for lexy and faith.
He walks down the aisle, trying to take deep breaths and calm his pounding heart. Then he sees her. Her long brown hair flows down her shoulders in perfect curls. Her face is peaceful, calm. He swallows nervously and taps her shoulder.
"Excuse me," he says.
"Hmm?" She looks up at him.
"Is this seat taken?" He points to the seat next to the one she's sitting in. "Most of the other seats are taken, and the ones that aren't taken are window seats, and I kind of have this thing with airplanes and heights and you can understand why window seats aren't the best option for me, can't you?"
The girl chuckles. "No, the seat's not taken," she says.
He sighs in relief and reaches up to put his carry-on in the compartment above him before sitting down next to the brunette.
"You've really got nothing to be afraid of. It's more likely that you'll die in a car crash than a plane crash."
"At least in a car, I'm the one driving."
She smiles. "We'll be fine. I'm Ally."
"Austin."
"I'm guessing you don't fly much?"
"Last time I was on a plane, my mother was still changing my diapers."
Ally giggles, her nose scrunching up and her tongue sticking out between her teeth.
"What about you?" he asks, smiling slightly.
"I'm the CEO of this big company, so I go on a lot of business trips."
"Wow, good for you," Austin says, mildly impressed.
She smiles. "So, if you're so afraid of flying, may I ask why you're on a plane?"
He chuckles a bit. "Yeah. I'm surprising my mom for her birthday."
"Aw, that's cute."
He shrugs, smiling. "So do you live here in Miami or California?"
"Here," she says. "But a lot of my business is in California, so I go back and forth a lot."
Austin nods. "That's fun. It's really nice there."
"Mmhm."
They stop talking when the pilot and flight attendants begin their spiels, and then the plane starts moving. Austin swallows and grips the armrests.
"Hey, don't worry," Ally says, looking over at him and smiling gently. "This part's just like driving in a car. We have to get all the way to the end of the runway and then turn around before we take off."
Austin purses his lips and nods, loosening his grip slightly. He closes his eyes and tries to pretend he's in his best friend's car, driving with him who knows where to do who knows what with who knows which of Dez's many pets. The image in his mind calms him slightly, and he smiles a bit at the thought of his crazy friend.
He feels a small, soft hand on top of his, and he's comforted a bit more. She rubs her thumb over the back of his hand gently.
"You'll be okay," she says.
He nods and takes another deep breath and relaxes more, grateful for the girl sitting next to him.
"Okay, we're about to start going really fast, and then we're gonna take off. There might be some turbulence, but we're still safe. Okay?"
"O-okay," he says quietly.
She continues rubbing the back of his hand as the plane speeds up. He squeezes his eyes shut tighter and tightens his grip on the armrests.
He feels the wheels leave the ground as the plane takes off, and he tries taking a few deep breaths to calm himself down. He feels the turbulence, too, and he makes some very uncool whimpering sounds whenever the plane lurches downward.
About half an hour later, he hears some announcement about tray-tables and opens his eyes.
"We're done taking off," Ally says, smiling slightly. "Smooth sailing from here. You okay?"
He swallows and nods, very aware of her hand still on top of his and even more aware of how much he likes it there.
He glances out the window behind her and swallows again, noticing how all he can see is blue sky and the clouds below him. He realizes how sweaty his palms are and secretly thanks his lucky stars that he and Ally aren't actually holding hands.
"Hey, don't pay attention to that. Focus on me. Tell me about yourself," Ally says, giving him an encouraging smile. "You're doing great."
"What do you wanna know?" he asks shakily.
"Anything that wouldn't be in a normal introduction."
"Like what?"
The girl giggles a bit. "I'll just go first." He chuckles and nods. "My favorite color is purple, I like peacocks, and my favorite food is pickles. I'm afraid of spiders and I have a pet dog named Coda and she's the cutest, most cuddly golden retriever you've ever met in your entire life."
Austin smiles a bit. "Well, I like orange, and my favorite animal is a wallaby, and my favorite food is pancakes. I don't like heights, obviously, and I have a weird thing with umbrellas." Ally raises her eyebrows. "It's a legit fear. Traumatizing event when I was younger. Anyway, I don't have any pets, but you should let me come play with your dog sometime."
"Maybe I will," she replies, smiling back at him.
"So…how is it being a CEO? Do you like your job?"
She chuckles. "It's stressful, to say the least. I like it, though. I used to be super shy, but being in charge of all those people has helped me not be shy anymore, which is good. And traveling is always fun."
"Must be rough leaving home so often, though."
