Authors: Jess Parry
25
Gathering Storm
4 CHAPTER
Four
Arriving
at the airport with a little more than an hour to make it through security
then
to their gate on time
, they jumped out of the limo
.
Thanking the driver as they
g
rabb
ed
their belongings running down to the security check point.
“Damn the Chicago traffic” Sarah wheezed
running
to catch up to Siobhan and Jason while pulling luggage behind her.
Turning
around to tell Sarah to move it, a grunt escaped as Siobhan felt something sweep past her feet tangling her up. Luggage went flying
as
she felt a sharp pain in her shin as it made contact with the hard floor.
Looking
around to see what she had tripped over
, seeing
only her bags splayed out in front of her
.
S
he could have sworn she felt something sweep past her before she fell.
Laughter rang its way up to her ears
;
she felt her face getting hotter as the blush slowly spread. She looked up at Jason and Sarah doubled over in laughter
,
her embarrassment quickly turned to anger.
“Thanks for the help guys” she shouted
“Oh come on Becky, that was classic…a prefect 10!” Sarah choked out between laughing
Chuckling,
Jason walked over
pulling
Siobhan up “Anything broken?” he asked
“Other than my pride?” Siobhan replied
bending down to
pick up her purse
“Come on, we need to get moving” Sarah
called
as she pulled Siobhan’s suitcase back to her.
Standing in line with the other travelers waiting to expose their blood type to the guards that would grace them with entry Siobhan sighed heavily. Watching as couples pulling strollers filled to the brim with bags as their children stared wide eyed around them. One couple, almost through the check point wearily sighed when their son kicked the security guard in the shin. Siobhan couldn’t hear what the mother said when she leaned down to her son’s ear, but it obliviously didn’t affect the child as he promptly turned and kicked her.
“OMG, Becky did you see what that brat just did?” Sarah choked out between laughing
“Yah, if that was my kid we’d be taking a walk into the nearest bathroom” Jason muttered
“Really! So Becky this is what type of parental guidance you get to look forward to with your children with Jason!” Sarah laughingly punched Jason
Turning beat red, Siobhan looked at the guard who motioned the unruly child and his family through with a stern face.
T
hey made it through security
without any interruption’s, making it to their gate after a quick argument on which terminal they needed.
S
itting in the waiting chairs at the gate
, Siobhan sent a text to her parents that they were at the gate safely
.
Her mother instantly replied back to call as soon as they checked in at the hotel, her father replied that he was glad they were there and to have a good time.
Sarah had run to the nearest little store selling books, drinks and trinkets
, her main goal
to buy
as many gossip and fashion magazines as she could grab. Settling
into the uncomfortable plastic chairs as possible Siobhan grabbed her ear buds, plugging in her music as loud as possible. Closing out the world around her, she felt the chair next to her shake as Sarah fell into it. Tossing her bag full of magazines onto the floor, Siobhan watched as Sarah dug through her purse. Turning down her music as she saw Sarah opening her mouth to speak, Siobhan smiled as Jason took her hand squeezing it.
“God are we ever going to board” Sarah groaned as she applied yet another layer of lip gloss to her already shiny lips
“We will Sarah, just chill out” replied Jason as he glanced over at Siobhan
Siobhan was looking out the window
,
watching the huge plane pull up to the tarmac where they would be walking through soon. A little shudder went through her
thinking to herself
; this is the first trip
she was
taking out of the country that hasn’t been a family outing.
Leaning into Siobhan Jason brushed a strand of loose hair behind her ear whisper
ing
“Everything ok?”
“Yes, just thinking about this being our first trip abroad alone…you know” Siobhan
smiling at Jason as she eased her back against the chair
Tightening his grip a little more on her hand, he smiled that devilish smile that brought out his dimple
along with the flutters in Siobhan
.
“Well, you know we managed to get our own rooms to” he whispered in her ear
before
lightly nibbl
ing
it.
Feeling another wave of heat flaming her face, she turned and stared as Jason leaned in
slowly,
bringing
his lips to hers. Sighing,
as
she leaned in to the kiss
feeling
Jason tentatively trace his tongue around her lips. Siobhan parted them slightly giving him an opening to slide his tongue through. The kiss deepened
bringing a
low groan
from
Jason’s mouth
into hers
.
“Ahem…get a damn room you two” Sarah spoke loudly
while rattling
a couple of the pages of her magazine in front of them. Laughing Jason and Siobhan parted
as they
looked over
to watch
the airline staff open the
intercom
barking out boarding would begin in five minutes. After all the parents with small children and those needing assistance were seated on the plane, the announcer
wearily called
first class.
Grabbing their bags they walked up to the slightly disheveled looking flight attendant checking passports
against
tickets. After looking everything over she waived them through and they walked down to the entrance of the plane. Jason and Siobhan were seated next to each other, with Sarah across from them in the middle section. Buckling in after securing their bags in the overhead, Jason reached over grabbed Siobhan’s hand, as Siobhan grabbed Sarah’s and squeezed.
“Ladies, this is going to be the best trip ever!” Jason exclaimed as Sarah gave a shrill hoot
earning
a stern look from the flight attendant.
