One Of The Guys

"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking" the man's voice that came over the intercom woke me. "Our current altitude is 36,000ft, we are flying directly over the Atlantic ocean. Distance to our destination is about 1,500 miles, about three hours til landing. Cabin crew will now be passing through the cabin distributing your complimentary meals"
As soon as the plane took off, four hours ago, I fell asleep. Waking up dazed, with my hair sticking up in all directions, I looked to CC. He was still asleep, his head tilted back on the seat, mouth wide open. I laughed to myself.
"CC" I called, he didn't budge.
"Ceeeee, Ceeeeee" he snorted a little. He hadn't been feeling too good earlier on, when we boarded. I guess he was just sleeping it off now, so I left him alone to sleep.
I turned my attention to the in-flight service screen in front of me. I mindlessly flicked through the movies and TV shows, finding nothing of my interest. I turned around in my seat to look at Ashley and Jake, who were in the row behind.
"Hey, do either of you want to play battleship?"
"Sure, I'll play" said Jake.
We were able to link our screens together and play against each other, but I kept losing because Jake could see my screen through the gap in the chairs. We played for about an hour before we got bored.
I looked back to CC who was still sleeping. He looked a little pale, and had beads of sweat abound his forehead. I tried to wipe it off with a paper towel. Man, he didn't look good at all. He was starting to burn up. I had no idea how to help him. I guess letting him sleep was the best I could do. I turned back to Jake and Ashley.
"Guys, CC doesn't look to good" I said.
"He's probably just caught a travelling bug" said Ashley. "Let him sleep tonight and tomorrow, he should be better in time for the first show" he explained.
I slumped back into my chair. I put on headphones and listened to music until I fell asleep again.
I was woken up with a bump. We had landed.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Dublin. Local time is 8.15pm. The current temperature is 51F, and it is raining. I would like to thank you for choosing to fly AirLingus and wish you safe travels on the remainder of your journey"
I shook CC to wake him up.
"CC we're here! We're in Ireland" I said excitedly.
He woke up drowsy, obviously sick. We got off the plane, collected our bags and headed for the hotel. Our manager has this so-called 'great' idea that to avoid fans, instead of staying in one of the fancier hotels, we stay in an average one. It actually turned out to be pretty nice, although the alley it was situated on wasn't too welcoming, entering the hotel was like leaving Kansas and entering Oz. We didn't get to see too much of the city as it was already dark. We went straight to the hotel and right to sleep.
CC and I were sharing a room. He worsened through the night. I could hear him up every couple hours, throwing up in the bathroom. My heart went out to him.
*
With the time change, almost everyone slept in. Dublin was 6hrs ahead which meant, if you normally woke up at 10am, it was 4pm in Dublin. I, however set an alarm to try get my body used to the switch. I looked down at sleeping CC, no way could I wake him from his slumber.
I got dressed and made my way to the lobby. I checked out the tourist brochures.
"Hey, you're up early" Andy's voice came from behind me. I turned around to find him already dressed too.
"I like to adjust to the time difference as quickly as I can" I said.
He looked at me from top to bottom, he bit his lip.
"What are you staring at?" I laughed.
"Come with me, we're going exploring" he said while taking my hand.
"No, Andy, I have to look after CC, he's really ill"
"[name], CC is fine. Plus, he's not going to wake up for hours. You want to just sit in that hotel room all day, while the whole city is waiting to be explored?" he smiled at me.
I thought about it for a second. He was right.
"Okay fine" I said. He smiled at me again, it was infectious.
"Okay, follow me" he said, taking my hand, we ventured out into Dublin City.

Notes