Previously on Flightmate...
E, C and B are on a trip to Europe. After a lot of drama and the scrapping of the non-negotiable kiss deal between D and E, D finally apologizes to C. C forgives him but D seems to rehash the kiss deal with E.
Chapter 6: 190 km/hr
Elena's eyes widened in shock. I thought... I thought he was doing this... from the goodness of his heart. Was that an act?
Her doubts and accusations raced out of her mind as his blue eyes shone and his brilliant smile stretched from ear to ear. She raised her hand and playfully punched him. He laughed. Swiftly taking it midair with his hand, he leaned forward, one hand as leverage on the armrest, the other hand encasing hers on his chest.
He dropped his eyes. Elena felt her eyes on him. She made the smart choice of averting her eyes. There was no guarantee what she'd do if she was caught in a staring contest with those misty blue eyes. Instead, she looked down at their hands. Feeling his heartbeat.
'I act like a complete douche, but don't forget: you still don't know me,' he rolled his eyes, 'well, not me, me. Stop looking at me with those judgy eyes.' He did the eye thing again. 'I did that for you, not for anything in return. You should know that,' he whispered in a low voice and pulled away. Elena closed her eyes, shaking her head at him in quiet dismissal. He was too much.
Finally, he shuffled past her knees and returning to his seat. Elena's eyes followed him, not glancing away once. He swallowed another gulp of that dreaded liquid in the bottle. He collected the alcohol in his mouth, cheeks puffed. He quickly swallowed it and held up the bottle, twirling it around and staring at the contents.
'Go on. Spill. Purge. What's on your mind?' he asked, hearing the thousands of words running wild in Elena's head.
'Damon,' Elena whispered, finally touching his shoulder. His eyes darted from her hand to her eyes. The question of 'what is she doing?' glowed neon-green in his head.
'Look, I might have been… a little harsh before,' she admitted. Damon grinned a small smile. 'So... I'm sorry. And you are right! I don't know you and I should not judge you. However, one thing I know for sure is that you can be a good person, if you really want.'
His blue eyes silently asked her if she meant what she said. 'Yes, I know,' she chuckled. 'It goes against everything I've said or done. I see good in you Damon. I can't just let you bury it. It goes against who I am.'
'I agree that the reason you apologized to Caroline was because you were pissed at me. But don't even think about telling me,' her voice growing stronger, 'that you didn't feel a teeny bit happy after she forgave you. I saw it on your face. The whole I'm-born-a-prick-and-I-can't-change act - it's not going to work,' Damon bore into her eyes, searching. Elena didn't stop. She knew she was getting through. Once she deciphered the Damon code (by Elena Gilbert, not Dan Brown), there was no going back. 'So admit it, Damon. You liked it. You liked it when you did the right thing.'
Damon's eyes were never more convoluted. Surprise, annoyance, confusion flicked past his face. Elena knew his questions ranged from 'who does she think she is?' and 'why am I not up asking for a seat near the kitchen to get some with the sexy air hostess?' and she didn't care.
He pulled up the mini TV with perfectly normal force, put on his headphones and browsed the movies. Elena was confused and slightly scared at his calm posture. What was he doing? He was either genuinely calm or super pissed to talk to her.
Or deflecting.
Either way, he definitely had serious mood swings. Elena looked upon her situation from the outside. Imagine going on your first ever flight; you are terrified, nauseated and your flightmate is The King of Unpredictability. Not a prospect to look forward to. He was a very interesting person. She'd never known anyone remotely like him. Elena pressed her back into her seat, sipping her lemonade, glancing at him occasionally.
He was watching a movie, resting his head on the heel of his right hand.
'Is that Twilight?' Elena grinned, trying not to break her calm voice. Seriously Damon watching Twilight. He was at the scene where Edward steps out into the sunlight.
Damon didn't look up. Elena wondered if he knew her eyes were on him.
'I watch this because it is so silly. Romanticizing vampires? Come on! I bet Stephenie Meyer didn't know a thing about vampires - they have no place in their hearts for genuine love,' he stated strongly. 'Don't even get me started on Edward. "A glittery sparkly vampire? So gorgeous!"' he sang high-pitched, eyes wild and voice high-pitched.
Elena couldn't contain her laughter. Never in her life did she think that such a manly man could pull off the stereotyped teenage fangirl. She held on to the armrest, and hunched over laughing. She relived the moment in her head again and again. Finally, Elena calmed down but the smile stayed on her face. She tilted her head sideways, smiling at him.
'I like you,' he stated, quietly. 'You know how to laugh.'
