“Panda?” She pleads as she takes my hand in her own and leans in to a whisper, “I know this sounds silly, but Brad and I haven’t had much alone time lately, and what with the five hour plane ride and all, we thought it might be fun to sit together. Would you be mad?”
Of course I’ll be mad. But I can’t say this, not when I want to be a good friend. Plus it’s because of them that I’m even on this trip. Okay it’s not a big deal, I’ll just “fake sleep” the entire time Preston sits by me. It shouldn’t be hard. Wait, I’ve had lots of caffeine today. Why is this happening? Sure my eyes are twitching with frustration, I start to panic thinking I’ll develop a nervous tick from all the stress.
But I’m stuck, so I agree and let Kristin switch with Preston and I resign myself to my fate. “Hey, buddy,” Preston jokes playfully as he sets his messenger bag underneath the seat in front of him. I, however, do not feel like being a “buddy”. I find myself reaching over to unlock his trey just as he is about to bring his head back up. Crack!
It hits his head hard. He glares at me just in time for Kristin and Brad to turn around, concern written all over their faces. “Is everything okay?” Brad asks as he eyes Preston rubbing his sore head.
“It’s awesome,” he answers in an irritating manor.
I make a thumbs-up sign then stick my tongue out at him when they turned back around. He tried to grab it before I put it back in my mouth, but I snap my teeth at him like a piranha. Am I acting childish? Yes, but it’s self-defense; this guy is dangerous.
You can tell by the way he wears his pants. What type of guy wears pants that expensive? Don’t think I didn’t notice. He’s wearing Rock and Republic jeans. Even I don’t own a pair of Rock and Republic jeans. I tend to go toward Lucky brand, which I know sounds funny considering that was cool in High School, but they’re super comfortable.
I let my gaze wander up and stop at his belt. See? Another sign I missed. He wears a belt. Men who wear belts are overcompensating. It’s like they have to show to the world they’re men and masculine and buff. I trail up to his tight T-shirt and wince as my eyes meet his.
His smile turns cocky as he asks, “Looking for something, Amanda?”
I squint my eyes until I look like a Korean supermodel then turn to face the front of the plane. Revenge. Kristin will pay for this; just you wait and see it will be war. Leaning down, I tuck everything underneath Brad’s seat and gaze out the window.
Traveling in the winter always makes me nervous. Are the people de-icing the plane all classified to be doing that job? Have you seen how sketchy some of those workers are? Most of them are out there laughing and joking around as they spray the de-icer on the plane while we could be plummeting to our death in mere hours because of their inability to pay attention to detail. I start to feel myself hyperventilate as I watch a guy who appears to be no older than Mr. Theology laugh and do a “check” of the hydraulics. Oh, good, check buddy, did you strain yourself bending over that far? Never mind, you didn’t even look! He just gives a thumbs-up to the guy in front of him who then gives a thumbs up to the pilot who comes over the loud speaker to say, “All clear”.
Closing my eyes, I feel the plane start to taxi to the runway. Preston’s eyes bore into my skin as I peek around my black eyelashes. “What?” I ask in annoyance knowing if I say anymore my voice might start shaking.
“Are you ok?” He looks shocked as if he thinks I’m not scared of anything except for irrational things like birds and caffeine.
I shrug. “I just don’t like heights.”
Before I know it Kristin turns around in the seat and gives a brief history of my flight experiences to Preston, the puke bag and all. I hide my head in my hands hoping that the plane does crash then I feel us start to take off.
There’s no way I could have helped myself, and I don’t think what I did next should be held against me.
Panic rises in my chest and before I know it, I’m clinging onto Preston like a crazy person and breathing heavily into his chest all the while gripping his hands so hard that I lose feeling in all fingers.
After about five minutes, I pull back realizing that I just attacked the poor man but see no hint of smugness on his face, which confuses me. I mean one minute he’s…well, you know and the next he’s….This!
I’m mortified. At least in other plane rides I held on to complete strangers or weird old men who oddly liked the embrace. I would’ve welcomed anything but this. And he doesn’t even seem the least bit affected by my presence! How is it fair that I find myself staring at him like some love sick teenager while my presence does nothing but make him want to be more irritating?
Ducking down to get my carry-on, I get a book and start to read. If there ever was good advice Grandma Ned gave me it was to take funny books on plane trips. She said it helped calm her down and keep her from getting mad at grandpa’s incessant snoring. If it can get rid of grandpa’s snoring, it can get rid of the annoying person next to me, and my humiliation.
To my surprise, I find myself enthralled in the book until I smell that all too familiar peppermint smell.
“What are you reading?” His eyes sparkle with interest.
“Please don’t’ talk to me,” I grumble.
He looks momentarily hurt then smiles and says okay. The next thing I know, he’s passing me a note. I should have known.
So, what are you reading?
