Authors note: Please review :)
Chapter 2: A Little Turbulence
After some extensive bargaining and pleading with the gentleman in the middle seat of a three row- side seating area, mother and daughter were allowed to sit together. However, the gentleman would not relinquish the window seat. Bella sat on the aisle, and Renee in the middle next to Mr. Stubborn.
"Are you sure you want to read that over again Bella? I can ask the stewardess for a magazine or another book? It's a 9 hour flight honey."
Bella smiled over the book. "It's special to me. I really don't mind reading it again."
Renee tilted her forehead to hers. "It means a lot that you think this book is special too. I used to read it over and over again when I was, well, I guess I was a little older than you. That and Jane Austen. In fact," she dug through her colorful new burlap carry-on. "I have Pride & Prejudice right here! Don't leave home without it."
Bella regarded the book in her hands; its spine was dark green, with faded gold lettering Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen.
"Actually, like the Bronte sisters, Austen didn't print under her name. She printed anonymously."
"Why would she do that?" Bella opened the novel, and ran her hand down the worn cover page, printed in a flourished script.
"Well, it was a different time. Women were treated differently, and as a female you just didn't publish work back then" Renee shrugged. She pulled out a Cosmopolitan magazine. Bella almost didn't recognize the celebrity on the cover, scantily clad in a fishnet top and black skirt. She was posed so awkwardly on the cover, surely she wasn't comfortable in those clothes, Bella thought.
"It is now safe to take off your seatbelts. We are an hour into our journey, and the refreshments cart will be making its rounds. Please have cash or credit ready if you wish to purchase refreshments."
Bella had just finished the acquaintances of Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley at the dance hall, to the Bennett sisters. What made this old-world courting so attractive to her? She admired the way the gentlemen asked the women to dance, and led them to events, and opened carriage doors. Is that what her mother referred to as chivalry?
"Honey, did you want anything? The cart's coming around."
"I'm fine, thanks."
"You sure?" she was digging through her sack again. Bella made a mental note to buy an attachment for her mother's change purse. "I'm going to get…uh, something." She cleared her throat as the woman came by.
"What would you like?"
"Do you have any, chardonnay perhaps?" Renee whispered her request. Bella rolled her eyes – she wasn't deaf.
"Actually we do!"
"One glass please."
"Mom, you don't have to feel guilty for having wine." She watched her mom sheepishly sip her beverage. "Especially when you don't like flying."
"Oh, it's not that. I just want to get a few hours of sleep in before we land. You should do the same! That book isn't going anywhere, unless it somehow sprouts legs."
Bella clutched the binding teasingly. "I'll make sure it doesn't go anywhere"
The cabins were dark, save for three or four sparse lights above passengers reading or working on their computers. Renee's sleeping head had fallen onto Bella's shoulder. Bella held a flashlight to Austen's masterpiece, savoring every word she couldn't comprehend or pronounce, every innuendo she didn't understand yet, and filing it away into her memory to ask her mother later. Whoever this mysterious Mr. Darcy was, something told her there was more than met the eye.
"Hey"
Bella's eyes flickered above her book, her breath catching in her throat. The boy named Edward was standing in the aisle, regarding her with a soft smile and inquisitive green eyes.
"What are you reading?"
Why was her chest speeding up, like in the lobby? No boys ever talked to her, never. Ever. Should she be mean, like Elizabeth to Mr. Darcy? Or not answer?
"It's…Pride and Prejudice."
He nodded, glancing at the book. "My mom has read that. Is it any good?"
She swallowed hard. "So far."
"Sorry, my name is Edward. Edward Mason."
"Bella. Bella Swan." She barely touched his offered hand, before retreating back into herself.
"I always wondered if girls' books were good; full of action, I mean."
"It's not an action novel. It's romance. Although, I haven't gotten to the romance part yet."
Bella watched him shift his position in the aisle, holding onto the headrest in front of her. Her eyebrows narrowed together. "Why are you up? Everyone is asleep."
"Can't sleep. Not on planes at least." He scratched the back of his neck, glancing away to the other side of the plane. Bella took the moment to glance at her still-sleeping mother on her shoulder.
"I'm headed to the restroom, but, want to hang out with me when I get back? See if there's any extra snacks in those metal drawers?" he smirked.
"I thought first class passengers weren't supposed to come back here."
He pondered over her comment for a few seconds before shrugging. "I don't have anyone to talk to. I don't mind hanging back here, only if you don't mind me?"
Bella couldn't believe how well-spoken, or how well-mannered he was. The only manners her mother taught her were at the dinner table. Everything else had come from books.
She nodded silently. He walked off, glancing over his shoulder at her once, before disappearing into the bathroom cabin.
Bella lay back in her seat. Was that really the first time a boy acknowledged her existence? Did she sound stupid? Did she say everything right?
The plane began to rumble. Her mother's second half-full glass of wine shook and splattered onto the table.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, we are five hours into our journey at 30,000 feet. We seem to be hitting a little turbulence, so please return to your seat and fasten your seatbelt."
Edward. Bella turned her head, and noticed to her relief that the boy had vacated the bathroom and was heading her way. He offered a weak smile and shrugged his shoulders. "Guess our adventure will have to wait. See you in a few."
Bella weakly waved as he walked by.
"Mhm?" Renee leaned up and squinted her eyes. "Oh Bella, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to sleep on you." She sat up straight and stretched her arms.
"That's okay" Bella replied hazily, shoving her books and flashlight away into her knapsack.
The vibrations rattled the chairs.
"Feels like a massage, doesn't it" Renee commented. Bella heard the nerves in her tone.
"It'll go away" she muttered under her breath.
"Please fasten all seatbelts, Ladies and Gentlemen, and keep all belongings under your seat and all trays in their upright-"
The lights blew out to blackness. A woman nearby screamed.
"Bella" Renee grasped her daughter's hand.
They could feel the plane struggling to level out. Bella could see flashes of white light flickering in the darkness outside.
"Bella it's going to be okay" Renee shouted over the voices – fighting to stay calm for her daughter in the midst of chaos.
Bella squeezed her mother's hand, the other clutching to the armrest. Her chest heaved as the adrenaline battle began, and the little warriors coursed through her veins.
A high pitched siren wailed, but it wasn't from the intercom. The sound was coming from outside her window.
Bella peered through the blackness outside her window; her mother was flush against the seat, holding her breath and squeezing her hand. The engine flaring angrily with red, orange, yellow, and sparks of brilliant green that reminded her of something.
Suddenly a tangled mess of plastic fell atop of her.
"Mom-"
"Sweetie, hold on" Renee grappled with the plastic till she got the rubber band secure over Bella's head, then hers. People were clambering over and through seats as if a stampede were chasing them from all angles. Few stayed put and had the composure to arrange the oxygen masks. Bella held her mother's frightened stare.
"It's going to be okay honey, I love you."
"I love you mom" but Bella's voice was drowned over the high pitched whistle – the cries – the nose-dive the plane suddenly took.
She held onto her mother in a joined embrace. Her mother held her hands over her daughter's head as the plane jerked forward once more.