A Plane Ride

“I thought you said you wanted to spend Thanksgiving with your brother?” Sara groaned. “My family isn’t that great, you don’t want to meet them. Can’t we just stay here instead? We could make dinner and cuddle and stay home. It’s a lot of pressure to put on you, having to deal with Thanksgiving and my family? Really, we don’t have to. I’d rather stay here.” Sara mumbled into my chest.

I chuckled and kissed the top of her head. We were lying down on my bed when I brought it up, going to see her parents. Her response was to complain playfully and press into me some more. “I want to see them.” I said. “I’m in love with their daughter and they’ve never met me? Seems odd, doesn’t it?”

“Can’t we go another time?”

“I don’t want to wait any longer to meet the creators of such a wonderful woman.”

“You’re so weird.”

“But you love me.” I said, smiling a little more.

“Of course I do.”

Cooper chose that moment to jump on the bed and walk all over us until he found the best position to lick us repeatedly. She buried her face in my chest to avoid Cooper’s tongue. “What about Coop? We can’t just leave him here.” She said, laughing quietly.

“Jan will be more than happy to watch him for a few days.”

“Why do you want to go so bad all of a sudden?” She asked.

“I want to meet them. We don’t talk about them a lot and you don’t talk to them a lot, and I’ve never talked to them. Have you told them about me?” I asked. I didn’t want to think about if she was ashamed of me or not, but I guess I wanted to know.

“Of course I’ve told them about you! And they want to meet you too; it’s just that I don’t want the pressure of Thanksgiving and meeting them and all of that to take away from anything.” She reached around and found my hand, squeezing it gently. “I love you, and I want you to meet them as much as I want to meet your parents, but we don’t need to rush if you don’t want to. I don’t mind staying here if you want to, you don’t have to.”

“I know I don’t have to.” She doesn’t want pressure on me about the holidays and meeting them for the first time put together? She had no idea how much pressure I was feeling about this meeting, and Thanksgiving had nothing to do with it. “I want to, Sara. I really do.” She sighed heavily and I said, “Besides, I already called them and bought the tickets.”

“What?” She looked up at me, the shock visible, but she didn’t seem angry, which was good.

“I called them and said that I was Devon, your girlfriend, and I thought that it would be nice to finally meet them and that I wanted to surprise you with a trip back home sometime. I brought up that Thanksgiving was coming up, and they suggested we stay with them. Our flight is Tuesday and then we’ll leave on Sunday. They said that they miss you and would be more than happy to see us.” I pulled her up from my chest so I could look at her better. “You mean a lot to me, and I love you so much. I want to meet them, I want to see your home, I want to meet your dog and I want to laugh with your parents about how you were as a kid. I want to shake your dad’s hand and hug your mom goodbye. I want to see how you smile when you step back into California and see your parents. So I bought the tickets and we’re going.”

She smiled and touched my cheek gently and I leaned into her hand and closed my eyes. “I love you Devon Raines.”

“I love you, Sara Bradock. Say you’ll come. I won’t make you, I don’t want to make you do anything, but I thought that it would be nice to see your parents before Christmas. And mine.”

“When do you want to see yours?”

“We talked earlier, and they said the first of December worked for them. They’re usually pretty busy…lawyer stuff most of the time…but they want to see you. They pushed things around because of you, you know. They really want to meet you, and I want you to meet them, and I want to meet your parents and…please say yes?” I asked, my eyes still closed tightly.

She kissed me gently and I opened my eyes to see those striking green ones staring back at me. I breathed in deeply, vanilla and lavender. She was my drug, from those eyes, to her lips, to her hair, to that laugh, and definitely from that smell.

“Of course.” She whispered. “I’d love both of those. Meeting our parents.”

“Then we could spend Christmas together, just you and me.” Say yes. I had decided how I was going to do it, proposing, and I needed her to say yes.

“That sounds really nice.”

I smiled broadly. “Yeah, it sounds really great I think.”

We were standing in line to board when I finally said it. “I’m scared of flying.” I whispered hoarsely as we took another step forward.

“What?” She looked towards me, a shocked look in her eyes.

“Terrified, really.” Another step closer.

“Why didn’t you say something?”

“I didn’t want you to worry about me. I didn’t want you to say no. It’s that important to me. I want to see your home, I want to meet your family, I want to see where you grew up, and I want to see the town where you grew up. I want that so much that I’m going to get on this stupid plane and try not to freak out too much until we land.” I clenched my jaw in determination and focused on taking another step forward.

She entwined our fingers together and squeezed my hand gently. She let her cheek rest against my shoulder. “You’re sweet. Much sweeter than I thought you could be. I like that you prove me so wrong every day. I know you can be sweet now, but I remember that girl I first met, the one who took me home without saying much of anything and told me her name only after she was done screwing. She was completely different from this girl. I liked the one I met that night, but I love this one. The sweet one. The cute one. The one who’s willing to face her fears for me.”

I smiled and kissed the top of her head before moving forward again. Just a few more steps. “You have no idea.” I said, chuckling quietly to myself.

One more step.

