Are You Going to Kiss Me Now? by Sloane Tanen

pacing frantically around her dead fur pillow, “can you two work out the father/son issues on somebody else’s time?”
    Jonah looked at Milan and smiled. Joe took a deep breath and reassured us that it didn’t matter about the ELT.
    “They will be here soon,” he said. “The radar track wasn’t out that long.”
    “What radar track?” Jonah asked, having missed our earlier conversation. “How long isn’t that long?” he asked. “Five minutes? Ten?”
    “It was a little longer than that.”
    “How much longer? And why didn’t you tell me it was out?”
    Joe rubbed his temples with his thumb and forefinger. “I didn’t want to scare you,” he sighed.
    “So how long was it out?” Jonah asked again.
    “I told you I don’t know. I wasn’t watching the clock, Jonah. I was preoccupied with landing the plane safely.”
    “Or maybe ,” Jonah asked in a challenging voice, “you were preoccupied with visions of being a hero?” He nodded at Joe encouragingly. “Is that it? I mean, you lost contact and didn’t send a distress signal? What kind of bullshit is that?”
    “I told you we weren’t in distress. I could see the runway just below us, I just assumed…” Joe trailed off.
    “I need a cigarette,” Milan announced, pulling a ruined wet stick out of her purse. “You guys are boring me, and I’m cold.” The sky was getting darker now.
    “And how are you planning on lighting it, Ms. Amberson?” Jonah asked, still glaring at Joe.
    Milan then pulled a lighter out of her little wet stash of stuff. She tricked it back with her thumb. It worked. “A little gift from God,” Milan said, smiling at full movie star wattage. Jonah looked at the lighter and smiled back. I couldn’t help but think they’d make a great-looking, albeit odd, couple.
    “Can I have that, please?” he asked, extending his hand.
    “No way, Virgin Mobile.”
    “It’s Jonah,” he corrected her, still grinning. “We might need it to light a fire later.”
    “Later?” Milan asked. “How long do you think I’m staying here, Captain Miracle? I mean, the world might not notice that you guys are gone, but they’ll be looking for me.”
    “It’s true,” Eve said. “What will In Touch write about if you don’t get arrested Saturday night for drunk driving north on the 101 south?”
    “Somebody’s been following my press, I see,” Milan retorted in a fake British accent that rivaled Eve’s.
    “Well, you are ubiquitous, Milan,” Cisco said.
    “Oh, daddy got a dictionary!” Chaz clapped. He obviously remembered the David Letterman thing too. I was stunned that he was calling out Cisco Parker. Ballsy.
    “What’s that you said?” Cisco asked, really looking at Chaz for the first time. Chaz suddenly looked like a Chihuahua who’d been barking at a pit bull and just realized there was no car window (or computer screen) between them.
    “I’m so sorry,” he squeaked pathetically.
    “Look,” Jonah interrupted, “I’m sure a rescue team will be here soon, but considering he forgot to send an SOS, they may not have figured out what’s happened yet. And it’ll be dark in a few hours, so give me the lighter, please.”
    Milan handed Jonah the lighter reluctantly, brushing his palm with her fingertips flirtatiously.
    “Well, I’m not staying here overnight,” she said with the bat of an obscenely long set of eyelashes.
    “Whatever you say,” Jonah answered, slipping the lighter in his back pocket.

How Do You Spell SOS?
    With no cell phones or watches, it was impossible to know what time it was. The only indication that time was even passing was the slow lengthening of the midday shadows. Cisco, Eve, and I were still sitting on the runway waiting for the rescue team. Jonah had gone off to survey the island with an eager Milan trailing him like an enthusiastic apostle. Joe and Chaz had gone looking for fresh water.
    I didn’t know what to do with myself. Since Eve didn’t seem to recognize me as a human being