Claire never liked flying. Of course, she flew in helicopters daily, but planes were never her thing. She woke up bright and early for flight to Paris, France. Claire tied her wavy hair back into a bun, dressing in a holey sweater with black leggings. Claire stepped into her car, her light pink suitcases organized in the back seat.
Once she made it to the airport, after taking the ferry to the mainland, Claire waited for her boarding number to be called. Finally, she made it to the plane, sitting in her seat. Luckily placed next to the window, sitting near the aisle made her feel claustrophobic.
She settled herself and gazed out unto the runway, thinking of what needed to be done that night for her meeting tomorrow.
Simon Masrani, Claire's boss and friend, had wanted to incorporate a more global view of Jurassic World. Claire, being is only trustworthy employee to oversee that his wish becomes reality, was sent to France with a team of people.
That team of people consisted of people she had never met more than a simple hello.
That was until she heard a mumble of curses coming from the nearest aisle.
"Shit, c'mon," the man said, shoving his bag into the overhead.
"You've got to be kidding me," Claire said, looking into the eyes of no other than Owen Grady.
"Why, hello to you too," he said sarcastically, finally taking a seat.
"Mr.Grady-"
"Owen. Go on," he smiled.
"Are you positive this is your seat?" Claire sighed, already feeling a headache brewing.
"As sure as I can be. Need the ticket as proof?"
Claire glared at the man. However, there was humor laced throughout the emerald color that was her eyes.
A few moments later, after the demonstration of the necessities that was essential in the event of a plane crash (something Claire never wished to experience), the pilot began to move the plane. The same old same old, the adrenaline rush bursting through your veins; whether you were excited...or scared.
For Claire, she was happy she was getting time off of that sauna of an island. However, she was scared shitless.
Claire's chest tighten as the plane ran down the runway, clutching the nearest thing so hard her knuckles turned ghost white.
"Claire, you're gonna pierce my skin," Owen chuckled. Claire peeked an eye open to see the thing she was grabbing was Owen's forearm.
"Sorry. I hate flying," she breathed out, her hand moving away from Owen.
"S'okay," Owen smiled, taking her small hand in his. "I don't mind."
Claire let out a little smile as the plane finally took off. The way her dainty hand fit in his didn't go unnoticed by either of them.
"See, that wasn't that bad, was it?," he asked once they reached a higher altitude.
She laughed, "I know, it's just the sinking feeling in my stomach that gets me." Claire slowly took her hand back, leaving a shimmer of disappointment in Owen's eyes. He didn't say anything about it, though.
But Claire knew.
Their constant bickering was, for sure, an annoyance. However, the attraction was also strongly present.
Said attraction was so strong, they even went out a date. A disastrous date, but still a date. With her wanting to be always in control, and Owen's love for board shorts and tequila (even if it only was a few shots.. who does that on a date?!), they were destined to go separate ways.
And yet they both had to be on this trip, this plane, and aisle 12. What a coincidence.
She pulled the sleeping mask over her long lashes, and rested her head against the window.
"I like your sleeping mask," Owen chuckled.
Claire sighed and responded, without moving a muscle, "It's a silk, flowered patterned sleeping mask. What's wrong with it?"
"Nothing, its just very.. Claire."
"Not sure whether that was a compliment or an insult, either way, stop talking. Some of us wish to get some sleep here."
"Jeez, you're right. You do need some sleep, I can see your sleep-deprived grumpiness coming out."
Claire raised her sleeping mask and glared at him using an icy dagger.
"Don't you dare do this to me the whole flight."
"Do what? Make conversation?" Owen smirked, knowing exactly what buttons to hit to get a reaction. Her red hair was practically becoming fire by the minute.
"Okay, you know what, I'm just going to ignore you. See, watch," she said as she put back on the mask and rested her head once more.
"If you have a nightmare, you can hold my hand again."
"Mr. Grady, I swear to god-"
"Owen," he corrected her. "Good ignoring, by the way."
"Maybe you should try getting some sleep, maybe it'll fix your smart-ass mouth."
"Ouch, that hurt Claire," he clutched his chest, jokingly.
"Never mind, even sleep can't fix that much of a smart-ass. You're already in too deep," Claire responded.
"Alright, alright. I get it. You need your beauty sleep, I'll let you rest."
"Thank you," she sighed.
"Hey.. hey... Claire. Wake up"
"What do you need?" Claire mumbled into something. She took off her sleep masking and realized her head was placed on Owen's broad shoulder. "Oh shit- I'm sorr-"
"Oh, that? It's not problem, really, I don't care. You look more relaxed when you're asleep- it's cute."
Claire rolled her eyes, "Thanks, I think."
"You're very welcome," he flashed her a grin.
"So, are we almost there?"
"Descending in a minute or two," he responded. Claire nodded and sighed. She hated descending just as much as taking off.