I’m not ready. Oh God. Damn. I regret this. I should have Skyped them instead. Anything, anything but this. God. No. Please.

The person in front of us went into the tunnel, but I couldn’t take that step to the podium, my feet wouldn’t move at all.

“Babe? You alright?”

No. No. No.

“Dev?”

I can’t.

“Devon, baby, it’s alright.” She squeezed my hand and then ran her thumb along the side of my hand. Comforting. She was trying to help me.

I’m going to ask this girl to marry me and I’m scared of a damn plane?

I took a deep breath and took a shaky step forward and held out our tickets. I watched my hand tremble slightly as she took it. I wasn’t even paying attention to what she was doing, I focused on Sara’s thumb rubbing my hand and how she smelled like vanilla and lavender.

We took our tickets back and I walked nervously into that tunnel and Sara led me to our seats. “Do you want the window seat?” She asked as I put our small carry-ons in the compartment above us. My arms shook the entire time.

“N-no.” I mumbled quietly.

She slipped into the window seat and held her hand out to me, her lips curved into a sweet smile. “C’mere.” She said and I reached out and grabbed her hand, letting her pull me gently into the seat beside her.

I started to buckle my seatbelt, my hands shaking so badly that I couldn’t really get the buckle in.

Sara touched my wrist and leaned over to kiss my cheek softly. “Don’t worry, Dev. I’m right here, and nothing bad is going to happen. I swear.”

I nodded and finally managed to get myself buckled and Sara’s hand slipped into mine, I didn’t even have to ask, she just knew what I needed right now. “I love you.” I whispered.

She smiled and said, “I love you too. So much, Devon. I’m not going let a damn thing happen to you, so just relax for a moment.”

I just nodded and I saw the flight attendant reach the microphone thing and start to talk about safety measures and getting ready to take off and all of that stuff, but I couldn’t hear, everything became dull for a moment. Until Sara leaned into me and turned my hand over in hers and started tracing the lines on my palms. I liked that feeling. I liked that she could find ways to help me through what I was going through without even trying.

“My mom will have so much food for you. She’s going to try so hard to impress the culinary genius I’ve built you up to be.” She smiled and lifted my hand to her lips, kissing the palm of my hand. “Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, cranberry sauce, everything.”

“Should-shouldn’t we be listening to her?” She was talking about oxygen masks and the seats now.

“Why? Nothing’s going to happen, so we don’t really need to. We won’t have to worry about this.” She seemed so confident, so at ease, that I almost believed her.

“Ri-right.” I stuttered.

“Babe, it’s going to be okay.” She took my hand that she was holding and pulled it around her shoulders and took my other hand in hers.

I held her tightly against me and let her trace patterns around my hand. I was finally starting to breathe normally when the plane began to roll forward.

I tightened my hand around Sara’s and closed my eyes tightly.

She leaned in close, so close that I could feel her breath on my ear. “Remember our first date?” I couldn’t answer, so she kept going. “Not the first time we slept together, not even the second time, but when you had Jan write everything on a piece of paper and when Taylor helped me get dressed. You wore a blue shirt and a tie and you looked so great, but I was so terrified. Taylor had to take my phone to stop me from calling you and saying I was sick. I thought I’d look so silly, that you wouldn’t like me, that you would take me to Burger King or something. I liked you though; I was just scared that you didn’t feel the same way. I spent forever getting dressed, and a lot of that time was spent groaning and lying on the bed saying how things wouldn’t go the way I wanted. And then, you took me out.

“I liked that you told me about you, not just what you do on the weekend, but who you were. About your mother the romantic and your brother Caleb. I liked that you could let me in like that. And then I kissed you in the park and you didn’t seem to want more, you seemed so content with that. And you didn’t even think about letting me pay, or even tip, or anything. It was sweet.

“But the best part was when you walked me to my door and kissed me on the cheek and said goodnight. Just goodnight. Not, ‘Can I come in?’ or anything like that. Just goodnight. And you kissed my cheek, not my neck or my lips or anything, my cheek. It was so…different. Something I never expected from you. I loved it.”

I smiled a little at the memory, I remembered it all. Every moment of it.

The plane started to go up and I felt my breath hitch and Sara just squeezed my hand and continued talking. “You always talk about how you love how I smell, but I don’t talk about you much. I said it once, but I never got to really talk about it. You smell like pine trees. It’s such a…deep, foresty, beautiful smell. It reminds me of when we went camping and we looked at the stars and you setting up our tent and making garlic bread. That waterfall that you took me to. I like that you smell like that, because I feel like you’re everywhere in Washington. It’s a comforting smell. I feel so at home when I breathe it in. You don’t know this, but I took one of your shirts, and on those nights when you can’t stay with me, I sleep with it. I feel like it’s the only way I can fall asleep lately. Sometimes I almost feel like you’re with me when you’re not.”

“Move in with me.” I whispered as the wheels completely lifted off the ground.

She pulled away and looked at me for a moment; I even opened my eyes to look at her to see her reaction. She smiled and leaned in to kiss me softly. “Yes. I’d love that.”

