"Flight F2 to Orlando, Florida will begin boarding momentarily. Flight F2 will begin boarding momentarily."
Jackie's head was resting lightly on my shoulder, her eyes closed in sleep. I reached up a hand to brush hair from her eyes before shaking her awake gently and watching her yawn loudly.
"Wake up, sleepy head!" Fez told her, grinning stupidly as Jackie stirred with a giggle in the foreigner's direction.
He had ice cream all over the edges of his mouth, and a chocolate smear on his cheek. He looked like he was six. Jackie leaned forward to wipe it all off with her handkerchief that she'd withdrawn from her small purse as I stood, reaching down for Jackie's carry-on bag.
"Flight F2 to Orlando, Florida may begin boarding. Flight F2 may begin boarding."
"That's us!" Jackie squealed, immediately leaping up, though she winced in pain as she did so. She'd often told me how her chest always felt like it would burst and her legs would buckle—I don't know how the hell she planned to survive this trip.
A bouncing up and down Fez joined a bouncing up and down Kelso near the gate, resembling over-excited ten year olds. Donna and Eric joined them, calmly and firmly telling them that if they wanted to survive the plane ride, they had to settle down. Donna and Eric… the parents of the group. Yay. (Note sarcasm)
Jackie and I followed the others into the plane, Jackie sniffing in disdain and disgust. "This smell is making my head throb," she told me with a frown. As we all searched slowly for our seat numbers, Jackie seemed to walk extremely slow. At one point, I felt her grip my arm firmly, and I turned around just in time to watch her legs crumble beneath her. She quickly regained her balance, telling the others she'd merely tripped.
Another lie.
There had been much seat switching amongst ourselves (seeing as Kelso and Fez had wanted to sit with two rather busty blonds where Donna and Eric were supposed to sit) and much whining on Fez's part about being completely ignored by his blond. I'd allowed Jackie the window seat—even though I really didn't like being in the aisle... too many little kids darting back and forth—and that seemed to cheer her up. That and the fact that Eric seemed to be completely hyperventilating over flying definitely perked her up. Apparently, the scrawny kid didn't like heights too much. Who would've thought?
Of course, as soon as the plane started moving, I slowly figured out that I myself don't enjoy the disgusting sensation of flying in an unstable piece of metal. As the plane tilted upwards to take off, my eyes widened as I looked over at Jackie, who was busy simply reapplying lip gloss in her small pocket mirror. How the hell was it that she felt safe in this thing? I quickly looked down and attempted to look calm and collected as I felt Jackie's gaze fall on me. She reached a small hand over to cover the hand that I had gripping the armrest, and smiled softly at me before slowly turning her head to gaze out the window. My stomach lurched as the plane dove into the air, nose first, and I felt her eyes on me as her hand tightened its grip on mine. The plane soon leveled out, and my insides slowly untwisted, and I almost groaned for showing any signs of weakness in front of Jackie—after all, I'm Steven Hyde. I'm not supposed to be afraid of flying. That's Eric's job.
Jackie and I sat in silence for a few minutes as she stared out the window, apparently amazed at how small everything looked from the airplane.
"Hello sir—would you like anything to drink?"
The voice of a stewardess standing next to me with a cart forced me back to reality as I frowned over at her. "You got beer?" I asked her gruffly, ignoring a groan from Jackie.
The woman eyed me curiously for a moment before nodding slowly, pointing towards their cans of beer on the lower shelf of the cart. At my nod, she unscrewed the top of a beer before pouring it into a small plastic cup and handing it to me. "And for you, ma'am?" she asked, her eyes now drifting from me to Jackie.
"I'll just have water with lemon, please," she said politely, and I could tell she'd worked hard to rip her eyes from the soda she'd spotted on the cart. I'd noticed her that she had been cutting back on sugar lately—something that would be incredibly hard for her. She smiled sweetly as the stewardess passed her the water and slowly moved on to Donna and Eric.
Surprisingly, Jackie was quiet the majority of the plane ride—something that was slightly unnerving for me. She slept most of the way, her head usually resting on my shoulder or on the pillow she'd hounded the stewardess for. While she slept, I was left to look over at Donna and Eric to listen in on their conversations… which usually involved what rides they were going to ride and Eric asking Donna if Star Wars was Disney World related.
"We will be landing at the Orlando, Florida airport in a few minutes. We now ask that you please fasten your seatbelts and turn any electrical equipment off."
