Just One More Plane Ride and It's Done

Audrey sat on the plane, tapping her foot anxiously, as she waited for the takeoff. She despised flying; it was probably her least favorite thing in the world, and she wished there was a different way to get to Hawaii than by plane. She already had her seatbelt strapped on, having put it on as soon as she sat down in her seat, and now she was just waiting for the plane to take off. She couldn’t for the life of her figure out why she had decided to book an indirect flight instead of a direct one.

She hated the fact that she was currently in Salt Lake City, waiting on her plane to take off once again. Why hadn't she just gotten a flight that was a direct route from Anaheim to Honolulu? She felt someone hit the side of her leg, but she didn't think anything of it since she was in the aisle seat, and she kept her eyes closed, her head back against the headrest.

Moments later, she felt a tap on her shoulder, and a man's voice saying, "Excuse me, Miss." Audrey opened her eyes to see a tall, handsome man standing next to her, a small smile playing on his lips. "That's my seat right there," he explained, pointing to the empty seat next to her.

Without a word, Audrey unbuckled her seatbelt, reluctantly getting out of her seat and stepping into the aisle so that the man could get around her. "Thank you," he smiled, sitting down in the seat. He grabbed his phone out of his pocket and began pressing buttons as Audrey took the time to take a closer look at him, noticing just how attractive he really was.

The pilot came on the intercom, announcing that they would be taking off in just a few moments, and one of the stewardesses came forward, explaining what to do if an emergency occurred. Audrey gasped when they started talking about using the seat for a rafter, and the man next to her started laughing a little at her. Audrey whipped her head around to glare at him, and he simply said, "Nervous flyer?"

"You could say that," Audrey said through gritted teeth as the plane started moving. She looked down at her seatbelt, double checking that she had buckled it, though she already knew she had.

"I'm Ryan," the man introduced himself, holding his hand out to shake.

Audrey gingerly reached her right hand out, while her left hand firmly grasped onto the armrest. As soon as she retreated her right hand, she put it down on the armrest, hanging on for dear life. She looked straight forward, as she felt the plane shake as it took off into the air.

"What's your name again?" Ryan asked, even though she had never actually told it to him.

"Audrey," she stated, continuing to stare at the seat in front of her, not daring to turn her head to either side, scared that she would catch a glimpse outside of an open window and scare herself even more.

"So, Audrey, are you excited to go to Hawaii?" Ryan asked, trying to keep her mind off of the flight. "Have you ever been there before?"

Audrey turned her head ever so slightly to look at him. "Yes, I've been there before," she answered. "My family owns a house on the beach. I haven't been in a while, though. But, I thought now would be a nice time for a little vacation," she explained. "What about you?" she asked, thinking it was only polite to inquire about his vacation as well.

"I've been there a couple of times before. But, I just wanted to get away from everything to clear my head," he explained. "I'm planning on only staying for a week, though."

"Me, too," Audrey said, forgetting about the fact that she was on a plane for a moment. That was until the plane began to shake with some turbulence. She instantly snapped her eyes shut, gripping onto the armrests once again. "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God," she muttered under her breath, seemingly chanting, as the plane continued to lurch.

She felt a hand go on top of hers, but she didn't really think anything of it as her mind continued imagining everything that could go wrong on a plane. "You really don't like planes, do you?" she heard Ryan say.

"It's just unnatural for something of this size to stay up in the air," she told him, not opening her eyes. "And, there's just so many things that can go wrong. I mean, we could get caught in a thunderstorm and be struck by lightning. We could run out of gas. We could run into another plane and crash. The engine could fail. We could…" Audrey said before she felt a hand go over her mouth. She quickly opened her eyes, looking at the hand to see it belonged to Ryan.

"Okay, those things are not going to happen," Ryan assured her, looking around at everyone around them to see them giving Audrey dirty looks for talking about everything that could happen to the plane to cause them to crash. "I promise," he added, slowly taking his hand away from her mouth to make sure she wasn't going to start discussing all the problems that could occur once again.

"You don't know that," Audrey countered, narrowing her eyes at him.

"You know that it's safer to fly in a plane than drive on the road, right?" Ryan asked. "More people die from car accidents in a year than in plane crashes," he informed her.

Audrey groaned. "Great!" she said sarcastically. "Now I don't want to fly or drive. I think I'm just going to start walking everywhere I go," she decided.

