Caged Birds Don't Like to Sing

“How about a cruise?” I asked Jackson, looking from my laptop screen.

I sat on my side of the bed Indian style with the laptop on my lap. Jackson was laid out on his side with one arm tucked behind his head. It was getting late and we were trying to figure something out so we could leave in a few days, no matter the cost.

“That could work,” Jackson yawned, sliding under the covers. He was exhausted, I could tell by his passive tone of voice. “But we have plane tickets.”

I groaned in thought for another second. “I bet one of our parents could just switch them out since they bought them. Or just return them and give us the cash as a gift.”

“Yeah. Probably,” he nodded, totally out of it by this point. “Now let’s just go to sleep.” He reached over and clicked off the lamp. The only light was radiating out from my laptop screen and it lit up the room. I kept it open and pushed away at the keys.

“Could you call them in the morning?” I asked, determined to make our plans that night. When I looked up from the screen, Jackson head his head underneath at least two pillows. I turned my laptop around to peeve Jackson off. The light shone brightly at him as I threw the pillows from his head to the floor.

“Mhmm,” Jackson mumbled, head burrowing further in the pillows. “Stop it!”

I snickered lightly and had it face me once more. I filled in a few more of the blanks on the form. “When do you want to leave?” I persistently questioned on, though I knew he wouldn’t come up with a straight answer.

Jackson’s arm shot out in attempt to shut the laptop. I used my hand to prop it open before he slammed it shut. My other hand slapped his arm back down. I heard him scowl softly. “Come on,” I urged, still figuring out reservations. I just wanted this to be over with and to be on our cruise.

He didn’t answer. I bet he had already fell asleep within those two measly seconds. I swear, he could pass out and stay asleep during a nuclear war. It was his off time, without filming or touring, so he actually had time to sleep. That means I didn’t have to feel guilty about interrupting his slumber.

I poked his side. It didn’t do anything. I poked it even harder. He made a soft noise and twitched around, turning on his side so he wouldn’t face me. Yep, he was out for the night. I poked my feet around so I could slide them under the covers. My toes were so cold that I thought they were going to fall off. I don’t know why Jackson’s room is always so cold, even with the heater on. At least we’d be sailing in warm seas soon.

I thought over the days as I checked the small calendar on the screen to set the date. “We’ll leave in a week and a half,” I said out loud. I knew Jackson couldn’t hear me or wasn’t paying attention. So I guess I was talking more to myself. I clicked the last button that would send the billing information to my email. I didn’t even know I could make cruise reservations this late. But I guess as long as there was money, there was a way. And we all had the money. I guess for times like this, it does help to have some money behind your name.

I clasped the laptop closed and set it on the floor. I almost fell off in the process, but I had shot my leg out in attempt to hook my foot on the other side of the bed in order to pull myself back up. Jackson groaned again. When I popped back up, I realized my foot had caught onto his neck and that’s what helped me from not falling. I laughed to myself.

I crawled under the covers as well and turned around so I was facing Jackson. Even though his head was face down into the pillows. I watched the subtle rise and fall of his body for a second as I got comfortable.

One I did, Jackson muttered, “Finally.” He had his head lifted up for a split second before tossing it back down. I teasingly poked the side of his face.

He grumbled and snatched me under his arm, pulling me into his grasp. As he did that, he poked my stomach and I squealed. He chuckled and I squirmed around, now trying to get comfortable under his arm.

* * *

We were already running late. The cab driver was one of the oldest and slowest ones in the entire business. Jackson even tried to bribe him with an extra ten dollar bill, but he didn’t go for it. We made it twenty and he took it. But only sped up for about three seconds.

“I thought we were never going to get here,” I complained, pulling some of our luggage out from the trunk of the cab once he had pulled up the the departure area.

Jackson took it from my hands and set it up on the sidewalk. “Taxi driver from hell,” he laughed.

I handed him the last bag and slammed the trunk close. “You can say that again.” He repeated it with a chuckle. I rolled my eyes and pushed him lightly.

