The Runaway

Chapter 23

*****

"Charlie?" I hear someone's voice ask. I flutter my eyes open and turn to my left, seeing Taylor still sitting next to me. "Yes?" I ask while wiping the haze out of my eyes. "Our flight leaves in a few minutes. I thought you would want a few minutes to wake up and get yourself adjusted." He says politely. "Thank you." I answer blankly. I get up from my seat and wipe off my legs from whatever I assumed got on them while sleeping. I then wrapped my headphones around my phone and shoved them in my front pocket. I didn't have any of my bags to carry with me, only my purse that had necessities in it. I look over my shoulder to see Taylor who is getting his stuff prepared as well. I look over to where we are supposed to board, and people are already getting in line. "Hey Taylor?" I say quietly. I never thought of this until now, but I have never been on a plane before. The thought made me nervous and a little scared. It's silly to be scared of a plane, but you never know what will happen. "Yeah?" He says while putting his wallet in his jeans. "I've never been on a plane before. I didn't realize this before but I'm kind of nervous." I felt heat in my cheeks, which means I am red. I don't want him to think I am weak, but I felt the urge to tell him. "I'll be sitting next to you the entire way. Besides, it's only like a two hour flight. You will be fine trust me." He smiles shyly and walks toward the now long line of people. I quickly follow him and stay close so I don't lose him. He passes me my ticket and I hold onto it with a firm grasp. "The flight to Indiana is now boarding." I hear the woman say from the podium she is at. She announces it into the intercom for the entire airport to hear, although it only attains to certain people. I hold onto my purse so tightly my knuckles turn white, and I feel a shooting pain up my arm. It makes me forget about my fear for a little while, so I continue to do it. The line is moving at a slower pace, but within a few minutes we are up to the lady looking at tickets. She smiles lightly and holds her hand out for our tickets. I give her mine in a timely manner, and so does Taylor. After handing in our tickets, we walk into a tunnel which I assume brings us directly into the plane. I am correct, because soon I see seats and people sitting in them. I walk a little closer to Taylor, not wanting to lose him in the flurry of people. He walks down the isle until he finds the seats he appears to be looking for. "Ah, here they are." He says while sitting next to the window. I assume I am the seat next to his, so I sit down as well. I put my purse between my legs and stare out the window. I could see people pushing luggage on big carts, although they look small. "Why did you get the window seat?" I jokingly ask Taylor. He smiles at me, and then opens his mouth to respond. "I just sat where I knew our seats were. Do you want the window seat?" He smiles widely, teeth showing and all. "No it's okay, I think I would get too scared looking down once we are high up." I can feel the heat return to my cheeks again, but it goes away before he could notice. "Alright. Just let me know if you need anything. If you're scared you can tell me." At this point I don't know what he would do if I was scared, we can't really leave the plane. Everyone has boarded and the doors are shut tight, but I smile anyway. I see a woman coming our way, dressed in a navy blue dress and a cap. I assume she works on the plane, because a few other woman are dressed the same way. She stops right next to our row, and smiles in a weird way; the way people smile before they have bad news. "Hello, my name is Sharon. I hate to ask this, but one of you will have to move to a different row. It seems we overbooked these seats." She looks at us expectantly, but I don't assume we will be moving. My heart begins to race rapidly, and my fear is becoming worse. If I don't sit next to Taylor, I will be on my own and then have a panic attack. Taylor grabs my hand and laces our fingers together unexpectantly, which makes my heart race even quicker. "You are expecting me to leave my beautiful fiance for a seat next to a stranger? She has never been on a plane before, she will die of a panic attack." I am surprised by his words. It is all a lie obviously, except maybe the panic attack part, but Sharon seems to believe it. "I'm sorry sir, I had no idea. I will try to find other passengers to trade seats. Oh, and congratulations. I hope your wedding is everything you dreamed." I was about to say thank you, but she walked away too quickly. Even though she has left, Taylor doesn't let go of my hand. I wanted to let go because Matt would be ashamed of me, but It is making me feel less nervous about the ride. "Well that was a good excuse." I turn to Taylor to find him grinning widely. "Thank you. I came up with it myself. And I didn't want to sit away from you, I know how nervous you are about the trip. If you sat next to some stranger It wouldn't help." I laugh because I know he's right, and look through the window. "Sitting next to my ex-boyfriend who broke my heart isn't exactly the perfect situation either." I don't know why I said it, the words just slipped out. He looked almost shocked that I said it, and he didn't respond for a few minutes. "I'm so sorry Charlie. I know how messed up things got between us. I'm hoping this trip will fix it. I regret ever cheating on you." I felt a hot tear stream down my face, and I didn't bother to wipe it because I know there will be more. Taylor turns to me and finds the tears on my cheeks. He lifts up his available hand and wipes the tears away. "Please don't cry. You're too beautiful to cry." At this point all I want to do is cuddle with Matt. I want him to hold me tightly in his arms and make all the pain go away. "First of all, I'm not pretty. Secondly, I cry all the time. And third, you don't know how much pain you put me through Taylor. I'm only going on this trip because It's my only choice." My words seem to hurt him, but he doesn't show it for too long. "You know that isn't the only reason you came. You came with me because you still have feelings for me. You want to be close to me again. Don't lie and say it was your only choice to come with me. Matt could have brought you home with him but he chose not to. Instead, I took you with me. That proves I care a lot more about you than that asshole." Taylor seems angry, but not angry enough to do anything physical. He is still holding my hand, and I am scared to let go. The words he just spoke run through my mind over and over again. Did I really come with him because I still like him? No, it's impossible. I am with Matt, and Taylor broke my heart. Matt couldn't have taken me home with him, could he? "Matt didn't have a choice. He still lives with his family so he couldn't take me." I fight back. "Matt is moving out soon. And his family is so welcoming, I'm sure they would've let you move in for a while. But I'm sure your perfect boyfriend didn't tell you that did he?" I feel a bit of defeat, like Taylor is winning this battle. All I want to do is end it, but I find no words to argue with. Instead, I let hot tears stream down my face until they drop on my shirt. I just took a few hour nap, but I feel exhausted again. I wipe my tears and set my head back, trying to find a comfortable position. I find none and instead lean my head on Taylor's shoulder, which surprisingly comforts me. He lets go of my hand and wraps his arm around my shoulder, pulling me closer. I feel the warmth of his body, and his heart beat beating calmly through his chest. I shut my eyes and begin to drift off again, but this time music isn't the last thing I hear. It's Taylor's voice saying "I love you"  

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heyy new update. This chapter only focuses on Charlie bc her life is about to change and I wanted to show the importance of that by writing about her travels with Taylor

qotc: Looks like Taylor is sweeping in to take Charlie away, but will she let him??

I'm so thankful for all of your reads and votes, it means a lot to me. Don't forget to check out my new fanfic called My Bestfriend's Boyfriend. It's about Luke Hemmings and yeah it's bomb. Also, don't forget to vote and comment! I am no longer doing my contests btw but you can still do what they ask if you want(:

#TheRunawayto10k