- Sara's Point Of View -
I watch Nick he stands up momentarily to stretch. A voice comes over the speaker, announcing that everyone needed to return to their seats, as the plane was about to make its final descent. Nick sat down and buckled his seatbelt.
"You do know they were talking to you don't you?" I ask with a smug grin. He raises an eyebrow at me and shakes his head.
"Protocol Sara, protocol." He retorts, and I just huff at him.
"We are now making our final descent into the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. If everyone will buckle their seatbelts and move both their seats and trays into the full upright position, we will have you on the ground momentarily. Thank you once again for flying with us, and we hope to see you again here on Continental Airlines." One of the flight attendants alerts us.
Aw shit.
The landing.
Focus on something else Sara, focus on something else…
I start to wonder how much flight attendants get paid. I voice my question to Nick, and he ponders for a moment before answering.
"Well, not sure really…Why? Interested in switching careers?" He teases, "This would suit you quite well." I laugh, and shove him with my shoulder.
"Shut up Nick." I say, and he snorts.
"You know, you could really think of better comebacks." He grins, and I roll my eyes, trying unsuccessfully to hide my smile.
"Shut up Nick!" I say with more power, slapping him in the chest. He grabs my wrist suddenly, and it scares me. I look over at him, and a small 'ugh' escapes my lips, like I had been hit in the stomach.
His eyes glisten, and his hand slowly slides down my arm, until his fingers lace with mine. I smile, and he smiles.
"So tell me about your family." I say quietly, leaning against the seat and trying to settle my nerves.
"Well…there is me, my three sisters, and my brother. My sister Sammy, she is married with two kids, Devon and Alex. My sister Lindsay is married with three kids, Hannah, Cathryn, and Robbie. My brother Mark is married and has a boy, Joey. My other sister, Kayla, she is married with no kids yet. She was the one in the crash…" he trails off sadly, and I automatically put my head on his shoulder, and open invitation of support.
"Oh Nicky I am so sorry, I know its tough-"
All the sudden…JOLT! I gasp, and suck in an intense breath. We're landing! I squeeze Nick's hand, and he caresses my hand with a calm shushing noise. A loud speeding wind sound echoes through the plane as we slow down on the runway. The sound dies, and I take a deep breath and swallow to cure my popping ears.
"You okay?" he asks tenderly. I open my eyes. And a huge grin spreads across my face as I figure him out.
"You kept me busy while we landed! You little sneak!" I say, not truly believing he could care so much. He shrugs and nods with a sheepish grin.
"I do what I can." He admits, and I lean my head back on his shoulder. He chuckles softly as I do, and I block out the sound of the voice coming over the speaker to listen to Nick's breathing
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As Nick and I step off the plane, I smile. I made it through my worst fear, flying.
Not bad for one day.
Nick elbows me, and I look over at him. A smile has spread across his face, and I know the same thought is running through his head.
"Alright Sidle, you made it through Flight 419!" he exclaims, and I just shake my head at him, secretly loving how much joy he gets from the littlest of things.
"Wait…" he says, grabbing my arm and stopping me. He looks up at the signs, and I point to the one that directs us towards baggage claim. We stroll along, not in a real hurry. Taking the escalator down to the basement floor, we find the baggage claim for our specific flight, and wait as the roller moves its passenger's possessions along.
"Hey, there's mine!" I point with an excited tone. He raises an eyebrow, and I tell him to shut up and grab my bag.
He scolds me once again on my poor use of comebacks, and advises me to look deep into my intricate vocabulary and pull out another.
I tell him to shut up again, just to annoy him.
He grabs his own bag, and we move out of the way to make room for others.
"NICKY!!" I hear someone scream, and we both turn. Nick gets this huge smile on his face, one I've only seen on rare occasions. An older lady whom I presume to be his mother gives him a huge hug, and they both laugh and cry and do everything all rolled into one. I stand a few feet back, letting Nick enjoy the moment, and feeling sort of awkward. When they finally break the embrace, Nick's mother backs away and cups his face like Nick is a five year old.
"Oh Nick…we miss you so much around here…look at you…I haven't seen you in forever…oh…" Mrs. Stokes says, and I smile and laugh quietly. I can only envy at how close this family is…
Mrs. Stokes notices me, and comes over with her hands on her hips and a smile on her face.
"Nicholas! Who is this pretty, young thing? An envy of many men I presume?" she lifts an eyebrow at me, "I see you've finally picked a winner."
Nick comes to my side, rescuing me.
"Umm…Mom…no, actually, this is my best friend Sara. She offered to come down here to ensure my emotional…err…intactness." He says, squeezing my arm gently. He hides this unsuccessfully from his mother. She gives him a look, one that tells me this isn't the last person that will suspect something between Nick and me.
"Well, alright. It's too bad; my boy could use a nice gal like you in his life… On a happier note, welcome to Dallas Sara!" Mrs. Stokes says, and pulls me into a hug. Not a mannerly hug. A motherly hug. The tight squeeze, big bear hug, haven't-seen-you-in-a-million-years-when-in-reality-it's-only-been-a-few-hours kind of hug.
I haven't had one in a while.
"Thank you…" I say, squeezing her momentarily before stepping back. Nick beams at me.
"Oh you're welcome dear." She adds, and we share a warm smile. I have to say, my fist impression of Nick's family is…good!