Oh just a book about this plane ride where a girl beats this annoying man to death for talking to her too much.
Fun.
Yeah, I’m thinking of using it as an example.
I think I’d like that.
You would.
Was that a statement or a question?
If it was a question, I would have used a question mark.
Just checking……You look pretty when you read.
Is this a trick to try to get me to be uncomfortable?
Nope just honesty. You want to look at me right now, don’t you?
No…
Yes, you do. I can tell. You want to look at my face and see if I’m kidding. Don’t worry though, I’m not.
Interesting.
Isn’t it though?
What?
That such a simple compliment would have the power to make you blush.
It doesn’t take much to make a girl blush if you put meaning behind words…..then again a guy like you should know that.
What do you mean a guy like me?
An attractive man like you should know the power he has over women.
Hmm…just like an attractive woman like yourself should know the power she has over men.
And then I break summoning up the courage to look up into his gaze. Our eyes lock in a moment of pure electric tension. It’s shortened by the flight attendant stopping to see if we needed anything to drink.
I ask for water as does he then sit there in silence with my book still in hand.
“Hey, do you want to watch a movie?” Preston asks taking out his headphones.
“How?” My eyebrows furrow in confusion.
“Well it’s cool, see they have these things called TVs and if you plug in the—”
“Ughh I knew it was too good to be true,” I whine.
“What?” He smiles.
“You being nice and…” I couldn’t find the words.
“And?” He prompts flashing a wicked grin.
“Nothing, let’s just watch the stinking movie.” Tugging at the headphones in my bag, I duck as they break free after the final tug.
“Ouch,” Preston yelps. They struck him in the face, but this time it wasn’t on purpose, promise!
“And I should have known.” He rubs his head.
“Known what?”
“That you’d try to threaten my life yet again. Do you even realize how many times you’ve hit me with either your own hand or other flying objects?”
At this I giggle, I know giggling is girly but it cracked me up, he was so right! He had to think I was some sort of violent lunatic!
“Sorry,” I mumble as I look at his strikingly handsome face. It could take girl’s breath away. His dark hair, green eyes, tan skin, strong jaw, and perfectly straight white teeth all melted together to make a masterpiece of God. He noticed me daydreaming again and raised an eyebrow in question. So I turned toward the screen to watch the movie he picked.
Chapter Eight
I don’t remember when or why, but somehow about halfway through the flight my body decided it was exhausted and fell asleep on me. The last thing I remember is slurring my words as I asked Preston about the Disney movie we were watching.
I’m fully awake now, but I don’t want to move. There’s something hard underneath my head, and I’m scared to open my eyes. My nose wakes up as well and I smell something that I can only describe as pure man; a mixture of aftershave and some sort of spicy cologne next to me. Think, I command myself. Did I fall asleep on the window or on him? Oh my gosh! If I fell asleep on him, that means I could have drooled on him. I tend to do that when I sleep. When I was at church camp in Jr. High, the girls would call me water works because of all the drool that came out of my mouth when I slept.
Okay, Amanda, it's not a big deal. Just open one eye. You don’t even have to open two. Just take a sneak peek. I open one eye and look. Preston is happily reading and I am, in fact, leaning on his shoulder, and might I add that I look rather awkward. I’ve pulled my legs up into the seat and am leaning my entire body on his side.
“Hey, you’re up!” Kristin turns around and is irritatingly chipper.
“Uh, yeah.” My voice is hoarse from my nap, and I can’t stop the yawn that is about to swallow the plane is darkness. Being quick yet discreet, I push away from Preston’s shoulder praying no one notices or will comment that I’ve just been using him as a pillow.
“Why were you just laying there with your eyes open, it looked kind of freaky, Amanda,” Kristin teases. I want to stuff my pillow in her mouth. Does she not get it? I feel shaking next to me and turn to face the music.
Preston is staring at me with a calculating glance as if to say, “I know that you know that I know that you fell asleep on me; and I’m holding it over your head for eternity”.
“I must admit,” Preston says as he looks between me and Kristin. “Never have I seen a girl drool quite as much as Amanda. Are you dehydrated?”
At this Brad turns around and gives Preston a high five who then in turn winks at Kristin who gives me an apologetic, “Sorry, do you want me to defend you?” look.
I roll my eyes and pretend to be grumpy, that is until I smell. “Hey is that…” Pointing at the bread sitting in front of Preston I feel my mouth begin to water. Be still my heart. Carbs!
Then everything happens in slow motion, and I can’t be blamed for any of my actions. I’m just recovering from a nap and still out of it. Fast as possible, I slap Preston on the back of the head while simultaneously grab his bread and proceed to stuff it in my mouth.
He turns, mouth open, to face me. “Spit it out.”
At the moment I have an entire roll in my mouth and I can’t speak, so I shake my head no.