In My Veins

Lea notices everyone beginning to shuffle around and pulls out her earphones, instantly missing the catchy tune of the song. She wraps the cord around her phone before placing the device back into her only carry-on bag.

"Flight 204 is now boarding. Please-"

She drowns out the rest of the sentence coming out of the airport speakers. She already knows what the woman on the other side will say. Of course, airplanes has been in her blood since her father got her into the art of traveling.

After she gathers her jacket around her shoulders and hoists the bag onto her right arm, she follows the rest of the passengers getting on the aircraft. She quickly reaches the start of the line, letting the woman check her ticket and passports.

Ignoring everybody else's complaints about minor things she weaves impatiently around the tunnel which leads to the entrance of the plane. Gaining pace she finally gets to the male steward waiting for the passengers. "Hello how are you?" A grin plasters onto his face.

With a whole lot of strength she reciprocates his smile. "Good thanks."

"Need help finding your seat, miss?" Lea declines his offer shaking her head before giving another smile and walking away to search for her spot.

Much to her dismay, she gets to share the seats and he has already claimed the window seat. He too probably didn't realize he has a seat buddy. With a slight hesitation she sits next to the boy avoiding eye contact.

To make the situation next to him more bearable, the most of the time anti-social girl whips out a fashion magazine from her handbag. She flips through the pages slowly as if she's actually taking notice of everything within the each sheet of paper.

The flight attendants begin the usual routine, making sure everybody knows what to do incase of a plane accident. She ignores them having seen the same thing more than a hundred times in the whole twenty-four years of her life.

As if to emphasize even more that she doesn't want to ever be bothered, she gets out her phone and plugs in the earphones. Her all time favourite song enters her ears calming her.

After five minutes the captain announces their take off. Sounds of seatbelts clicking together and excited chatter fills the whole plane. Lea without any hesitations prepares herself for the take off. She shoves the bag underneath the seat infront of her before making herself comfortable. It isn't long until the aeroplane begins to rumble from beneath them and they're rolling across the ground. Silence than takes it's place in every nook and cranny of the plane.

She closes her eyes, because in someway it soothes her. When the plane is lifted off earth, her stomach dips a little, and when her eyelids are shut, it makes the feeling torelable.

Of course, the silence doesn't last very long. Once the plane is cruising smoothly in the air, she feels her seat buddy move. Lea shifts in her own seat. "So hi," he says.

"Hello."

A chuckle escapes from him. "I'm Michael."

"I'm Leanne," she murmurs.

"Never have been a talker have have ya, Lea? You're even lying to me with your name: can I say rude?"

She suppresses a groan as she turns to him. His plump lips are curved into a massive smirk-like grin, the same two - meant to be muscle deformities but are irritatingly charming - dents in his cheeks, spiky black hair shorter than before and deep chocolate orbs.

She frowns annoyed by the fact that she hasn't realized who he is until now. Even more so with the fact that she remembers him after all this time. She's tried to forget, to fade away all those feelings but alas, seeing him now makes her mind races without thought.

"I missed you," he says huskily, lowering his voice. His eyes turn even darker as his hand trails up Lea's arm, causing shivers to arouse within her. "Admit it, you missed me too."

The early rays of the sun slipped through the open blinds. This caused the brunette tangled in the bed sheets to stir. Her hair was draped over her face and she frustratingly wiped the strands away.

As her eyes fluttered open it's only then that she realized that the king sized bed felt too big for only one person. With a groan she began sitting up but laid back down, noticing her attire, or lack thereof. She'd done this with him so many times but she always felt so insecure the morning after.

Lea buried her head into the pillow. His scent traveled up her nose and she smiled. Then the situation dawned on her. She turned back around, gazing up at the pale ceiling. This also happened after each night of their wild rendezvous. Confrontations. She continued to wonder why on earth she hadn't stopped all of this.

As if he overheard her thoughs, Michael walked through the bedroom door carrying a plate of two French toasts. She sent him a grateful smile as he placed the breakfast beside her.

He then proceeded to sit down on the edge of the bed and cupped her chin. Lea wasn't able to wait any longer so she grabbed at the only piece of clothing he had on. She pulled at the waistband of his boxers bringing him forward.

Their lips collided in one impatient mess. But before the scene could get any hotter, something in Lea snapped and she pulled back. "Michael," she mumbled.

"What's wrong babe?"

She laughed humorlessly and ran her fingers through her wild array of hair. "What's wrong?" She chuckled. "Why am I still with you Mikey?"

He blinked, lost for words. "Exactly. You don't need me, you have Dyna. I'm such a bitch for doing this to her and you're such a horrible boyfriend. I'm tired of all this."

"Then why-"

"Why just now?" Lea snapped. "Because even though I'm shouting at you right this minute, I know I'll be crawling back because I just don't want you, I need you. You've become something like a drug and I hate it. And I hate how you do that to me."

"But I don't want Dyna! How many times do I have to tell you that?"

She sighed. "Then why the hell are you still with her?"

Once Lea closes the toilet door, she leans against it placing her palms on the surface beside her. Eyes flutter shut as she tries to pace her breathing. She counts each time she sucks in and release the much needed oxygen.

She doesn't want to go back out there. She never wished, hoped or anticipated seeing him again. Of course, often times she craved to kiss his lips, to feel his hands all over her skin and reminisced about times when he'd whisper sweet nothings. But that isn't something she wanted to go through again.

