Into You

Chapter 34

"Damn, Kaki, I can't believe the big bad bodyguard is scared of flying."

"Shut up, Sofi"

Lauren gripped the edge of her seat as the engines of the huge plane revved up and they began to taxi out onto the runway in preparation for their flight to New York for the expo. She was actually quite pleased that Sofi was trying to wind her up. It made a nice distraction from the fear that had hold of her stomach with an iron fist.

"Did you know that you're more likely to crash when you're taking off and landing than at any other point in your journey, Miss Sofia?" she said grimacing as the plane sped up and then stopped, waiting at the end of the runway like a rollercoaster preparing its victims for the big drop.

"What?" Sofi said looking around at her, the smile dropping from her face.

"Oh yes, there are microbursts and downdraughts and all sorts of things like that, not to mention the chance of collision. Each and every one of them are positively lethal at that point in the flight, there simply wouldn't be enough time for the pilot to save us. We could be dead in a second and there would be nothing we could do about it. It would be over too fast; we wouldn't stand a chance."

She got an irritated elbow from Camila, sat in the window seat next to her, as Sofi turned back and pulled her lap belt a little bit tighter. Normani, who had volunteered to shadow Sofi, leaned around her seat on the aisle side and surreptitiously winked at Lauren.

She heard Camila start to say something to her, but was interrupted by the roar of the jet engines as the plane began to roll faster and faster down the runway. As she gripped even tighter on the armrest, she felt her right hand covered by the soft skin of Camila's hand pressing down on it, newly freed from the plaster cast that had frustrated her for weeks.

"You ok, Lolo?" she asked as Lauren clenched her eyes tightly together. She couldn't reply. Her mind was replaying the flight out of the camp and the pain that the takeoff and landing caused her broken body, despite the medication. As the speed increased, she felt her heart racing in her chest.

She put everything she had into the breathing exercises that Joanna had taught her, reaching out for her safe place with all her might. Happily, it was made easy with Camila's close proximity.

It wasn't long before her heart rate began to drop and the black dots that floated in front of her closed eyes began to fade. As she opened them again, she felt the brunette's hand pat hers and she looked across to see her staring at her.

"Worst part over," Camila said confidently.

Lauren nodded in reply, not meaning it at all. Unfortunately, she knew for her, the worst was yet to come at the other end of the journey.

"You ok now?" Camila said, finally smiling and making her feel better almost immediately.

"Getting there," she replied breathing in and out slowly. "Be ok in a minute."

The torturous climb into the heavens continued for an endless moment, the engines screaming as they powered through the clouds beneath. Finally, she felt the cold grip on her stomach ease as they began to level out for normal flight.

"I'll be ok," she said hoping that she sounded more confident than she felt right at that moment.

"You never did tell me, by the way," Camila whispered.


"Tell you what?" she replied as quietly, knowing somehow exactly what she meant.

"December," she said, moving her hand from Lauren's and resting it on the latter's thigh. "When we were waiting for the helicopter to our home that time, you said you'd been scared of flying since December. You never said why."