By Your Side

Chapter 21: Night

Leaning her head against James, Clare wrapped her hands around his and traced his fingers from the tip to the base. Travelling up his ring finger, something concerned her as she raised his hand up to get a closer look at her concern.

"What are you-"

"Where's your ring?"

"Hmm."

James looked over at his hand as well, not aware that he had forgotten to put the ring back on his hand.

"If you don't put that ring on, I'll go downstairs because I'm not sleeping with you if we're not married."

"Fine, hold on."

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the little circle and slid it back onto his finger. The feeling of false promises overtook him once more as the ring settled back into place. He was once again committed to Clare while putting his desire for Hannah on the back burner.

"That's better," She said as she admired the ring before lowering his hand back down, followed by her resting her head on his shoulder. "So what now?"

"Another movie?"

"You can't be serious? We've watched like five today."

"So what are you thinking?"

"Well it might be weird, but maybe we should try and get some sleep, y'know to combat the jet-lag."

"If you are comfortable with that then I don't see a problem."

The young couple looked in each other's eyes, to reassure one another. James brushed back some of Clare's hair and placed it behind her ear and looked into her eyes. Something about how she looked at him, seemed trusting as she reached behind her and turned the light off.

Returning to James' face she stared longingly into his eyes waiting to see if he'd make the first move, and seeing how nervous she was, he initiated the next phase and climbed underneath the covers of the bed and playfully lifted the cover for Clare as he offered the spot beside him.

Watching as he did this, she turned off the two TV's and the room went dark leaving the only thing James could make out was the smile on her face as she took the cover from him and slid underneath to join him. Resting her head on the pillow, she was now only a few inches away from James.

"Hi."

"Hi."

The awkward tension was thick between the two of them, and they both weren't really sure what to do now. Under the covers, James took Clare's hand and brought it up to their faces. He could tell Clare's smiling at him through the darkness, then felt their fingers dancing around with each other. The silence overtook them again, and James chose to cut the tension.

"So something's been on my mind."

"Oh yea and what would that be?"

"Well it's more of a question, and I don't think there's a more appropriate time to ask you."

"Go on."

"Well, I can't believe I'm going to ask you this but-"

"Spit it out."

James smiled to himself as the question he was about to ask her may have been the stupidest question he would ever ask in his life. Yet he knew that it was what Clare needed to hear to get her mind off of being in bed together.

"Well have you considered maybe that, you and I are...sleeping, where a big CEO and a potential high-end escort once slept?"

"Wait, what? Are you serious?"

"Yea. I mean I could be right."

"You're so weird, but not weird enough to get a good night kiss."

"What's with you and me kissing today?"

"I don't know I just like doing it with you, and you make me feel good...about myself."

Hearing her admit those words, he knew that it probably wasn't easy for her. Knowing that she probably wanted to run and hide at the moment, James slid over and wrapped an arm around her which caused their foreheads to press against each other in the dark. Her eyes became illuminated in the small amount of light that was still present in the room.

They were no longer scanning one another, as they simply focused on one another and their lips didn't need to travel very far to meet. It wasn't until now that James felt something for Clare. He had felt the passion, but now he might actually be falling for her. Could I really give up on Hannah? He thought to himself as the adrenaline flowed through him and Clare.

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

In the dark, James watched as Clare closed her eyes and he followed her shortly after, as they drifted off happily tens of thousands of feet in the air.

***

With only a few hours left, the peaceful couple was still in each other's embrace when they were startled awake, as the plane hit some rough turbulence. James happened to be the first one to open his eyes but was immediately followed by Clare. She was scared, and so was he but at the time he wanted to protect her as he saw the terrified look on her face.

"What's going on?"

"Just some turbulence I think."

"I hope so."

James began to rub her back in an attempt to try and calm her down, while her irregular breathing slowly began to settle.

"Here let's distract ourselves."

"I'm not watching another movie."

"I was thinking stargazing."

"Stargazing?"

Rolling over, James removed his arm from around Clare and stared up at the ceiling, as she watched with intrigue until realizing what he was doing. Shifting her body, she curled up on James' side, while his other arm wrapped around her from underneath keeping her close to his chest. The turbulence continued, while James and Clare stared up at the crystal clear sky and watched as the stars traveled across the hole.

After a few minutes the turbulence started to settle, as Clare's weight shifted on James' chest and her body became heavier, and her breathing became deeper. She had finally gotten comfortable enough that she was able to sleep in such rocky winds, but yet James was still a little nervous as he continued to rub up and down her arm before softly kissing the top of her head. Unable to sleep, James laid there protecting Clare as the night sky above slowly turned back into day.