She gave her ticket and passport to the ground stewardess for a final check. “Welcome aboard, Miss.” She walked through the tunnel into the plane, the flight attendants were lined up at the entrance. “Welcome,” she smiled back at them. She walked through into the cabin. Alright, row 12 seat 3. When she found her seat a woman was already sitting in seat 1 at the window. She smiled at the woman, “good evening.” She had managed to fit all of her luggage into one suitcase this morning, so she wasn’t carrying a carry-on. She sat down in her seat and put her handbag under the seat in front. She looked past the woman through the window. Rain drops were trickling down the glass, making it hard to see. How glad she was to leave the bitter English cold and trade it for the warm California sun. She was going to visit her cousin. She and her cousin had been close friends all their lives, but when her cousin moved to LA because of her father’s job, they weren’t able talk as much, let alone hang out. They had stayed in contact though and remained friends and now, five years later, her parents finally thought she was old enough to travel on her own. She pulled out the magazine that was tucked into the compartment on the back of the chair in front of her. It was a travel magazine and she picked out an article about travel scams to read. She was amazed by how stupid some people were that they fell for some of these. She skipped through some pages until she felt a tap on her shoulder. She looked up, gaze being met by a guy in a light blue denim shirt. “Uhm, hi, this is row 12 right?” She nodded. “Then that’s my seat,” he pointed to the empty seat next to her. “Oh, yeah, right,” she scrambled to her feet to let him pass. “I’m Liam by the way,” they awkwardly shook hands as they sat down next to each other. “I’m Y/N.” “So,” he paused, struggling to put his bag under the seat in front of him, “going to LA as well?” “Yeah, I’m visiting family,” she closed her magazine and put it back into the compartment. Apparently this one wanted to talk. She didn’t mind, she’d probably be thankful that she still had a magazine to read later in the 12-hour flight. “What about you,” she asked when she sat back up. “Just work, sort of,” he answered, “there’s some parties and events I have to attend.” “Aha,” the plane shook as it started to make its way slowly to the runway. Flight attendants lined up in the paths to perform their flight safety routine. “Definitely sounds like a shit job,” she whispered to not interrupt the play being acted out by the attendants. He chuckled, “Nah, it’s alright.”
She smacked her lips a couple times. Her neck hurt and she felt something hard and wet pressed against her cheek. She opened her eyes slowly but shot up as she realised the situation. “Oh, sorry, I-,” she wiped at the drool stain on his shoulder, “didn’t mean to fall asleep on you.” “It’s alright,” he spoke lowly, signalling to be quiet as the entire cabin was probably asleep. “Want to watch a film together? I just started this one, but I can restart it if you want?” “Sure,” she took the earbud he held out for her and scooted a little closer to him. He restarted the film. A few minutes in, Liam let out a puff of air as if he was laughing, “You know, you do snore quite adorably.” “What?” she pulled the earbud out of her ear. Was she hearing that correctly? “Your snoring,” he repeated, “it’s cute.” She poked his side in disbelieve, “I don’t snore.” “Yes, you do,” he poked her back. “No, I don’t,” she playfully shoved his shoulder. “SSSSH!” they received some angry shushes from around them. “Whoops,” she snickered. “Here,” he handed her earbud again, chuckling, and started the film anew. Catch Me If You Can, she had seen it before, but she didn’t mind. At least it kept her entertained. It was quite funny. Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks were amazing actors. She suddenly felt something fall on her shoulder. She looked and found Liam’s head resting against her. “Liam?” she waved her hand between his head and the screen. No reaction. His warm breath fanned against her neck and gave her goose bumps all over. Now was a good time to get back to him. She pulled out her phone and opened her camera app. She shot a picture of Liam sleeping on her shoulder. She giggled softly, he looked so cute when he was sleeping. Let’s spice it up. She added some funny stickers to the picture. A small sombrero on his head and a curly moustache. She saved another one with cat ears and whiskers. She quickly tucked her phone away as he started to wake up.
“Thank you for flying with us and hopefully we’ll see you again next time.” She grabbed her bag from under the seat in front of her and stood up. Liam followed her as she made her way out of the plane. They walked side by side towards the baggage halls. “You know,” she started, “you look cute when you sleep.” “Yeah, I don’t sno-,” his breath stuck in his throat as he saw the picture on the screen she held in front of his face. “Oh my gosh, you have to delete that!” he protested and grasped for her phone, but she was quick to hold it out of his reach. “Catch me if you can,” she whispered and quickly ran for it. She laughed loudly as she weaved through the crowd of people in the terminal. “Y/N!” she heard him yell behind her, getting closer. She glanced quickly over her shoulder as she took a sharp turn an ran up a flight of stairs. Just when she got to the second floor he had caught up to her. Laughing, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her to him, trapping her between his chest and the wall of the hallway. Their smiles faded slowly as they tried to catch their breaths, heavily panting. She looked up into his eyes, suddenly realising how close he was. She felt his chest brushing against hers as he breathed in, and his breath tickled her face when he breathed out. His hand reached up to her face, cupping her cheek. He ran his thumb along her bottom lip as he looked back and forth between her lips and her eyes a few times before closing the little distance left between them. His lips felt soft against hers, his stubble subtly scratching against her skin. She snaked her hands around his waist, stuffing one into the back pocket of his jeans and the other making contact with the naked skin under his shirt.
She’d been chased. She’d been caught.
