Page 7 of Forever Fallen

“You realize it’s ten in the morning,” the man said quietly, almost taunting her.

“You inspired me… what can I say,” Sophie uttered, getting out her bottle of water and ibuprofen – only to hear him laugh quietly again beside her as he put the magazine down, looking at her through those dark sunglasses. “And I thought it would knock me out so I can nap in peace.”

“You’ve got some spine to you – don’t you?” he asked bluntly, but instead of being insulted?

She realized that he looked amused. It was like he was enjoying the banter between them thoroughly.

She certainly was, she realized.

“Newsflash,” she smirked. “Everyone has one – most just don’t use it. So, which are you?”

Sophie looked at him pointedly, raising an eyebrow in almost a mimicry of what he’d done earlier when looking at her. The moments ticked by, and she expected him to have some caustic comeback or catty remark…

Instead, he actually cracked a smile and held out his hand to her.

“I’m Ryan.”

She hesitated in taking it… and then sighed, giving him a quick shake, and trying not to notice the texture of his skin. There were a few calluses, and his nail beds were clean. She liked a well-kept guy and maybe he was a clean-freak like her?

“Sophie,” she replied quietly, feeling a little unsettled, almost as if something was changing and she couldn’t put her finger on it. She brushed it off as nerves because she could hear the stewardess going through the preflight safety instructions in the distance.

“Very nice to meet you, Sophie,” he began quietly. “Not many people surprise me, but this has been enlightening. Here comes our booze, slowly but surely.”

“I bet your liver is singing Hallelujah right now.”

“I don’t normally drink, but I’m exhausted, too,” he admitted, rubbing his forehead and sighing.

“Where’d you fly in from?” she asked politely, making small talk with her neighbor for the next two hours.

“Afghanistan.”

Sophie’s mouth dropped open in shock as the stewardess returned with their drinks and a credit card machine. She moved to dig out her purse from under the seat and Ryan extended his arm – almost rudely in front of her face – giving his bank card to the stewardess.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll get this round,” he muttered quietly to her. It wasn’t the snappy, sarcastic, cold tone from before. It was much softer, but maybe she was dreaming that.

Sophie sat back up and looked at him in surprise.

“I guess I’m on the hook for round two,” she offered politely.

“If we aren’t both asleep by then.”

“It’s a two-hour flight… and it will probably take me two hours to nurse that drink.”

“Then you are doing it all wrong,” he taunted, giving her that slight smirk again that gave her that fluttery, unsettled feeling again. “Don’t wait until it’s watered down…”

“Says the liver?” she challenged in a mocking tone, glancing at him.

“Says the liver…” he smiled for the first time – a genuine smile.

Sophie realized that this stranger could be considered handsome, if he wasn’t so abrasive or coarse. He certainly wasn’t her type, and more annoying than anything - but sparring verbally back and forth until she went to sleep would help pass the time and keep her mind off her grandmother’s death.

“Are you flying to DFW for business or pleasure?” Ryan asked politely, opening his Coke can and quickly grabbing the glass as the plane jostled noticeably. “Wait to open yours, so it doesn’t spill.”

“Going home… sort of. There’s probably a long line of planes waiting to take off,” she said quietly, closing her eyes and hanging onto both her can of Coke and her bottle that was perched in a cup of ice.

“What do you mean, ‘sort of’,” Ryan asked quietly, sliding open his window next to his seat. “You’re either going home, going to visit for business, or going on vacation, right? There’s not a whole lot of options outside of those three things.”

“I really don’t want to talk about it…” Sophie uttered, feeling her throat close as tears stung her eyes. She pinched them shut and took several deep breaths, hating to break down crying in front of anyone, and felt such overwhelming stress in that moment.

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