A brush of her arm against mine shouldn’t make me want to fuck Lainey’s brains out, but for some reason, it does.
As if she can hear her thoughts, she moves back just a little so that she’s no longer touching me. The loss of touch sends a shiver down my spine. Fuck, I didn’t want her to move.
Lainey’s eyes wander over my face, searching for an honest answer that I’m refusing to give her. I don’t want her to think I’m a bitch for being afraid to get on the damn plane. She’s one hundred percent make fun of me for it.
That’s what we do. We poke fun at each other and our fears and insecurities. It’s wild that we’re even still friends, if you can really call it that. I guess I could say she’s friends with my sister, and I’ve just always been around.
I don’t know if Lainey would have chosen to have me in her life if it weren’t for Ellie. I don’t know if I would have sought her out either. Knowing her reputation in high school, if I hadn’t already known her, I would have steered clear.
I’ve never been one for drama, and Lainey Barkley is drama personified. At least, she was. She’s definitely calmed down a lot since her wild teenage years, but she’s still dealing with the same shit which is her shitty parents.
“I know there’s something wrong. It’s written all over your face. You’re afraid of flying, aren’t you?” she probes. Fucking hell.
“Go bother someone else with your incessant questions, Bug,” I say lowly, sounding much more rude than I anticipated, but the questioning is making my anxiety worse.
My nerves are on fire and my entire body feels like it’s in flight or fight mode. I’m trying my best to stay calm, using all the techniques I’ve used in the past. Breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. Pinching my leg to feel something physical.
Refusing to sit here any longer and be berated with questions, I stand, grabbing my bag off of the floor and walk toward the bathrooms.
“Where are you going, man? Boarding’s about to start,” Logan tells me as I stroll past.
“Taking a piss. I’ll be right back.”
I don’t turn around to see if anyone’s following me. I head straight into the men’s bathroom and set my back down so I can grip the sink in front of me.
Staring at my reflection in the mirror, I watch my complexion turn paler by the second.
Get it together, Holland. You’re better than this. You can get on this plane and sleep until we’re there. So what if people know you’re a bit of a nervous flyer. Hundreds of people are terrified of flying.
Grow a pair, get on the damn plane, and go to your best friend’s wedding in fucking Italy. Anyone else would be ecstatic. Take a breath, stand tall, and get on that fucking plane.
Splashing some water on my clammy face, I look at myself one more time before grabbing my bag and walking back to my friends.
Mason walks right up to me, placing both of his hands on each of my shoulders. He looks dead serious, which is weird for him because the dude’s never been serious a day in his life.
“We’re going to be fine. The chances of the plane crashing are slim to none, cousin. Chill,” he tells me. His words of encouragement don’t help even a little bit, but I nod. He’s probably right. Everything’s going to be just fine.
There is a noise over the loudspeaker before a sweet female voice comes through.
“We are now boarding flight 672, all passengers should make their way to the gate immediately.”
Fuck, here we go. I can do this. I can do this.
Chapter 21
Lainey
We’ve been in the air for almost two hours, and it’s been a relatively smooth flight so far. I just finished reading my sappy romance novel, and I’m kicking myself for not bringing another book.
We have about six more hours to go before we land in Naples, and I am already going stir crazy. I hate sitting around doing nothing. I can barely stand watching movies since you have to sit so long.
I like to move, I like to jog, I like to be active. I never played a sport in high school, but I am on the dance team at Ellington. It gives me something to do so I’m not sitting at home all the time bored out of mymind.
If you ask Mrs. Monroe or Erica, I was always an active kid. I kept up more with Holland than I did with Ellie most days. We’d run around the yard for hours playing tag and tumbling to the ground.
Being cooped up in an airplane is not my ideal way to spend time. I don’t mind flying. I’ve been flying since I was kid. The Monroe’s would let me tag along on a lot of their family vacations since I was alone more than half of the time.
When I was lucky, my parents would bring me along on one of their glorious adventures, but the chances of that happening were slim to none by the time I was thirteen.
