Page 9 of Fear of Flying

“Oh shit... you... didn’t literally mean for me to tell you how I felt. S-sorry, I was on a rant, and I—”

“It’s fine, Drew. You’re fine. I’ve listened to my fair share of similar rants from Jen.” Zach chuckled, although his voice still sounded vaguely breathless and strained. “And for what it’s worth, I’m with you on Blaine Goodman, especially after that trainwreck of an action movie he dared to call ‘the year’s best summer blockbuster.’”

Drew’s cheeks were still burning, and he could feel the sensation spreading to his ears and neck too. He cleared his throat and almost moved to run his hand through his hair before he realized he was still clasping Zach’s hand.

“I’m... probably not going to give you your hand back, though,” Zach said matter-of-factly.

“Oh?” Drew raised his eyebrows in surprise as his heart started racing.

“Yeah, I think I might hold on to it until we land. You know, just in case?”

“I, um... okay. Sure.” Drew had no idea if Zach was joking or not, but for some strange, unknown reason, holding Zach’s hand for thirty more minutes sounded amazing.

Chapter Four

Zach

Zach felt his heart still racing in his chest, though it was starting to gradually slow, and his breathing... well, his breathing hadn’t quite felt normal ever since Drew had sat down next to him.

“See? Safe and sound on the ground. That... wasn’t so bad... was it?” Drew said, clearly aware that “not so bad” was epically inaccurate given the slick runway and high winds as the plane had landed.

“Uh-huh. Sure,” Zach replied sardonically.

The plane’s taxiing was a slow crawl across the tarmac, which prolonged their time stuck on board, but honestly, Zach was just relieved to be on the ground again instead of in the air. And it was also insanely, insanely wonderful to still be holding Drew’s hand.

Zach’s breath hitched slightly at the feel of Drew’s thumb stroking lightly across Zach’s hand where he held it, and Zach wondered if Drew even realized what he was doing. God, his skin, his hand, his whole arm and body were afire with tendrils of a tingling sensation, all originating from where Drew was touching him.

Drew looked over at him again and caught his gaze. “Did you, uh, hear the captain say there would likely be some delays because of the severe winter storm moving through? So we’ll be stuck in the airport for at least a few hours, I’m guessing.”

“Ah, I thought I’d heard something about that.”

This small talk was killing him—he longed for the banter and the adorable rambling—but at least Drew was still holding his hand.

“We should have dinner,” Zach blurted out. “I mean, can I buy you dinner? I... this... shoot. What I meant to say was that I want to repay you for the kindness you showed by rescuing me.” Zach moved their joined hands slightly to indicate, then he let out a puff of air as he felt the heat rising in his cheeks. He cleared his throat nervously. “So... can I, uh, buy you dinner?”

There was a pause, and when he finally risked a glance over at Drew, he saw that Drew’s cheeks were a deep hue of pink. God, he was gorgeous, and that smile he was giving Zach right now—the one that seemed as full of nervous energy as Zach—was incredibly sexy.

“Yeah,” Drew said on a breath. “I mean, no—wait!—I don’t think you need to repay me. I’m... really glad I could help you. And god yes, I’d love to go to dinner with you.”

“Okay,” Zach murmured, his heart doing somersaults in his chest. And when he looked up at Drew again, he had the strongest urge to reach right over and kiss him, but god, that—that would be too soon. Way too soon. And just slightly terrifying in the most wonderful way.

Never in his life had he wanted to stay longer on a plane than was absolutely necessary, but right now, sitting next to Drew and still holding his hand, he wasn’t in a hurry to disembark. Even when the plane came to a stop and he heard the ding of the captain turning off the seat belt sign and dozens of seat belts clacking open, Zach didn’t jump up out of his seat in an attempt to be one of the first off the plane. In fact, he seemed unable to move, stuck in his spot, still feeling the warmth of Drew’s hand holding his, still staring, lost in the depths of Drew’s gorgeous gray-blue eyes.

A rumbling cough from the row in front of them startled Zach, pulling him out of his daze. Sal! God, had the older man slept through everything? Zach glanced up briefly and saw the old man straightening and then standing to get his carry-on from the overhead bin. If Sal had been awake for the horrific turbulence and just fallen back asleep, Zach hadn’t noticed.

Zach turned back to Drew and finally, awkwardly released Drew’s hand, smiling at him just as awkwardly. Zach’s hand was warm and a bit damp and feeling slightly cramped from being in the same position for so long. But Drew and his hand and his sexy, adorable rambling had been a godsend... or whatever you called it when you were agnostic and had such amazing, serendipitous luck.

His mind was reeling as they waited for the flight attendants to open the doors and get the jetway secured. God, he was nearly thirty-two years old and he’d never had feelings quite like this before. Attraction, sure. But this intense? Enough for it to have overshadowed his anxiety for half the flight? And enough to make him want to lean right over and kiss a stranger when he’d never kissed anyone in his life? Hell.

Zach took a deep breath and let it out, trying to calm himself, and then Drew’s hand was on his knee again.

“You okay? We’re almost off the plane. Then you won’t have to worry about flying for another”—he glanced at his watch—“well, until whenever the storm blows over.” When Zach looked up, Drew smiled at him encouragingly, completely clueless to the fact that Zach didn’t have much anxiety to speak of right this minute—no, his body was a bundle of excitement and nerves. All about Drew.

“Thanks.” Zach smiled in return, trying to rein in the wild racing of his heart and the tingling in his knee where Drew was still touching him.

The queue of passengers looked like it was clearing ahead, so he nodded to Drew and motioned for him to stand, which he did, and... Damn, Zach had forgotten how tall Drew was—he had to be over six feet—but at least he wouldn’t tower over Zach. Just the perfect height for resting his head on Drew’s shoulder. For stretching up to kiss him. For slipping his hands up around the back of Drew’s neck and staring into his eyes while they slow danced to some sappy love song and—

God, the images needed to stop popping into his head if he had any hope of surviving the next few hours.

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