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I hate planes. Sure, yeah, laugh. You know what’s not funny in the slightest? Being at a constant risk of falling out of midair and to your death. And it’s totally normal for a 27-year-old college graduate with her degree in literature to be afraid of flying. It’s just not natural.
So, here I am, aggressively twisting my sandy blonde hair around my finger as I wait for all the passengers to take their seats. I have a book in my lap I will not be reading, but it seems appropriate to at least pretend.
Someone clears their throat and I look up at the most gorgeous man I’ve ever seen. Not read about, mind you, but seen. He has soft brown eyes, glasses tucked into his shirt collar, and brown hair that’s ruffled in a way that makes him look sexy and not sloppy.
“Hey,” he says, and my jaw may have dropped at the fact that he was now speaking to me. “Do you mind?” He asks, and I immediately clamp my mouth shut. Hot Real-Life Guy is going to sit next to me. Is going to witness me totally freak out, and will probably laugh at me. Text all his friends about the crazy woman who was scared of flying.
Realizing he’s still very much so waiting for an answer, I nod and stand up with shaky legs. Stop it, I scold them, you’re not helping.
He slides into his seat, and I follow to sit by the aisle. It’s a small plane for a short flight that won’t even leave Texas, which definitely makes it feel sketchier, and I always like to sit in the aisle seat. I’ve convinced myself it’s safer from the deadly air pressure right outside the thin walls.
“So,” he begins, and I try not to shut my eyes as I realize he is going to talk to me. Can’t you see I’m focusing on not freaking out? Actually, hopefully he can’t. “What’s your name?” He has turned to face me, his knees dangerously close to my legs.
“Clara,” I say with a small smile.
He sits there, clearly waiting for more words I’m not willing to give right now. Not with the flight attendants walking by and closing the overhead compartments. As if those things would stay shut if we were plummeting to our—
“My name is Kyle,” he interrupts my thoughts, humor in his eyes as I jump.
“Oh, sorry. Nice to meet you,” I say, trying to recover any sort of dignity I have left. “I’m just really scared of flying.” Aaaand there goes the rest. Great job, Clara.
Kyle nods seriously. “Good thing it’s the plane that’s doing the flying,” and his mouth twitches upward.
“Haha,” I deadpan, before pulling out the safety instructions and studying them.
“You don’t fly much, then?” He asks, clearly not getting my hints. I don’t mind, a little voice in my head says.
I lower the pamphlet and look back at him with a smile. “Only when I have to.”
“Well, here I thought you were going on a fun vacation,” he smirks, gesturing to my I LOVE NEW YORK t-shirt. “Though you might be on the wrong flight.”
“Nope,” I whisper since the flight attendants are about to start explaining the rules. I turn my eyes to face them as I tap my fingers against my forgotten book.
“So you’re going to a New York, Texas?” Kyle leans in and whispers.
I glance back at him and point to the fight attendants. “Sorry, they’re explaining how not to die.”
“I’m guessing you already have the speech memorized,” I can hear the laughter in his whisper.
“I do not,” I shoot back. I so do.
“So, about New York—”
Sighing, I turn to face him as I give up on listening to the speech I know all the words to. “It’s a family joke. I’m from New York, Texas,” and when he raised his eyes I speedily continued, “which does in fact exist. It’s close to the Dallas airport, though. I’m visiting my parents and thought they would appreciate my humor.”
He grins, showing off his straight teeth. Which of course I’m focusing on rather than the impending doom as the flight attendants walk through one more time to make sure everything is ready for takeoff. “I appreciate it.”
“Thanks,” I murmur as I try to hide my grin.
“So, what are you doing in New York, Clara?” He asks as he places his hands behind his head in a dramatic gesture.
I roll my eyes as I smile, “Funeral.”
His smile fades and he places his hands in his lap somberly. “Oh. I’m so sorry. Did you know them well?”
“It’s actually for my dad’s friend I’ve never met, and I’m pretty sure it’s a lie to get me to visit but…” I sigh, “If you can believe it, I haven't been home in a while.”
“Really,” Kyle opens his mouth and widens his eyes sarcastically. “You don’t say.”
I laugh. “I’m making my parents drive me back to Houston so I don’t have to make the flight again. I convinced them they needed a tour of the city.”
He nods. “Makes sense. Though it can’t be as exciting as New York.”