Jackson had checked us in before he even walked through the doors. There were attendants that would take your bags for you in front of the building. That saved us some major time. After that we rushed in.

The line for security seemed to go on forever. There were lines and lines of people in front of us. “Oh God,” I said under my breath after the first fifteen minutes of waiting. “We’re gonna miss our flight, for sure.”

“We’ll make it,” he insisted. “Don’t worry.”

“It’s not like they’re going to wait for us.”

I was surprised that no one had recognized him yet. Well, even if someone had, they didn’t do anything about it. I was expecting paparazzi to be flocking over him. I’m glad they weren’t. Not that I’d mind, it was just that we have to get going.

Once we were at the front of the line, Jackson and I started peeling off our shoes and jackets, dumping them into the plastic bins. I removed my stud earrings as well and Jackson removed his belt. I don’t understand how he could travel fully dressed. I always had on some comfy sweats and a big T-shirt.

Jackson had me go through the metal detector first. I was suspicious as to why, but I went anyway. I walked through. It went off. I grumbled at my stupid luck and walked back. I went through and it went off again. This time they had to pull me aside for some actual check. They had my hold out my arms and they felt down my body. Jackson laughed at me and I glowered back at him.

They pulled something out of my back pocket in my sweats. In their hand was Jackson’s lighter. I recognized it almost immediately once I saw the green contraption and a little sticker he had stuck to it. I shot a glance at Jackson and he was howling with laughter.

“You suck!” I called to him, growling under my breath. I clenched my fist. I thought we couldn’t be any more behind than we already were. Jackson proved that point to be false.

The airport worker gave me a weird look then made me walk through the thing one more time. When I was on the other side of it again, I slapped Jackson’s shoulder lightly. He was still cackling. I passed the test this time. So did Jackson.

As we were putting back on are articles of clothing, I hissed, “You just made us lose a good five minutes.”

“It was so worth it. You should have seen your face,” he giggled, slipping on his boots.

I scowled at him and started walking. We had less than thirty minutes to reach our terminal that was on the other side of the airport. There really was no way we could make it.

“Come on, Jackson!” I called from a few yards away. We were almost to our terminal with maybe five minutes to spare... Give or take five minutes. Well, let’s just say we didn’t have any time to spare. I started to get antsy.

I clutched onto my rolling, mini suitcase that I was using as a carry-on for the plane. I tapped my foot. I watched him walk away from the Starbucks and I rolled my eyes. I swear he was addicted to coffee. “We’re gonna be late because of your caffeine addiction!”

He handed me the other paper cup. I took it immediately and sipped it. “Does that make it better?” he chuckled. I bitterly glared at him.

“Thanks.” I looked to our terminal again. “Even though we’re about to be late for boarding!”

The last person in line had just went through. Jackson and I exchanged glances then started running to the stand. I almost spilled my coffee all over, but I used my thumb to press the lid down tight. A few people gave us some weird looks, but we ignored them for the most part. Just hoping that no security would come up and question us. We had a lot of ground to cover.

We made it just in time. “Here,” Jackson said, slightly out of breath. He held out our tickets to the lady. She was tall with freckles all over. She smiled widely despite the fact that it was like four in the morning. I bet she sleeps between shifts.

“You guys were almost late,” she mentioned with a little giggle.

“Told you it was the coffee,” I teased, nudging Jackson lightly.

He playfully scoffed as we walked through the long hallway to lead us onto the plane. We were at the end of the line, but still near the entrance to the plane.

Once we were in line down the aisle of the plane, Jackson handed me my ticket. I compared our seats. We were across the aisle from each other and he was a few rows ahead of me. Great, I hated riding planes alone. I prayed silently that I’d at least be by someone slightly normal. Or someone who wouldn’t talk to me and I could just rest.

Jackson let me pass him in the compact aisle and I walked back a few more seats. In my row of three seats were two, heavier guys. They looked like they were twins and had to at least be in their forties. There was the end seat that was open. I was relieved that I could at least have some space on the end.

The guy who sat in the middle seat looked up at me. So did his brother. The only thing that differentiated them was that one of them had on glasses. The one with glasses got up from his middle spot. “Here,” he said, sliding out and giving me his seat.

