Something Great
Page 24

 M. Clarke

  • Background:
  • Text Font:
  • Text Size:
  • Line Height:
  • Line Break Height:
  • Frame:
“I’m not sure. I just go. I guess we’ll find out at dinner tonight.”
What he said didn’t make sense, but I wasn’t going to question him.
“Are you comfortable? Would you like a pillow and a blanket?”
Letting out a short giggle, I arched my brows at him. “Do you want me to take a nap?”
Max let out a small chuckle. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to. But when I arrived, you had your eyes closed, so I assumed you were tired. You’ll be out late tonight, so you may want to take a nap. Or maybe you should wait till after lunch, since our flight is five hours long.”
“Maybe after lunch then.” The words “five hours” rang in my head. I’d be stuck in the same space with Max for that long. I didn’t know what we would talk about, but how could I think of sleep when I was sitting next to my boss’s son? Come to think of it, how could I even think at all when I would be with him the whole trip? I was hoping to escape from it all, and one of the persons I wanted to escape from was sitting right next to me. My fingers were wiggling, itching, wanting to text Becky, but that would have to wait.
After he nodded, the captain announced we would be taking off and asked us to turn off any electronic devices. Then the stewardess placed the ugly orange floaty on herself and showed us how to use one in case of an emergency as we watched a video on the screen situated in front of us.
It was strange to be sitting next to Max, and silence filled the space between as we waited for the plane to take off. As the plane sped down the runway, getting faster by the second, my heart hammered rapidly against my chest. My jaws were tight and my hands became numb from me holding onto the seat tightly underneath my overcoat so Max couldn’t see. It was the way my stomach lurched that I dreaded when flying, the same way I felt everyday on the elevator to my office.
“Are you okay?” Max asked.
Max must had noticed the anxious look on my face. “Yes,” I lied as we both leaned back in our seat as the plane jetted off the ground. I knew the plane would steady itself soon, and knowing that was enough for me not to panic.
When it became difficult to hear from my ears being plugged, I looked out the window to see the grandness of Mother Nature. How small the world looked from above, reminding us how vulnerable we were and how precious life was. Ascending higher, the clouds came into view, and I was completely awestruck. Seeing nothing but the vast sea of clouds beneath me, I felt like I had wings, floating into heaven.
“Beautiful view, isn’t it?”
Too engulfed in the view, I hadn’t realized Max was looking out the window. When I turned to reply, our lips almost touched, and I jerked back just in time to save myself from the embarrassment of what could have been. “Yes, it is,” I replied, and looked away.
“Would you like anything to drink, Ms. Mefferd?” the stewardess asked with a bright smile.
“Some water please.”
“Make that two,” Max said.
Reaching back into her big, rolling, metal tray, she handed me a bottle of water.
“Thanks,” I said with a smile.
After I drank, I took out a magazine and started flipping through the pages. Slowly, Max peered over to see what I was reading.
“Interesting stuff?”
“Just something to read to pass the time.”
“Hmmm…maybe you should be reading the company policy, where it doesn’t say you can’t go out with anyone you work with.”
I couldn’t help myself…I giggled softly. He was determined, and he was adorable for saying that; and he also knew how to get a laugh out of me. “That’s because….” I paused. There was no policy that said you couldn’t go out with people you worked with. It was my own opinion. It would be unprofessional. If something were to ever happen, it could end up being really bad for one or both of them. And having this once in a lifetime opportunity wasn’t something I was just going to throw away because I had a crush.
“I see that you don’t have an answer, so I must be right. Actually, come to think of it, I’m always right.”
Saved by the stewardess again, she came to bring our lunch. I had expected it to be the processed, plastic looking lunch I’d had several times before when flying, but it was nothing like it. It actually looked delicious. A nice looking tray had a bowl of shrimp linguini, an assorted salad, a cup of vegetable soup, a cheesecake for dessert, and even an extra bottle of water.
After lunch had been eaten and cleared, Max asked me if I wanted to watch a movie. I told him any movie was fine, so he set it up to enable us to watch the same movie at the same time. After placing the head set on my ears, I looked straight ahead onto my screen in front of me. I had only gotten maybe five minutes into the movie when my mind and body started to float into a deep slumber. The combination of a full stomach and being tired from not getting enough sleep the night before were catching up with me.
Blinking rapidly, I desperately tried to stay awake. But no matter how hard I fought, no matter how many sips of water I took, and no matter how many times I shifted my body, my eyelids were too heavy and they surrendered to darkness.
Chapter 13
“Jenna,” a soothing voice whispered my name. What a wonderful dream I was having. I was hearing Max’s voice, and that alone put a smile on my face. I could feel my cheeks pinching and my lips curling upward. Then suddenly it came to me that my eyes were closed as my mind focused into reality.
I knew I was still on the plane, but how I was positioned while I was taking a nap was the question. Slowly, I began to peel my eyelids open when I heard my name again, and the first thing my eyes beheld was Max’s gorgeous eyes. His face was so close we were almost nose to nose, but when I realized my head was resting on his shoulder, I jolted right up.