“Oh no way. It may be four times bigger, but it doesn’t have the world’s best cheesecake.” I grin. “Better than the famous New York, even.”
“Good to know,” Kyle nods. “I’ll have to try the cheesecake when I go.”
I laugh harder this time.
“Clara,” he scolds, feigning offense. “What makes you think I’m not visiting the great city of New York this weekend? You haven’t even asked what I’m doing on this plane—”
Then I remember. My eyes widen as I look around the plane, fear coming back and making my blood pulse uncomfortably in my veins. And yet… the plane was already in the air. “No way,” I whisper under my breath.
“Way,” Kyle nods. “I’m told I’m a very distracting person.” He smiles, proud of himself.
“You distracted me. From my lifelong fear of planes.” I look at his beaming face, shocked.
“Yep,” he shrugs.
“Huh,” I say, still shocked and not sure of what to say. “Well, thank you.”
“No problem.”
There’s now an awkward silence as neither of us know what else to say. After a moment, I open my book as if to read it. I look up at him, asking with my eyes if he cares, and he just shrugs. Then, in what seems like under ten minutes, my worst fear happens.
The muffled voice comes out from the speakers: “Hello, y’all, just wanted to let you know we’re turning those seatbelt signs back on. Please stay seated as we deal with some turbulence.”
“I’m going to die,” I say in a wobbly voice.
“Actually, the turbulence isn’t likely to crash the plane.”
“Don’t say that word,” I say a little too sharply for a guy I just met. But I’m too busy digging my fingers into my book as my metal casket shakes around me.
“Which one?”
I think back to what he said. “You know what? Probably not any of them.”
I hear laughter, then look up at him. He’s looking down at me. “You okay?” He gestured to my fingers now destroying my poor book.
Huffing out a bit of laughter, I try to loosen my grip.
“Is that a good book?” Kyle asks.
“Um, actually, it’s kind of horrible. I bought it without knowing much about it.”
Kyle tsks. “You should be more prepared. What if I wasn’t here to entertain you?”
The plane bumped again and I drew in a tense gasp.
“Do you want to hear about the time I met David Guetta, panicked, and told him I loved ‘Starman?’”
I nodded as my eyes squeezed shut.
I honestly forget the details of the story and whatever we talked about next, but suddenly Kyle was unbuckling his seatbelt. Looking around, I realized it. The plane had landed. I had talked to this man for forty minutes without realizing.
Getting out of my seat, I reach up for my heavy carry-on, packed full of three pairs of boots because I’m a Texas girl through and through.
“Here, I can get that for you,” Kyle offers as he reaches up and effortlessly slides it out of the compartment. He swings it around his shoulder as he grabs his own, noticeably smaller bag.
“You really don’t have to do that,” I argue, but it’s too late. He’s smirking and turning to walk off the plane.
“Come on, let’s get you on solid ground,” he calls out behind him.
I follow him off the plane and into the terminal. “Thank you, really,” I say as I reach for my bag. “I can take that now.”
“Are your parents here?” He asked as he handed me the heavy carry on.
“Huh?”
“Do you know where your parents are waiting?” He looked at me, waiting for an answer.
My heart flutters as we make eye contact, and I lift my chin. “Um, no, I’m taking an Uber there.”
“Perfect, do you want to split it?” He’s looking at me with a serious expression.
“To New York?” I ask stupidly.
“Yeah, to New York. For Eddy’s funeral?” Upon seeing my shocked expression, he continues, “He’s my uncle, but I never knew him much. So, yes, I’m going to New York with you.”
He’s going to New York too. With me, he said.
My mouth hangs open as I look back at him. “Why didn’t you say so?”
“Well, I tried, but you seemed to be a bit preoccupied,” he winked. “We can also totally take separate cars, I know we hardly know each other.”
I pretended to think about it for a moment, though I definitely wanted to spend time with—what did I call him? Hot-Real-Life-Man. “Yeah, let’s split it. Good idea.”
He smiled back at me, looking excited though that could have been my own hopes. “And since we’re going to be early, why don’t you show me that cheesecake place?” He asked me as he pulled out his phone. “I’ve actually never been to New York.”
“Well,” I grin, finally finding my words, “It’s a city to remember.”
“I gathered that,” he said, smiling at me.
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