“Tina, honey, are you ok?”

“Yeah I’m fine.” I lied. I’m momentarily taken out of my recollection of Bette again by Eric tugging on my jacket sleeve. “It’s just I’m always kinda out of it after we touched down. You know being in the air so long and all.” I reply nervously. It seemed to the trick.

After the plane finally rolled to a complete stop, all of the other passengers began unbuckling their seatbelts and dialing their cell phones at the same time. Eric immediately stood to get our bags in the overhead compartment. Not wanting to get in his way or really force conversation with him while he did his thing, I focused on the faces of the people I just shared air space with for the past few hours. Some seemed stressed, others relieved, but everyone seemed to be in rush to get off of the plane. Not me, I wanted nothing more than to gain a few more minutes to compose myself in the privacy of the bathroom or something. While I continued to look around the cabin, I spotted an older man struggling to get this things from the overhead compartment.

“Eric, give me my stuff and go help that man over there.” I instructed my ‘manly’ boyfriend.

“Can’t do it babe. I got it all situated perfectly around me. Besides this stuff is heavy.”

“I can carry all of my own stuff you know.” I added frustrated.

“Hey far be it for me to stomp all over your independence Tina. But we are in the middle of an airplane and I got this stuff already. Look we’re already getting pushed out. Someone else will help him babe.”

“You don’t think it’s possible for you to possibly drop our things and go back there and help him?” I’m breathing slowly, willing my temper to go down. I know that he doesn’t mean to piss me off the moment that we touch down and begin our life in LA as a couple, but he isn’t doing anything to make me feel better about him either.

“What if I help carry his stuff as soon as we get out of this cramped space?” He asked innocently enough. True carrying four bags can be well a lot, but that wasn’t the point at the moment.