FLY || hemmings

one

charlie boarded the plane, taking her seat by the window. she hated flying by herself, it was unbearably boring to say the least. charlie was flying across to sydney to see her grandparents. her dad couldn't afford for the both of them to go, so once again she was going by herself. charlie only visited her grandparents once a year, for a week in the september holidays. she was only 14 which made the whole ordeal a million times worse. she always felt uncomfortable sitting next to adults and elder people (men especially), their small talk making her cringe. they always asked why she was alone and where her parents were. they asked about how old she was and what she wanted to do when she was older. charlie didnt want to answer their questions, its not like they actually cared anyway. she just wanted to put her headphones in and play 'spikes' to pass the time. its wasnt that she was one of those 'i hate everyone' people, in fact she was quite the opposite, she just felt uncomfortable talking to strangers. back home, charlie loved to hang out with friends, she was surprisingly quite a fun and humorous person to be around.

so far, no one had sat next to her, and she was hoping it would stay that way. maybe something happened last minute and the unknown person sitting next to her couldn't make it, she thought. then she could just try pass the time by listening to music and maybe even beating her record on spikes.

but unfortunately for charlie, the person sitting next to her hadn't missed their flight and so they slid into the seat next to her. she didn't bother turning around to face the person because that just meant a bigger chance of them starting a conversation she really didn't want to continue. she pulled out her phone opening her favourites folder and clicking the 'spikes' app.

"73? nice. my high score's 124." a voice spoke over her shoulder.

charlie jumped slightly, startled by the boy's voice. she turned her head slowly to face him. he had a huge, almost cheesy, smile plastered across his pale face. his defined jaw was sprinkled with stubble and charlie would be lying if it didn't make him look good. she could see blonde hair peeking through the front of his beanie, however she was uncertain of his eye colour, due to the dark shades placed across the bridge of his nose.

"124?" she asked in disbelief. charlie thought that she was doing well with a high score of 73, even though she had a few friends with scores slightly higher, but none were over 100.

"mhmm." he nodded with a pleased smile. "i'm luke." he said bringing up his fist for her to 'pump'.

charlie stared at it for a few seconds before awkwardly connecting her fist with his, letting out a quiet giggle as she did so. people did usually didn't do that; a handshake would suffice. but charlie wasn't complaining because hey, at least it wasn't an old man trying to talk to her about her life and stuff she really couldn't care less about. plus, she had to admit luke was kinda cute.

"charlie." she smiled.