AN - sorry in advance, this update is shorter than I wanted it to be, but it takes me quite awhile to write and read over and over to make sure I'm getting the effect I am trying to achieve. . I have an outline and I am trying desperately to make sure it pans out.
Thank You all for your reviews, it means a lot to me knowing that there is someone out there enjoying this. On with the chapter, ENJOY!
CHAPTER TWO
7:15 AM. Everyone climbed into the jet taking their usual spots. I headed for the one farthest away from JJ's usual seat, facing away from the team. With my best game face on, I made sure to pose a pseudo smile of exhaustion at Derek on the way past his seat, ensuring a facade that I was better than the night prior. It seemed to work, he smirked back at me, then turned his attention to JJ, whom I felt close on my tail. I guess she quickly noticed that I skipped my usual spot across Derek, and from the shuffle behind, I assumed that she took the spot in my absence. Slumping in my newly found chair, I felt well rested and wide awake, but feigned being tired, hoping everyone would just leave me alone. I placed my bag down in the aisle seat, as I leaned my head against the window and closed my eyes.
Derek and Reid started making some snide remark at JJ about last night, hearing the name LaMontagne somewhere in the dialogue, there was a slight flutter of ache coming from my chest as I tried hard to drown them out. 'See? She doesn't care about you, she doesn't even notice your absence' …sigh. Just concentrate on clearing your mind, you are not even looking at her, so stop thinking about her. I distinctly hear her voice as she continues conversing with the guys. After a few minutes I opened my eyes and looked out the window, ' Jeez we haven't even left the dock, this is going to be a LONG 4 hours back'.
I felt my heart wrench as I could still hear her sultry voice talking about stupid LaMontagne. Ugh. I grab the phone from my waist and start texting. Hey didn't want to intrude in your talk, can I borrow your iPod?. A moment after sending it I heard Derek's phone beep. JJ seemed to pause for a moment. 'Probably making sure no one misses every bit of her stupid story about her stupid boyfriend'. A few seconds later I felt something tapping against my head, I knew it was Morgan handing over his headphones and player. I grabbed it, silently thanking him as I pulled the noise-cancelling headset over my ears. 'I should get myself a pair of these' I thought, as I calculated the many times I would probably need them to avoid JJ in such close quarters. I didn't even bother turning the player on, I just needed to drown her voice out.
Fifteen or so minutes later and we were up in the air. I was jealous for not being able to converse with the other members of the team, and angry, perhaps even slightly hurt that all their attention was on JJ. I felt a form of resentment grow stronger for the blonde. Having nothing else to do, and being tired of listening to my inner voices of self-deprecation, I let myself nod off.
My neck felt stiff, and it hurt to even move slightly, but I felt a hand patting my thigh. Groaning, I slowly opened my eyes and looked up at the person jostling me. I jumped slightly as I was met with blue eyes peering down at me. I could see the surprise in her eyes as she flinched back from my response. Immediately I pulled the headphones off my head and looked out the window. We were still in the air. Looking back, slightly annoyed at being awaken from my slumber JJ spoke up " We'll be touching down in 10 min". I closed my eyes, rubbed my palm against my forehead and ran my fingers through my hair. "Uh, ok.. thanks" JJ had caught me off guard as my walls quickly scrambled into position. I looked away, concentrating my gaze out the window, as my inner 'Agent Prentiss' personas worked to fence my emotions off.
She sat down, taking the seat adjacent to me. Steadfast, I controlled myself from sneaking a glance at her from the corner of my eye. I struggled to suppress the feeling in my chest as I felt her eyes on me. I focused at packing up Morgan's headphones and iPod. There was an awkward silence, as I reached over to balance the iPod and headset on Derek's clean-shaven scalp. There was a slight contact of his fingers on mine as he confirmed the return of his belongings. I took care again to not look at her as I observed the landing strip coming into clear view.
"Hey" JJ called out to me. I closed my eyes before looking at her, preparing myself. My inner walls still weren't firmly in place. Perhaps my expression was a bit harsher than I thought as a confused look came upon her features. I quickly responded by placing a softer questioning 'mask' on. "How are you? I felt like I haven't talked to you in forev-", "I'm ok" I lied quickly, almost abruptly cutting her off. I felt my face glare at her suspiciously under the mask. There was an awkward pause again as we faced off. I could tell she was trying to read me, unsuccessfully at that, I could see the confused and hurt expression that was reflecting in her eyes. It felt like my heart skipped a beat, some quiet voice in my head said I was hurting her, but at the same time there was some dark side of me that was smirking back.