Burnt Skies || √

Tokyo

River

"Break up guy?" She asks, glancing up from her phone.

"What?"

Why am I break up guy? Oh she must've heard.

"Did I drop anything else?" She scrunches her nose and pats her pockets.

I chuckle lightly.

"No, I just have the window seat," I wave my ticket for her to see.

"Oh sorry," she lets me pass.

"Also pen girl, really?" She asks, an unamused gracing her face.

"Break up guy, really?" I counter.

"Touche."

"I'm River."

If I'm gonna be stuck on this long ass flight, I might as well make some friends.

"I'm Alex," She replies hesitantly, almost gauging my reaction.

Alex?

"Your name is Alex too?"

"Yup, which is why I accidentally overheard you on the phone earlier. I thought I heard my name."

I nod in understanding, still comprehending.

We sit in silence for a while before she suddenly clasps her hands together and starts mumbling under her breath.

"Whatcha doing?"

She shushes me.

"Are you like afraid of planes or something?" I ask.

"You read too much wattpad. I'm praying for an empty seat on my right," she points to the aisle seat.

"Why so you can have me all to yourself?" I joke.

"In your dreams, pretty boy."

"Glad to see I've been promoted to pretty guy now."

She flips me off and continues 'praying'.

Not even a second later, an old grandma places her bag on the seat and disappointment is clearly visible in Alex's eyes.

I look at Alex and resist the urge to laugh.

"Shut it," She hmphs and leans back in her seat.

"I didn't say anything," I raise my hands in mock surrender.

"Your face says enough."

We sit in silence as the plane takes off. I busy myself with looking outside at the clouds while the grandma, whose name I've managed to catch is Denise, chats Alex's ear off.

Alex groans in her seat as soon as Denise is out of sight.

"Seriously what did I do in my past life to be tortured like this."

"She can't be that bad."

"In the past 5 minutes, she's managed to tell me that a girl shouldn't be travelling alone, shouldn't have tattoos, oh and should at least have been engaged by now."

"You have tattoos?"

"All of that and you're stuck on tattoos?"

I give her a blank look and she sighs and continues.

"Here," She shows me her right hand, tiny butterflies gracing the back of her hand.

"They're beautiful," I voice my thoughts.

"Denise thinks that they're childish," She huffs.

"Don't let her make you feel bad about yourself."

I really don't understand how people like that exist. Like mind your own damn business.

"Oh trust me, I love my tattoos and nothing that bitch says is gonna change my view. I just hope she stays within her limit because I don't want to cause a scene," she crosses her arms.

"Switch seats with me," I suggest.

"What?"

"Let's switch before she comes back."

"Really?" She almost murmurs but makes no move to switch.

This girl. I never give up my window seat.

"Do you wanna switch or no?" I raise an eyebrow.

She nods her head frantically and stands up.

I chuckle at her actions and switch seats.

She starts looking excitedly at the view outside.

"Thank you," She smiles.

A weird feeling of being content washes over me as I look at her.

"Oh hello there, you're a handsome young lad aren't you?" A shrill voice switches my attention away from Alex.

"Hello there", I nod politely.

"How do you make money son?"

A little straightforward, aren't we?

"I'm a model."

She gasps slightly making me concerned.

"You know back in my days, strong lads like you did construction or mining to help raise their families. Tell me now, you got a wife back home?"

I shake my head.

"Shame. You know back in my days-" I tune her out as I glance at Alex taking pictures of the view outside.

This is gonna be a long ass flight.

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