JJ Maybank imagines

turbulence

turbulence: y/n hates flying. when rudy invites her to come to barbados with him for filming it's an offer she can't refuse, until she's waiting for boarding. 
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this was requested and coincidentally also a draft i was working on 🥰
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"I'm really glad you decided to come with me," Rudy said to me as we waited in line to walk through the metal detector machines. I gave him a nervous smile and he wrapped his arms around me, "This way I won't have to miss you because you'll be there with me."

My foot was anxiously bouncing as we stood, "I'm happy you asked." I replied. When the line moved forward Rudy grabbed both of our carry-ons and wheeled them behind him.

I'm happy I won't have to go months without seeing him, plus, adventuring Barbados when he's not filming? It's a win-win situation.

"Next!" The lady called and waved Rudy up. He slid our carry-ons onto the table as they got pulled through a separate machine. I watched as he walked through the stand up machine, holding his arms up and out, "Clear, next!" She waved me up and I copied his actions.

This wasn't the nerve wracking part. That part came when I was actually sitting in the plane. I've flown before and it went horribly, my parents ended up giving me melatonin so I'd sleep the entire flight. Once the kind woman cleared me through I grabbed my own bag because I wanted to hold Rudy's hand as we walked.

"I can wheel your bag." He softly argued but I shook my head no and slipped my hand into his, "Oh I see, you wanna hold my hand." He teased me and rubbed his shoulder against mine.

"I always wanna hold your hand." I answered with a small smile. We walked to our gate and took two empty seats next to one another, one of his hands still in mine as they rested in my lap. To keep himself busy he began playing some weird game on his phone and I stared at the floor, bouncing my leg.

What if the plane crashes? I wonder what the probability of that happening is. If we do crash, will the seatbelt save my life? Does the seatbelt even matter? Maybe I should google—

"Flight 117 to Barbados now boarding!" The loud speaker announced and my stomach dropped. Like, I swear, literally dropped. I felt as though I was going to throw up as I swallowed repeatedly to get the nauseating feeling to go away. My palms began to sweat.

"You can have the window seat." Rudy smiled as he gently pulled me to my feet. He grabbed both of our bags and I followed behind him. The hallway felt like it was getting longer and longer, anxious thoughts racing through my mind. Every terrible possibility seeming as though they were going to happen.

Since I didn't want to make a big deal of it or have Rudy worrying about me, I followed him to our seat. He lifted each carry-on to the cabinet above our heads and stopped the aisle traffic so I could scoot to my spot by the window. I hurriedly fastened my seatbelt and my leg continued to bounce in anxiousness.

"You okay, baby?" Rudy looked over to me, a concerned look in his eyes, "You look pale, did you eat breakfast? I threw snacks in my bag, I can grab them." I held my hand up and shook my head, trying to show him I was fine.

"I'm okay." My voice was weak and shaky, making it even more obvious that I was the opposite of my statement. I began to feel warm so I tossed my hair into a low bun and fanned myself. The plane hadn't even moved yet and I was this freaked out, how would I survive the entire flight?

"What are you, scared of flying or something?" He joked and I bit the inside of my cheek. His once playful gaze turned serious as he leaned forward a bit to look at me, "You're scared of flying?"

"It is a completely rational fear." I defended myself and crossed my arms over my chest. With my pointer finger I began picking at the skin around my thumb nail, it was a nervous habit of mine.

"Preparing for takeoff." The flight attended informed the passengers and I sucked in a deep breath. With one of my arms now grasping onto the arm rest and one hand on my chest I took deep breathes as the plane began to move.

"My, uh," I stuttered, "My mom used to give me melatonin to sleep the entire flight." I told my boyfriend with my eyes still closed, "But now I'm awake and this plane is about to go thirty-thousand feet into the air. We could crash and come barreling down into the—"

"Y/n, look at me," Rudy rested a hand on my cheek and I opened my eyes to look at him. The feeling of the plane moving towards the runway made my stomach twist into knots, "I'm gonna get you through this flight, alright?"

Something about the way he looked at me made me feel so safe. He slipped my hand off the arm rest and laced his fingers between mine, "During takeoff it's going to give you a really weird feeling in your stomach, it goes away once we reach altitude."

"Okay." I replied quietly. My hand instinctively squeezed his tighter when the plane was taking off down the runway. It's like I could physically feel how fast we were going.

"The worst part is turbulence, but that's only the wind hitting the plane. It's nothing to be worried about." Rudy assured. He didn't take his eyes off me, making sure I was okay.

As promised, the wheels of the plane lifted off the ground and I felt my stomach drop, "You doing okay, babe?" He asked and I nodded my head yes. I was still absolutely terrified but having him walk me through this was helping.

When the plane reached altitude I felt turbulence hit, making me lean over the seat and grab onto Rudy for dear life, "Try closing your eyes and imagining you're somewhere else."

"Like where?" I asked, both of my arms now wrapped around one of his. He rubbed his hand up and down my arm as his head rested on top of mine.

"Me and you on a beach in Barbados. I'm going to take you on a picnic when I get some free time, we can play music and lay in the sun all day." He promised. I closed my eyes and began imagining the warm sun hitting my skin, our favorite music playing in the background while Rudy hummed to the tune.

"See? Flying isn't so bad." He let out a deep chuckle but I was too encapsulated by my daydream to respond. He let his body relax into the seat as my head sunk deeper into him. My cheek pressed against his shoulder while my head rested back on the seat, "I'm proud of you, baby."

He kissed the top of my head and I continued daydreaming. Each time turbulence would hit he'd hold my hand a little tighter, reminding me to keep picturing our beach date.

Maybe flying isn't so bad after all.

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Soooo, like, where can I get me a Rudy?

Also, I'm planning a trip to Nassau with my best friend for December and I'm beyond excited 🥳