Summer of Experience

Chapter 2- Wearing Off

*Chapter 2: Wearing Off*

I am not usually the girl who runs late. I am always on time for my job, for school and any kind of appointment that I have. So almost missing my flight was a lot for my nerves to take.

We quickly checked in at our gate and made our way up the very long hallway to the plane. As we are about to enter the plane I turn to Tyler.

"Thanks for the help. I don't think I would have made the flight without you" I say giving him a small smile.

 "No problem" he says, "It's the least I could do after freaking out at you".

He too gives me a lopsided smile in return.

I turn around to make my way into the plane. I looked at my ticket to see which seat I am in. 23D. Right near the back of the plane. Great, I start to make my way back to my seat with Tyler following weirdly close behind. Not that I mind.

As I become a bit more distracted by Mr. Good-Looking I don't notice a bag that is in the middle of the aisle until I am tripping over it. But of course again I am grabbed around the waist by Tyler.

"Oh my goodness," an old lady sitting in the seat beside us says, "I am sorry. I didn't even realize I left it out there"

"Don't worry about it" I say. "It's not a big deal"

 "Yah", Tyler says," She probably would have fallen even if it wasn't there"

I turn around to gawk at him with disbelief. We practically just meet and already he thinks he knows me. My look turned into a glare as I finally realized what he just said and the old lady started to laugh. I quickly disconnected his arm from my waist and made my way back to my seat.

I settled myself in the window seat with my bags under the seat in front of me and fastened my seat belt. I looked around and noticed that Tyler was still talking with the old lady. I also took the time to study the seats. There was one empty beside me and one three rows back. What are the chances that his seat would be right next to mine? I watched as he made his way back and back and back. He paused beside me gave me another one of his secret smiles and continued to walk back until he got to the other open seat.

Thank God!

I don't know how I would have dealt with him right there for a five hour flight. Soon the plane was taking off and we were finally in the air on our way. I was so tired from my hectic and stressful morning so even before the seat belt sign was turned off, I was out like a light.

****

When waking up I first forgot where I was. It took me a couple of minutes to realize that I was in deed on an airplane, in god knows where headed to the place where all the unknowns end up. Hence why I was going there. My talent in life was to blend in and not be noticed. Most of the time I was okay with this but of course there are times when I wish just once someone, particularly a guy, would notice me out of everyone else.

I looked at my phone to realize I had only been asleep for 25 minutes. Well great, only 4 hours and 35 minutes left. I decided to pull out one of my many books from my carry on and dived into one of the many worlds that have been created. It feels like these characters are talking just to me as weird as that sounds. I love the way the books can give me a taste of what I could potentially have. It is for this same reason that I hate them. Throughout the flight, the ever-helpful flight attendants come by to offer drinks. After about my third one I realize that I am unfortunately going to have to use one of the very disgusting and small airplane bathrooms.

I quickly and carefully make my way back to the washrooms only to find that the only one back there is occupied. Of course. I have to wait a couple of minutes before the person inside finally decides to come out.

Of course with my luck it had to be Mr. Wonderful himself, Tyler.

When he sees me a huge smile breaks out on his face before he seems to remember that I was indeed waiting for the washroom that he is still standing in. He quickly tries to rush out of the doorway and in doing so trips and falls towards me. I close my eyes, which obviously, is something I do in these situations.

After a couple of seconds I open them to see that he had caught himself using the wall that I am luckily leaning on. He had his two arms on either side of my head and his face was so close that I could see the light freckles on his nose, the bits of brown that were along the outside of his green eyes and the scar right above the dimple on his left cheek. I could also smell the mouth-watering odor of cologne mix with some unknown smell that made my head dizzy with every breath. It seemed to take both of us a couple of minutes to get out of our daze and surprisingly I was the first one to break the ice.

"Well I'm glad it was you this time and not me!" I said as a smile broke out on my face.

"Yah" he said with a slight chuckle "I guess you must be wearing off on me"

He then gave me a heart-stopping smile that made my heart stop for at least five seconds. When I finally managed to breath again I noticed that we were still standing in the same position.

"Well..." I said, "I better, you know, go in. Before someone else comes"

Even after saying that it still took him a couple of seconds to get out of his own daze before he moved one of his arms to let me escape. Not that I really wanted to. I practically ran into the washroom and shut the door. After doing what needed to be done, I looked at myself in the mirror.

Why the hell would Tyler be looking at me like that?

Did I have something in my teeth? Nope.

Something on my face? That's a negative.

Maybe I just look weird. Yup has to be it. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

With this sense of certainty I took one last look in the mirror before leaving the washroom. To say that I was surprised when I walked out is an understatement. There leaning against the same wall was Tyler with a small smile. I found myself trying to decide which of his many smiles that I have witnessed is my favorite. This particular one was defiantly a top contender.

"I figured I'd wait out here for you and make sure that you get back to your seat safely" he explained as he stood up straight and gave me a gesture to make my way out into the aisle.

With a smile of my own I made my way in front of him towards my seat. When I finally arrived, I was only a little surprised to see him standing behind me with his bags. I gave him a questioning look and in way of explanation he said

"I saw you were sitting alone so I figured you could use some company for the other three hours of the flight."

To say I was happy is an understatement. I could not believe the amount of joy that erupted within me like fireworks. I gave him a casual shrug and made my way into my window seat. From the look on his face, I could tell he knew that my act of being casual was just that, an act.

I starred at him in wonderment.

How in the hell could he possibility understand what is going on in this messed up head of mine? It seemed unheard of that anyone would even be able to come close to that. But what happens now? As if reading my thoughts he utters the two words that would leave me perplexed,

"What now?"