The captain came over announcing they were next in line to depart
as the plane lurched backwards, causing Siobhan to fall into her seat. Feeling the plane
slowly
backing out of the space Siobhan quickly pulled her seatbelt together
. Inching over to the runway, the captain again informed the crew to buckle up as they were taking off. Once everyone was seated, Siobhan felt the force of the wheels pushing the plane as fast as possible to the end of the runway. The plane lifted sluggishly at first, but then shot straight up pulling her head back further into the seat.
Leveling out at 30,000 feet the captain came on to wish everyone an enjoyable flight
informing the crew
that the seatbelt light would go off momentarily.
Looking
at Siobhan
, Jason
leaned over whispering “any minute now I promise”
The lighted chimed off
as
Jason leaned in
pulling
her into a deep kiss. Then trailed his lips across her chin to her ear and whispered “In just eight hours we’ll be in Ireland and then you are all mine…I love you”
“Miss…Miss” the flight attendant was lightly tapping Siobhan on the shoulder “We are about
thirty
minutes from land, would you like some breakfast?”
“Sure, do you have any coffee?” Siobhan asked as she lifted the complementary sleep cover off her eyes. Squinting at the bright lights from
the
overhead she saw Jason was doing the same involuntary squint. She looked over at Sarah who was half on the gentleman sitting in the seat next to her, with her eyes still covered and lightly snoring
“Sorry, let me wake up my friend” Siobhan apologized as she leaned over to shake Sarah. “Hey sleeping beauty, get up”
“What.. no.. ten more minutes” Sarah mumbled as snuggled closer to the guy sitting next to her.
“Sarah, you’re snuggling up to a stranger who probably wants to get up and go to the bathroom”
“Oh my god” Sitting bolt up and ripping the blind off, Sarah took in her surroundings. She pulled herself off the gentleman and leaned over towards Siobhan.
“He was hot, god I hope I wasn’t drooling”
Sarah then grabbed Siobhan’s coffee and started drinking. Groaning in defeat, Siobhan got up pulled her little overnight bag down and went into the bathroom to freshen up. Brushing her hair in the mirror, she took a moment to really look at herself.
Her grandmother always called her little fairy, at first it was because she was such a tiny child, but when she hit 14, she hit a growth spurt shooting up to almost 5’8”, she was still shorter than Sarah, but wasn’t complaining. Her hair was shoulder length with waves that could be unruly and all over the place, but today looked to be behaving quite well. Her eyes were a deep moss green surrounded by dark lashes. Her mouth wasn’t pouty, but it was a little wider than she thought it should be. Her chin came to a slight point with a little dent – that came from her dad. She still couldn’t see what the fuss was about when people said she was beautiful, cute maybe, but stop dead in your tracks with your mouth open responses were for Sarah not her.
Putting her makeup back into her bag, she opened the door and made her way to her seat. Sarah grabbed her make up bag, explaining she had packed hers in the suitcase like an idiot and headed to the bathroom. Emerging a few minutes later looking as breathtaking as ever, Siobhan looked over at Jason and noticed he was watching Sarah make her way back to them.
Clearing her throat, Jason blinked and then looked at Siobhan smiling
he
squeezed her hand.
“When the hell are we going to land” Sarah called as she plopped back down into her seat “I’m so over the airplane, I want to be on the ground”
As if on cue, by Sarah’s ranting, the captain came on stating they were beginning the decent. Tightening her seatbelt, Siobhan grabbed Jason’s hand as this part of the flight always gave Siobhan shivers. As the plane would begin descending, she always felt like she was falling into the unknown and a crippling fear would close around her. Darkness would begin to close around her and she would feel a tightening in her chest.
As a child, she would unbuckle her seatbelt and climb into her father’s lap whenever they flew and began their descent. The first time she had done it, the flight attendant had gotten up to see what was wrong. Her father had started to put her back into her seat, but noticed how pale she was and the wild look in her eyes. He’d shaken his head at the attendant and pulled Siobhan into his lap
, he had
wrapped his arms around her
tightly
. He had kissed the top of her head and whispered to her everything was fine and if she counted down from 10 by the time she hit 1, she would feel the wheels touch ground.
Closing her eyes and squeezing Jason’s hand, she felt Sarah reach over
grabbing
her other hand.
“10”…”9”…”8” they began counting together
,
Siobhan felt a little of that pressure start to dissipate from her as her friends support gave her strength.
“Siobhan, open your eyes, we’re here” Jason whispered into her ear as he undid her seatbelt.
Opening her eyes she looked out the window to see the glass walls of the airport and several other planes pulling in to dock. Standing, they made their way out of the plane and through customs.
At the luggage pick up there was a gentleman holding a sign with their names on it.
“Wow, your dad got us a car here” Sarah exclaimed
Feeling the blush heat her face, Siobhan looked over at the driver and smiled.
“God, I love it when you blush” Jason whispered in her ear as he kissed her heated cheek
“Hi, um…we’re the group you’re looking for” Siobhan said to the driver
“Aye, welcome to Ireland” the driver responded in a lilting voice
taking
one of Siobhan’s bags and one of Sarah’s bags. They followed him out to the line of cars waiting to pick up passengers traveling home or visiting. Storing their luggage, they climbed inside
as
the driver pulled out into
the busy
traffic
. The car
headed away from the bustling cabs waiting to squeeze into the spot
the car
left.