“No, it’s fine,” I insisted immediately. “I can take the outside seat.”

“No, take the middle,” he demanded, not in a harsh way though. Moreover just wanting to get this plane ride over with. And believe me, I wanted to, too. “I need to use the bathroom a lot,” he whispered.

Oh good God. I grimaced a smile and peeked up to see Jackson. He was smiling wryly at my seating arrangement. I squinted a closer look. He had the window seat and was next to two, nice looking girls that seemed about my age. He wiggled his fingers back and forth, as if flaunting it in my face. Right then, one of the girls must have asked for a photo because he posed with her as her friend snapped the camera button on her cellphone.

I stuck out my tongue. I kind of felt a little envious of the two girls that were next to him. But he didn’t seem to pay much attention to them. He leaned his head up against the window and shut his eyes. They popped back open to only see me, staring back in an unsure way. He subtly pointed to one of the girls as she looked away. He shook his head and made a ‘definitely not interested’ expression. Then he formed his fingers into a small heart and pointed his fingers at me.

I smiled at the cheesy-ness and did the same thing back right before I sat down. Both of the guys’ arms took up each armrest. I crossed my arms tightly around me and closed my eyes. The faster I fell asleep, the faster I would be in Florida and almost boarding our cruise.

It took me awhile to even think about getting a wink of sleep. The two men were conversing television shows and movies from both sides. They went from Star Wars to She’s the Man and then eventually to some raunchier things. That was when I closed my eyes even tighter and tried to sing some songs in my head. I was getting sick to my stomach.

I woke up when people started to get off the plane. The guy tapped my shoulder and asked for me to get up. I was in his way and he was trapped by the window. I closed my eyes tightly and yawned as I pushed myself up.

“We have now landed in Naples, Florida. It looks like a storm is brewing along the coastline and even farther out,” the pilot said over the speakers.

I groaned and looked to Jackson. He was standing up and was the only one in his row. He smiled at me for a quick second and stood still. He still seemed tired. After a few seconds I caught onto the fact that he was waiting for me to get out. I smiled back, still extremely tired, as well.

“How was the flight?” Jackson sarcastically asked once we were walking down the long strip in the airport. I scoffed at his dumb question and he sniggered.

“My neck is killing me from sleeping up so straight. I couldn’t even lean my chair back because the two guys on both sides of me covered up the buttons on the arm,” I complained, dragging my carry
on behind me.

Jackson had his bag over his shoulder and tried to take mine from me. “It’s fine,” I reassured. He took it anyway. I could already tell he wanted this vacation to go as smooth as possible. Even after that short week and a half, both of us were still on edge and stressed.

It took some time, but we managed to get our luggage off of the conveyor. We had a suitcase each. It was a lot easier to pack because everything I brought to wear was lightly and blouse-y. Except for a pair of flip flops, sunglasses, and my underwear and other necessities. I knew it was going to be hot and muggy out, so it only seemed right to pack some airy clothing.

As Jackson and I headed aboard the ship, a loud crack of thunder rang over the land. I looked up at the grey skies to only get a droplet of rain in my eye. I squeezed my lids shut and rubbed my eye. “Great,” I muttered.

Jackson spoke in return, “They said there’s going to be a huge tropical storm in our path.”

“Even better,” I grumbled, gripping my luggage handle even tighter as the line started to move forward.

Later, after we had gotten some breakfast to pass the time, Jackson and I had made it aboard the ship. I looked down into the dark blue water as it stirred with white tops. I gulped and thought of the movie Titanic. I pried my eyes off of the scary depths and looked to the last of the people gathering on the ship. The railing closed behind them and the long bridge type thing closed.

I looked up at the towering room windows above us as a horn cracked over, breaking the peaceful sound of waves hitting the ship. Right after the ship left dock, a few attendants came out and advised everyone to get into their rooms quickly.

As we all headed in, the rain started to downpour. I groaned and took my magazine that I had for the plane and covered my head with it. Jackson looked down at me. He didn’t look as thrilled either.

