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L I L Y
They had only been in the air for twenty minutes, and as soon as the seatbelt sign stopped flashing bright orange, Irene unbuckled hers and sprinted to the bathroom. Nearby passengers probably thought she was holding in the urge to piss the entire time, but Lily knew the only thing Irene had been holding in was another meltdown. She'd blinked back tears all the way through security, so as soon as the chance presented itself for her to break down somewhere private, she didn't hesitate to take it.
Irene Jones had never been the type to shy away from showing emotions in public, whether good or bad ones. Yet oddly enough, this time around, it seemed like she had refused to let herself shed a single tear. As if she didn't even want to acknowledge she was in pain. It made something in Lily break. Sirius' words must have deeply hurt her for her to be acting so unlike herself.
Twat, Lily thought.
She glanced at the oversized stuffed bear occupying the seat in between her and Irene's. How security didn't insist Sully got moved to cargo was beyond her. But Lily knew Irene needed some form of replacement for the comfort Winter would've given her in a situation like this.
Three years before they met, Ira registered Winter, her golden retriever, as an Emotional Support Animal to help her with her anxiety disorder. Although she usually brought him along when she traveled, this time she'd left him at home with her dad. She had functioned well without him the past two weeks, what with her anxiety being under control and everything, but neither she nor Lily were anticipating something like a breakup to happen. Though Ira kept herself together when they were at the airport, at one point she muttered under her breath, "I wish Winter was here," and it was that sentence that ultimately made Lily decide to keep Sully, even if it meant paying for an extra ticket for him.
The seatbelt sign started flashing. The pilot announced everyone to stay seated because there was a mild turbulence ahead, but nothing to panic over. But given the frantic reactions from some of the passengers, he might as well have said, "Please everyone, panic. Panic big time."
Lily had never been scared of flying. Water terrified her way more than being in the air, as much as her friends found that logic to be backwards-after all, there wasn't much logic to phobias to begin with. But whenever Lily hopped on an aeroplane, the possibility of it crashing crossed her mind each time.
She didn't consider herself devotedly religious, but she always prayed the second she got on a plane and then again as soon as they landed. So when the pilot announced the turbulence, that's exactly what she did: closed her eyes and whispered a prayer into the universe that this turbulence was, as the pilot said, truly nothing to panic over.
"Didn't know you had a fear of flying, Lils."
Lily opened her eyes and looked up at Irene. Her raven hair was a mess and her eyes puffy, but she looked surprisingly calm, as if she'd stopped crying a while ago. Lily pulled her legs closer to her seat to let Irene pass. She plopped down on her own seat next to the window and buckled her seatbelt with a huff.
