𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙥𝙖𝙜𝙚, 𝗇𝗂𝗄𝖺 𝗆𝗎𝗁𝗅

VIII. in the air

february 4, 2021
milwaukee, wisconsin

geno sat in the boarding area with the team, trying to talk to them. instead, they all chattered with excitment. he leant over to talk to jayden, "can you get them focused for a second, please."

she nodded at him and turned back towards the girls, "hey! stop talking!" she yelled in a angry tone, which quickly turned sweet once they were paying attention. "focus, please."

"thank you, jayden," he spoke, clapping his hands together. "i need you guys to reel it in, please. is everybody here?"

the team looked around, all of them mumbling out yes.

"okay, were going to board now, please behave."

nika came up beside jayden, poking her in the side. "hey!" she giggled out, shoving the girl back softly.

the taller girl rested her arm on the girls shoulder while they stood, waiting, "hows it goin down there?"
"did you come over here just to annoy me?"

"no... were still sitting together, right?"

"not with that attitude," nika frowned down at her, starting to whine about it, but jayden cut her off. "i'm kidding, of course we are. we always do."

she moved her arm from her shoulder to around her head, pulling her closer to kiss the side of it, "you scared me! don't do that," she whined, pushing the girl away.

"sorry?" she laughed out, walking away from the girl.

nika wandered back towards paige, waving as she walked over. paige wrapped an arm around her shoulder, whispering in her ear. "your looking quite red in the face there, niks. you should probably just go for it."

she looked at paige, a stern look in her eyes, "p, we've talked about this."

"oh, come on! it would be so cute and she definitely likes you, incase you didn't notice," she laughed, nudging her shoulder.

nika's happy blushed look turned into a frown at the girl, "don't give me false hope."

"it's not false, because she definitely does," paige nagged, staring over at jayden. "why don't you just go for it while were here? it won't hurt nobody."

"fine. i'll try, but i'm not making promises," she groaned, leaning against the wall. paige squealed and pulled her into a hug, "you better take your word for this, niks."

the two turned around quickly at geno's voice, "were boarding now."

the team moved through the boarding pass scan quickly, finding their seats easily. jayden sat in the window seat, nika in the middle and, aaliyah on the end. paige, aubrey and, olivia were sat infront of them.

they all began to settle into their seats and tried to get comfortable, considering their flight was four hours long.

jayden watched out of other window as the plane took off, watching the ground get further and further away. nika leant around her, "isn't that so cool?"

she couldn't help but smile at the girl as she looked after her and nodded in agreement. she faced the window again.

"yeah, no matter how many times i see it, i still want to see it again," she muttered out, giving nika a quick glance. she sat back in her seat, leaving jayden to look alone. after a quarter hour, she finally turned away from the window and pulled her headphones out. "niks, you wanna watch a show?"