Chapter Eighteen Boom! Trans People Are Banned from Flying Because of Us
Chapter Eighteen
Boom! Trans People Are Banned from Flying Because of Us
The light filtering in through the curtains is what wakes Owen up the following morning, and then the smell of frying bacon
hits his nose. He rolls over, a dull ache settling in his ankles and knees.
Then he notices the absence in the bed next to him. Without thinking, he stretches his hand out for Jacob. For a moment, Owen
almost wonders if it was all a dream, if he’s back in Kaitlyn and Abigail’s apartment, Jacob nowhere to be found.
He can still smell him, though.
He recognizes Dani’s guest room slowly, though the morning sun shows off the décor much better now.
There are a lot of whales. A stunning oil painting hangs framed on the wall, next to a sculpture made from driftwood.
There are whales on their sheets, the comforter; the wooden frame of the mirror has been carved in the shape of a whale complete with a tail.
There’s even a stuffed whale that must’ve fallen to the floor when Owen sat in the reading chair last night.
Owen lies there in bed for a moment, staring at the smooth ceiling as he listens to the rest of the house. There are no voices,
no talking, just some pots and pans being rattled around, the sound of the sink running. There’s no use lying to himself,
he’s listening for Jacob. For the sound of him in the shower or his laughter at a bad joke.
Some evidence that he didn’t leave again.
Stop it, Owen cuts off the thoughts before they can really get going.
With a hefty sigh, he stands, taking the time to stretch carefully, squatting a handful of times to loosen up his knees. After
brushing his teeth, Owen pulls on yesterday’s T-shirt and follows the sound of sizzling down the hallway toward the kitchen.
“Good morning!” Dani beams just as she’s setting a fresh plate of toast on the circular table.
“Good morning,” Owen parrots, voice dry, tired.
The kitchen is small, which makes it all that much cozier. The cabinets are painted a gorgeous sage green, and the wooden
countertops are littered with bowls, pots and pans all set out. Dani opens the door of the oven, a gorgeous piece of machinery
that Owen is immediately jealous over.
“There’s orange juice in the fridge if you want some,” she tells him, flipping a few pieces of bacon with tongs.
“Thank you.” Owen grabs the carton from the refrigerator, and then he sees Jacob. A much-younger Jacob in grainy black-and-white,
clipped right out of a student newspaper.
“That was on one of our early study-abroad programs at Duke. We went to work at the Misaki Marine Biological Station in Kanagawa,” Dani says, seeing where he’s looking as she comes around with a glass for Owen.
Owen remembers hearing about the trip. It was the first time Jacob had gotten to travel out of the country. When Owen asked,
Jacob said he thought that program was probably the reason he spent so much of his twenties bouncing around the world.
“How’d ya sleep?” Dani asks, cracking a few more eggs into the skillet on the stove.
“Great,” Owen admits, slinking into one of the kitchen chairs. “Thank you so much, again. For everything you’ve helped with.”
“Pfft.” Dani waves him off. “Jacob used to have to walk me home from every kegger at Duke. I ruined more than one pair of
his shoes.”
“Oh.” Owen isn’t really sure what to say to that.
“Moonshine’s a lot stronger than you think.” Dani shakes her head. “But Jacob would always get me back to my dorm, tuck me
into bed, leave a bowl next to me in case I needed to vomit again.”
“That sounds just like him,” Owen says, thinking fondly of all the times Jacob took care of him when he had a cold, always
ending up sick himself because he could never resist kissing Owen. “Do you know where he went?”
“He ate a little earlier, and we caught up,” Dani explains, finally turning off the stovetop as she scoops eggs onto a plate.
“Then he wanted to call his sister, so he went on a walk.”
“Hmm . . .” Owen hums, grabbing a piece of bacon, ignoring the nosiest parts of himself that want to know what they talked
about.
“I talked to my niece too; she thinks that she might be able to help make your trip through security a bit easier.”
“Really?” Owen feels relief flood through him.
Dani nods, finally taking a seat across from Owen. “You guys will still have to go through a pretty extensive interview, but hopefully our vouching will help.”
“Thank you again,” Owen starts to say before Dani holds a hand up.
“Stop—just enjoy breakfast and don’t argue when I need you and Jacob to run some errands for me later.”
“Whatever you need.” Owen nods, scooping eggs onto his plate.
Twenty minutes later, as Dani is recounting the story of Jacob being convinced to streak across the Duke campus, Owen hears
the crunch of gravel outside. Jacob kicks the dirt off the bottom of his shoes, the screen door creaking loudly behind him
as he steps into the kitchen.
“Oh, you’re awake!” he says, his demeanor brightening noticeably when he sees Owen. “Good morning.”
