I wiped my mouth as I leaned back, gently tucking the airsickness bag beneath my seat. Taking deep breaths to calm my churning stomach, I chanced a glance out the tiny little window of the airplane. The sky was relatively empty except for a smudge of clouds in the distance colored a deep inky black against a red setting sun, as a storm poured its contents over what I could assume was a small Wyoming town. It was the only stain on the canvas that was stretched out below me while my flying companion, Tabi, was snoring lightly and drooling on my shoulder. Feeling my stomach start its nervous flutter again, I all but slammed the blind closed. I was never meant to fly. I flinched as Tabi's music blared through the little headphones loud enough for me to make out the verse to 'Shoulda'. Somehow, the girl was completely comfortable. We had barely reached 10,000 ft before she had fallen asleep, music blasting through her little Ipod. My sensitive ears ached. The roar of the plane's engines was bad enough but now Tabi's terrible music?
How was I talked into doing this? My mind answered back 'because Tabi asked me. And those puppy dog eyes of hers? Impossible to escape. Plus she is like a bulldog with a bone, constantly gnawing on a subject until her victim gives in due to weariness or lack of sleep.'
For me, it was the latter. Tabi and I shared an apartment in a nothing little town in Florida called Plant City. And when she wants something, she has no qualms about waking you up at three am to talk about how it is such a good idea and it would make her so happy. I could not even escape her constant chatter at my bartending job at Applebee's since we worked together. Even our local Magickal Beings meetings in Tampa were rife with her talk of going to see our actual shifting ancestors in their true home. It was all she talked about lately. I grimaced remembering my last attempt at refusal I had.
"Lilly! Come on! We could actually get to be wild…And run…And, well maybe find you a nice wolfy guy to settle down with. You know have a few pups. That sort of thing." Tabi whispered driving an elbow into my ribs. I shot her a warning glare as I tried to refocus on our Magickal Beings Mentor for the night, a rather portly and ironically chosen Minotaur gabbing away about how important secrecy is in the community and how humans can never know magickal beings exist. Same old, same old. Tabi's cropped blonde hair just barely hid her pointed ears as her shoulders shook with silent laughter. Piercing green eyes and a fanged smile paired with her angular feline features and tanned skin made her quiet the sex kitten of our town. She never had a problem bringing home men. Or bragging about it. "It's about time we got you laid if you ask me. To much sexual tension is dangerous."
"That's enough Tabi!" I hissed under my breathe, flashing fangs, "I have no problem getting laid…And I do not have sexual tension!" I wasn't ugly, but next to Tabi, I was, in a word, plain. Long red hair that neither curled nor hung straight and skin that never tanned. Really, my only claim to fame at my little Applebee's bar was my eyes. Eyes a grey-blue that was ringed in golden green. Plus I had a tendency to dress simply. Jeans and a t-shirt for me compared to Tabi's flashy short skirts and a tendency to show as much flesh as legally possible. Not that I wasn't curvy its just I was subtle. "Now can we please get focused on the lec-" I looked up and found that everyone had stopped listening to the cowman up at the podium and had turned to tune into our private discussion. "-ture." Damn supernatural entities and their damned heightened abilities. I groaned and slunk down in my chair while Tabi just beamed looking ever so proud. That had been the final breaking point. I knew there was no way she was going to give up on her so-called Homecoming. I would just have to grin and bear it.
So here I am on a damned plane. Heading to another little nothing town called Cody. Damn Tabi and all her damnable harebrained schemes, and Damn planes, and damn… My train of thought was broken as we hit a batch of turbulence and a wave of fear and nausea swept through me so hard I felt my claws lengthen and dig into the armrest. I swallowed down the wolf inside that threatened to break out in my panicked state. I had been careful the first five hours of flight but now my resolve was weakening they had better hope Cody was close because this plane was about to have a furred hijacker. And it wanted on the ground as soon as possible. Apparently, the Jolting plane had jostled Tabi awake just enough to register how close I was to losing myself in fear. A tanned hand closed around my clenched claws.
