During the Thunderstorm (Natural Disaster) ✔

Chapter Two

"Really? You're scared of planes? You do realize there's a higher chance of dying in a car accident than in a plane accident," Federico said, really unhelpful.

Ally glared at him. "I know that. It still doesn't help."

"It should. It's logic."

"I don't care how logical it is. I'm scared. And don't act all mighty as if you weren't afraid of spiders. That's an even more irrational fear than planes. Not everything that walks is going to bite you and kill you. This is not The Amazonian Rainforest. You aren't going to find a deadly spider in your home," Ally defended herself like being afraid of planes made her inferior. She huffed at the end, crossing her arms over her chest.

"And snakes. Don't forget I'm scared of snakes too. So not everything that walks, but also crawls," He added, and Ally realized what was happening.

She didn't know why she hadn't noticed it before, she knew Federico. He liked to tease and joke. He knew pushing her about her fears would ruffle her feathers. It had worked, quite marvelous, she had to add. And he enjoyed doing it quite a lot, probably because he didn't have any younger siblings to bother.

The teasing glint in Federico's eyes cajoled Ally to smile, but she refused and pressed her lips even tighter.

They stared at each other for a few quiet seconds until Federico's lips quivered and he spoke again. "Tell me, Ally..." he began conversationally. "Does this fear of flying only mean afraid of taxing and landing, or are you scared while the plane is up in the air?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. He was milking the situation as much as he could. She snapped. "Talking about it won't distract me. It only makes me think why I'm petrified of it, to begin with."

She hoped Federico would drop it. She wanted to forget the fact that she was in a plane, lots of feet above safe ground.

He hummed, absorbing her answer. It frustrated her a bit, the fact that he wasn't taking her seriously.

"Only checking," he supplied when Ally's brows nosedived into a scowl. "If I need to continue distracting you all flight or if my duty was over."

Her skin prickled as she blinked back at him and realized they were up in the sky. And throughout the entire taxing process, she hadn't thought about the tail colliding against the runaway. She was too distracted, defending herself and her fear, she hadn't taken into account what was around her.

Her features softened. For a brief moment, she felt guilty for snapping at him. He was trying to help—after she had ignored him quite rudely if she admitted so—and was doing a marvelous job on it.

Her lips pressed for a new reason as she blinked away from him.

Her guilt dwindled when he smiled softly at her, no annoyance at being ignored, no rage at being snapped at while he did what she'd asked him to—distract her.

An apology lodged in her throat. But before she could force it out, Federico opened his mouth again and his smile dropped.

"From how tense you seem, I'm assuming you're scared the entire time," He noted, nodding one time like he was deciding something and agreeing on it. "So, talking it is."

Ally could only look at him in appreciation and a bit of reluctance. She wanted to ignore him and hate him because of Nina. But he was being too damn nice, it was hard to even be serious around him.

However, Ally rationalized everything. She could be formal to him throughout the flight, he was helping her after all. But it didn't mean she had to like him, she could tolerate him for her mental sake. She could talk to him (he was a good conversationalist after all) and then, they could go their separate ways to never see each other again. She could go back to think poorly of him, though not as poorly as before. And he could go on with his life and do whatever he did.