Gently, he rubs Owen’s shoulder as he passes by, kissing the top of his head. Owen reaches up with a free hand, holding him
in place for an extra second before letting Jacob go.
“Thank you,” Jacob says to Dani, handing her back her phone.
“Were you able to get everything sorted out?” Owen asks him.
“Yeah, Kaitlyn’s getting it all together, and she’ll send pics of our cards.”
“Make sure you delete those,” Dani teases. “Or else there might be a shopping spree in my future.”
Owen scoffs. “Not sure what you’ll be able to afford off the salary of a tattoo artist and marine biologist.”
“Groceries are getting up there!” Dani jokes, sipping her coffee. “I’ll take what I can get.”
“Kaitlyn’s also going to scan our passports and IDs,” Jacob explains. “And she helped us buy a flight out tomorrow. We’ve
got a layover in Seattle.”
“That’s not so bad,” Owen says, chewing.
“An eighteen-hour layover,” Jacob finishes. “It was the best that we could find.”
“Oh.” Owen swallows another bite of bacon. “Perfect.”
After they help Dani clean up breakfast, they take her Jeep into town to run a few errands for her while she returns to the
lab.
“Dani’s niece isn’t smuggling us into the country, right?” Owen asks Jacob as he backs into a streetside parking spot.
“I don’t think it’ll be that serious.” Jacob laughs, cutting the engine. “We are still in the United States, you know.”
“That’s what everyone thinks,” Owen says, ignoring him. “Then, boom! Trans people are banned from flying because of us.”
“We’re American citizens,” Jacob reminds him. “Who are still in America.”
Owen scoffs. “Like that matters.”
“Dani never did anything illegal while we were in school. Well . . . never anything super illegal.”
“I don’t think there’s a difference between ‘illegal’ and ‘super illegal,’” Owen informs him. He might not have ever made
it to law school, but he’s confident in that knowledge. “Not in a court of law, at least.”
“It’ll be fine,” Jacob promises. “There might be some hiccups in Seattle, but at least we’ll be closer to home.”
Owen is silent at first, staring ahead at the comfort of downtown Juneau. A soft fog is starting to roll down from the mountains,
the sun still shining from behind, casting the town in a glow that is almost ethereal.
“You okay?” Jacob asks.
Owen nods. “Just a little nervous, I guess.”
“It’ll be all right,” Jacob promises him, reaching to rest his hand on Owen’s thigh. “We’ll figure it out together.”
Owen looks at him, and he smiles, choosing to trust Jacob.
To believe him.
Their first stop is the hardware store, loading up bags of mulch and sod for Dani’s yardwork she’ll be doing next weekend.
Well, Jacob loads them in, Owen steers the cart. And provides moral support. After a stop at the post office, they go to the
grocery store, grabbing a few of their own odds and ends alongside Dani’s groceries.
“We double-checked the list, right?” Owen asks, shutting the door to the back of the Jeep.
“Yeah,” Jacob says, unfolding the piece of paper tucked in his pocket. “Pretty sure.”
“You know . . . nothing we grabbed is perishable,” Owen begins to say. “If you wanted to explore a little bit, we’ve got plenty
of time. And it’s technically our last day of vacation.”
Jacob smiles down at him, reaching to take Owen’s hand in his own. “Where to?”
They pick the first place that seems interesting, starting at a candy shop that advertises homemade fudge, and they leave
the shop with three pieces in a pink cardboard box, hoping that Dani will forgive them for using her change. There’s also
a shop selling locally made clothing, and next door, there’s a used bookstore with tons of different offerings. Including
the third book of The Chetek Archives in a cardboard box out front marked with the words Free to a Good Home!
The cover is ripped and the spine broken in a million places to the point that Owen’s sure there are probably some missing pages. But he knows the story well enough; it was always his favorite in the series. “Need a little something for our plane rides,” he tells Jacob.
They keep walking, poking their heads into a few different shops before they finally make their way down closer to the wharf.
Owen and Jacob take up residence at an empty picnic table on the grass, choosing to sit on top of the table instead of on
the benches.
“Want a bite?” Jacob asks, offering the mostly finished square of chocolate peanut butter fudge to Owen. Owen leans in, but
Jacob pulls the fudge away teasingly. Just for that, Owen takes an extra big bite.
“Want some of mine?” Owen asks, holding out the square to Jacob.
“Ew . . .” His face scrunches as he chews the candy. “Chocolate raspberry? Really?”
“You saw me pick out the flavor!” Owen lectures him. “You know you hate raspberry.”
“Bad flavor.”
Owen shakes his head, grinning like an idiot at the man he loves.
“I’ve, uh . . . I’ve been thinking,” Jacob starts to say, his words wary, almost like he’s afraid of them.
“That’s dangerous for you,” Owen forces the joke, hoping that it’ll ease the tension.