Living with the Devils

Flight Conversations

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I feel someone repeatedly tapping my shoulder. Opening my eyes, I yelp in surprise at the pair of piercing blue eyes about 5 inches from my face. The eyes widen a fraction and then they pull back, revealing a beautiful, mouthwatering species of a man. He reminds me of Eli a bit. Speaking of Eli, I'll have to text him and tell him I landed okay. IF I landed okay...

"Ma'am?" He says questioningly. My eyes snap back to the stranger in front of me and I grinned sheepishly.

"I'm sorry I didn't hear you." He chuckled softly. Man did I love that sound.

"You spaced out there for a few seconds. Are you alright?" He asked worried.

"Mmhmm." I responded. "Um, where exactly am I?"

He laughed a deep hearty laugh at that question.

"Well judging by the blue fabric seat in front of you, and my uniform, I'd say you are on a plane."

"Oh haha. Are we at the gate now?" I asked. Looking around I realized there was no one else on the plane. I started to panic. Just how long had I been on this plane? How long had I kept the Hardsvark family waiting? Have they left me already?

"Stop panicking." The flight attendant said. "Everyone has just left. Don't worry, you'll be fine."

For some reason I felt better when he told me that I'd be alright. I nodded slowly and tried to control my breathing. After all, it was my first time on a plane. Getting out of my chair, I reached up to grab my suitcase out of the hover head bin, but only to find that it was shoved all the way to the back. I went onto my tippy toes, but I still couldn't reach that stupid suitcase.

"Argh." I said frustrated. I heard a chuckle to my right and glared at the tall flight attendant who was laughing at my shortness.

"Need some help there, shorty?" He said laughing.

"No." I grumbled and tried to reach the bag one more time. Huffing when I couldn't reach it, I turned and looked at him. He just cocked his head to the side and looked at me innocently.

"What do you want?" He asked, mocking me.

"Oh you know what I want, you little... little... little butt person." I said, trying to curse him, but then I ended up failing miserably.

"Butt person?" He says guffawing. After he calms down, the little butthole, he reached up to grab my suitcase and easily got it down. I looked at him in annoyance and began to walk up the aisle to the door of the plane, he just laughed. Really?

"No thank you?" He said innocently. Sighing I turned around and looked at his name tag. Dallas. Nice name. Sad it's the name of an asshole. I thought, smirking slightly.

"Alright. Thank you oh so much, goddess Dallas." I said back. He frowned.

"Goddess? Oh sweet heart, I'm definitely a guy." He said almost... Offended?

"Could of fooled me." I shot back, patting myself on the back in my mind for my comeback.

"Oh you're so hilarious." He said sarcastically. I just laughed at him and then proceeded to continue on my journey to the door. When I reached the door, I turned and smiled at him.

"Thank you, Dallas for waking me up and getting my suitcase." I said as genuinely as I could. He smiled back at me.

"Anytime, sweet heart."

"Arghhhhhh, don't call me that." I said loudly. He just smirked.

"Of course not, sweet heart." Throwing my hand up in exasperation, I walked out of the plane and into the warm air of California.

~*~

As I walked into the airport lobby, I saw a sign that read Gabbriellla. Giggling to myself, I walked over to the family. As soon as they saw me heading over, they started to wave me over to them. I saw an adorable little boy holding the sign, and what looked like it was his handwriting. When I reached them, the woman, who I assumed was the Mrs. Hardsvark, pulled me into a bone crushing hug.

"Rachel, you're basically killing her." I heard a deep voice chuckled.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry." I was abruptly released by Mrs. Hardsvark, but she still kept a firm hold on me.

"It's alright, ma'am." I said politely. To which she scolded me.

"No, no, no. My name is Rachel, and you will call me that." She said, a tone of playfulness in her voice.

"Okay ma'a- Rachel." I replied, quickly correcting myself.

"Good girl." She said, patting my head. I grinned. She reminded me so much of my mother with her way of showing affection. My heart ached, missing my home, my mom, my best friends, and most of all Nutella. Yeah okay, not sure where that one came from...

I felt a little body slam against my legs breaking me out of my thoughts. Looking down, I saw a pair of adorable green eyes staring up at me. I awed inside. Bending down to his level I waved.

"Hello there, little guy." I said softly.

"Hello Gabweella. My name is Chase" He said with a cute little lisp. "Did I spwell you're name wight?"

"Close, buddy." I said. "Very close."

"Awwww." He said dejectedly. "I'm sowry."

"Aw sweetie, it's alright. How old are you?" I replied, my heart breaking at the sad look on his face.

"I'm five." He said holding up five fingers for me to see.

"Well you're a great speller for a five year old."

"Thanks, Ri." He said, calling me my old nickname. He gave me a big hug, and when I went to put him down he wouldn't let go. I chuckled softly.

"Chase honey, you have to let go." Rachel said. "Here come to mommy." At that Chase let go and ran to his mothers arms. A man came up to me, presumably the one who saved my life when Rachel was hugging me.

"My name is Todd, and I'm assuming your name is Gabriella?" He asked jokingly.

"Present." I said, raising my hand like I was in school. We both laughed at that, and I had a feeling I was going to like this family.

"Okay Gabriella. Why don't we go back to the house now. You can get all settled in, meet the rest of the family, and then maybe we can go shopping afterwards!" Rachel told me.

"Sound great." I replied, thankful I could go to the house and get comfortable. As we walked to the car, a question was playing through my head.

"Hey Rachel?" I asked hesitantly.

"Yes sweetie?" She said cheerfully.

"What do you mean by meeting the rest of the family?" She frowned.

"Didn't your mom tell you about our family?"

"No not really. I mean she told me about you and Todd, but not really anything else." I added quickly after seeing her face fall.

"Oh, well Todd and I have 6 children, including Chase." She said slowly, looking at me nervously.

"Oh, okay. That's cool." I replied, not really all that sure how to take that.

"Honey, they're all boys."