'Why thank you, Mr. Salvatore' she flirted. Elena was officially worried. I don't know how to flirt what did I just say? On retrospection, she thought it was the best thing she came up with. What do you say when really-hot-and-sexy-hormonal-danger guy says something like that?
'Goodnight Damon,' Elena mumbled, checking her watch. 'Hope you have fun watching terrible vampire movies!' Yawning, she pushed a button and reclined the chair. She pulling the white sheets over her body. She was facing Mr. Mood Swings. Frowning, she turned the other way. No need to let him watch her sleeping face.
The dull hum of the engines was all she heard as sleep took over.
'Elena! Elena! Wake up!' a panicked voice brought Elena back to consciousness. 'Come on sleepyhead! Wake up!' A hand on her shoulder shook her. She remained motionless. The hand inched to her cheek.
Slowly, she blinked open her eyes and noticed him kneeling on the aisle beside her seat. Caroline and Bonnie were right behind him. Her eyes focused and recognition furrowed her eyebrows.
'What's going on?' she groaned, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. Why was he touching my cheek? Also, why were Bonnie and Care looking at me like that?
'Elena,' Bonnie trembled, her voice faltering.
'Thank you Bonnie and Blondie,' Damon chided. 'Getting weepy is not really helpful right now. I'll do the talking, you can go back to your seats.'
Her friends remained motionless.
'Please,' he added, under his breath. They smiled at Elena apologetically however, she didn't miss the trepidation in her eyes.
'You need to get up. Now, Elena,' when Elena didn't move. She sat up as slowly as she could to annoy him. 'The pilot sent out a distress call.' He pulled her white sheet away from her body.
'Wait, what? What are you talking about?' Elena inquired, completely conscious.
'We are hurtling at 190 km/hr to the centre of the Atlantic, Elena.'
'WHAT?' she yelled.
The plane was bustling with activity as people hurried to get out their life jackets and oxygen masks. The smell of fear poisoned the air. Elena's brain was fogging up.
'Our plane is led by an idiot who thought it was a great idea to fly us straight into a storm cloud. Now thanks to him, we're all going to die,' Damon sarcastically stated, frowning in the direction of the cockpit, fear evident in his eyes. He indeed deflected his pain with humour.
'You need to sit up straight and fasten your seatbelt,' he ordered. 'Please try not to screw up the infinitesimal chance of surviving we've got here.'
'Okay Damon, I know you are scared but don't take it out on me,' she ordered back. Damon didn't seem to hear her. He dropped to his knees and pulled his hair. 'Oh my god, oh my god,' Elena breathed. Her calm and cool flightmate looked genuinely worried. Elena tried to prepare herself for the inevitable crash. How do you face something like this?
Damon fell out of it, brushed her legs and landed on his seat. I must have the best luck in the world. My first air travel ended in disaster. Well I guess I'm paying the price. After all, I'm the only one who survived the car crash.
Trying to distract herself from her thoughts, she watched Damon perused under his seat. After a few moments, he pulled out a yellow nylon package, tied with a black string. It was the life jacket.
Elena wanted to throw up. The life jacket hit her with a new flood of emotions. She had to wear a life jacket. The little yellow thing was supposed to protect her from drowning. This was actually happening. The plane crash. No action music played in the background, none of this was exciting. In fact, Elena heard a baby crying.
Jesus Christ, there was a baby onboard.
Damon swiftly tugged the yellow jacket over his head. Elena realized her eyes had been on him subconsciously. He turned.
'Why aren't you putting your life jacket on?'
'Oh umm… I'm having a moment. Sorry,' she searched for the jacket half-heartedly, simultaneously questioning its functionality in her head.
'Elena, you're looking in the wrong place,' he whispered softly. She looked at him, eyes fear-filled. He was surprisingly calm. 'Is this your first time on a plane, Elena?'
'Yeah,' she mumbled. Great. Now, I am losing my voice.
'How old are you?'
'17,' she answered. 'Why?'
His eyes scrunched in agitation, Damon was clearly angry at her reply. 'Dammit Elena, you haven't even lived yet,' he fumed, standing up and bending between Elena's legs. She stared, bewildered. They say you know how much you care about someone when they're dying. Judging by his behaviour, Damon clearly felt the connection between them, the bond that formed despite fate.
She widened her legs to give Damon room to search. Something ripped. Damon's messy black hair, followed by his blue eyes emerged from under her seat. She tried to ignore her body's reaction to him. SERIOUSLY ELENA, YOU ARE GOING TO DIE AND YOU ARE HAVING INAPPROPRIATE THOUGHTS ABOUT YOUR FLIGHTMATE?!
She closed her eyes, trying to erase the image from her head. Shocking her, he chuckled. Opening her eyes, she noticed his back-to-emotionless face that showed no traces of humour. He handed her the package. Just before she took it however, he pulled it away from her.