Owen held out his hand again, "I know you want to hold my hand again."
"Whatever helps you sleep at night ," Claire smiled, taking his hand in hers.
After they landed, Claire and Owen went their separate ways. Each heading to the hotel they'd be staying in for the next week.
Now, with her keycard in hand, tried desperately to open her door.
"These damn things never work!" she cussed, grunting in defeat.
"Who would've thunk it. Claire Dearing, the woman with a park full of dinosaurs eating out of her hand, can't open a door."
"What are you doing here, Owen?" she sighed.
"Just getting into my room, which just so happens to be next to yours, with my trusty keycard... that I know how to work."
"I know how to use a keycard, it's just... this one must be malfunctioning."
"Alright," his own door popped open, "if you insist."
"Owen-wait, just.."
"Sure, I'd love to help! Just say the magic word."
"Don't be so childish and open my damn door."
"I'll wait."
"Please."
"Much better," he smiled, showing her that you needed to scan and swipe the card.
"Thank you."
"Anytime, Claire. Really.. anytime. I'm right next door."
"Speaking of which, don't be a complete pain in my ass this whole trip. I'll need to concentrate on work."
"Me? A pain in the ass? Oh, I would never!" he replied sarcastically.
"So, I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Don't miss me too much."
"Trust me, I won't," she grinned, closing her door.
She walked inside her hotel room, being met with a small kitchen, living room, and a bedroom. Quaint and cozy, just like Claire wanted.
After having a quick snack and taking a shower, Claire threw on her pajamas. Just a standard college t-shirt, nothing fancy.
With her glasses perched on her nose, Claire began to type on her computer, preparing for her meeting once more.
"I'm in the 'city of love' and I'm married to my laptop. Typical,'" she thought, sighing as she finished up everything in her presentation.
A few moments later, Claire felt her eyes grow heavy, sleep practically calling her name. She lit her laptop off to the side, along with her glasses, and shut the light. Now, falling into a deep slumber.
And then Claire discovered the thin walls.
Either it was very thin, or Owen was snoring very loudly.
Let's just say, Owen needed to shut the hell up. Claire grunted as she sat up in bed. "'He disrupted my sleeping on the plane, and now here, too!'" she thought.
Claire took her fist and slammed it against the wall. A short, "What? Who's there?" quickly followed.
"Owen, can you please keep it down!" Claire asked.
"Claire, why are you in my room?" he yawned. Claire rubbed her temples, she could hear the tiredness radiating off her him.
"I'm not- ugh - you're snoring. Loudly. Put a pillow over your mouth or something!"
"Oh, okay. Sorry, it's just kinda hard to stop what I'm doing when I'm asleep," Owen said, a light snore coming after his sentence a few moments later.
"Very funny, Mr. I Snore Like a Lion."
"I try. Night, Red."
"Just try to keep it down. Goodnight, Grady."
This was going to be a very, very long week.
The next morning, Claire put on light blue dress paired with her white heels. Pulling her hair back into a braided ponytail.
The day consisted of meetings galore. Talking with men twice her age, having to use the French she learned all through high school and college.
Claire hadn't even realized it was nearly 7pm when she got out of the offices. She sighed as her stomach growled.
"Hey, Claire! Wait up!"
Claire turned on her heels to see Owen jogging after her. She smiled and she stopped to wait.
"Owen," she greeted.
"I, um, wanted to know if you wanted to, maybe, you know, go out for something to eat? I'm starving and I just thought that you'd be hungry too, and-"
"I'd love too," she laughed. "Let's go."
"I have no idea what anything on this menu says. How can a guy get some steak and fries, here?!" Owen complained. She chuckled slightly as she read the menu with ease. The waiter approached them both asking what they'd like to eat.
"Hi. Um, so I'd like steak. You know," Owen tried explaining with his hands to the waiter. Claire sighed and decided to intervene.
"Il prend du steak et des frites, s'il vous plaît. Je vais avoir une salade césar au poulet," she smiled.
"D'accord, Mademoiselle."
"Wow, okay. Thanks. Where'd you learn that?"
"I took French for a few years, it always came easy to me."
"All I know is 'oui' and 'merci'. The rest is truly foreign to me," he laughed. "I'm impressed. Hopefully you didn't order me caviar or some weird shit like that."
"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't," she smirked, knowing full well that Owen would soon be met by a plate full of fries and steak. He smiled and they flowed into an easy conversation for the rest of the night.
"Tonight was nice," she looked up at Owen, walking beside her back to their hotel.
"It was. We should do it again sometime."
"Agreed. It was a good distraction from the millions of meetings we have again tomorrow."
"And to think it's only our second day here," he laughed. "I'm glad I've gotten to know you more, though."
Claire blushed, "we still have a few more days ahead of us, Grady. Don't get too mushy on me."
