𝐈 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮

Jonesy

I woke up before Althea did, which was shocking considering she was used to early mornings. I tried sitting up but an unfamiliar weight on my chest stopped me. Althea had her arm strewn across me, her head was under my chin, her curls tickling my nose. She was still shirtless, her back bare and the most beautiful shade of chocolate.
  I didn't want to wake her, she looked so serene, so peaceful. Her lips were slightly parted and her lashes gently kissed the tops of her cheeks. She was so beautiful.
  "I can feel you staring at me," she said without opening her eyes. Her breath was warm against my chest and she pulled herself closer to me as I let out a chuckle.
  "We have to get up, we don't want to miss our flight." I responded, gently running a hand down the arm she had thrown across me. Althea groaned and rolled onto her back, her hair laying behind her like a floating cloud of coal. She yawned and stretched before the realization that she was still shirtless set it.
  "Where's my shirt?" She shot up and wrapped her arms tightly around her chest, her face growing flushed.
  I laughed, which only caused her to frown. "I've already seen your boobs, Althea." I sat up and kissed her jaw, earning a startled gasp from her. "I've done more than just see them, or have you forgotten already?" I cocked my head and looked at her through lowered lashes and her cheeks darkened. Althea opened her mouth and I laughed when nothing came out. "I could remind you, if you want."
  I kissed her mouth, feeling her hands slide through my hair. I moved my lips from hers to the side of her jaw, her ear, and then her neck. I nipped at the soft skin of her throat and she moaned quietly, her arm falling slightly. I took this as an opportunity to kiss her clavicle and I felt her wrap her arms around my neck.
  "I think I could use a reminder," she whispered, her breath by my ear. I nodded before gently pushing her back down onto the bed and positioning myself over her. I pinned her wrists above her head with one hand, my other just under her jaw.
  Her eyes were hungry and she swallowed against my hand. I lowered my head to kiss the sensitive skin that connected her jaw to her neck, gently biting and pulling. I felt her body squirm below mine, her back arching, her knee snaking between my legs.
  I sat back to kiss her leg when a loud pounding on the door caused us both to jump. Fuckkkk. Daria's voice came from the other side of the door, loud enough to wake the entire floor. "Come on, bitches! Caravan leaves in twenty minutes!"
  "Ugh," Althea groaned under her breath before adding "Alright, Mom!" loud enough for Daria to hear. I laughed and reached down to hand Althea her shirt from the floor as Daria's voice grew quieter as she entered the Baek Sisters' room.
  Twenty minutes and almost four hundred pounds worth of luggage later, we were ready to leave. Kelli borrowed one of her friends' fifteen passenger van and dropped us and our bags off at the entrance of the airport. If it had been up to her, she would've walked us all the way to the gate, but Stella insisted that we would be fine.
  "Alright, just make sure to check the gate before you go get food, and always travel in pairs when you go to use the restroom, and don't take any drinks from people you don't know, and-"
  "Mom! I swear, we will be fine. We've all flown before." Stella interrupted exasperatedly. "Besides, we have Lucas and Justice here to keep us safe."
  The boys tried their best to keep a straight face, even though the corner of Justice's lip kept curling upward. It was enough to convince Kelli and after a hug and a kiss on the cheek for each of us, she finally let us go and drove back to Westbrooke.
  Sterling took her usual place as mother hen and led the way to the gate. Once she had made sure we had all seen which gate was ours, she and Bela decided to go check out the bookstore. Or rather, Sterling wanted to go check out the bookstore and Bela went wherever Sterling went.
  The rest of the group dispersed, the boys and Daria most likely to the food court, while Gemma and Althea went to find the restrooms. This left Stella and I with the carry-on luggage. I could feel my eyelids grow heavy as if I already had jet lag.
  "You look exhausted, Jones." Stella sat across from me, her phone in hand. She had an airpod in one ear and the other was pinched between her fingers. "What, were you guys up late last night? Too busy making out to get some sleep?"
  I snorted. "Late last night, early this morning. Daria interrupted us before we could-" Stella raised a finger to silence me, a look of slight disgust on her face.
  "I don't need to know what Daria interrupted, I would really rather not have that image in my head." She rolled her eyes before putting in her other airpod and returning back to her phone. I laughed and pulled my beanie over my eyes, images of last night flashing through my mind. I could almost feel Althea's fingers in my hair and her sweet moans in my ear.
  I hadn't realized I had fallen asleep until Bela's loud "Eyes on me" broke through all memories of last night and this morning. I startled awake and pushed my hat back from my eyes. I glanced around and noticed Althea hadn't returned, but Gemma was standing beside her sister, several gift shop bags in hand/
  I made my way towards her and she almost jumped when I touched her shoulder. "Where's Althea?" I asked, a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach. Gemma looked up at me, her mouth parted to say something but quickly responded with, "Oh, she's right there."
  She pointed behind me and I turned to see a flush faced Althea heading towards us. She kept looking over her shoulder as if she was worried someone was following her, her fingers fidgeting with the sleeve of her hoodie.
  "Hi, sorry, I was in the bathroom and I told Gemma to go ahead." She said and slipped her hand into mine, weaving our fingers together. She pulled me towards the rest of the group that began boarding the plane before I even had the chance to say a word to her. "C'mon, you'll love first class."