"It's ok Lillers. We're close now. See? There's the airport. We'll be landing soon." She reached the hand that wasn't concealing my claws up to stroke my hair in an attempt to calm me. "How about we get you a something to eat when we get off this thing hm? Does that sound good?" As annoying as she could be, Tabi knew how to calm me. I owed her for helping me keep my cool more times than not. Tabi was a born Were had grown up with her whole family. They had taught her how to control her were-cat abilities while I was still learning all of my limits. I was a newbie to the whole Were thing. I had been bitten three years ago by a Werewolf and Tabi had made it her purpose to help me control myself. I nodded stiffly, my stomach both aching for food and churning wanting to reject whatever I decided to put in it.
"How did you convince me to do this again?" I groaned as I finally released my death grip on my armrest and slumped forward putting my head between my knees to try and keep what little food I had left in my stomach were it belonged.
"What can I say? I'm charismatic." She waved a perfectly manicured hand and beamed a brilliantly white smile. I answered with a groan sending her into a breathy laughter that caused the man next to her to smile suggestively while watching her chest bounce. Great. Just what I needed my traveling partner getting dick-brained. I hate men. A new wave of nausea hit me and I scrambled for a bag as the landing gear hit the ground with a jolt. Men what pigs.
I watched the last plane of the night land at the tiny little garage that made up the Cody, Wyoming airport. Although it was summer there was still enough chill left to the air to make my old grey sweatshirt and jeans comfortable. The wind whipped my too long dark hair making it stand on end. I really needed a haircut I thought with a sigh. Way to go John. You probably look like a hobo not ever a good impression. Good thing I brought my hat tonight. The brim of the cowboy hat barely hid eyes so dark they were almost black and covered the tips of my slightly pointed ears as I pulled it low across my brow. It was a perfect cover and didn't make me stand out at all amongst the ranchers and cowboys in town.
"John, Get your head out of your ass and open up that bird! I would like to go home at some point tonight." My hard ass boss chided over the intercom. I bet five bucks he's still sitting in his chair playing solitaire. I sighed as me and my crew got to working rolling the steps up to the door of the plane. It slowly opened, and out shot a woman running like mad from the plane red hair billowing behind her. She tripped on the last step falling right into my chest. She looked pale as death and her knees shook terribly.
"I'm...I'm so sorry, but…could you point me to the restroom?" the woman's eyes were mesmerizing. I could get lost in them if she didn't look positively green.
"Pardon me ma'am. Women's restrooms are right over that way." I jerked my thumb towards the glass doors that led to the lobby of the airport. "Do you need help getting there you look a bit down in the weather." I suppressed a chuckle as she muttered a fleeting 'no thanks' and took off at high speed for indoors. Some folks just are not meant to fly. I pushed back the brim of my hat and scratched my brow; she was a good-looking woman too. Nice curves and a pretty face. And I had to see her on a day where my hygiene was not at its best. Great going John.
"Excuse me? But did a woman just run this way? About this tall, red hair, looked as green as Kermit the frog?" A pretty blonde fought her way through the crowd coming out of the plane and looked genuinely worried. Her green eyes darted all around searching the crowd and faces for her friend.
"Yes Ma'am, she asked me where the restrooms were at and she took off to them. She's not a big fan of flying is she? She looked positively green." I smiled at her while she nodded confirming my thoughts.
"Yeah we are so not from around here. We've been flying for hours. And it was all my plan…Well, she's gonna kill me." She sighed. "Thanks for the directions!" And she took off after her friend. I smiled after her thinking about the redheaded woman. I wonder how long they're going to be in town? I might be able to talk with her sometime for something more than just directions to the restrooms.
"JOHN! Get to work Goddamnit!" I heard bellering over the intercom. A few passengers looked around with raised eyebrows muttering about how the boss must be a real monster to work for. They hit the nail on the head; normally Dragons tend to be real dicks.