BING! "Please head back to your seats as we descend into Los Angeles."
The seat in front of me getting clearer with each blink as I slowly woke up. My reflection on the backseat TV screens came into focus first. I froze.
Leah's head lolled against my shoulder as the plane tilted forward. I instantly put my arm up to stop her from jerking forward, the back of my hand grazed her stomach.
She was warm. Her stomach dipped with each breath. I slowly let my hand drop back to my side. Leah stayed asleep. She mumbled something I couldn't quite hear, and snuggled closer, searching for something in her sleep.
I laid my head back down on her hair (the best airplane pillow by the way), tucking her head between mine and my shoulder blade. Leah released a contented sigh and stopped moving.
My chest felt like it was expanding. I looked at her face in the reflection of the back-seat TV screens. Her long lashes left dark brown crescent moons on her cheeks. Her lips slightly ajar from sleep. Her lips. I wonder what her lower lip would feel like between mine?
I gulped. Okay, focus. We're landing in 15 minutes or less.
How the hell did we even end up like this? The curve of Leah's neck caught the light of the woman in the row next to us. The graceful curve of her neck... right! An hour and a half into the flight Leah had thrown her head back with a laugh....
Leah's laugh had made her cheeks bunch at her cheek bones. She slapped my arm playfully.
"I've seen enough of Naruto to know Sakura isn't all that bad. I don't get why the fandom is so mean to her. She's just misunderstood."
"Misunderstood?! The homies hate Sakura. She's such an opp for no reason in Naruto. She doesn't get better until Shippudden, and then she plays with Naruto's feelings."
I waved my arms around, slapping my fist into my hand. I looked to Aryan for back-up but he was already asleep, snoring in his seat. Loudly.
Leah's eyes were big and bright with humor. "What if she was just misunderstood. Huh? What about that?"
"But--"
"Naruto was a trouble-maker in the village. Painting public buildings. Pulling pranks on everyone including their teachers. What if Sakura just wanted a guy who would follow the rules, not the kind that did graffiti and kept telling everyone she was his girlfriend."
That caught me by surprise. I guess that was a valid...
"He didn't even ask her if she wanted to be his girlfriend first. Just assumed that he knew who she was and what she wanted..."
Something in Leah's tone made me realize we weren't really talking about Naruto anymore. Leah picked at her finger nails. I glanced at her mom in the next row up on the opposite side of the plane. She was on her phone, but I could tell she was still clocking our every movement.
"I guess you could be right. A lot of their lives were just decided by others." I dipped my voice lower and leaned closer to whisper in Leah's ear. My nose slightly traced the shell of her ear. Leah leaned away from me with a slight shiver.
"Are you cold?" I asked, instantly looking for the stewardess to get her a blanket.
"No, I'm... I'm okay." Leah shifted away. I did the quick, lower-jaw breath check. Nope. Not my breath. I casually raised my arm to scratch my head and smelled my armpit. Nope. Not that either.
Leah sized me up from her seat. "I get why you like that show so much. You're just like Naruto, you know? Just chaos."
I threw her a smirk. "Who me?"
YOU ARE READING
The Secret of Us
RomanceI don't ship the actors, but the story the fanbase has created around their interactions was just too good not to join in on. I think the two are just really good friends!