***
   "I've never flown first class before," I said to Althea as we boarded the plane. "Is this how you fly every time?"
  She snorted and shook her head. "No, but my parents do; I would've been fine with business class."
  "Oh, I usually fly economy." Because I'm broke and don't have parents with a combined net worth of 50 million dollars. Yeah, I checked. A strange look crossed Althea's face but she didn't say anything. She set her carry on bag on the ledge by her seat, her lips pursed; she seemed nervous, or anxious.
  I gently took hold of her elbow, turning her to face me. "Hey, are you okay?" I scanned her body, making sure she wasn't physically hurt. Althea ran her tongue across her teeth before nodding and giving me a smile.
  "I'm fine, airports just make me nervous." She might have been able to convince me if her eyes didn't give her away. They always did. She pointed to my seat behind me. "Plane is going to leave soon, so you should take your seat."
  "I will, once you tell me what's wrong."
  "We're blocking the aisle, Jonesy, people still have to get by us."
  "Then let's go to the bathroom."
  She rolled her eyes and snorted in disgust. "People will think we're joining the mile high club. I'm not going into that tiny, disgusting room."
  I let out an exasperated sigh and threw my hands up. "Fine, I will sit." I turned to take my seat across the aisle when she caught my arm, a pleading look in her eyes.
  "Please don't be mad at me." Her brow was furrowed and her grip on my arm was a little tight. I reached up and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "I'm not mad," I replied. I pulled off my beanie and ran a hand through my hair. "I just wish you would tell me what's making you so...anxious; I know it's not the airport."
  "I don't want to talk about it, but I don't want you to be mad that I won't talk about it. Please, Jonesy, don't press the issue anymore." The pleading look in her eyes made my stomach churn and her voice cracked a little. "I just want to forget about it."
  So something did happen. "Are you hurt?" I anxiously looked her over, trying to find any signs of physical injury. I let out a sigh of relief when I didn't find anything but the feeling in my stomach didn't go away.
  "I am fine, but please forget about it, okay? I don't want this to ruin the trip." Althea gave me a tight lipped smile. "Promise you won't bring it up again?"
  Despite my better judgment, I agreed. "I promise." She gave my hand a quick squeeze and my cheek a light kiss before we took our seats. I didn't tell her, but the fact that she was already keeping secrets so early into our relationship, the way she was so upset and nervous, was eating away at me.
  But for her sake, I dropped the matter. She would tell me when she felt like it, or not at all. There wasn't much I could do about it and that was that; the only thing I could do was sit back and enjoy this extremely expensive flight.