Ella and Wilson

11

Wilson

Somehow I had won over Ella's trust enough to have her come fly with me. She told me to not worry about her behavior since she was going to be popping her prescription Xanax prior to the flight. I was trying not to get my hopes up. I felt like she was going to back out at the last minute from nerves. I was okay either way. I had only told her on the phone one thousand times that she didn't have to come flying with me but she was adamant.

"If I act like that sloth from Zootopia, just roll with it." She had joked on the phone yesterday when we were solidifying the plans. 

I usually don't get people with flying phobias flying with me. Somehow knowing she was nervous made me nervous. I've flown many people before and not once ever felt anything other than confidence but she was my precious cargo. I needed to have this flight go as smooth as possible for her sake. I checked over the plane maybe 6 times before she showed up and was escorted over to the plane. The guy escorting her gave me a double thumbs up in approval of Ella. I rolled my eyes at him under my sunglasses.

Ella was dressed in black bike shorts with a white workout top. She had on a sage green Adidas hat and huge sunglasses that almost covered her whole face. As she approached me and the plane, her hands went up to her black crossbody bag. She was holding on to it tightly as if it were her security blanket. 

"How are you feeling?" I put my arm on her shoulder lightly. She was shaking slightly and her bottom lip quivered.

"The medicine hasn't really kicked in yet." Her voice was shaky and she kept glancing around like a plane around us was about to explode. I rubbed her shoulder and we walked over to the side of the runway to a bench. I told her about my journey flying and where I was going to take her today. Her eyes lit up as she heard the word 'Everglades' but she was still extremely on edge.

"I haven't been there since I was a kid." Her speech was slowing down and slurring a little. She smiled to herself at the memory.

"Are the meds kicking in now?" I said jokingly but I also wanted to make sure she was okay. The last thing I wanted was to make her anxious where she didn't want to see me anymore. She looked up at me with glassy eyes and nodded. I chuckled as we walked back to the plane. She, indeed, was acting like the sloth from Zootopia walking in slow motion.

I helped her into the plane and strapped her in. I handed her a headset and explained to her how to communicate with me through it. I hopped in on the other side and shut the door. I went through my pre-take off routine making sure to check in with Ella as I went through. She only made sure her seat belt was the tightest it could go around her small waist a million times. I put my hand on her hand and looked at her. Her brown eyes were slightly brimmed with tears and my heart tore as I saw the pure terror mixed with strange calmness on her face. Her body was having an internal struggle of screaming at her to get off but also telling her to just chill.

"We don't have to do this." I told her.

"I want to. I trust you." And with those words I couldn't resist. I leaned in and gave her a quick kiss on her soft lips. The second our lips made contact, I knew that she was going to be the death of me. Her lips were like velvet under mine and she gave a surprised gasp before leaning into the kiss more. After a few moments, I pulled away and gave her hand a gentle squeeze before looking back into those brown, beautiful eyes. Her cheeks were flushed and she was biting her lip as if considering another kiss.

"We can turn around at any time." I stammered trying to break this trance we were both in. I was so close to saying 'fuck it' and kissing her until our lips grew purple and swollen.

"Let's do it before I change my mind." Her voice was so quiet. I nodded and turned on the plane. I pulled on my own headgear and spoke with air traffic control. As I started steering the plane for take off, Ella's shaky hands unzipped her crossbody bag and pulled out her pills. She popped one more and dry swallowed it. I felt guilty for suggesting this but she told me how she wanted to do things out of her comfort zone. I kept in mind that even though she was scared and nervous now,  by the end of this flight, she would fall in love with this area in a different way.