Jackie's eyes snapped open as the loudspeaker sounded, and, with a yawn and a stretch of her tiny arms, she smiled faintly at me. Looking out the window, her eyes widened in excitement and she moved her hand to grip my arm. "Look, Steven! Look, isn't it pretty?" she asked me all in one breath, looking from the window to me.
I nodded slowly before straightening my sunglasses on my face as the speaker clicked on again.
"We hope you enjoyed your flight, and thank you for flying with us today. Be sure that you stay seated and buckled until the plane comes to a complete stop and the seat belt sign turns off. Make sure that all items and bags are taken from the plane, and make sure to claim your baggage at the baggage claim. Have a nice day!"
My stomach lurched once more as the plane dove towards the ground and skidded on the track, grasping Jackie's hand, my eyes hidden behind my glasses. Those sunglasses have saved my ass so many times I've lost count.
Jackie shot up out of her seat as soon as the seat belt sign clicked off, leaning over to pick up her bag as I too stood, stretching with a loud yawn.
"Was it just my imagination—or were you scared?" Eric immediately asked as soon as Donna, Eric, Jackie and I made it into the rather cramped aisle way.
"Shut up, Forman," I told him through narrowed eyes and reaching hand over Donna's shoulder to smack the back of his head.
"Hey!" he shouted, rubbing the back of his head. "That's not fair."
"Oh really... I don't want to have to put up with this all week, you two," Donna told us in exasperation, poking Eric in the back to keep him moving as she neared the exit of the plane. Fez and Kelso were still in the back of the plane, having waited too long to smash through the crowd. That made me laugh.
As we reached the gate, Eric began looking around, clearly in awe. Looked as though the poor kid had never been in an airport before—which I was positive he had. "This airport is HUGE!" he burst, sounding so much like Fez as he spoke that I wanted to smack him. One Fez was more than enough. Definitely more than enough.
Jackie suddenly stumbled as we walked, gripping the back of my shirt for support, once again mumbling she'd tripped over luggage to a curious Donna and a bewildered Eric. Once again, I could tell Donna knew Jackie was lying, but Eric was none the wiser. Stupid little teenager.
"Aha! We have finally found you!"
As Jackie and I turned, we saw Fez and Kelso darting towards us, looking extremely glad that they'd finally exited the plane.
"You would never believe the largeness of the people in front of us. They were like Rhonda… times 10!" Fez continued, Kelso nodding excitedly. "I wanted to poke the woman's belly, but Kelso said she'd probably bite me, so I decided I'd like to keep my hand." Fez's comment was greeted by stunned silence and wide-eyed friends before we all shook our heads in amusement and turned.
"Okay, well, we have to go pick up our bags—and then go catch a bus. It said in the packet I got with the tickets that there were buses out front that could take us to our hotel," Donna explained, beginning to walk in the direction of the F2 baggage claim, Eric trailing along like a puppy behind her.
I wrapped my arm around Jackie's shoulder to slow her, so that the two of us were walking slightly behind the others. "Jacks, Donna knows something's up. You're legs have collapsed on you twice, and she's witnessed it both times. Why won't you just tell her?"
"And ruin the trip? Steven, if I told everyone—or even just Donna—the trip would be ruined. They wouldn't think I'd be able to walk around as fast as everyone, and then they'd slow down because of me. That would ruin everything, Steven. I'll… tell them after the trip," she told me, her voice quiet, in case they happened to overhear.
"Jackie, you and I both know you might not be able to survive doing as much walking as we'll be doing. I'll carry you, and you know that, but they're going to figure it out when I start carrying you around in my arms and on my back for half the day," I protested, squeezing her shoulders gently. "What's the worst that could happen if you tell them?"
"I just can't, Steven! You don't understand!"
"Because you won't let me understand! Damn, Jackie! I've been trying to understand why the hell you're keeping as big a deal as something like this from your friends—especially Donna—and you aren't helping! Just tell them!"
"I can't, Steven! I can't! Please, try to understand!"
Her lower lip had begun to tremble and her eyes were slowly filling with salty tears, and I immediately shut my mouth. I hated seeing Jackie cry, and I wasn't about to make her cry over something as stupid as this argument. "Okay. Okay. But… just promise me that you'll tell them after the trip, if not during."
"I promise."
Liar.
Author's Note: Sorry it took longer than usual... hehe, I wanted it to be good. Thank you for the reviews- you guys are so sweet! I hope you like the chapter.. be sure to tell me if I'm getting anywhere near out of character with any of the characters.