It started boarding a United flight heading for Houston Texas. The stewardess led me to my seat as if I were a 7 year old taking their first trip without her parents. My luck, I was stuck next to a decomposing old man with a bad toupee. His yellow teeth (probably dentures) clacked happily as he told me to get comfy for the long flight. A long flight straddling a 747 with screaming engines, fussing babies and a complainingincreasingly ripe smelling seat mate. I tried closing my eyes but I remember that I kept seeing Bettes face, sad and puffy from a night of tears. It hit me then that maybe yeaI had made the wrong decision. I couldve went with her, gotten a jobI didnt have to start school right awaymaybe I couldve begged dad The thoughts were almost too much, because maybe I had made the wrong decision after all, it was a choice that I couldve madeand all I could think about was pleasing my mother, like always. I was thankful when the plane took off and my smelly neighbor began to talk, I was so busy focusing on him that I didnt need to think of how I was on a plane headed for ***** most likely. He was talking and talking, and I hadnt even replied to a thing he said yet. I hate flying, it makes me nauseous. I nodded and watched as his teeth slid about in his headdefinitely dentures. I found that I was getting increasingly nauseous as well. The video screen playing a movie Ive seen more times than I can count, the seatbelt sign still denying my bloated bladder a pee break, and the fact that first class smelled like real food was getting to menot to mention the fact that I was to be alone for god knows how long in Houston, without Bette. It hit me quickly that this would be the first time in four years where I couldnt just hop in my car and go see her, just to have her look at me, or smile at me. And then his voice cuts in again. Pretzles? At this price?! He yelled loudly, incredulously. For this price Id expect stinky Albert ( I found that was his name later), to turn down the complaining. After a while I tuned him out and shut my eyes, hoping hed get the hintbut I guess he didnt like the movie either and it was better to converse to a half sleeping teenager. My wife died last year. Been alone since he said in a sad almost reflective voice. Just listening to the way he said made me realize that it took this man 70 odd years to be alone. He had no idea what it was like to be alone. What its like to be 10 and have to make dinner for yourself and cleanand then get a bottle ready for your year old brother. Waking up and getting ready for schooland not wanting to go because you knew that your little brother wouldnt eat until you got home, or your mom may just feed him alcohol instead, shake him until he stopped crying. It was a horrible feeling for a little girl to have to experience being alone in such responsibility. And for the next 8 years she had to deal with that feelingShe was almost glad when Colin died, because he could be happy wherever he was. Bette made her feel like she wasnt alone anymore, because even though she may have had a ton of friends, they didnt care about what she did outside of the school social world, they liked her and accepted her because she was pretty and all of the cute boys liked her. Bette didnt care about any of that, she saw Tina for who she was and accepted her ***** family situation, and Tina accepted Bette for who she was. Mutual adoration led way to happiness and fun times, which eventually gave way to love.more than a platonic love. Tina had never felt more alive then when she was with Bette. Nowhereon this plane, it was hard just to imagine that her heart was still beating. Let alone feel it pumping in her chest. It was then that his voice broke through coarse hesitant. A vacation is a poor substitute for love. And I couldnt agree more. Although my vacation was not voluntaryI would never be able to forget Bette on this little journeySorry mom. A little while later Albert was snoring. Soft and light like the steady murmur of coursing electricity. He was smiling, let he had met his Juliet in the dream world, jut beyond time, beyond spacebeyond this continuum. I sat and watched his face as the sun blinked into the glass panes of the plane and when it dipped behind clouds I was hypnotized, like the sun was winking. I wasnt quite asleep, or conscience, I dont even think that I was still in this dimension. I found myself thinking of Uncle Andy. I dont remember him at allI didnt even think my mom had a brother, I knew my dad didbut I also knew what all their names were. I racked my brain for an image of a man, and I couldnt help but wonder if my mom had put me on this plane knowing that there wasnt someone waiting on the other end. She knew I wouldnt have money to get another planeso I would be stuck. I shook the though out of my headmy mom may be an *****, but I dont think shed be that ***** evil.would she? The Flight ended soon after that thought had entered my head and Albert waved. Goodbye young lady. I waved, and it occurred to be that I hadnt said a word to him the whole trip, I felt badand then wondered why I felt bad for not talking to a complete stranger. I said goodbye, goodbye to the dentures, the smelly toupee, and the in-flight chats that were one sided and aching. His dreams that he spilled while I pretended to be unconscious could only be solved by death, and I felt bad that maybe he may die soon. Internally I told him to have himself a relaxing vacation, pretend to have fun and I toasted him mentally. Heres to seasonal madness, unknown relatives, and ***** substitute for lost love. With that done I went to baggage claim, and I remembered that I had no idea what this, Uncle Andy guy looked like. So