(ch. 19 up) God Put a Smile Upon Your Face

[Murchadh]

I'm loveing it so far, please do keep posting!

[§ilvercell]

OTTID!

[jill]

Wow, haha I didn't know anyone but (my love) seonedevinian was reading this! I'm flattered.

I'll probably post the next chapter tonight. I have a feeling you guys will like this one... ;D

[Shelly]

please do hurry up and post it. (sorry for my impatient ness) i just like it so much!

[seonedevinian]

see, i told ya it was great, hon! post more, from what i've heard it's going to be awesome!!

[jill]

You guys make me happy. So, next chapter...

Chapter 11

‘Step one- accomplished. The guilt is lifted off of her shoulders,’ Riley thought to himself, once he had regained his senses. For a good ten minutes after she had assumed her new position, he couldn’t think straight. He couldn’t push the easy way she bended and moved out of his head- she was almost cat-like. Then, there was the way she was pressed gingerly against his leg…she might as well had just climbed onto his lap and straddled him. He clenched his jaw and pushed the thought out of his head, still struggling to think straight. ‘Come to think of it, we’re past step two. She’s obviously comfortable with me…’

Ashley was curled up in her seat, sleeping, her graceful back arched and her perfect legs folded neatly across his lap. Looking back now, he was a little shocked at himself for being so forward and touchy with her, but it just seemed natural. He couldn’t help himself, and she was actually gracious. That was the thing that killed him; she had this ironically innocent vibe. Sure, she was coy- he had caught her staring at him shyly- but it didn’t seem like she was making an effort to flirt. She did show a little interest in him, but for some reason he couldn’t imagine her seductively leading him off to the airplane bathrooms. Realistically, that is. He sighed, looking at her longingly and pondering his next move. Though he had seemingly come a long way with her in their brief time together, he was starting to realize that this could be a lot harder than he’d imagined.

A massive jolt of turbulence shook the plane, and there were a few audible gasps. The flight had been somewhat quiet lately, as most people had closed their windows and gone to sleep. Now, a few people were starting to wake up and open their windows to see what was going on. Riley looked to the other side of the plane and saw that outside, it was just a dark, dark gray. Suddenly, he felt Ashley writhing around a little in her sleep. He looked down at her, but her long hair was once again in her face. Wondering if she was okay, he gently pushed her golden brown locks away and felt that her face was hot. He could now see that her eyebrows were furrowed, but she looked more scared than angry. His hand still cradling the nape of her neck, he could now feel that she was trembling ever so slightly. The instability of the flight increased, and suddenly the plane took a violent dip. Even he cursed under his breath, catching her head so it didn’t bang against anything.

Instantly, she was awake in a panic. Swinging her legs down, she sat up straight, pressing her back to her seat. Her breathing was labored and shallow. She blinked, looking around the plane and taking in her surroundings. Thunder roared louder than he had ever heard it, and she let out a small squeak of fear. He just stared at her, bewildered, wondering how he could possibly comfort her without scaring her away. Remembering how she had grabbed onto his hand earlier, he slipped his steady hand over her quivering one. She looked up at him; her green eyes were now dark, and wet with tears. He caught himself musing that she was child-like in a way, with this helpless fear; yet for some reason he sensed that her life experiences greatly outran her years.

She intertwined her fingers with his and weakly grasped his hand, timidly withdrawing her stare. A strong, visible shudder ran through her, and though he could tell she was fighting it with all she could, she was crying. Her canopy of damp, wavy hair shook slightly with her shoulders. He felt a sick, gnawing feeling in the pit of his stomach. Why was this so hard for him to watch? Since when were his heartstrings so easy to pull on?

Unable to hold back any longer, he wrapped her up in his arms and murmured sweetly in her ear that everything would be okay. She buried her face into his neck, and the feeling of her soft, wet cheeks on his skin made his heart hurt. The woman sitting in front of him turned around, peering through the seats curiously at them. She raised her eyebrows and turned back around. Riley realized now, looking around, that they were attracting curious stares from quite a few people. As the Beauty’s quivering lips grazed his neck, he closed his eyes and swallowed hard. He wished he had something to say, anything to help, but nothing came. All he could do was hold her close.

Suddenly, she pulled away from him and stood up, smoothing her skirt down. She was still holding back tears, he could tell.

