15

Jean sighed and dug her hands in the hair close to her temples. She had always loathed flights. One would assume that since she was a businesswoman who traveled a lot, she would be used to the nauseating feeling by now but the reverse was the case. She still felt and hated the queasy feeling in her guts and the bile in her throat that never brought any vomit. Looking outside, she saw that they were now above water. She tried to steady herself by rocking back and forth in her plane seat.
“You okay? You look giddy.” Jason said from where he sat across from her. Then she saw a mischievous gleam in his eyes, “Or is a certain twenty-eight year old afraid of itty bitty plane flights?” he asked in a rather pathetic babyish voice. Jean, on the other hand, wasn’t in the mood at all for any sort of jokes. Plane flights happened to make her very grumpy.
“Make jest of me one more time and I’ll snap your arms off and throw them in the Pacific Ocean.” Her glare showed that she was serious but Jason knew how to turn a situation around for the better.
“Your imagination is quite intense. But that would give the savage walruses quite a good meal because let's face it, I am very delicious.” He wiggled his eyebrows at his own cockiness and she couldn’t help but laugh. He wasn’t hurtful to the eyes in his blue t-shirt and black jeans but she wouldn’t describe him as ‘delicious’. She would prefer an adjective like ‘sweet’.
“Don’t bother hyping yourself. You aren’t delicious in any way I can think of.”
“Sure, but my apple pie is.”
That had Jean's attention and her head shot up while her spine stood straight, all thoughts of nausea forgotten.
“Oh my God, you cook?”
“More like I bake. I don’t really enjoy standing in front of a stove but checking an oven, that’s my heaven.”
“Wow, I love baked goodies. Especially pie and cake. I love all kinds of cakes and pies. There was even this time my mum tried experimenting with an orange cake and everyone else barfed it out but I still loved it and… I should stop talking, I'm just babbling now.” A blush crept up Jean's dark skin and just a tiny hint of red could be seen against a chocolate background.
“Really, you should stop. You sound like a little girl who just tried peanut butter for the first time.”
After that, their conversation revolved around various things and interests and very soon, they were engulfed in a comfortable silence that Jason took the privilege of breaking.
“How many hours have we been on this goddamn plane?” he asked, sounding frustrated.
“The so-called “goddamn plane” is my private jet and just call the cockpit to ask.”
Jason scoffed, “Sorry for insulting your precious jet.” He said with a roll of his eyes. She couldn’t help but compare him to a seventeen-year-old. After a short conversation with the pilot, he announced that they had been in the air for three hours leaving them with two hours left to Hawaii as long as there were no delays.
“Three hours???” Jean exclaimed, “It feels like a million years hanging in the sky like a sock on the line.”
“Is that how boring I am? Sorry, I didn’t realize how awful it was to be in my company.” Jason picked up his glass of cranberry juice and brought it to his lips like his sentence meant nothing to him. Jean opened her mouth when she realized the insult in her outburst.
“I'm so sorry. Being in your company is actually very exciting, I just don’t like plane flights.”
He nodded his acknowledgment before setting his glass down.
“Let's play 20 questions.”
“What?” Jean laughed, “Are you insane? I haven’t played that game since high school.”
Jason looked flabbergasted. He opened his eyes wide and gasped in exaggerated shock.
“No way!”
“Yes way,” she retorted, “the last time I played it was a few days before senior prom when this guy, Andrew asked me on a date. It's quite funny because the date started off really boring and we started playing 20 questions and one topic led to another and we didn’t leave the diner till they closed around midnight.”
“Andrew seems interesting but I can't help wondering,” Jason pinched his chin, a habit he had gotten used to when he was thinking, “that was in high school. What happened to college? You should have saved many dates using that game, I mean, a man can't help but turn to admire when you pass by.”
Jean felt the blush creep up on her face, she had never been used to compliments and this moment made her love her dark complexion even more. His question registered in her mind and her eyes faltered. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t been asked out on dates but she never liked to remember college at all. Jason noticed the absence of the spark in her eyes but he decided not to question her on it. Besides, curiosity drags one into things one should not be dragged into. He quickly changed the subject.
“Lemme start with the game. Favorite colour?”
“Purple.” Jean blurted out without a second thought. She didn’t know why the colour just appealed to her. It was like a special siren calling out to her. “What’s yours?”
Damn it, Jason thought. He should never have asked her for her best colour. It was only fair that she asked for his and despite how much he didn’t want to tell her, he wasn’t in the nest shoes to tell a lie now. He knew this woman had trust issues and lying to her right now would be like pulling a life plug.
“Well…” he started, scratching the back of his head and looking anywhere but her. Unfortunately for him, Jean's impatience decided to kick in right then.
“Well what?” she snapped harsher than she intended to. She looked at him apologetically before fixing her gaze on her converse-clad feet. Jason took a deep breath.
“It moves in between powder pink and baby pink.” He said with his eyes fixed on the window behind her.
Her head came up so fast she could have given herself whiplash. The spark in her eyes was back and it was brighter than ever. She could feel her throat contract before the first rounds of laughter started hurdling out. Jason squinted his eyes at her.
“You wanna laugh? Go ahead and laugh. I like what I like.” He crossed his arms over his chest and sat back to watch the show unfolding in front of him.
Very soon, her laughter became uncontrollable and she was on the floor gripping her stomach while she rolled back and forth on the expensive carpet with tears in her eyes. Her laughter just annoyed Jason more and more by the minute but his annoyed expression just made her laugh the more. The way only his forehead, nose and ears became pink made her crack up the more.
Finally, her charade was over and she settled back into her seat still giggling.
“You know you should smile and laugh a lot more,” Jason said out of the blue. “The world could really use it.”
She rolled her eyes at his exaggeration.
“I really see no need to smile a lot. It just makes people take you for granted like you’re some clown running around in a kids' party with a permanent smile on your face.” She scowled as she remembered the time when she used to smile a lot, too much, she could say.
Jason let out a hearty laugh.
“Well, I think that you used to smile a lot before.” He rolled his eyes at her puzzled expression and elaborated, “It’s quite obvious. It seemed really natural on you like you were born to keep smiling and smiling till your jaws break.”
She smirked and nodded before looking back out the window and pondering how on Earth Jason managed to be so observant; it was rare for her to find a person more observant than her, especially in the business world.
After a few minutes, Jason tapped her knee and pouted like a child. He wanted the last hour of the flight to be held in anything other than silence.
“We didn’t get to finish our game.” He whined.
“Well, what if I don’t want to play your stupid game?” she snapped. She didn’t spare him another glance before getting up to spend the next thirty minutes in the toilet and the remaining flight time scowling out the window.
Jason felt hurt at her behavior. He was never used to people snapping at him because he tried to avoid it at all costs. He sank into his seat after she snapped at him and spent the rest of the flight in the so-dreaded silence.