Puzzle Pieces // m.f

0.3

Jamie was watching as Mark stared at her with an unusual mix of adoration and obliviousness. There was something almost off putting about Mark, from his voice to his opinions to his appearance. He was as close to perfect as Jamie had ever seen someone be. She couldn't think of another way to describe his crooked smile and the way that his dark brown eyes seemed focused on everything and nothing all at once.

"Mark?" Jamie tapped his arm gently and the light gesture seemed to send ripples of sudden warmth through him despite her cold hands. "Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing. It's just that you're right. About how we can change things - how we can fix things. I had never really thought about it that way." Mark was still staring at Jamie with an almost alarming intensity and she found it difficult to speak while looking at him. She turned away and attempted to continue the conversation as if he wasn't making her speechless.

"I can't move mountains for you, but we can climb them. Together." Jamie stared past Mark and out the plane window, suddenly thinking back to her home town.

"You have a very profound way of thinking, for someone your age." Mark smiled at Jamie and pulled her closer to him, glad to finally have someone who probably wouldn't mind his late night ramblings.

"Mark?" Jamie mumbled, halfway hoping that he wouldn't hear her, and tried to distract herself from the conversation by comparing the size of his hand to hers.

"Hm?" His faint hum of acknowledgement went without response for a moment as Jamie stared, slightly bewildered by the sheer difference between the lengths of their fingers.

"Do you think it'll be home?" Her voice seemed suddenly small and unsure and Mark was concerned, despite not fully understanding.

"Of course it will. Once you get settled in, I think you'll really like LA." He figured she was just worried about the differences between the big city and her small hometown, but he couldn't have been more wrong.

"No, that's not what I mean." Jamie paused to shake her head before staring at their hands again, still nervously playing with Mark's fingers. "Home isn't a place; it's a feeling. My house was never home. Home was Mr. Elliot's class first thing in the morning. Home was Andy. Home was your channel when it felt like everything was falling apart."

"I don't know if it'll be home." Mark watched her as she tapped out the rhythm to an unknown song while he contemplated her words. It suddenly dawned on him that being around Bob and Wade gave him the same feeling as going home or seeing his family in Ohio. Jamie was right, yet again. "But I'll do everything I can to make it home."

Jamie's hands flew from Mark's and into her lap, as if she had been caught doing something she wasn't supposed to, when a flight attendant paused next to their seats to tell them to buckle their seat belts. He watched as she shakily fumbled with the strap and moved to help her. When he pulled back, her hair brushed against his hand lightly and he pushed it behind her ear, not sure what he should make of her wide eyed and surprised expression.

"Thank you," Jamie mumbled as she watched Mark sit back in his seat.

"No problem, doll." The pet name slipped out before he even noticed that he had said it and before either he or Jamie could say anything, the sudden and harsh turbulence reduced their ability to converse considerably. Jamie had been reduced to a shaky bundle of nerves and she allowed a small smile of thanks to take over her features when Mark placed a reassuring hand over hers.

"New to planes," she muttered, just loud enough for him to make out.

"Could have fooled me." Mark smiled at her, wary of the abundance of anxiety warnings and doing his best to keep her mind off of what was at hand.