Takes place within events of Shatterproof

Jonah's Private Plane

Somewhere over North Africa

Time to next Vesper Drop: 20 hours

Jake and Amy were settled at the rear of the plane, side by side. Dan and Atticus were seated as far away as possible, right behind the cockpit playing some zombie apocalypse video game. Amy intended to sleep and land in Timbuktu rested, but try as she might, sleep would not come. Maybe it was the stress, or maybe it was the fact that Jake had picked the seat right next to her and her heart felt like it was running a marathon. And he smelled good. And he was gorgeous.

"You know, we could really get a lot done, if we put our heads together." Jake said, pulling out his laptop and setting it on the table between then, inching ever closer to Amy.

Amy glanced sidelong at Jake. He ran a hand through his perfect hair and slipped his trainers off, stretching his long legs across to the seats opposite them and crossing his ankles. He flipped open the lid, typed in his password and opened a web browser.

"Okay," Amy sighed, "I'm not sure I'd be able to sleep anyway." Amy said, leaning toward Jake so that their shoulders were touching now.

Jake glanced over at her and flashed her his biggest movie-star smile. He let his gaze linger on her just a second longer than he should. Amy felt butterflies in her stomach. Stop it! she chastised herself.

"What do you know about Timbuktu?" She asked, focusing on his laptop, if for no other reason than she knew she was turning pink and didn't want Jake looking at her just then.

"Uh, some. My father came here once, I believe. I was a little kid back then. It's pretty remote and the desert is constantly threatening to claim the city completely. They call it 'desertification'."

"I read about that. It's sad." Amy was reading the Wikipedia page Jake had pulled up about Timbuktu. She drew quiet as she read.

Jake turned his head ever so slightly so he was no longer reading the screen, but instead, watching Amy read. He loved studying her. She could be so focused sometimes. He mentally traced her profile. She had the most delicate features and her lips…

Amy could feel Jake's eyes on her. She turned slowly and stared at him. Just then Dan walked past them to the bathroom and Amy and Jake snapped their eyes back to the screen and the information within.

Jake coughed once, and blubbered, "uh, right, so, um, where were we?"

"Um, we, um, were, here." Amy said, reaching out to the screen and pointing to the part about desertification. At this rate they'd be lucky to get through five paragraphs before they landed-6 hours from now.

Jake tried to redouble his efforts at reading, but the fact that Amy was sitting next to him, her shoulder and her long hair resting on his was all he could focus on. It didn't help that he kept picturing kissing her. Stop! He mentally berated himself, she has a boyfriend! Then as if the angel and devil from the cartoons were sitting on each of his shoulders, he proceeded to have a war within himself:

She has a boyfriend, sure, but you're much better looking than he is.

It doesn't matter, she's off limits! Look at yourself, you're enjoying this time with her. How dare you!

Oh, shut up, you can tell she likes you too. Go on, enjoy it. She'll come around to you eventually.

Is nothing sacred? Stop leaning on her, sit up, gather your things and sit somewhere else. Be a man for shit's sake!

I think we've had enough of you. She's just the kind of girl for you: brilliant, talented, a natural leader, industrious and pretty. Very pretty.

Jake gave his head a small shake to dispel the internal dispute he was having with himself. Apparently, the devil within was winning because he did not get up, but decided to flirt for all he was worth. The next several hours were some of the best of his life. He winked, joked, complimented, smiled and generally tried to engage with Amy. Sure, they researched Timbuktu, but the real research was each other.

Not long before landing, Atticus passed them again, for nearly the 100th time, heading to the bathroom and he gave Jake a look of deep disgust. It was apparent to the eleven-year-old that something more than research was happing at the rear of the plane.

Jake was on cloud nine, and, it appeared, so was Amy. She had turned sideways in her seat and tucked one leg underneath her. She kept smiling and gazing at Jake so much so that she felt guilty about it. She played with her hair and smiled coyly to Jake. He had a lost puppy dog look on his face and she knew her face had to look similar. He was so hot! There were far worse things in the world than being flirted with by a hot guy. Amy decided to forget her worries for the next few hours and soak up this time with Jake. Who knew what awaited them on the ground when they landed.