“Sorry, can I get through?” she was almost inaudible. He started to get up, but she just brushed past him hurriedly. He watched her slink down the aisle, head down, and then disappear into the bathroom. For a moment, he didn’t do anything. He just sat there, let out a long breath, and closed his eyes. What could possibly make her that upset? He rubbed his face wearily, trying but failing to make himself stop worrying about her. Giving up, he unbuckled his seatbelt and made his way back to the bathroom to check on her. He knocked on the door softly.

“Sorry, I’ll be out in a second,” the girl said, feigning indifference. She wasn’t a very good actress; he could still hear her sniffling.

“Ash, it’s me,” he said, leaning close to the door. There was a pause before it opened, and the angel appeared in front of him. The look on her face was so sad and scared and pure, it summoned a rare ache of sympathy from some place inside of him he had forgotten about. She quickly looked away and stood in front of the mirror, blotting tears from her face. “Can I come in?” She nodded, self-conscious, and he stepped into the tiny space with her. He closed and locked the door behind him as she tried to hold her hair back and splash her face with water at the same time. It was kind of sad to watch, but somehow kind of cute at same time.

“Here, let me…” he offered, touching the long, elegant fingers on her hair. He carefully brushed the hair out of her face and held it back for her. She finished rinsing her face and he handed her a paper towel to dry it with. Their eyes met in the mirror and she gave him a weak smile.

“Thank you,” she sighed, turning around and leaning against the sink. She patted her face shakily with the paper towel. “For everything, I…” she trailed off as the turbulence slowly worsened. She clutched the counter she was leaning on, and her knuckles soon grew white. He felt another dramatic plunge and the lights in the bathroom flickered. Before he could console her, Ashley promptly put down the toilet lid and sat down, burying her face in her hands. She looked very small now, and she was visibly shaking. He promptly squatted down so his face was level with hers, and slowly ran his hands up her arms. He could feel little tremors run through her as she cried; he could hear her trying to control it and failing miserably. He held the right side of her head with his hand and pressed his cheek to her left one, and whispered comforting things in her ear. Listening to her cry like this was torturous, and he could have sworn he got choked up a few times. He honestly couldn’t remember the last time he had shed tears.

“Alright folks, we’re obviously going through a little rough patch here. Looks like we’re passing through a bit of a storm, but it’s harmless and we’re almost out. There might be a little more turbulence within the next ten minutes or so, but the worst is over. Please return to your seats and keep your seatbelts fastened,” the pilot announced, sounding as if he was pinching his nose as he talked. As if on cue, someone rapped harshly on the door.

“Excuse me, please return to your seats immediately. The fastened-seatbelt sign is on,” a flight attendant demanded. Riley sighed, annoyed.

“Hold on a second, sweetheart,” he mumbled gently in her ear before he stood up.

“Riley. Don’t; it’s okay-” she protested, but he was already opening the door to tell the rude woman off. Luckily, it was the same short, blonde woman who had been smiling at them so wistfully earlier.

“Sir,” she started sternly, neglecting to see the poor girl weeping behind him, “you’re going to have to go back to your seats now. The fastened-seatbelt sign is on.” Fcuk the fastened-seatbelt sign.

“I’m sorry,” he said smoothly, being sure to sound extra apologetic. He didn’t want to embarrass Ashley by blaming anything on her, so he just figured he’d charm his way out of it. But as the flight attendant peered behind him and saw the crying girl, he saw he wouldn’t need to.

“Is she okay?” the woman asked, her voice softening.

“She’s scared of flying. Can we just stay in here for a little?” he gave her his best sweet eyes and stuck out his lower lip the tiniest bit. The stewardess sighed, giving up.

“Alright, but be quick,” she warned, giving him a little knowing smile. He nodded and after she hurried off, he shut the door again. The harsh fluorescent light flickered back on and Ashley looked up at him. Even in this lighting, tear-stained and ruddy, she was lovely.

“I’d probably be passed out right now if you weren’t here,” she mused, chuckling at herself tiredly. He smiled and shook his head, trying to look modest. In reality, he didn’t want to picture her taking this flight alone. He squatted again. Her nose sounded stuffy, so he grabbed a tissue for her and pinched it around her nose.

“Blow,” he ordered. She tried to hold back a girlish smile but just startled giggling softly. He looked at her oddly and lowered the tissue, confused for about half a second. He realized what he had asked her to do and started laughing- partly at her for thinking of it that way and partly at himself for not.

“God, I’m so immature,” she laughed, shaking her head with a little half smile. “Sometimes I have the sense of humor or a twelve year old boy. It’s horrible.”