'Do you know how to put it on?' he asked, struggling to remain calm. Elena looked at his jean-clad legs and shook her head, shamefully.
Damon tugged the string to free the jacket and slid it over Elena's head. He waited for her to free her hair from under the jacket. Then without any warning, he swooped forward and leaned close to Elena's body. There was an inch of air separating his jacket from hers and another inch between her hands and his shoulder. They were in the perfect position for a hug. Damon grabbed the end of the strap of her bright yellow vest and extended it behind her back, his hand grazing her waist. Elena shivered at the contact and clenched her teeth in an effort to appear unfazed. Her body's weird response to fear and possible death seemed to be lust, confusing her to no limits. Damon yanked her towards him so he could see the strap. The inch of air evaporated. He caught the end of the strap with his hand behind her back. She was fully encircled by him and tried her hardest not to lean into him; to not smell that invigorating mixture of citrus, lavender and musk.
What if he didn't notice?
Her chest heaved breathlessly as she leaned forward. His hands froze. Instantly, she pulled back an inch, trying to make it look accidental.
However, Damon went back to business. He held an oxygen mask in his hand which Elena guessed; fell from the overhead compartment as opposed to magically appearing in his hand. Focused on the job, Damon connected the strap to the carabiner. He seemed oblivious to Elena's increased heart rate and clenched fist. Elena couldn't tell if he was not affected as she was or if he was pretending.
She shifted the oxygen mask in place over her mouth and nose. At the same time, Damon decided to tighten the strap, knocking Elena out of her breath. As if I wasn't flustered already. Finally, he took the two straps hanging right below her breasts and pulled hard. The vest inflated and Damon cockily muttered 'You're welcome'.
As soon as he began inflating his own life jacket, Elena felt the plane dropping height in full intensity. She looked out the window and watched the water getting nearer and clearer. She heard the sound of air burning the plane outside, glad that she couldn't hear the full intensity of it. Feeling her nausea, she closed her eyes, trying to pull it back inside. She thought of her brother, everyone she'd known, memories she'd had with-
Her friends.
'Bonnie, Caroline?' Elena called, as they sat quietly with their eyes closed. Bonnie looked like she was concentrating hard on something. Caroline was muttering to herself. Elena reached over to Bonnie, hoping her hand was longer than the aisle. She squeezed her shoulder. Bonnie instantly opened her eyes, looking at Elena with tears in her eyes.
'Not where we wanted to go huh?' Elena chuckled sardonically. Bonnie smiled weakly. Caroline also leaned in.
'I'm so sorry I talked you into doing this Elena,' Caroline sobbed. 'If you hadn't come with us, you would've been safe and sound, studying for your scholarship test. Oh my god.' Caroline's voice cracked. 'You were applying for college! Elena, I'm so sorry-'
'Care it's okay…' she consoled, reaching across the aisle for her hand. 'Imagine how miserable I'd be if I hear that you two died in the same plane that I could have been in as well,' Caroline covered her teary face with her hand while extending the other and all the three friends joined hands.
'I love you guys. I'm glad I got the two best friends anyone could've asked for. If I die tonight, it's only because I took a risk. That's a good way to go, right?' Elena cried, unable to stop her tears. Caroline's tears flowed faster.
A few seconds later, they had to unlink their hands. Elena leaned back, closed her eyes, controlling her erratic breathing. Caroline was right. College was never going to happen if she died. Her dream to be a writer would never become reality. But if she did survive this, (she had no idea how; nothing existed in the middle of the Atlantic except undiscovered ship wreckage) it would be an excellent story to tell. The Heroic Escape of a Teenager from the Vast Depths of the Atlantic. Lame title, but whatever. Her book would be the best seller, she thought idly - people clamoring to know how a 17-year old girl managed to stay alive after her plane crashed in mid-Atlantic.
The idea gave her hope. She held on tightly.
Physically however, she grabbed the strong hand next to her as they dove into the grey, murky waters.
Damon's smell? Citrus, lavender and musk? It's the Azzaro perfume! Famously brand ambassadored by Ian Smoulderholder and that blonde chick. I never tried it. From the ads I assume it smells real Damonesque. If you tried it, does it smell good? Tell me down below!
Also, DELENA WON BEST COUPLE ON EONLINE! WE ACTUALLY BEAT KLAINE BY 6%! Pat yourself on the back for all the hardwork. If you haven't been voting, you can still vote for MTV's Ship Of The Year: www dot mtv dot com /shows/mtvu_fandom_awards/2014/ship-of-the-year/
Good job people.
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