Sorry, Plane Buddy

Yesterday I bid my family a tearful farewell and got on a jet plane back to P-town. Nicole and I were travel buddies and I've never had such an enjoyable flight!

I'm sure the guy sitting next to us has had many more enjoyable flights.

His flight started with security and checking in, which no one enjoys. Then he boarded with the C group. Also not ideal. Then he walked all the way to the back of the plane. He saw two cute girls. He thought his day was looking up. He asked if he could sit with them. They said sure. His heart rejoiced.

Then one of them stood on his seat for 5 minutes looking for Ibuprofen and headphones for the other one.

Then they pulled out a 5-course meal.

He opened his Southwest-provided magazine. He browsed through, looking for a conversation-starter. He found it. He nudged the girl sitting next to him. He said, "Are you girls freshmen in college?"

The girl next to him got a sour look on her face. She said, "Senior." And turned back to her phone. The one by the window said, "Sophomore," in a little bit nicer of a voice.

This conversation wasn't going exactly how he had planned. He didn't know what to do. He tried to just jump back in. He pointed at the picture. It said, "On average, college freshmen girls gain 3.1 lbs in their first semester of school."

The girls looked at the picture. They read the words. They looked at him. His heart sank at their confused (and mildly insulted) expressions. The girls said, "Hmmm."

Then they jammed headphones in their ears and proceeded to fall asleep, lounging all over each other. When they woke up, they giggled and chattered. How was the poor boy supposed to know they weren't freshmen in college?

He thought about making amends. He offered them his peanuts. They politely declined. He ate them all. The girls ate some more of their 5-course meal.

When they landed, he tried one more time. The conversation quickly fell flat. And when they saw each other again at the baggage claim, one of the girls was chattering with her friend and the other was kissing her boyfriend.