“It’s adorable,” he chuckled under his breath, just gazing at her. As he absent-mindedly held her behind her knees, he realized he had just said that out loud and wondered what had gotten into him. He turned the focus on her. “So, are you okay? I mean…do you want to talk about it?”

“Oh, yeah. You must think I’m crazy,” she mumbled, blushing and shaking her head at herself.

“No, not at all,” he assured her, making sure he didn’t make a big deal about it. The last thing he wanted was to embarrass her. He gave her a warm smile. “In your defense, you did warn me that you were afraid of flying.”

“I did,” she nodded, raising her eyebrows a little. Her lips parted in a sweet smile, and suddenly he felt as if he were having a craving satisfied. “Do you really want to know why I hate flying so much? It’s kind of heavy.” He wondered how bad it could be, but nodded for her to go on.

“Okay. When I was six, my aunt and uncle and three cousins were in this freak plane crash. Something went wrong with the cabin pressure, or something. She was the best friend I’ve ever had. My cousin, I mean. We were inseparable. When you’re just a kid, you don’t have any real problems, everything’s innocent and fun. You don’t have friends like that when you’re older, you know?” As she maintained a strong eye contact, he couldn’t help but notice a beautiful loneliness in her eyes. He wondered how it was possible for someone so easy to get along with to be even a little lonely. She took a shaky breath and continued explaining herself.

“I kind of listened about it on the news one night when I wasn’t supposed to, and I heard all these horrible details about exactly what happened to the passengers…at six, I was kind of scarred,” she chuckled darkly. “But that’s not why I freaked out just now. When I was sleeping, I had this really vivid dream about that night that they died. I guess it just kind of shook me up; I sleep like a baby so I was probably just all disorientated,” she shrugged, sniffling a little.

“Ashley, I’m so sorry,” he said breathlessly, taking her face gently in her hands. She nuzzled her face into one of them and gave him a sad smile. A tear rolled down her cheek and he brushed it away with his thumb. After a moment, she stood up and he did the same.

“I’m fine,” she said casually, shaking her head at herself in the mirror. She turned around to face him. “Thanks again for everything. You’ve been so cool about-” another bout of turbulence rendered her silent. Her eyes once again grew wide and fearful, and without thinking twice he wrapped his arms snugly around her. She hugged him close, leaning her forehead against his shoulder. Though he felt a little guilty, he couldn’t help but notice how good her body felt pressed against him like this. He clenched his jaw and pushed the possible scenarios out of his mind- he knew fantasizing would get him nowhere.

Suddenly, the plane titled and they both lost their footing. They both stumbled simultaneously, and Ashley was now pinned between him and the wall. Neither of them moved. She looked up at him after a little while, her cheeks once again damp with tears. Not able to stand looking at her this sad anymore, and knowing the seriousness of what she had been through, he closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against hers. And then, when he least expected it, he felt her peppermint breath grow closer to his face. She ran her hand up his back and he could feel her playing with the hair at the nape of his neck. Keeping his eyes closed in bliss, it took a lot of self-restraint to keep him from just shoving her up against the wall and having his way with her right then. He felt her soft, small mouth on his lower lip, and suddenly her family dying in a plane accident didn’t seem like such a bad thing.

Feedback makes me want to write more, haha. So let me know what you guys think, honestly!

[seonedevinian]

you know i love it! good work...it's almost romantic, but you can hear the machines grinding in Riley's head, it's great. very believable characters, excellent writing Jill!

[Niquinga]

This is great Jill, please keep writing it.

[jill]

Thank you, I definately will.

Anyone else have any feedback?

[§ilvercell]

i love it!

[Shelly]

one word.
MORE

[§ilvercell]

Ottid!

[jill]

Thanks guys, you're all too sweet. You have no idea how much it means to me that people actually read this and think about it, hehe. The fact that people are interested is definately motivation to write more.

HOWEVER...

The next chapter is kind of hard for me to write for some reason. It's from Ashley's point of view and there are so many like complex emotions and things going on, I'm struggling a little with portraying everything how it should be. Also, I'm trying to keep the smut-factor as low as possible, haha. So sorry it's taking so long, I'm just kind of a perfectionist.

School starts Monday for me, so I probably won't be getting chapters out as fast as I have been. Most likely a chapter a week or so. But they're usually long, right?

Anyway. Just thought I'd let you guys know what was going on, heh. Next chapter should be up soon, so KEEP READING!!!!!! ;D

xoxo, Jill. I love everyone that reads this, seriously.

[Shelly]

awww. we/I love you too! (and your storry)

[§ilvercell]

*chants* jill,jill!