Too Proud to Breathe

I held my eyes closed; savouring the taste of my mocha latte and trying to picture myself somewhere else than I was at that moment. The tranquil silence that I had almost forgotten ever existed was present in those few minutes that I was alone. Starbucks appeared to be especially quiet in contrast to the other shops and places scattered around. This was just the place I want to be. To bad about the company.

It was like I had my own annoying stalker but he seemed to want to make his presence as well known as he could to every person around him. Michael and I had been instructed that our 'punishment' was going to start today, right now. So not only do I not have any time to myself on holiday, I had no time to prepare my head for the consequences of the following week. Luckily, Michael didn’t have to follow me into the toilet, which was one place I could escape from him.

You may be asking why I was on my own at that moment. That's actually a very funny story. I told Michael I 'needed the toilet', when in actual fact I pretended to go in the door but as soon as someone came out I hid behind them and managed to walk straight past him. Genius plan, I thought, if I did say so myself. Yet there was a downside. Now I was in Starbucks with only enough money to get my drink, whilst Michael was god knows where with my luggage and all my possessions I couldn’t live without. Not so genius as I had previously thought.

After about 10 minutes of sitting down, a tall figure came into the coffee house, scanned their eyes around the room until they finally fell on me. My frightened eyes stared back into ones filled with rage.

"Where have you been?! I waited for ages! Luckily I managed to pay someone to look after our luggage while I could go looking for you." My frightened deminour quickly diminished as a full blown laugh escaped my lips, obviously causing Michael's anger to flare more.

"I got you so bad! And you actually sound worried, aww does 'ittle, bittle Michael actually have a heart after all," I said in a mocking baby like accent. Michael looked like he was going to explode any moment, his veins in his neck standing out and making him look frightening yet again. His strong hand wrapped around my wrist and pulled me up so I was face to face with him, his face only a few mere inches from mine.

"I was not fucking worried about you, you got that? I just want to get on that plane, get this week over and done with and hopefully you'll be out of my life forever then! So don’t try and show me up, you got that?! Or I'll make your life a living hell," he spat venomously. His hand was growing tighter and tighter around my wrist to the extent that tears were welling in my eyes. I knew for a fact that it would be bruised in the morning. I nodded my head slowly as tears escaped from my eyes and made their journey down my face.

Just as Michael started dragging me towards the door, towards the exit, I felt a hand gently pull me towards them and then it all happened so fast. I was behind the person as their arm extended and their clenched fist came into contact with Michael's nose. A horrible crack sound seemed to echo through my mind as everything else fell awfully silent, Michael's body now sprawled on the floor, holding his face as blood feel from his now broken nose.

"Are you okay?" My saviour whispered in a little voice towards me. My eyes were so blurred with freshly grown tears that it was hard to make out who was in front of me, although my eyes still weren’t in their direction. Instead they were on the boy still on the floor, blood soaked into his shirt and hands. My sympathy level rose higher and higher the longer I looked at him. This was all because of me. My body acted before my brain could comprehend what I was doing.

"Are you okay, Michael? I'm so sorry, I should have just stayed with you. This is all my fault," I said, trying to help Michael stand up. As soon as he was stood he looked at who had just lashed out at him. It was at this time that my eyes strayed to him too. I gasped as I saw how amazingly handsome this man who had saved me was. His brown hair was perfectly positioned on his head, his blue eyes shining brightly as his lips were pursed in a pout. He looked like he was ready for whatever Michael threw at him.

"What the fuck was that for, you twat?!" Michael roared.

"You can't just drag a woman around and expect that other's will let you carry on bruising that poor girl for the sake of your ego, do you?!" The stranger rivalled back. I was stuck in the firing line, half way between each. I was glad that the boy had stuck up for me, but I couldn’t say that. Michael would be a permanent fixture in my life for the next year or so, and I couldn’t afford to annoy him to that extent.

"Come on, Michael. Just leave it, its not worth it," I whispered gently to him as I started tugging him towards the door. Neither broke their glares until we were out of the doors. The dried up blood that was now all over Michael made him seem all the more menacing as he shrugged my hand off of his arm and strode in the direction I believed our luggage would be.
When we boarded the plane, Michael was still being painfully silent. I wanted to bring up the situation and explain that I was sorry and that I didn’t want that to happen but my jaw froze every time my mouth tried to open. Luckily, we were not to be sat next to each other on the plane, Michael had managed to gain a 1st class ticket whilst I was still only going to be in economy.

As I took my seat, I saw who I turned to see who I would be seated next to for the next 9 hours.

"Hello, fancy meeting you again. I didn’t get to introduce myself before, my names Aiden." It was the same boy who had hit Michael in Starbucks. His American accent seemed to entice me as I stared at him with a smile on my face.

"My name's Keyleigh." I said with a smile on my face, extending my hand so that he could shake it.

This was going to be an exciting flight.