"I'm sure that'll work well," Ryan said with a laugh. "Until it's a hundred degrees outside, and you're dying for an air conditioned car. Or, you're trying to walk to Hawaii," he smirked at her.

"Shut up," Audrey told him jokingly. The plane jolted again, and Audrey tried to grab onto the armrest, only to be met by Ryan's arm which was sitting on top of it. She clung onto his arm, and he resituated them so his fingers were now linked with hers. She glanced at him curiously for a moment, but as he squeezed her hand for reassurance, she understood what he was trying to do.

"Okay," Ryan began. "Let's talk about something that will get your mind off of planes. Tell me what your favorite part of being in Hawaii is," he told her.

Audrey nodded her head, telling him everything she loved about Hawaii, forgetting about her worries. For the next six and a half hours, Audrey and Ryan talked about anything and everything to get her mind off of the plane, and it worked well. As the pilot came on the intercom announcing that they would be landing in fifteen minutes, Audrey's eyes went wide. "We're almost there already?" she asked out loud.

"See, and you haven't been freaking out the whole time," Ryan said with a smile.

"Maybe I should fly with you more often," Audrey laughed.

"Well, maybe we'll be on the same flight back," Ryan suggested, and Audrey nodded her head, hoping that he was right.

Getting off the plane, they bid their farewells, and as Audrey went to go get her luggage, she mentally scolded herself for not getting Ryan's number. While nothing would probably ever transpire between the two of them, it still would have been nice to hang out with someone she knew while in Hawaii. She shrugged her shoulders, realizing there was no way of getting his number now, and she only hoped to see him either while she was in Hawaii or on the way back to Anaheim.

For the entire week that she was in Hawaii, Audrey found herself searching for Ryan. While she was on the beach, she'd look around for him. Or, when she went to a restaurant, she'd keep her eyes on the door, hoping to see him walk through it.

Now it was the morning of her flight back to Anaheim, and she still hadn't seen him. She kept telling herself that there was hope that she would see him on the flight. That was until she remembered that she hadn't seen him on the flight from Anaheim. Instead, he had gotten on the flight in Salt Lake City, meaning he was from Utah, not California. Audrey groaned at her forgetfulness, knowing there was no way he was going to be on the flight today, as she had made a smarter decision this time, getting a direct flight back to Anaheim.

She passed the ticket counter, and an idea suddenly popped into her mind. Not thinking of anything else except hoping to see Ryan once again, she walked up to the worker, asking if she could trade in her direct flight ticket to Anaheim for an indirect ticket that stopped in Salt Lake City. The woman looked at her weirdly, but didn't ask any questions as she exchanged the tickets.

Once on the plane, Audrey looked all around for Ryan, but was saddened when she realized he wasn't on the flight. She didn't know why she thought he'd be on this particular flight, but in her mind, it had all made sense. She thought it'd be like a romantic movie where they'd lock eyes and fall in love, but obviously that wasn't going to happen. Now, she had to sit on a plane for hours, just to get off and sit on another plane for hours.

Several hours and several prayers to God under her breath later, she had finally landed in Anaheim. She hurried off the plane, about to kiss the ground because she was so grateful to be out of the sky for good. She walked off to get her luggage, and she grabbed her cell phone out of her pocket, turning it back on. Not paying attention to where she was going, she ran into someone, dropping her phone, causing it to skid across the floor. "Sorry," she said quickly to the person she had run into, who had continued to walk, and she made her way over to her abandoned phone.

Just as she was about to pick it up, someone beat her to the punch, and she looked up into the eyes of the person who was holding her cell phone out to her. "Ryan?" she questioned, not able to believe he was actually standing in front of her in Anaheim.

"Audrey!" he smiled. "I didn't know you were from Anaheim. Or are you on a layover right now?" he asked.

"No, I'm from Anaheim. But, what are you doing here?" she questioned. "I thought you were from Utah."

"No," Cal said with a laugh as he shook his head. "I'm from here. I had a layover in Salt Lake City on my way to Hawaii, but I got a direct flight back," he explained.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Audrey explained.

"No, why?" Ryan asked, confused.

"You'll never believe what I did," she laughed.

"Well, how about you tell me over dinner tonight?" he asked with a smile.

"Sure," Audrey said, biting her lip. "Let me give you my number," she said, and he handed her his phone to let her put her number in.

"I'll call you tonight," he promised after putting his cell phone in her number as well.