She shrugs. "I live alone with Coda, no boyfriend, only a couple super close friends. It's not as rough as you'd think."
No boyfriend. Nice.
"Ah," Austin says. "Well, my life isn't nearly as glamorous. I am an elementary school music teacher."
"That's cute," Ally says with a smile.
"You'd think so. But imagine hundreds of tiny, off-pitch voices screaming lyrics to you every day of the school week."
"It can't be that bad."
He chuckles a bit. "Nah, it's not. I mean, there are some points where I wish I could tear my hair out and bang my head against a wall –"
"Well, I think you'd have those moments with any job."
"Exactly. But most of the time, I love it. I feel like I'm, I dunno, making some sort of difference in these kids' lives, teaching them that learning isn't all about numbers and vocabulary words, y'know?"
Ally nods, smiling at him, giving him her full attention. He becomes slightly self-conscious about how lame he must sound, but he continues speaking nonetheless.
"And I mean, what if I'm inspiring the next Elvis Presley, or Madonna, or some other musical legend? What if learning about music at such a young age sparks something in them, and they go on to change the world with their music? It's unlikely but…I know I see something in them."
"Sounds really rewarding," Ally says. "I bet they love you."
He shrugs, smiling. "Teacher Appreciation Week is always good to me, if that means anything."
"Find plenty of apples on your desk?" she jokes.
"Apples, iHop coupons, same difference."
"Ah, yes. Pancakes are your favorite food."
"Good memory you have there."
She giggles, her nose scrunching up and her eyes twinkling. He smiles at her, exhaling as his heart pounds once against his chest before going back to normal. The thought runs through his head that this girl is absolutely precious and he kind of wishes this flight was longer than five hours so he can spend more time with her.
"We're landing soon," Ally says, even though the pilot just announced that they should put up their tray tables and buckle their seatbelts.
Austin looks around at the empty bags of peanuts and pretzels, scraps of napkins with random doodles on them, and crumpled candy wrappers scattered over both their tables and smiles a bit at how much fun he managed to have on this flight. He definitely expected to have his eyes closed and a death grip on the armrests the entire time, but somehow this petite girl knew exactly how to help him.
Together, they clean up the trash and throw it in the bags carried by the flight attendants. Then, they put up their tables and Austin glances out the window.
"Hey, don't look down, remember?" she says.
He swallows and looks at her instead. "Right."
"Just focus on me."
"Not really much else I can focus on when you're looking at me like that."
"Looking at you like what?"
"Like that."
"Helpful."
He stares at her, gripping the armrests, until he feels the plane beginning its descent. Then he shuts his eyes and leans back against the seat while she rubs the back of his hand with her thumb again like she did when they were taking off.
"We should hang out once we both get home," Ally says, obviously trying to distract him from his fear. "We could go to the beach or something. I could bring Coda."
"Okay," he says through gritted teeth.
"It'll be fun. I think she'll like you."
"I think I'll like her."
Ally giggles a bit. "You two can be best friends."
"I'd be okay with that."
They sit in silence for a while, him still tense and afraid and her still gently trying to help him relax.
"When the wheels touch down, it'll feel kinda like a jolt. Just warning you. But we're almost back on the ground."
He nods, and soon he feels the jolt she was talking about and opens his eyes. The first thing he sees is her wide smile.
"You made it!" she says happily. "You survived! Yay!"
He chuckles a bit, turning slightly red at how ridiculous he must've looked being so scared.
"Yeah. Thank you," he says to her.
"Of course. Southwest Airlines hospitality, or something like that."
He chuckles. "You know, you're pretty funny."
"Thank you," she replies. "I'm glad someone appreciates my sense of humor."
"So, about hanging out when we get home…?"
She grins and pulls out a pen, grabs his wrist, and writes ten digits across his forearm. He looks at her.
"What? We ran out of napkins," she says with a shrug.
"Fair enough." He takes the pen and writes his number across her arm.
She smiles. "Whoever calls first, wins."
"You're on," he replies, smiling back.
All too soon, it's time for them to leave. Once they're off the plane and have their luggage, he actually hugs her goodbye, and it's the kind of hug that makes everything feel right and okay and good, the kind of hug that's warm and comfortable and feels like home, and he's absolutely positive that he wants this girl being in his arms to become a regular thing.
When they pull away, he smiles at her, kisses her cheek, and manages to see a hint of pink creeping onto her cheeks before he waves and walks out of the airport.
The whole cab ride to his mother's place, he finds himself texting inside jokes and flirty messages to his new favorite brunette.
it's been kind of a while lol but HEY GUYS! thanks for reading this idk what it is and please review!