"Well," he says, "what do you say we get out of here?" Nick's mom nods her head with excitement. He looks to me with that thousand-watt smile, and I grin and nod too. Nick grabs both bags and turns to start walking, but I grab the handle of my own bag and tug it away from him.
"I can carry my own bag!" I insist, but Nick just shakes his head.
"Didn't we go over the whole 'bag thing' before we left? Besides, it's the least I can do, with you comin' down here and all."
I roll my eyes in disbelief, and stand in my offensive, cross-armed, leaning-on-one-hip stance.
"Nick! You paid for my ticket, got my bags, picked me up at my house, took me to the airport, and got me through that flight, the latter being you're greatest accomplishment. What else are you going to do, carry me to the car?" I ask.
A second after I do, I realize how stupid asking that question was.
In one swift movement, Nick sets the bags down, comes to my side and…whoosh! I'm in his arms, light as a feather and fit like a key.
And in extremely close proximity of that hard-as-hell chest. Damn!
"Nick Stokes put me down!" I insist, digging my fist into his stomach and trying not to laugh.
"Ouch!! Ouch ouch! That hurts Sara stop! Okay, okay, I'll put you down, but let's remember one thing…you asked for it!" He teases, laughing out loud and gently setting me back on the ground.
I smile, and pick up my bag.
"I cannot believe you just did that Nick." His mother walks up, and I blush furiously, completely forgetting she was there. Nick looks over at me, and sees me blushing. He elbows me and puts on a look of mock innocence.
"Hey, it wasn't my fault, the lady asked for it and I, like the true gentleman that I am, did what the lady insisted." He pleads his case.
"Oh I insisted…pashaw!" I smile and purse my lips together, raising my eyebrows and looking away. I think I do this a lot; Nick pointed it out to me once. And after that, he had continued on to list all my other little quirks.
He really does know me best.
"Watcha' smilin' 'bout over there Sidle?" He asks, and I hear his accent significantly increase. It must be because of our location, I can tell he is soaking Texas right into his skin.
"I'm smilin' at you."
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- Nick's Point Of View -
I feel myself grin as Sara says she's smiling at me. I wonder if she saw my mom smile too.
"Hey, Nick, if you're done flirting over there, it'd be so great if you could drive…"Mrs. Stokes says, dangling and jingling the keys. Sara laughs and blushes, pursing her lips like she always does, especially when she tries to hide a smile
"Yeah, so sorry Mom…" I say, trying to recover myself while still stealing one last glance at Sara. After the plane ride, I feel like Sara and I connected on a level that's much different from ones we've connected on before. Just by holding her hand I can feel this intense energy between us. Pent up energy. Held-back energy. I know Sara is trying to figure out the stuff changing between us, but I think there might be something deeper, something that hasn't surfaced before
I guess all I can do I wait; see if she'll open up.
"Nicky…" my mother waves a hand in front of my face, breaking me from my reverie. I look at her, but she smiles and motions towards the car door. I glance at Sara again, and she catches my eye. She was frowning, but she offers a weak smile, and as I get into the car, I return it.
I go around back and toss my bag into the trunk. As I turn, smack! I run right into Sara.
"Oh, sorry Nick…"she says, giggling at me before throwing her own bags in the back. I smile at her, and she blushes. A second passes, and as she catches my eye, I know I've been caught staring.
"Go drive before your mom says something again." she insists, shoving me away from her and laughing. I shake my head with a smile, and she turns and gets into the car.
Starting the car a minute later, I pull out of the airport, and I hear Sara sigh. I look at her through the rearview mirror, wondering what's bothering her.
"So Nick, which one?" I hear my mother say suddenly, and I shake my head and blink before looking in her direction.
"Umm…sorry mom, what was that?" I ask, and she smiles knowingly.
"I asked if you wanted something to eat, or go straight to bed. It is getting late." She says. I ponder this for a minute. I'm not very hungry, and after that flight, I'm sure Sara's not either. Besides, mom'll make us something good for breakfast.
"I'm thinking bed, whadda bout you Sar?" I glance back at her once again. she nods and says that's fine with her.
"Mom, how's Kayla?" I ask, and I hear Sara shift behind me. The worry for my sister starts to flood my emotions, and the anxiety is eating away at me.
"She's been better Nick. I'm serious, she's pretty beat up, but technically, the doctor's say she's fine. She doesn't look too pretty right now, but there should be no lasting damage." She says. I nod solemnly, not really believing my sister could be so hurt. It made me hurt.
"We'll see her tomorrow okay?" my mom says, patting my shoulder. I nod, and look at Sara via the rearview mirror again, just to see what she might be thinking about all that.
She's crying.
Not over the top bawling, heck barely even crying, but, a silent tear rolls down her cheek, and she does nothing to stop it. She seems to barely notice as she stares out the window. I look back to the road after the light changes, and wonder, why? She doesn't even know my sister. I'll have to talk to her.
Fifteen minutes later, we pull up to the farm. It takes a good two minuets to finish the driveway, its gravel and hilly. The fields are vast and full of horses, another reason I looked forward to coming here.
Once in the garage, I park and get out. A rush of hot air meets me, and I wish I had on some shorts. Sara gets out too, a little more slowly, and meets me at the back to grab our bags.
"Hot here isn't it?" I ask, and Sara smiles.
"Yeah. Makes me want to put something else on, all this humidity."
"Well," I tease, "you know how the song goes. 'It's getting hot in here, so take ff all your clothes.' "
She laughs, and I feel a little better.
"In your dreams Nick." She laughs.
"Damn right."
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