Drew
A lawyer. Wow, not only was she beautiful but extremely smart. I caught the part about her wedding dress, which piqued my curiosity, but I could tell after she slipped that she was upset, so I didn’t ask her any more about it. I got the impression that her fiancé broke it off with her and that was why she was so broken. As for Hawaii, she was probably trying to escape the pain. I found her refreshing and funny. She had a wit about her that captivated me. Who would ever break up with someone like her? If she were mine, I would have held on to her forever.
As I was doing some work on my iPad, the plane hit some bad turbulence. Jillian reached over and grabbed my arm.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Sorry. Turbulence just freaks me the fuck out.” She inhaled deeply and laid her head back.
“Don’t apologize. My arm is here for you whenever you need it.” I smiled.
The plane leveled out and it seemed we were in the clear. Letting go of my arm, Jillian continued to watch her movie and I went back to work.
****
Jillian
Just as I started to relax again, the plane abruptly dropped and the pilot announced that we were heading into some severe storms and turbulence was going to a problem for a short while. The seatbelt light went on and all the flight attendants were commanded to sit in their seats until we got through it. I wasn’t sure if I could get through it. As I felt the plane going up and down, I grabbed on to Drew’s arm again. For now, he was my safety and there was no way I was letting go. Anxiety had started to kick in and I found it difficult to breathe.
“Hey. Relax. It’s going to okay,” Drew said as he placed his hand on mine. “Let’s talk. Tell me something. Anything.”
He was trying to distract me and I appreciated him for it. He could see I was struggling to calm the fuck down.
“Breathe, Jillian.” His eyes burnt into mine.
My heart was pounding out of my chest and I was sweating.
“Talk to me,” he spoke with seriousness.
“I left my fiancé at the altar today. I didn’t even tell him that I couldn’t marry him. I just up and left without anyone noticing a couple of minutes before I was to walk down the aisle. I couldn’t marry him. I don’t love him. I never did. It was too much. Between my parents and him, I just couldn’t take it anymore,” I blurted out. “And now, this is my punishment. We’re going to crash and I’m going to die and go to Hell for it.”
Drew stared at me with a shocked expression on his face. He didn’t know what to say because I was sure his whole perception of me had just changed in that moment.
“We aren’t going to crash, you’re not going to die, and you certainly aren’t going to Hell because you left your fiancé.”
After he spoke those words, the plane leveled out and once again became steady. The pilot came on the overhead and said we were in the clear and thanked us for our cooperation. Letting out a sigh of relief, I began to calm down and regain my breath.
“See. It was just a little turbulence. It’s over now.” He smiled.
“I’m sorry for just blurting that out.”
“It’s okay. You thought you were going to die, so you had to tell someone. Do you want to talk about it?” he asked in a soothing voice.
“That’s basically it. Today was my wedding day and I ran.”
“If you never loved him, why did you accept his proposal?”
“Because I had no choice. He was my fiancé since I was a child. Planned by my parents and his. He was the one I had to marry.”
“Wait a minute.” He shook his head. “Was this an arranged marriage?”
I laughed. “If you really stop to think about it, I guess it was. His parents and my parents have been best friends since they were teenagers. He is the heir to his father’s law firm and I am the daughter of the prestigious Donald Bell of DB Simpson & Co.”
“You mean one of the largest global financial firms, DB Simpson & Co?”
“Yep. That’s the one.”
“Wow. Oh boy. Wow.”
“See. You’re speechless.”
“Not really. I mean, why would you marry someone you’re not in love with? I just don’t understand why you didn’t say something before the wedding.”
“Because I never had any control over my own life. From the day I was born, my life had already been planned out. Where I would go to school, who my friends would be, who I could and could not socialize with, and my career. Shit. I don’t even want to be a lawyer.”
“I take it you’re an only child?”
“Yeah. Well, sort of. That’s another story.” I shook my head.
Drew looked at his watch. “We have a couple of hours left.”