Tangled Strings (sequel to Red Strings)

Chapter 16

"Ready?" Luke questions I smile widely "So ready." I agree taking his hand as we board the plane. We find three rows of two seats left for us, "Mike and I are sitting together, we have a song to finish." "Dude!" Michael whines I chuckle looking at Nat to see where she was gonna sit. 

I bat my eyelashes at her and she rolls her eyes "I call window seat!" she says sassily, grabbing Calum's hand and pulling him into the seat beside her. I love you I mouth blowing her a kiss sitting down next to Luke. "How long is this fight anyway?" "About 15 and half hours." "Holy shit" I gasp throwing my head back. Luke grins.  "I promise it'll fly by." he assures me kissing my cheek. "You two are disgusting." Michael states. "Shut up!" we reply in unison.      

Natalie's POV

I realize what I've done.  I had accidentally dragged Calum into my spot, rather than negotiating with Skyler.  Now I'm going to be stuck next to Calum for the next 15 hours.  15 hours.  What did I get myself into?  I look at Calum.  He bites his lip and I gaze at the ground before saying "Um....."

"If you want to later on we can switch or whatever." Calum says shrugging.  "Oh um....well yeah sure I guess....um...." I state, fiddling with my thumbs, shuffling a little in my seat.  Eventually the captain comes on.  "Alright everyone, we're ready for takeoff.  It's currently 2:00 pm here in Sydney, and we'll be arriving in Los Angeles in about 14 hours.  We hope you enjoy your flight."  the captain says before the voice goes off.

I groan before Calum looks at me and says "So did um....did Cameron come and say goodbye?"  I look at him and then said "Well, after you and me argued at prom, I went off to the turf and just kinda....well I just kinda sat there.  Cameron eventually came out, and we made out for a bit....."  

Calum coughs a little and I raise my eyebrow before saying "And to answer your question, no, he didn't come and say goodbye.  I didn't want him to."  I decide to show a great interest in the flight handbook.  "What do you mean you didn't want him to say goodbye?" Calum asks and I shrug.  "It wasn't like it was ever gonna work out anyways." I stated looking out the window.

I can feel a couple tears well up in my eyes and what had happened between me and Cam.  We had a bit of an argument because he saw me upset and all, but I reminded him I was leaving and was never planning on really coming back.  I told him he shouldn't wait around for a girl like me, and left it at that.  But it did hurt.

"Here have a tissue." Calum says as he hands over a tissue.  I look down and look back at him and say "Thanks."  I blow my nose, and Calum then says "You know we're all really excited about having you guys come with us." "I'm sure." I state, before suddenly the plane begins to move.  

Oh my God this is actually happening.  We're actually going.  We're actually heading to California.  We're actually on our way to a new life.  Away from home, away from Australia, and into the unknown.  

The plane begins to speed up, it starts shaking, and I take a deep breath, trying to calm myself.  I never really liked planes, or plane rides for that matter.  So right now, my heart was racing.  

I grip onto the first thing I can, and I can feel Calum intwine his hands with mine, and he gives it a squeeze as we feel the plane take off into the air, and I look out the window, my stomach squeezing a little at the height, but I see the landscape falling behind us, before suddenly we go into the clouds and we're surrounded in white.

"Does it ever hurt a little?  Leaving home like this?" I asked, and I notice I'm still clenching Calum's hand for dear life.  "Yeah.  But I guess you get used to it." Calum says and I look at our hands again.

We gently let go, and in a way a part of me wishes we didn't, but I plug my headphones into my phone, and I put the earbuds in my ear.  "Whatcha listenin' to?" Calum suddenly asked and I looked up from my playlist.  

I smile a little and give an earbud to Calum and we begin to listen to the music, consisting of Sleeping with Sirens, Mayday Parade, My Chemical Romance and Blink 182 and more.  

I feel myself closing my eyes, and I desperately want to put my head on Calum's shoulder.  Like we used to, before all of....well everything.  I can feel Calum's gaze on me and suddenly he whispers "C'mere."  I feel the arm rest of the chair get put up and Calum holds me close, my head on his shoulder.

I get that feeling again.  The butterflies in the stomach.  The sparks I can sense between me and Calum.  It's not even this negative tension anymore.  It's this gap that's slowly closing, and I suddenly feel like everything's normal.  It's almost like nothing ever happened.   

"So you're going to university." Calum whispered and I nuzzled against him and whispered "Yeah."  We're silent and Calum pulls close as his fingers become intwined with mine and I feel myself slowly falling asleep and Calum whispers "Do you wanna switch at all?"  I smile a little and whisper back "I'm ok."

"Sweet dreams then." he says as he gives my cheek a kiss.  I feel myself blush, but I try to control my emotions.  I mean, friends give each other kisses on the cheek all the time right?  But then again not all friends were cuddling and intwining hands on an airplane.

I desperately want to feel Calum's lips on mine however.  I want to be his girl again, and I want him to be my boyfriend.  But if it wasn't meant to work out, there was no point in hoping for it.....right?