Should He Leave Or Stay?
She’d bought two seats so that she wouldn’t impose on anyone. But as people started filling the plane, a man came and sat next to her.
She tried to explain why he couldn’t have the seat. But he insisted that he wanted to sit next to his girlfriend, who was on the other seat. Was she the bad person for wanting him to leave?
The Modern World
Today’s world has a slew of travel options for those who want to go to different places across the globe. These modes of travel range from simple ones such as walking and riding a bike to more complex ones like flying.
While most people enjoy the latter, given how breathtaking it is to soar across the sky, some find it uncomfortable for a few different reasons. The protagonist of this story, Cara, had her reasoning, which would threaten to destroy her experience with flying.
Cara Bennington
Cara Bennington was your average twenty-seven-year-old from Brooklyn, New York. She’d worked hard in school to become a lawyer in one of the best firms in the city and was living her best life.
But although a lot of the things in her life were going great, Cara had one issue, a terrible disease, that she was battling – obesity.
Her Fight
Cara’s fight against obesity started when she was in her early twenties, and for the majority of her adult life, she’d been working hard to beat the disease.
Living with obesity meant she’d tailored everything around her to accommodate her size and weight. This included her traveling style while in public, which was unlike other people’s.
Public Transportation
Cara usually disliked traveling in public forms of transportation. But whenever she did, she’d take the necessary precautions to ensure her size didn’t impose on anyone or make them uncomfortable.
She’d often pay for an extra seat when traveling on planes to avoid any weird looks. But on that fateful day, the very thing she’d sought to avoid would come barreling straight for her.
The Flight To Miami
It was a bright Monday morning, and Cara was flying out to meet a client in Miami. The meeting would open several doors for her professional career, and she’d been looking forward to it.
As she always did when flying alone, she bought two seats next to each other and boarded the plane. She had no clue how bad the flight was going to be.
She Got Two Seats
Cara started buying two seats on planes after a particularly nasty encounter with a man on a flight some years prior. Although she’d fit in her seat, her sides kept touching the man, who wasn’t shy about verbally airing out his thoughts on the matter.
After that, Cara rarely flew alone. A friend, family member, or her boyfriend would accompany her most of the time. But since this flight was all business, she would face the world alone.
Settling Into Her Seat
Cara settled into her seat, which was the furthest in a row of three. She expected the next passenger to take the other seat and leave the one between them since she’d paid for it.
A few minutes later, a beautiful lady came and sat on the furthest seat. Cara took a deep breath, knowing a fellow woman wouldn’t make her uncomfortable. But then a man appeared.
They Know Each Other
The man smiled at the lady, and Cara could tell they knew each other. He said his seat was farther back and eyed the middle seat before locking eyes with Cara.
Cara had put the armrest between her seat and the middle one up so she could be comfortable, but the man reached over and lowered it. She ate back the urge to scowl at him, knowing what she’d always fought to prevent was about to happen.
He Takes The Seat
The man took the middle seat, ignoring the red hot glower Cara shot his way. He didn’t even bother to acknowledge what he was doing to Cara, only shrugged and turned to talk to his friend.
The plane began its ascent into the air, and soon enough, the most dreadful part of Cara’s experience began.
It Happens
The plane wasn’t in the air for ten minutes when Cara felt her sides touching the man. He even pushed against her when she tried to sight upright to allow him more room.
Cara had worked so hard to ensure her flight was comfortable. Despite how expensive it was, she paid for the extra seat and had hoped to have a quiet flight to her business meeting. Would she tell the man to leave?
Is She The Bad Person Here?
Cara wondered if she’d be the bad person in a situation where she told the man to leave. She’d deduced that he was the other lady’s boyfriend and understood they wanted to be together. But why were they doing it at her expense?
Feeling incredibly uncomfortable, she asked the man if he could go to his seat because she’d bought the middle one for her comfort. His answer would leave her speechless.
He Isn’t Leaving
The man said he wasn’t leaving, adding that the seat was empty and he wanted to sit next to his girlfriend. “I told him I understood where he was coming from but he needed to go,” shared Cara in her post on social media.
“But he insisted on staying because, according to him, the seat was empty regardless of where I paid for it or not.” Everything would only escalate from there.
The Girlfriend Doesn’t Help
Cara explained to the man that she paid for the middle seat so that such an occurrence wouldn’t happen. But all her pleas fell on deaf ears.
She’d expected the man’s girlfriend to at least step in and diffuse the situation, but the lady kept quiet throughout the ordeal, seemingly waiting for Cara to give up. But something would happen that would set everything right.
The Flight Attendant
As luck would have it, a flight attendant noticed the commotion coming from Cara’s row and rushed over. Cara quickly explained herself, and the attendant fell into action.
She asked the guy to leave, giving him a long nasty look that would’ve vaporized any person’s insides. The man sprang to his feet and hurried away. The rest of the flight would be a breeze for Cara, who deserved that middle seat, in all fairness.