It was all a lie.

The boy isn't meant be back in her life. It is absurd. But now that they have met again, she most probably wouldn't be able to hold back. The need for each other is so strong that it surpasses the guilt they both feel. She doesn't want to be with him anymore because they really aren't together in the first place.

A series of knocks breaks her train of thought. Lea gains back her vision but is too strained to open the door, dreading that it might be Michael. If it is, this toilet will lose its innocence once the two have explored each surface.

"Hey," a female voice shouts, "could ya hurry it up in there? A little woman problem here!"

Lea sighs with relief and slowly unlocks the toilet door. She walks out not giving the woman, who is staring strangely at her, a second glance. She trudges apathetically back to where she sits, taking her time not eager to see those brown orbs again.

Ecstatic. That is how she feels when she hears the familiar snores. She makes sure not to make any noises as she sits back down and envelops her body with the blanket.

After several times of attempts to fall back asleep, Lea's tiredness wins over and her eyelids fall into place. But before she can drift to rest the captain announces their landing. A groan escapes her and she clicks together her seatbelt.

"Hey babe." She flinches at his chosen words and is tempted to snap but thinks otherwise. Deep down, she secretly still enjoys how he calls her babe and how he says her name.

She doesn't reply and instead begins folding up the blanket. Rubbing at her eyes, she sighs. This isn't exactly how she expected her flight to California to turn out. But she didnt expect herself to be crawling back to CA either.

As he clambered eagerly on top of Lea, legs in between her thighs and arms above on either side of her head, she giggled shamelessly. He bent down looking deeply into her eyes, brown meeting brown.

There wasn't a thing she would've changed when they were in a position like this. Though he was simply hovering right above her body, not even touching, and she was in pure bliss.

Michael lowered himself and their lips connected. His excited hands explored all the skin underneath the clothes. He wanted so bad to rip off the extra layer and she mentally begged for him to dispose both their clothing.

Anticipation bubbled beneath the ivory skin of hers as their tongues dance between their open mouths. While moans erupted from the two her hands were fisting the collar of his shirt.

Before Lea was to do anything she would've regretted, she remembered whose couch she was lay down on, which house she was in and whose boyfriend she was kissing. "No," she mumbled against his lips.

Michael nodded understanding the meaning behind her rejection. He learned from the past months of their relationship that he shouldn't question whenever she ended things. After all, she probably was the only one who had their sanity left.

"Babe, I'm home!"

He slid from on top of Lea, disconnecting their tangled limbs and swollen lips. She felt empty at the loss of skin contact but hid the disappointment. His ego didn't need a boost.

They both sat on the opposite side of the couch, as far away from each other. This was basically routine and it wasn't hard for them to pretend anymore.

"Hey babe!"

Dyna stepped into the living room, unaware of what had just occurred between her boyfriend and acquaintance. She walked towards both of them, wide smile plastered onto her face. A splash of guilt coursed through Lea knowing she had once more betrayed that innocent face.

"Hey Lee! You wanna join Mikey and I for dinner? I bought tacos." She nodded and the other girl headed for the kitchen, carrying a bag filled with their food, leaving the two alone again.

Lea flashed the boy a look of disbelief before standing up. As she began her journey to follow the other girl, she felt a hand curl around her arms. What came after that was unbelievable. She jerked away from Michael and his lips rushing for his girlfriend. As much as she hated to admit it, she still liked the way he planted a kiss on her shoulder.

Explanations. Reasons. Feelings and emotion. Those are all the things pouring out of Michael's mouth as he rambles on about his situation and his feelings for the girl standing in front of him.

Spectators, taxi drivers, people leaving California, people coming to their state, watch the couple scream their hearts out. The two don't even realize, of they did then they don't care, about the growing crowd as they're too occupied with their argument.

Lea eventually falls silent as he explains. She listens intently as he tells her the story of how he never really loved Dyna. How he never wished to be with her and that he was forced to be her boyfriend. She knows that part was true as the parents of Dyna did threaten him.

He talks about how they'd grown apart, their constant arguments and banter turning into massive pain-filled fights. That the couple's relationship isn't going to work out so there isn't a point in trying anymore.

She isn't sure about that part. Michael has convinced Dyna that he was the sweet and understanding dream boyfriend and that he still was even for the year and a half he and Lea were together. So what is that compared to lying to her about the fighting? It was a piece of cake.

"She knew."

Lea's eyes widen at his statement. "What?"

"She's known all along."

Then the unexpected happens. This is the part of the fairytale Lea has always both dreaded and anticipated. This is the part when the couple either go their own ways because of fear or where they stay accepting the fact.

Love. That single word send shivers all over her body. She was afraid of that happening. In some piece of herself, she knows she must've been in love with him at some point but she always refused that it is more than in infatuation.

But he has admitted it. Their relationship was more than kisses and wild nights in. In one of those more than several times they got together, they had made love. It isn't lust anymore, it was love.

That is all the reassurance and closure she needs to accept him. The fact that she felt like she was slowly dying whenever she was without him, also helps with her decision.

She had always needed him. He is like an addicting alcoholic beverage that once you've had a taste, you wanted more. It is a drink of euphoria that pollutes your thoughts, drifts into your bloodstream and sinks itself into her veins.

Of course, she wants him back. It is inevitable. He is a need and she finally has him all to herself.