"Seatmates to Soulmates"

Prompt: You’d known him for a while — your best friend’s older brother — but you’d never really talked. He was just a familiar face in the background, someone you were vaguely aware of but never close to. That changed the moment you ended up on the same school trip abroad. On the first leg of the journey, you were seated apart, but because of a seat swap, you ended up next to him for the nine-hour flight. At first, it was just small talk, but the conversation flowed so naturally that you talked for hours. He recommended Notting Hill — a romcom — and while you started watching it alone with subtitles, he gradually abandoned what he was doing and watched it with you. You played trivia games together, and even when you guessed answers randomly, you sometimes got them right, which made him laugh. At one point, you both tried to sleep, and when you woke up, your elbows were still touching — neither of you moved away. When you missed your second flight, the group was stranded in the airport while the adults sorted things out. Your phone was dead, so he put his own phone away and kept you company for nearly an hour. You played hangman, teased each other, and filled the time without needing anyone else. That set the tone for the rest of the trip. There were countless little moments after that — like the 30 minutes you spent trying to tie a bracelet on his wrist. You leaned in so close you could feel his hair against your forehead, your hand resting in his as you worked. You made teasing jokes like “It won’t fit,” and at one point, he sucked on the string to wet it before you touched it again. When you finally got the bracelet on, you did a handshake, and your hands lingered together far longer than necessary. One night at the campfire, while everyone else was journaling, he leaned in to whisper something to you, covering his mouth like it was a secret. That same night, he chose to talk to you about his crush — even though his best friend was right there, he picked you to confide in. There were other playful incidents, like when you ran out of your room because of a lizard and ended up bickering with him in that faux sibling way you both had — except it was starting to feel like something else. By the end of the trip, people in your group were openly saying they “shipped” the two of you, noting how you’d often disappear together. Even small things — him remembering details about your life you barely remembered telling him, or inviting you to his family’s Sunday dinners — felt like little threads pulling the two of you closer. And while neither of you said anything outright, there was no denying that something had shifted between you.