I waited until the area cleared a bit more and I think thats when I spotted him. He was attractive. Black hair, faint traces of a beard coming in, just like he hadnt shaved in a few days, and he had green eyeshe looked old, not that old though, his late 30s early 40s maybe, I guess around moms age. It was weird though, he didnt look like anyone in my family. No one had black hair in my family. I walked up to the guy and he just looked at me, his eyes blank and staring. All of the sudden it looked like someone slapped him on the back of his head and his eyes jumped to life, sparkling, the green pools turning into shimmering green and blue, kind of like the ocean. Christina? He asked tentatively. I nodded. Wowyouve grown quite a bit He said excitedly, I wanted to say something like its been blah blah years but I had no idea when the last time I saw this man was. He wrapped me in a hug, almost too tightly and his smell penetrated my nose. Whats with all the smelly people today? He smelled like Marlboros, JD.and massive B.O. It sort of reminded me of mom.the JD at least, and it was odd that I found that comforting. He led me to his cara purple Geo. I was hot in my black hooded sweatshirt and I remember that my hand kept slipping off my bags, I was getting irritated and he decided he wanted to attempt small talk. Hows your mom? Old. I answered. She looked it. The years of alcohol abuse were finally getting to her. I think that why she decided to run away with 30 year old Greg, to recapture lost youth. Hows your dad? M.I.A I said gruffly. I dont see him. Ever. Hows your brother? This made my head snap to the side and I stared at him blankly. If he was a part of the family at the least he wouldve heard about it. My mom would have talked to him Dead. I said.feeling the tears choking me. His head snapped almost instantly looking at me with wide eyes. What? When? I didnt want to answer, I didnt want to talk about it. I thought you wouldve known. Aunt Dina wouldve called you or one of your other sisters. He looked at me, his eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. One of my other sisters? To tell you about the funeral? I dont know mom never mentioned anything about having a brother. Brother?! He laughed as he said this and I felt like I was caught in a trap. He kept laughing. Youre not my uncle? I said. More of a statement than asking him for an answer. He laughed with one more snort and shook his head negatively. I cant believe you dont remember me. I racked my brain harder than I probably should have. I though I was going to get a nose bleed. But I had no idea. I shrugged and he shook his head again, like he was sad I couldnt dig up his identity. Think back to after your dad left. I dugdeep. I remembered my mom started drinking, or at least more than she used to. She had a lot of guy friends at that time, was he one of them? One of many ***** guys that mom brought home? I guess a realization could be seen in my face because he nodded. You got it right? You were on of moms boyfriend once I guess, yeah? No, I was the boyfriend. I met her when her and your dad were still married. His mouth shot off this little fact and it was like a floodgate was released. I remembered dad yelling, mom throwing things. I was sitting next to Colins crib, a hand through the bars rubbing his back and soothing him, I was too short to reach over the top of the crib to get him out and hold him. My dad yelled something about her getting her rocks off with Andrew. I didnt know what it meant at the time. After that he got really quite, he had mentioned something about Andy being his employeeand then came upstairs. He kissed me goodbyeand he left. I always hated my mom for making dad leave, I didnt know what she had done, and when I got older I just assumed it was because she drank too much. Now that I think about it though, she didnt start drinking heavily until my dad left. But here I amwith the guy that broke up my parents marriage and hes acting like an old friend of the family. Why would she send me here? I asked more to myself that him, but he answered anyway. She told me she had a new guy, I hadnt seen her in a while but we talk all the time. I wanted to do her a favor since she got sober and I liked you and your brother you were good kids, I figure she needed a break, plus she told me what was going on with you and that girl. And this is where the conversation took an ugly turn So you like ***** girls then? Like it was his business? He changed from civilized to the dirt-bag that in reality he probably was in less than 20 seconds I kept quite and looked out the window. From the corner of my eye I saw him take out a pack of Marlboros and he thrust it into my face offering one. My lip curledI hate cigarette smoke. He lit up anyway. I watched him inhale deeply and exhale; smoke signals filled the small car. Outside my window the city turned into suburbsand not the good kind. I quit once. He said conversationally. Your mom used to ***** about it all the timeweird though, she used to smoke more than I did. I started again when I left. His ***** car bumped along, turning into a weather beaten parking lot. Cracks the size of canyons threw the small vehicle into the air like speed bumps. There were weeds poking through and trash skidding down the side street from the warm breeze. Home sweet home he said as I escaped the tiny prison of the front seat. Whats mine is yours. I swore he leered at me then, all signs of a handsome relative gone, left with a man I didnt know, responsible for possibly ruining my life. Id made a mistake. I shouldve run away. As soon as Bette kissed me I couldve turned with her, jumped in her car and ran to Philadelphia. Now I was stuck.