The Flight On Christmas Morning (II)

Alexis is grateful that she will finally have several hours to her self. Once she is back home, she has to make her way straight from the airport into the office for an emergency shareholder's meeting. Whatever the meeting is about, she is certain it must be very important, or else they would not have called everyone on Christmas Eve just to request their presence during the holidays. Normally,she would be cursing at the fact that she has to give up spending time with her family, but the last few days at home has her grateful for the call, as they were indeed trying.

Alexis' family made the decision to have Christmas at her sister and brother-in-law's new home. Everything was going great until they all focused their meddling minds on Alexis and her current relationship status. It is no surprise to anyone that knows her that she is single and generally uninterested in dating. Most of her colleagues will tell her she works too much, clocking close to twelve to thirteen hours per day, sometimes even longer than that. Her family has told her that she doesn't make enough of an effort to meet new people. But the truth is,she is just not really interested in sharing her time with anyone else. The older she gets, the more comfortable she realises she is, being perpetually single. But her parents do not share that same sentiment.

Alexis is brought out of her reverie when the flight attendant makes a stop at her row during the final flight check. Alexis turns to look out the window for a second, and catches the eyes of the man sitting in the window seat on her row. She notices the man is absolutely stunning and before she can help herself, she smiles at him. The man returns the smile before turning his face back towards the window.

When the plane is finally off the ground, Elliot sits back with his head against the headrest and shuts his eyes tightly. He grips the armrest and takes few slow breaths in hopes that it will help him to relax. He suddenly feels eyes on him but does not dare to open his eyes to confirm his intuition. He just sits as still as he can and continues to breathe slowly until he feels the plane start to level out. Moments later, the flight attendant's voice is in the speakers again letting everyone know that they are now at the required altitude and that the beverage cart would soon be making it rounds.

Once the plane is off the ground, Alexis looks over to see that the notably handsome man seems to look slightly paler than before. His body language is telling her that he must either really dislike flying or he actually may have a fear of it. She watches as the man takes slow breaths, his chest rising and falling steadily with each breath, and recognises that she herself uses the same technique when she needs to calm her nerves.

Alexis finally looks away, reluctantly, when the flight attendant is telling everyone that they could now use their wireless devices. She pulls the computer and turns it on. Within seconds of getting connected to the WiFi, she receives multiple messages from her sister and father, apologising for being so overbearing and nettlesome. Alexis smiles to herself and sighs. She responds as lovingly as she can, telling them she loves them and would call them when she lands.