And right now, I needed to be here for him. I thought through what I would say if Sophia were having the same worries, and I knew the exact question I would ask. So I found the courage to ask it.
"Are you sure you're doing the right thing?" I asked quietly.
Easton had to lean in to hear me over the engines of the plane. If Easton could come to the conclusion that the wedding was all wrong for him on his own, that would make my life oh so much easier.
Easton drew in a deep breath and didn't answer until the plane began backing out of our spot at the airport.
"Yeah, I think so," he said as he let out his breath.
No such luck. I guess my plan for the end of the trip was still on track.
"Marriage has always been expected of me," Easton continued. "Heck if I know why, considering the mess my parents’ first marriage was. But I think they've found happiness now, and they want that for me. A stable, careful relationship where two people are working toward a common goal."
Well that sounded ... really boring. Maybe not, if it was combined with heart-melting, soul-stirring love.
But that part of marriage wasn't necessary in Easton's parents' books, so it wasn't necessary for Easton. I knew Easton had a mind of his own in most things, but when it came to this one issue, for some reason he couldn't see beyond the values that had been ingrained in him by both sets of parents for years. It didn't matter the many times I'd told him how a marriage full of passionate love worked for so many that I loved. My parents, my brothers, and my sister. Aunts and uncles, friends from many walks of life. Easton always had a statistic or an opposing terrible love story for every good one I had, making him believe all the more he was right.
He knew where I stood on that topic, and I knew where he stood. In opposite camps. He'd only seen marriage work when it was well thought out and planned, no better than a business decision. Whereas I'd seen it work with my parents through thick and thin, sickness and health, for richer or for poorer because they were so in love with each other. Even thirty years later, my dad still stole a kiss every time he walked into a room my mom was in.
"I knew, even at eighteen, that I wanted to find a girl who would fit into my life, and we'd walk side by side. But I couldn't need her." Easton said the words I'd heard come out of both his mom’s and dad's mouths, word for word. Don't need your spouse. Because then divorce is hard. Who in their right mind went into marriage planning the divorce? And of course divorce was hard. That's why you avoided it. But that wasn't the way the Prices looked at it. It was Easton's biggest flaw. Evidently his fatal flaw since it was killing any kind of future for us.
"Priscilla seems like that woman. She understands what marriage to me would mean, and she accepts it. I know it isn't going to be perfect, or even easy, but yeah, I think I'm doing the right thing," he said.
I wondered if now was the time to tell Easton the truth. That Priscilla was just using him for his money. But a tiny part of my brain reminded me that there was a chance Easton wouldn't see things my way. Easton could get so set in his ways. And if I said something now and for some crazy reason Easton still chose Priscilla, the trip would be ruined. It was only that thought that kept my mouth shut.
"Your eyes are closing," Easton said with a chuckle. I was grateful I could blame my long moments of silence on being tired. When honestly, it wouldn't have mattered when we’d had this conversation. I would’ve been contemplative no matter what.