Best Friends With Benefits

Chapter Sixteen

A few days had passed and we were on our final day of the holiday. It had been unbelievable, we could have gone anywhere and I would have been happy as hell but the fact Aiden had bought me to my dream location only made the whole experience greater. We had always spent quality time together but this was different. We were a couple and things were going perfect. I was anxious to leave Florida though. Everything that had happened here would become a memory that I would treasure but what about when we got back home? Would things still be the same? All his friends and the jocks from school are at home waiting for his return so that they can suck him back into the popularity circle as before while I remain on the outside, where I was happy but the circle is like a chainsaw, cutting a vicious barrier between them and us and that was the last thing we needed.

We were taking our last stroll along the beach as the sun set before catching our flight home that evening. The waves gently crashed onto the sand covering our feet with its coolness. Aiden wrapped his arm around my shoulder and I leant into him.

"Do you think things will change when we get home?" I was nervous to ask the question but I knew I wanted to know the answer.

"What do you mean?" Aiden kept his stare ahead as we wandered aimlessly.

"When we get home, will things be like this?" I said as I linked my fingers into his on my shoulder. I looked up at his face and he was looking out into the sunset over my head, when he looked down, I looked away. I could tell he was hesitant and that made me worried.

"No, why would it be?" He covered.

"Well, you know how crazy things get, plus our parents don't know were together" I laughed at the memory of my mum walking in and Aiden having to climb out of the window about a month back.

"It'll be fine baby, I love you and nothing is changing that" I smiled up at him as we kissed. "Unless you grow an monobrow or a moustache or something" Just like that the moment was dead, I pushed his chest and he stumbled causing me to tremble in fits of laughter. It was moments like this that I didn't need to worry about the future and I was just enjoying things how they were, but lately the worried feeling of rejection when we get home was growing stronger but for now I pushed it to the back of my mind and focused on Aiden's smile as he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder, laughing the whole time.

-Several hours later-

We had checked in our bags and were now sitting in the kind of comfortable seats of the plane. I looked out over the runway where the sea was as calm as I had ever seen it. Aiden kissed my shoulder and took my hand in his. This was it, our dreamy vacation done, but we had come out with some pretty damn good things, we had 'sealed the deal' several times and amazing memories I would never forget, not to mention tons of pictures on my camera to pin to my wall.

I spent the whole 5 hour flight sleeping on Aiden's shoulder, in the last hour some turbulence began to shake us. I shot up and Aiden was still sleeping along with the majority of passengers around me. I wasn't scared of flights but if I said that bumpiness didn't make me nervous, I would be lying.

The bumps happened again and this time a woman cup fell over and the seat-belt sign came on. I grabbed Aiden's arm and he shot awake.

"What's wrong?!" He panicked and searched me.

"I'm fine, just some turbulence" I was slightly embarrassed that I had woken him because of this, even some of the 5 year olds were sound asleep and not affected.

"It's okay baby, come here" He motioned for me to snuggle into his chest and I did so. Another bump came, this one the biggest one yet, there were several small screams of shock and I could hear the luggage in the over-head lockers sliding. I gripped Aiden's arm again and he grabbed me, comforting me.

I was just calming back down and this time when the bumps came, they didn't stop for at least 30 seconds. It felt like hours, some of the overhead lockers had been forced open and bags had fallen out, screams were occurring and our bodies were jolting with the motion, I was beginning to feel sick, I didn't know if it was the motion or the fear, probably a bit of both.

All of a sudden I felt a feeling that defiantly made me want to hurl, the feeling of descent, we were an hour early, why was the plane going down?

Tears started to form in my eyes as the screams from other passengers rang in my ears. Aiden was silent and clutching onto me as I was onto him. The bumps caused the seatbelt to strain on my waist. After a long few minutes there was finally an awaited announcement from the captain;

"Good evening this is your captain speaking, we are taking an early landing as over California there appears to be a storm in process and as we enter it's outskirts we are experiencing some technical difficulties, please stay seated at all times as we approach Los Angeles International Airport"

Then he was gone, the message didn't exactly explain what was happening, the captain wasn't panicking which caused me some relief but we were still descending quickly which made my stomach uneasy again. I snuggled into Aiden and let the tears flow, his face was concerned but he comforted me and stayed strong by repeating 'everything's fine' and 'don't worry'.

The jolting continued as we went down and the over head lockers were almost all open with the luggage sprawled everywhere, children cried as well as many parents. A few children were struggling with their seatbelts to try and release them, to be free and their mothers telling them to stop. After a long 10 minutes there were lights visible below us, still thousands of miles high, the ground seemed relatively close. There seemed to be no plain land, the city of LA was lit beneath us and it was incredible and breath-taking, even though we were in a potentially life-threatening situation.

My tears had stopped and Aiden's chin rested on my shoulder in relief as the engines sounded lively again and we flew into the airport runway. I shakily stepped off of the plane and onto the tarmac, the weather was still warm but cooler then Florida especially as it was 11 o'clock at night. We stepped into the cold airport and were all asked to wait in the seats provided as the staff frantically ran around searching for the soonest outgoing flight and weather updates.

We sat and snoozed until Aiden woke me up, I tried to ignore him and snuggled back into his shoulder. He got up and I fell onto the warm seat were I readjusted myself back into a comfortable position, I had just squeezed my eyes shut when I was swept off of the seat and out of the warm fabric and into the air. My eyes flew open and I jolted when I realised I was being carried by Aiden.

"What! Where are we going?" I squealed, wriggling in his arms but his grip was too tight.

"We are getting out of here" Aiden smiled at me and placed me down once we reached the conveyer belt which was still and where a few cases remained, ours being straight in front. Aiden easily lifted them off, took my hand and began to lead me to the exit. I giggled as he intertwined our fingers.

"Where though, what about the flight?" I asked, it suddenly was setting in that we were still miles from home when we were supposed to be home, school started in a few days.

"We are going to stay in LA for tonight. We didn't want this vacation to end, so why not make it a little longer?" Aiden grinned as he ruffled his perfect fluffy brown hair and I admired his chiselled features.

"You're crazy" I laughed, "If we do this, this will be totally ridiculous and possibly regrettable and not to mention foolish" I smiled as we paused outside to admire the view, before us was the busy city of LA, there was no visible stars but the buildings for a miles to see were a close comparison. It was beautiful and the feeling of attachment was arising again as it had done in Florida. Aiden turned to me and I turned to him. He kissed me softly on the lips as he took my waist in his hands. I wrapped my arms around his neck and tugged on his soft hair.

"Ready, my lady?" This phrase sent me vivid flashbacks of the times at school with Aiden, it seemed like a parallel universe and to the beginning of our relationship.

"Taxi!" I yelled. Bring it on.