"And here's our stop," he opened the door for Claire.
Once up to their rooms, they turned to face eachother.
"Thank you for tonight," she smiled. She was close enough to Owen that he could smell the aroma of vanilla around her. That goddamn lotion.
"Thank you for saving me from total embarrassment with our waiter," he grinned. She smiled. He loved when she smiled. And the next thing he knew he was doing was leaning down for the kiss.
Hip lips were just about to meet hers when she pulled away. "I really should be going. We have an early morning," she said, avoiding eye contact. He scratched the back of his neck and nodded.
Claire bid her farewell and closed her door, now leaning up against it for support. "You idiot! Why didn't you kiss him?!" Claire whispered to herself, sighing against the door.
From the other side, Owen also leaned against the door. "Why didn't she kiss me?"
The next two days went by long and dull. Owen, with a bruised ego, tried to avoid Claire as much as he could.
When the two first met, he put her on a pedestal. All this time, he admired her beauty from afar, never getting past a few flirtatious jokes.
Even when they went out on a date, Owen was so scared of messing things up- that he couldn't not mess it up.
Now, when he finally had the guts to kiss her, she rejected him.
She was too good for him, and he knew that. He just also knew that he'd make her happy, give her the world if he could.
So, he avoided her. While their hotel rooms were right next to each other, Owen left later than she did and went home earlier.
And on the second day, Claire noticed. She wanted to kiss him, truly did, but her feelings scared her.
But then she began to overthink things. 'What just because he can't woo me with one dinner," Claire thought, not even counting their first date as.. well.. date, 'he has to go and ignore me? That smuck!'
Claire got ready for today's meetings and stepped out of her hotel room.
No Owen.
And she was glad. She didn't want to see him. He had pissed her off and she didn't want to blow her lid until after work.
Claire got to leave a bit earlier than usually that day, not even realizing that this was around the time Owen left too.
She trotted into the hotel, stepping into the elevator. Claire looked down at her phone because she got a notification.
"Oh.. hey.." a male voice trailed off. Claire looked up in an instant, and saw Owen avoiding eye contact.
"Hi," she squeaked, feeling small. "Haven't seen much of you, lately."
"I've been busy," he responded.
"Look, Owen, I'm sorry... about the other day."
"It's fine, just... why didn't you kiss back, Claire. I genuinely thought we had something."
The elevator door opened to reveal their hotel floor. The two stepped out and walked towards the door.
"We do have something, Owen!"
"If you truly thought that, you would've kissed me. You know I like you... really like you... and I finally thought I had a chance with you and then you go and do that? I felt awful, Claire!"
"Owen, dammit, get over yourself! I didn't kiss you for my own reasons! Not because of you- I like you!"
"'Get over myself'", he repeated. "How can I get over myself when all I can think about is you."
"Owen.."
"No, please, listen. Ever since I met you, you've never failed to prove how amazing of a woman you are. I screwed up on our date, and I'm sorry. But I can't just let you slip through my fingers that easily."
Before she knew what she was doing, she had her lips on his.
In between kisses she mumbled, "I didn't not want to kiss you, I was terrified of how strong my feelings for you had become."
Owen pulled back and looked into her eyes. "Don't be scared, but if you want to stop- we'll stop, okay."
Claire respond quickly with, "I don't want to stop. "
He laughed and he pulled her back for another passionate kiss, opening his hotel door for the both of them.
Making sure to lock the door behind them.
Claire opened her eyes, the sun somewhat blinding. She buried her face deeper into her pillow.
"Morning," Owen smiled, wrapping an arm around her waist. Claire rubbed her green eyes, remembering the night before.
"Good morning," she mumbled, kissing him on his jawline. "Last night was.."
"Amazing?" He raised his eyebrows suggestively. Claire laughed.
"You could say that," she smiled. Owen leaned in to give her a proper kiss. "What time is it?"
"About 10:30, why?"
"Shit! Owen! The meeting!" she yelled, jumping out of the bed.
"Claire, calm down, the meeting doesn't start til' 10:50."
"I can't go into the meeting like this," she gestured down to her bare self. Owen shook his head and handed her the outfit she wore the night before.
"You would distract a lot of people if you went into work like that. Me included."
"Owen, not now."
"Later?"
"We'll see," she smirked. "I'll see you in a few, okay?"
"Can't we just skip this meeting and go back to bed?" he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her in for another kiss.
"As much as I'd like to do that, we can't. We'll talk later," she smiled, pecking his lips once more before heading into her own room.
The rest few days went by fast. Claire and Owen spent a lot of time together, getting closer and closer as the days went on.
They were actually happy to be sitting next to each other on the plane this time, and held hands not for just the sake of comforting the other.
The trip didn't just spike up global investors for the company, but also a relationship between the corporate woman and the raptor trainer.