The Jacket Snatcher

Chapter 3- Liftoff

Luke hands me back my phone and chuckles. "Well, actually I'm one fourth of 5 Seconds of Summer. But I can see how you might make that mistake."

I roll my eyes. "So that's why you—"

Before I can finish, I'm interrupted by the ding of the P.A. system. My mind reels as I wait for the flight attendant to go through her whole spiel before turning back to Luke. He's already facing me with an expectant look on his face.

"So that's why you wanted my jacket? To hide from the paparazzi?"

He nods. "Yeah. And people tend to glance right past a couple kissing in public. I thought you would make a good beard...so to speak."

I feel my face flush at the reference to our kiss, but I press on, trying to ignore the heat in my cheeks.

"But the other guys just let them take their pictures. Why didn't you?"

"Bad hair day," he says, shrugging.

"Ooh, yeah, I can see that." I glance up at his hair before making a hissing sound through my teeth.

"Hey!" He throws his hands up as if protecting his hair from my gaze.

I shrug in response to his outburst of offense. "You walked right into that one, buddy."

"Fair enough." His goofy grin reappears on his face.

"But seriously, though. Why didn't you just take it like a man like the rest of them?"

"I don't know, Steph. Maybe I was just tired of having my picture taken. Maybe I just wanted to walk through a freaking airport like a freaking normal human being."

While he talks, I press my thumb and forefinger together, holding them up to my ear, and rub them back and forth.

He blinks. "What are you doing?" he says, stopping mid-rant.

"Oh, this? I'm just playing the world's smallest violin as background music for your sob story."

He stares at me for a moment with something like shock in his eyes, making me wonder if I've actually offended him. If I have, serves him right. He kissed me without permission!

He shakes his head, his face splitting into a grin. "You're feisty. I like that."

I scoff and roll my eyes. "The fact that you have a few good songs and a few million fangirls doesn't change my mind about you."

"Then what will change your mind?" He leans in a little closer, his eyes staring straight into mine.

Just then, the plane rolls forward and we pull out onto the runway. I turn my head so that I can look out Jerry's window during liftoff, arguably my favorite part of any flight.

Luke doesn't seem to share my sentiment though as he grips the armrest between us. I chuckle to myself at the irony that a rock star who travels the world has a fear of flying, or at least of taking off in a plane. I consider teasing him about it, but when I glance over at his face, I decide against it. His eyes are squeezed tight, and it almost looks like he's holding his breath.

Before I can stop myself, my female caretaker instinct takes charge, and I reach out to gently pat his hand. I intend for the gesture to be quick and just mildly comforting, but upon contact, he immediately flips his hand over and clings to mine, intertwining our fingers. I couldn't pull my hand away if I tried, but based on the fact that his eyes are still shut, and he's starting to turn a dangerous shade of reddish-purple, I'm pretty sure he needs it more than I do right now.

"Just breathe," I lean over and say. Eyes still closed, he parts his lips and takes a shaky breath, allowing the natural color to return to his face.

The roar of tires speeding across the tarmac fills the cabin, and Luke's grip tightens. I almost cry out, but I hold it in. Once we're in the air, we begin to level out, and Luke starts to calm down and open his eyes again. His grip loosens, until finally, feeling starts to tingle back into my fingers. I begin to pull my hand free, but he notices and tightens his hold again.

I shoot him a warning look, trying to convey that this was not a free pass to hold my hand whenever he wants. He grins before finally releasing my fingers, though leaving his arm to hog our armrest...even though he has one all to himself on the other side, whereas I don't even have one on my other side because of Jerry's girth.

I look down at the occupied rest and scowl.

He shrugs, opening his eyes wide in a too innocent expression. "We could share it, but you don't seem to want to."