Such a Rush(79)
Author: Jennifer Echols

“Haven’t you ever flown before?”

“Not in a plane this small.”

“Oh, that’s right.” I nodded. “You only fly to Europe.”

“First class,” she agreed. “I can close the window blind and pretend it isn’t happening. Flight attendant!” She snapped her fingers. “What do I have to do to get an appletini around here?”

I rolled my eyes. “There are lots of things that can go wrong,” I acknowledged, “but I won’t let them. And the plane is our friend. The plane wants to fly. Watch.” I powered the engine up and sped away from the trailer park, then took my hands off the yoke. “Look, I’m not doing anything and the plane lifts into the air when we hit a certain speed. That’s just how it’s made.”

“Put your hands back on the steering wheel,” she shrieked in my headphones.

To placate her, I grabbed the yoke. As we rose above the trees, I made the gentlest turn I could manage so the cabin wouldn’t tilt. To give her the smoothest ride, I pointed us toward the ocean, where the water would temper the air and there would be less turbulence. I wished for the airline pilot’s uniform that would give people confidence in me.

I would get it soon enough.

“It’s beautiful up here,” she murmured. Auburn updo smashed against the window, she watched the late-afternoon sun glinting on the ocean.

“Yes,” I said, “it is.”

The longer we stayed up, taking in the scenery, the more she seemed to relax. But soon we had to come down. As the North Carolina swampland passed under us and the skyline of Wilmington came into view, I neglected to point out that we were landing at an airport much larger than ours, with actual airlines and an air traffic control tower. I’d done plenty of touch-and-go’s at large airports during lessons with Mr. Hall. Besides, the airstrip wasn’t busy late on Saturday afternoon. Still, Molly was so nervous, head pressed against the glass, freshly manicured hands gripping both sides of the seat until her fingers turned white. I used my Chuck Yeager voice to radio my request to land and sailed on in, feeling like an airline pilot already.

I taxied where they pointed me, toward the terminal. Ten teenagers in prom dresses and tuxedos stood grinning behind a railing, with Alec and Grayson in front. The instant I told Molly it was safe, she snatched off her headphones, unstrapped her seat belt, and bailed out of the plane with her overnight bag. She skipped across the tarmac and threw herself into Alec’s arms.

I went over my checklist in my head, made sure I wasn’t forgetting anything as I shut the plane down, and slid out of the cockpit slowly. The guy with my airport job, who looked college age, brought out the chocks for my plane. He glanced at me and then did a double take. “You are the prettiest pilot I ever saw.”

“Hey.” Grayson walked forward. “Do you see me standing here in a tux? Get in line.”

“Dude! Sorry.” The guy couldn’t back away with his hands up because he had to put the chocks down first, but he did round to the other side of the airplane.

Grayson slid his arms around me. I caught a whiff of his sexy cologne and wanted to inhale him. “You’re the prettiest pilot I ever saw.” He pulled me close for a long, slow kiss. Behind us I could hear some of the girls say, “Awww.”

Grayson laughed against my lips. But as he broke the kiss and looked down at me, his gray eyes were serious.

“What’s the matter?” I whispered. “Did it spook you to see your dad’s plane coming in?”

“No,” he said in surprise. “I wasn’t thinking about that. I just missed you. A lot.” He kissed my cheek, then turned. “Let me say hi to Molly.”

He passed Alec, who hugged me. I hugged Alec back, pretending it wasn’t weird that I had made out with my boyfriend’s brother. Maybe one day soon it wouldn’t be. He kept one hand on my shoulder as he asked quietly, “Did Molly do okay on the flight?”

I made a grim face and shook my head no.

He leaned forward and said in my ear, “I was afraid of that. Between the two of us this summer, maybe we can break her in.”

I grinned and nodded as he walked back to her. If he was planning to fly with Molly this summer, that meant he planned to help Grayson keep Hall Aviation open. Grayson must be so relieved that Alec wasn’t rushing to join the military anymore. At least Alec would give the family business a shot.

Grayson found me again. With an arm around my bare shoulders, he faced his friends. “So, here she is. I told you so. Some of you owe me money.”

They burst into laughter. A girl stepped forward with her hand stuck out for me to shake. “Leah, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Nance. And when Grayson told me he was bringing a beautiful pilot to the prom, I said he was making you up. We all had to see it to believe it.”

“Let’s go eat!” a boy shouted from the back of the group. “Classy,” a girl said, and suddenly all of them were moving into the terminal. Molly kept walking with Alec as she turned around and waved at me, smiling like her face would break. I’d never seen her so giddy about a guy.

Grayson took my overnight bag. He led me by the hand to the office where I had to register my plane, and he leaned against a pillar to wait for me while I filled out the paperwork. I couldn’t help glancing over at him a couple of times, so tall and handsome and strange in his black tux and bow tie, without his shades or his cowboy hat. Dressing up suited him. Several groups of passengers turned to stare at him as they walked by. Then they looked around for the other half of the prom date, saw me, and smiled. They knew we were together, and that made me happy.

I held out my hand as I walked toward him. He took my hand in his, and we swung them between us as we walked through the lofty terminal with mile-high ceilings. “I’m sorry about the huge group date,” he said.

“It seems like fun.”

“Well, they wanted to do it because we’re graduating soon. And I haven’t been a good friend to them lately, but they’ve been good to me.” He opened the door to the parking lot for me and held it as I blinked in the sunlight on the other side.

“We’re going to dinner,” he said. “Then there’s the prom. Then a party at my friend Ish’s house, and then, if you’re up for it, a better party at my friend Steve’s house.” He stopped and turned to me in the middle of the wide brick stairs. “But I promise, Leah, I vow to you, that sometime in there, we will be alone.” He raised his eyebrows suggestively and grinned. The edges of his blond hair glowed golden in the sunlight. A jet high in the atmosphere passed behind his head, silently streaking white across the blue sky.