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Don't Panic
1015 words
The welcome video played on the small TV. Neither red headed sister paid attention. One too focused on a book to even realize it started to play and the other staring out the window wishing she was anywhere else but in that chair, watching the ocean go by, nothing changing but the clouds.
"So, in the interest of bringing us all together, I'd like to purpose a little icebreaker." Eleanor looked towards the front of the car with a bored expression meeting eyes with the blonde Barbie-like girl. "Ooh, like Never Have I Ever?" The girl's blue eyes left Eleanor's looking at what Eleanor thought was Jeanette, or maybe it was Martha? She wasn't really paying attention when they were introducing themselves. "Uh, that game's a little much." Nellie laughed to herself, shaking her head as she looked back out the window blocking out the conversation until the girl appeared at her side, a giant smile on her face.
"Guess we're together, your sister's up there with Martha, I believe her name is." Nellie peered behind the girl noticing her sister was gone, then looking down the row of seats she saw her sitting by another girl now engaged in a conversation. "Lovely." The blonde girl sat on the seat beside Eleanor leaning in and sticking out her hand. "Shelby. And you are?" Eleanor took it with a blank expression opposite of the girl's across from her shaking it lightly. "Eleanor." "Oh, so like Nellie? Or Nell." Eleanor nodded a little with a shrug leaning back against her seat.
"It's a pleasure. Okay, so let me tell you a bit about me. Okay, I do real, right? I do family. I do Jesus. I do pageants." "You do Jesus?" Eleanor looked at her with an eyebrow raised making Shelby blush slightly shaking her head. "Not like that." Her tone was slightly defensive as the words came out. "Anyway, I'm doing this conference to offset the pageants. Some colleges might see them as retrograde when it comes to female empowerment. Has anyone ever told you, you have the most drop-dead gorgeous eyes?" Eleanor snorted, shaking her head with a laugh.
"No, thanks? You have quite the personality." Her tone went somewhat dead making Shelby frown slight, trying to keep her smile. "Tell me about you." "I'm from Michigan, I have 5 siblings that I take care of, and I hate overly happy people. Nice to meet you." Eleanor smirked, turning back away from the girl trying to laugh at the look on her face, only turning back to grab cake from the busboy.
"Thanks man." He nodded pushing the cart away as Eleanor took a bite of cake humming at the taste. "So what, you're from Texas?" Eleanor turned to look at Shelby who nodded with a smile. "Yeah, how'd you guess?" "Your accent. It's really strong." "Really?" Eleanor nodded, taking another bite of cake. "So do you have a boyfriend? What's happenin' in your love life?" Shelby moved her shoulders in a funny way leaning in farther towards Nellie. "What, are you hitting on me?" Eleanor teased looking down the aisle at her sister missing the slightly disgusted look that Shelby was giving her.
She looked back, noticing Shelby somewhat frozen and laughed. "I'm fucking kidding dude, chill out." Shelby laughed as well leaning back against the seat once again. "No. To answer your question." "Oh, well I have a boyfriend, Andrew, he's a real keeper for our anniversary he bought me a star. An actual star and named it after me." Eleanor raised her eyebrows, somewhat surprised at the strange present when she leaned in noticing something.
"That's definitely a present." Eleanor looked down at her plate, suddenly fully aware of the difference between them. She looked so much different then the girl. Her perfect clothes and hair totally differed from hers that were filled with wear and tear holes or had spots on them. Her overalls dirty and worn out along with the old flannel handing off her shoulders. Her hair a mess in its style, she shifted uncomfortably putting a leg up in front of her to try and hide the outfit as she looked down at her plate with a frown hoping the blonde wouldn't take notice.
"So, what's Michigan like?" "Hot one day, like 80 degrees and the next day it will snow. And that's not a joke either. I wish I could laugh." "Sounds hectic, one day in the pool the next shoveling snow." Nellie nodded watching Shelby take a bite of cake admiring her for a moment. "You know, I love that hair color. It's gorgeous." Shelby spoke, breaking Nellie from the trance. "Thanks blondie, you're not too bad yourself." Sending Shelby a wink, the redhead turned back to her window as the plane began to shake, making her sit up in concern.
"What the fuck?" "Oh my god." The plane shook violently, Eleanor turning to look at Shelby who only put her elbows on her knees and leaned over beginning to silently pray to herself. She scoffed, rolling her eyes as her sister ran into her arms practically jumping into her sister's arms wrapping hers around Eleanor's neck holding on like a hug.
Even through the chaos of the turbulence she wrapped her arms around her sister moving her hair away from her ear. "Shh, it'll be alright. Just relax your body, try to think about the day we all went to the beach, remember that day? Don't panic were gonna be fine, just remember that day on the beach." "Yeah, yeah I remember." Her sister nodded into her neck, Eleanor held her close, humming to her, pushing her fingers through the girl's hair with no fear whatsoever. She didn't have a sinkhole in her stomach like they described in the stories, she didn't have the shakes or heavy breathing you get when you're terrified. She felt calm, at peace almost as she felt the plane going down, her only thought was bringing comfort to the young girl in her arms.