There was a message that went around the ship that everyone was suppose to stay in their room for the afternoon, just in case we would run into any huge weather problems.

The room was cozy and medium sized, with a door on the right to a tiny bathroom. It had patterned carpeting in shades of deep purples and reds and the walls were a tan color. It was a rectangle that went out longer and was narrow. The bed was against the side wall and was in the back. So if I wanted to get out of bed, I’d have to crawl over Jackson or crawl to the end of the bed and hop out.

Above the bed was a long window that had a thick curtain over them. The room was dimmed and only a lamp that sat on the table illuminated it.

I hopped onto the bed and looked out the window. I had a perfect few of the water. The sky was a dark and eerie shade of grey and green. The water was getting rougher and rougher. I got a little nervous.

The little light that we had was clicked off. I felt Jackson’s hand slide around my waist and I jolted. He chuckled lightly as he pecked my cheek. “After tonight, the cruise will be perfect,” he promised, sliding into bed on the other side. I lowered down into the sheets next to him.

Across from the bed and on the wall was a flat screen. Jackson picked up the remote and clicked it on. I snuggled under the blankets and turned the other way. It was only eight in the morning and I haven’t slept much, not even when we were at home. Only the three hours that we were on the plane.

I didn’t sleep very well on planes. That was why I had planned to stay awake until we actually got on the plane, I would be so exhausted that I would pass out immediately. Now I had a nice bed and some squishy pillowed to fall asleep on.

When I woke up, it was still dark. Except the light was turned back on. It was oddly quiet because the T.V. was off. Completely of it, I groggily asked, “What time is it?”

Jackson rolled over. “Like three-ish.”

I could still hear the rain pouring outside of the room and the waves hitting the side of the cruise. I had a feeling we still weren’t aloud to leave. We still had the whole day practically. The whole day to do nothing. Even though today didn’t really count as one of the full cruise days. The countdown until we got back started tomorrow. A countdown that I really wasn’t looking forward to thinking about.

I curled my arm up and and over my head. I felt sleepy and gross. I closed my eyes for a second, starting to drift back off. What stopped me was a sudden movement.

Jackson rolled up closer to me. He was on his side and his arm was slipped under my raised one and his other arm was holding around my waist. His face was extremely close to mine and my bicep area.

I could hear the little breaths he took as he gazed back at me. His finger trickled down my side and squeezed lightly every so often. I snuggled in a little closer. I was enveloped in the warmth of each other’s body heat under the blankets.

I looked up and met his eyes. I took my hand and started to caress his cheek. His stubble was starting to grow back. I used my thumb to graze over his cheekbone area. He gingerly took my hand into his and kissed my knuckles. “I love you,” I whispered.

“I love you, too,” he murmured in return.

“We definitely needed this,” I happily sighed, laying my hand on his chest.

“Yeah,” he agreed, still in a soft voice. “No one to please, no one to talk to, no intruders.... Like Ben.”

We both chuckled at that. “He was trying to be friendly and stop by.”

“Except he’s completely clueless,” Jackson said in an only teasing way with a laugh. His hand started to trail up and down my arm until he gripped onto my hand, tickling over my palm lightly.

Thinking about Ben, I thought of the band. “The band knows that you’re gone right?”

“Of course. I told them not to bother calling,” he said with a smirk.

“I don’t have that problem, no one’s going to call me. Riley’s out of the picture.” I intertwined our fingers together.

“I guess that’s a plus to the fight.”

“Mhmm,” I said, closing my eyes and curling up closer. I put my leg on top of his. By now we had both gotten into our pajamas. Well, I was already in mine since the airport. But Jackson was just down to a T-shirt and his boxers.

“Do you even know what we’re going to do tomorrow?” I murmured in a hushed voice, still not bothering to open my eyes.

“No, let’s just wing it and focus on right now.”

“Okay,” I spoke. “Then what are we doing for the rest of the night?”

“Hmm,” he pondered, moving his lips lower. His lips pecked my cheek, then my neck. “I was thinking just this.”

“Sounds good to me.” I put my lips onto his.