chapter 3

Feeling a little less full, Mia politely tried to eat some more and managed to finish her two plates. “Lunch AND dinner, I guess!” she giggled, excusing her bigger than usual appetite. “It is so good though!”

“We’ve only got 20 minutes now, we’d better tuck into this pudding” Noah joked. “Genuinely though, those crepes look so good.” breathed Mia. “Fudge it, they’re too sticky for a doggy bag. We’re gonna have to have at least one.” She handed Noah a full chocolate crepe and took one for herself. They finished almost but one of them and Noah held it up to Mia’s mouth. “Go on, it’s the last one, we can’t leave them here!” Mia felt her normally loose shirt stretched around her belly. “I ugh, I don’t think I can. You have it.” Noah tried his best to push it down, feeling tight too.

Mia looked at Noah as he struggled a little to straighten as he stood up. She felt her breathing quicken and a tingle of excitement. She was always attracted to him, but something about his tight jumper was — she couldn’t quite work it out. Her thoughts quickly shifted to getting to their gate on time. She gathered the few left cheesy nachos into a few napkins and placed them into the side pocket on Noah’s bag.

They headed for the gate and joined the small priority queue which had just started forming. Mia felt her shirt tug under her round tummy as they stood waiting. Noah noticed the blue vertical stripes on her shirt were a little wider than before from behind.

They passed through the gate check for boarding and were guided towards their seats. They’d booked quite some time before and so had chosen good seats towards the front of the plane. As the other passengers boarded, Mia and Noah organised their belongings.

“Could you put my jumper up there?” Mia asked Noah. “Uhuh” he replied as he stood up, stretching to open the compartment and stow the jumper. His t-shirt rode up, revealing his protruding belly underneath. Mia tensed her legs, excited. Noah self-consciously pulled it down again and sat back into the seat.

A few minutes of chat later and the sound of the plane's engine started. The seat belt sign luminated on the screens in front of the passengers. Noah watched Mia fasten her belt. It pressed her shirt tighter between her chest and belly, highlighting her roundness. He so wanted to put his hand there and only a minute later he found his excuse; running his hand over her lower belly to grab his bag on the other side.

“You can’t still be hungry?” Mia giggled. “Only erm… no just wanted a drink” Noah replied, fumbling with the zip. Mia raised an eyebrow and handed him the included bottle of water from the cup holder in front of them. “Oh erm of course, silly me!” he mumbled, fidgeting with the bottle.

The pilot’s pleasant voice interrupted them, forecasting clear skies and a smooth journey followed by an introduction of the crew. Two flight attendants gave the safety demonstration and then took their seats and the plane was off.

Mia and Noah usually went away twice a year, often flying, but this year was to be the farthest and longest time they'd ever been together. After resting for a little, Mia picked the in-flight magazine up.

“Looking for a miniature can of Coke and crisps that are actually just one crisp and some air?” Noah tittered. Mia chuckled. “Maybe we could have some ‘rice au’ carrot’” she joked back. “Oh wait, this actually doesn’t look so bad.” she continued, thumbing the menu. “Pity we ate before the flight.”

Noah spotted an offer on the menu. “Wait look, it says Premium Economy comes with two meals on the duration of the flightl!”

“Just because you can doesn’t mean—” Mia started “We’re ordering it. It’s free!” Noah butted in.

“You’ve had enough.” Mia pretended to scold him, poking his still protruding stomach. Noah tried to suck in jokily to prove he had space, but found he was unable to. “Well we’ll see in a bit, I’m beginning to feel a bit snackish” he lied.

An hour into the flight, both Mia and Noah had settled down and were snoozing on each other. Noah was awoken by the sound of the catering trolley being wheeled up the aisle towards them. The flight attendant stopped. “What would you like for your inclusive meal, sir?” Noah rubbed his eyes and nudged Mia awake. “I erm… What do you recommend?” he managed to say. The attendant promptly replied. “We have a particularly good all-day breakfast. I recommend it, it's very filling.” Noah still half asleep nodded. “Two of those then, please.” The attendant took note. “And drinks?” Mia hazily glanced at the open magazine on the fold up table. “Erm, a couple beers... whatever you’ve got.” They thanked him as he turned to serve the couple across the aisle. It wasn’t long, however, before he turned back.

“Excuse me for bothering you. The lady and gentleman here wonder if you’d like their meals.” The lady nearest to them continued. “We’d not want it to go to waste and we pre-ordered lasagne when we booked.” Mia and Noah looked at each other. “Uh-uh…” stuttered Mia looking around for any other potential takers, but only seeing empty seats. “Sure… that’s very kind of you and you’re totally sure?” “Totally!” the lady replied. The attendant continued up the aisle.

“Not again!” Mia whispered to Noah despairingly. He was enjoying this a lot — but even then, he couldn’t imagine either of them finishing more than some crisps let alone two full meals.

They settled down to watch some downloaded movies. A little into watching, as was habit, Noah brought out their snacks which they unconsciously began to eat their way through. They were halfway into their third blockbuster, all snacks eaten, when their ordered food arrived. The two of them took their headphones off to take the dishes. Both had to put a tray on their lap as well as filling up their fold up tables.