Slipping onto the cold leather plane seat I took a deep breath and slipped an anti-anxiety pill into my mouth, my fourth since this morning. Surely overdosing on herbal tablets is impossible? Right? I felt my heart rate rising again...brilliant I am such a nervous person that even anti anxiety pills make me nervous
'S'cuse me, I am in the window seat' I was pulled from my internal panic by a husky voice
'Oh, sorry' I looked up into the eyes of the woman whose voice had pulled me from my internal panic, what I wasn't prepared for was how those eyes would affect me.
As I stared into the intense brown eyes of the stranger I would be sat next to for the next 3 hours I began to feel a calm spread over my body that had nothing to do with the four anti anxiety pills I had taken previously.
Suddenly I became aware that the eyes had widened and the owner was now leaning forward towards me 'However much I would love to continue this staring contest I think the 20 passengers behind me would like to get to their seats before we are airborne' looking from her eyes and taking in her face I noted the smirk on her mouth before jumping into action
'Sorry' I stumbled on my way out of my seat 'nervous flier' I offered in way of explanation
Once she was back in her seat I lowered myself back down into mine 'Nervous flier huh?' she raised an eyebrow at me 'well have no fear, I was an air hostess not so long ago so you are in safe hands' she leant across and fastened my seat belt across my rapidly heating lower body
I took a deep breath and leant back fully into my seat 'Thanks, I know all the statistics about plane crashes but still doesn't stop me from panicking' looking to my left I continued talking, seemingly finding myself unable to stop 'did you for instance know that you are more likely to be attacked by a hippo than be in a plane crash? And being that I live in Bristol and there are no hippos there' I stopped on hearing her mutter something
'What was that?' I bit my lower lip in embarassment at rambling on to someone who I just met
' I said, cute' she sent the smirk from earlier my way again 'Bristol hey? My sister lives there' she continued the conversation on but all I could here was her calling me 'cute' echoing in my head
Once the pilot had turned off the seatbelt signs I switched on my notebook, I waited for the seat belt signs to turn off as the pilot asked but noted that the passenger to my left who I now knew to be called Emily had listened to her ipod since take off. Her decision to do so had sent my heart sky rocketing but here we are, still in the sky so I guess panic over.
Everytime I see you my heart reminds me of how you make me feel
I paused in my writing when I felt Emily shift beside me, I snapped the notebook shut and faced firmly forward
'Sorry, I have a bad habit of reading over people's shoulders' Emily shrugged her shoulders and looked me in the eye
'What? Oh you were reading it?' for some reason the need to deny noticing her reading came over me 'I just stopped to take a break'
'After one minute of writing?' the smirk and eyebrow raise were back in force 'either you get tired very easily or you are embarassed to admit you noticed me reading it' she was teasing me, and for some reason this made me smile instead of making me become the sarcastic cow I usually would have
I shrugged 'OK fine, I noticed you stray on to my side and read my writing' I smirked back at her 'happy now?'
'Well Naomi that all depends on whether you are going to tell me what you are writing for?' she carried on whilst treating me to a full smile 'as well as the bad habit of reading over people's shoulders I am also in the habit of being extremely nosey'
Her forwardness took me back, I am not used to people being so direct. I am also not used to making small talk with strangers and telling them my life story but for some reason this woman was making me want to change the habits of a life time. I looked into her eyes and decided that for the next 2 and half hours I would break the habit and let someone in, I liked this time scale. Once we were off this plane I wouldn't have to see her again.
'Well Emily, I am on my way to my wedding' her eyes widened 'where is the ring? That's usually everyone's first question' I reached under my jumper and pulled out the necklace 'I am not your usual woman and a ring on my finger is one step to far but round my neck I can deal with' I paused to let her speak
'Interesting' she nodded slowly
I am used to many responses when people see my ring on a necklace but that was a new one. Usually people are in one of two catagories 1. You go girl and 2. Oh Naomi, time to grow up. But this response left me wondering.
'Interesting how?' I looked at her confused
'Just, you leave your vows till last minute on the plane ride down and hide your ring inside your jumper' I could see her thinking hard 'seems to me this love you have found might not be rocking your world' once again her honesty surprised me.
I opened my mouth to speak but stopped myself. I did love Marcus, he was successful, charming and everyone got on with him. It doesn't matter that I don't go to bed thinking of him or tingle every time he touches me...does it?
At that moment the pilot came over the speaker 'We have just been told that due to ash cloud movement we are going to have to land just inside France, the ash cloud is not forecast to lift for at least 3 days but airline staff within the terminal building can help with re-booking flights when the ash has cleared. If you wish to carry on to our intended destination of Malaga, Spain today or tomorrow then please see rental car companies also within the terminal building. We apologise for the inconvenience to your travel arrangements'
As the captain signed off passengers everywhere began swearing and grumbling about how this affected their plans. I, on the other hand, was pretty sure I was having a panic attack. Gripping the seat arm rests firmly I began to take deep breaths. I was struggling to get calm when I felt Emily softly take my hand and whisper in my ear 'Don't panic I am sure you have enough pants to last you, me I only have enough for the one day I was planning on staying. I am pretty sure skinny jeans are going to be hell going commando' she chuckled softly in my ear and the sound, coupled with the distraction of Emily wearing no pants, calmed my panic attack so I could now think clearly. Problem was thinking clearly made me aware of Emily's hold on my hand and the fuzzy feeling this was creating. I pulled my hand away but gave her a small smile of thanks to cover my underlying confusion.
Once I had gathered myself I responded 'Oh I have enough underwear alright, problem is my wedding is in three day's and if I am not there my soon to be in-laws may see to it that I will only need one pair to last me the rest of time' I paused some what dramatically 'the ones I will be wearing in my coffin' the sound of Emily laughing momentarily cheered me, I decided that making this curious stranger laugh was my new favourite thing
