Make Me (Editing)

thirty one

"You really don't need more than one suit," I insisted to a rather persistent Tyler. "The wedding is literally the only formal thing we're doing."

"Fine," he spoke from the other end of the phone. "But I'm packing two shirts just in case."

"Oh, and it's winter over there so it'll be like.. fifty degrees most of the time," I attempted to convert my units into Fahrenheit, something which was much more difficult than was necessary. "Make sure you pack some warm clothes."

"I think you're forgetting that I live in New York, Al," he chuckled through the line. "You haven't seen winter here yet, but it hardly gets above thirty."

"Oh man I'm so not ready for the new year," I groaned at the thought of below-zero weather. Sure, the snow was something I was excited for, but the frosty cold air that came along with it was not my cup of tea.

"You'll be right," he laughed. "So I'm picking you up in twenty, yeah?"

"As soon as you've packed," I replied. "So I'd better leave you to it otherwise we'll miss our flight."

"Very funny," he joked. "I'll be there in twenty."

After cutting the call, I pulled together the last of my luggage and gathered it by my door. Then, once I got the thumbs up from Tyler, I locked up my apartment and headed for the lobby, dragging my bags over to the shiny black Rolls-Royce which was parked on the curb side.

With the help of Tyler and his driver, my luggage was loaded into the trunk beside his own, before we loaded ourselves into the back seat and began our journey to JFK.

"Before I forget," Tyler began as we pulled away from my building, "I need to thank you for inviting me along with you on this trip. I'm seriously looking forward to meeting everyone and seeing where you grew up, and I'm honoured that you chose me."

"You're too sweet," I smiled, taking his hand into mine and giving it a gentle squeeze. "But I'm the one who should be thanking you for making the time to come along. I know you never do stuff like this, so I'm also honoured that you'd say yes."

"Of course I would," he smiled. "Without hesitation."

Despite my initial tossing up between my two suitors, I was definitely happy with my final decision. After the way I'd left things off with Nate, who'd conveniently apologised on voicemail multiple times before I'd woken up the morning after, it felt as though this was my chance to both let him consider his emotions, while I also sussed out mine for Tyler. If anything was going to expose cracks in a partnership, going overseas together would do just that.

Once we'd arrived at the airport, we made our way through the elaborate international check-in process, taking our seats at the terminal with just under half an hour to spare. Luckily, time flew by, and before we knew it we were settling into Business Class and taking off for the land down under.

I'd never flown Business, and hadn't really intended to on this trip either. Tyler, however, had only ever flown First Class, so this was our compromise. And I had to give it to him; the ride was infinitely more comfortable than any I'd been on before. But I'd never dare admit that loud.

Twenty-six hours later, we finally touched down on the tarmac in Melbourne. Considering the intense time-zone difference, we'd lost sixteen additional hours of life, and were certainly feeling like it too. Despite it being eight o'clock in the morning here, all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball somewhere and sleep.

"Have you got any messages from your brother yet?" Tyler asked as we waited for our bags to come round the turnstile.

"I haven't even checked," I replied sleepily. "That's probably a good idea though."