Drive to Survive

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Four

About six hours into the flight, Dylan felt herself coming to and groaned as new waves of pain washed over her. The pain meds had once again worn off and, having been still in one position for a while, her muscles were not enjoying any sort of movement again.

As her eyes fluttered open, she was met with the dim lights of a darkened cabin. It was quiet around her and she realised everyone was asleep. The events of earlier came back to her and she glanced to her side, seeing Max slumped against the side of his chair, eyes closed and evenly breathing.

It was the first time she'd ever seen him asleep, and he looked so gentle and boyish. No frown sat on his face and he was at ease. He couldn't have been that comfy without his pillow though, and she felt her face warm as she thought back to him forcing the pillow on her. A thoughtful act of care, no matter how bluntly it had been forced on her. She was beginning to see that it may just be Max's natural manner of showing care.

The time on the seat screen in front of her flashed and she frowned. She wasn't allowed the decent meds for another couple hours but she could have ibuprofen and that might be enough to relax her back to sleep.

Before, Max had gone a few rows back to Hunter to get her meds and she wondered if she could do the same. The seatbelt sign wasn't on and she could sneak into the front pocket of his rucksack and reclaim the pills. Carlos had entrusted them to Hunter because he knew from their childhood that Dylan had a tendency to forget to take any, or take way too many in a day.

The click of Dylan's seatbelt undoing felt loud in the quiet cabin and she worriedly checked to make sure Max was still asleep, and he was. She held in the groan of pain as she shuffled forward and then she swung her legs to the side, reaching for the headrest to help pull her up.

"What do you think you're doing?"

She froze, and then slowly turned to look back at Max. He was still leant against the headrest with his eyes closed but his signature frown was back on his face and he clearly was awake. Her ninja-like sneaking had not been sufficiently ninja-like.

"I'm sorry." Dylan whispered, "I didn't mean to wake you."

Max brought a hand up and rubbed at his face before opening his eyes. They were still sleepy but they were fixed on her with an unimpressed look, "Where are you off to?"

His voice was deeper than usual and Dylan bit her lip, "I-uhm, I was just going to get some ibuprofen."

At this, he sat up properly and scanned down her body, "What's wrong? You're in pain again?"

"It's fine, the other stuff has just worn off and I can't have any more yet."

He was frowning deeply and part of Dylan wanted to reach up and smooth the lines in his forehead. He was going to end up with permanent wrinkles by thirty at this rate.

"I'm okay." She reassured him, "Just a bit stiff."

"I'll go grab it for you." He stood up and she opened her mouth to tell him he didn't have to but he silenced her with a glare.

He made his way down the aisle to where Hunter and Brad were each passed out in their seats. Crouching down, he gently opened the zip on the rucksack by Hunter's feet and pulled out the ibuprofen. The two other white pill packets filled with her prescribed medication sat next to it and in a quick decision, he decided to take them as well. 

When he got back to their seats, Dylan was wriggling around with a tight grimace on her face, clearly trying to get comfy. She stopped as she noticed him in the aisle and made an effort to smooth her face out, a shaky smile sat on her lips instead. Max saw straight through it all; he knew she'd been lying about how much pain she was in. Despite all the help she went about trying to give everyone each day, she really was shocking at asking for it herself.