“You can fall asleep with me every night, you don’t need my shirt.”

She smiled a little more. “I’ll have the real deal.”

“So you will?”

“I said yes, didn’t I?”

“Ok.” I breathed out a breath that I didn’t know I’d been holding.

“Are you okay?”

I slowly nodded. “Yeah.” I whispered.

“Are you sure?”

“No.” I admitted and closed my eyes again.

“That hickey you gave me? The one that started all of this? I didn’t really hate it.”

I smiled weakly. “I know.”

“I loved it.”

“I know.” Knowing didn’t stop the little swell of pride I felt though.

“Nobody made a move on me, but I didn’t want them to. I liked that you did it, not just because of how it felt, which I of course liked, but I liked that you wanted me.”

“I always wanted you.”

“That first night I saw you, I was so scared. For a lot of reasons.”

“I was your first.” I mumbled, that weird feeling coming back to me.

She chuckled, “Yeah, but I’m glad it was you. At first, I thought you were really hot. That was really all I could think about. And then we had class together.” She groaned. “I saw you all the time, and you had to look like that every time. It was so difficult for me to not jump you.” I chuckled quietly. “I was so glad when you finally did, I didn’t think I could wait any longer.”

“Sara?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

She leaned into me and traced a heart on the palm of my hand. “I love you. So much.”

And I could feel it. I knew she really loved me and cared for me. I knew it.

I heard a ding and I opened my eyes to see the seatbelt sign go off and I looked over at Sara. “The worst part is over.” She smiled. “See? We’re not going up anymore, just straight. It’ll be over in no time.”

A few minutes later, a woman came down the isle with a cart. “Can I get you something to drink?”

I smiled weakly. “I would ask for alcohol, but I have to meet the parents in a few hours, so just a Coke?” She nodded and pulled out a can and a cup with ice in it and poured most of it into the cup and handed me the cup and the can.

“And you, ma’am?”

“I’ll have the same.” She said with a smile and let go of my hand to grab the soda before she walked away.

I had a few sips of soda and was busy trying to be close to Sara when the plane shook.

“Shit.” I almost whimpered.

Sara grabbed my cheeks and turned my face to her. “It’s nothing, baby. Just turbulence. Hey, you’re gonna see my mom, right? My dad and my dog? Nothing’s going to happen, and when we touch ground my parents will be there to pick us up, and then we can go and have dinner with them and go straight to bed. You and me in my childhood home with my dog. We can watch a movie and cuddle or something. It’ll be wonderful. The first day of us moving in together and we’re going to be in my parents’ house.” She smiled widely. “I wouldn’t wish for it any other way though.”

The shaking stopped and I could finally breathe again. “I can’t wait.”

She smiled and kissed my cheek. “Try and get some sleep. I’ll wake you if I need to.”

“I don’t know if I want sleep.” I muttered.

She lifted up the armrest between us, which I’m not sure why it was still down, and let her head rest against my chest and I instinctively wrapped an arm around her and held her against me. “Close your eyes.” She whispered, “And think about us falling asleep in our bed.”

It took a long time, but after a while of feeling her breathing and the smell of vanilla and lavender wrapping around me, I followed her instruction. She was so comforting, so safe, how could I not feel more at ease? And I even began to doze off, and eventually slipped into sleep.

“Baby.” Sara’s voice woke me, that and her rubbing my shoulder slowly.

“Hmm?” I hummed.

“It’s time to get off the plane now. We made it.” She smiled and kissed my cheek and stood up, stepping over me and starting to reach up to grab the bags, but I stopped her.

“No, I’ll do it.” I said, standing up and reaching up to grab the bags, my arms not shaking at all.

We walked out to grab the only suitcase we had to check. We were waiting for the suitcase to come around when I heard someone yell, “Sara!”

She turned around while I grabbed the bag before it could go out of my reach. I was pulling out down and turned to see Sara hugging a woman tightly and I smiled and walked over, the bag rolling behind me.

I waited patiently for them to pull apart and her mother to look over at me curiously. “You must be Mrs. Bradock. It’s wonderful to finally meet you, ma’am.” I held my hand out for her, but she pushed it away and pulled me into a hug.

“It’s so nice to meet you, Devon.” I heard her say into my shoulder.

When she pulled away a saw a man standing there, he was the typical dad looking figure, and was eyeing me cautiously. He held a hand out to me and I took it, giving a firm handshake. “You taking care of my girl?”

“Dad.” Sara muttered darkly, her cheeks turning a dark red.

“Yes sir.” I said, and looked at her a smiled a little. “The best care I can provide.”

He nodded. “Good.”

Sara came back and stood next to me and slipped her fingers between mine and said, “So, what do you guys feel like doing?”

“How’s dinner sound?” Her mother asked, a bright smile lighting up her face.

“Perfect.” Sara said with a grin.

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What did you think?

I might be a little scared of planes and need my own Sara for one, so I'm hoping to find my Sara before graduation haha, I'm planning a trip for myself that will be requiring a long plane ride.

Anyways, did you like it? Not like it? Are you excited? What are you guys feeling?