Renaissance

Chapter 9

"Oh my gosh. We made it," she collapsed on the seat, trying to catch her breath.

"What the heck, that was worse than a soap opera," he scowled, putting their bags in the overhead compartment.

"Nobody told you to take off your shades," she retorted.

"You're not the one who has to keep wearing 'disguises' when out in public," he defended himself, dropping into the seat next to her.

"Not so loud," she hushed, looking furtively around them in the plane. Thankfully, the other passengers milled around, minding their own business, completely oblivious to the fact that a wanted musician was in their presence. The two made sure their conversation could be heard only by them.

"It gets bloody annoying having a hat and shades on you 24/7, mind you," he grumbled.

"Too bad, it's part of the deal," she said simply. "Where we're going next, however, I'm sure you'll be completely free of such trouble."

He perked up at her statement and turned to her in great interest. "No need to even bother with paps following us?"

"Eh, probably."

Although it wasn't a guarantee, he sank back in his seat, much more relieved. "Better than being recognised and hounded like just now in the airport." Just then, a thought occurred to him. "Crap. Does that mean that all those people saw which flight we were going on?"

"I checked in using one of the machines so they probably wouldn't have seen our flight details. And anyway, even if they did, they probably wouldn't be able to follow us to where we're really going."

He stared at her curiously. "Where exactly are we going?"

"Ireland."

"I know, I saw that too, dumbass. That's not what I meant. You make it seem like we're heading to an unknown island in the middle of nowhere where no one can ever find us."

She gave him an evil grin and rubbed her hands gleefully. "And then I'll kidnap you for myself and lock you up forever -"

He hit her head immediately. "Shut up, psycho."

"Ow!" She glared at him. "You should be gentle with girls, you know."

He gasped theatrically in mock shock. "You mean you're not a man?"

This time, she hit his head. "I'm a girl, you jerk."

Yeah, I'm aware. He tried to push thoughts of her that clearly showed she was female out of his head. "You haven't answered my question."

"You'll see when we get there," she replied simply, intentionally leaving it a mystery. As always on flights, she put her legs up and curled into a ball, closing her eyes.

"Melodie," he said, annoyed and not willing to leave it at that. "Melodie." Cautiously, he poked her side. She whined softly and bristled slightly.

Huh. She really was sleeping this time.

He shook his head slightly. This girl...

Drives me crazy.

Just then, he felt something against his arm. In the manner of that seen in a horror movie, he slowly turned to see Melodie leaning on him.

His first thought: GET OFF!

Then: Okay, Greyson. Relax.

And when his breathing finally returned to normal, albeit still a bit tensed: Okay. Okay. What do I do now?