Mwahahaha

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I looked out the plane window and stared at complete darkness outside feeling anxious and nervous. We had a turbulence earlier but it subsided before I could panic. I was thankful that the seat beside me was empty so I wasn't forced to make small talk to fellow passengers.

I couldn't stop thinking about her, and it's making me feel insane. Why couldn't Dani just call and tell me that she wanted me home to celebrate her birthday with everyone? I suppose it would be weird asking your ex that without knowing if you are in good terms or not.

The sound of a cart rattling stole my attention and the flight attendant asked if I wanted any snacks.

"Do you have any Goldfish Crackers?" I asked. Turns out they do, and I couldn't be more happier. "Thank you." I said with a bright smile and they scurried away with their cart.

My flight has one stop in Toronto, and then to Saskatoon. Saskatoon is about an hour away from Prince Albein, so overall my estimated time of traveling would be about eight hours. I didn't mind, it gave me time to reflect on what I should say to Dani.

Natasha and Dennis promised that they'll pick me up at the Saskatoon Airport when I get there, and I couldn't be more grateful. My parents offered to pick me up, but I didn't want to make them drive all the way there. Dennis, Natasha, and I decided that we could carpool on the way to Prince Albein which made me smile at the thought. It reminded me of when we were in high school when everything was much simpler and I wasn't overthinking all the time. But it also reminded me that I didn't like my high school self because I was very immature and cared too much about what other people think.

Sighing, I tried to keep my mind elsewhere and decided that I should watch a movie to pass the time. I didn't realize how tired I was until I woke up mid-way through the movie, and was drooling on my travel pillow. The ding of the captain's intercom fully woken me up.

"This is your Captain speaking, we will arrive in Toronto approximately an hour from now. The time is..." The Captain continued on while I blinked away the sleepiness from my eyes and gave out a long yawn.

I took this time to get up from my seat to stretch my legs, and go to the bathroom to freshen up. The flight attendant gave me a disposable toothbrush and a tiny pack of toothpaste that goes with it earlier and so I used that and tried to wash my face with water. When I looked at myself in the mirror, I cringed from the forming bags under my eyes. My dark hair is all over the place making me look like a mad scientist.

"I look like shit." I whispered to myself while trying to tie it up the bird's nest into a ponytail and putting on my baby blue UNC hat.

When I got out of the bathroom, a flight attendant reminded me that at this time we have to remain seated until we land. I nodded my head and dodged past an older woman who was demanding a glass of champagne.

I sat back down and tried to look at the options for movies again on the tablet that they lend us. After continuously browsing for who knows how long, I got bored and gave up. I wish I could use my phone to see what Dani is doing lately. Yesterday I found out that she was in New York and working on a project for a fashion company. There was a photo of her in her socials with other designers while they were in a studio busy setting up their clothing. It took guts for me to like that photo and I had thrown my phone in panic while doing so the other day.

If I'm like this without even facing her then how would I react when I'm finally in front of her? Sighing, I rested my head on the window and stared outside seeing Toronto lights lighting up the night.

"Hey, are you a UNC student?" A middle aged man asked from the middle row seat that's beside mine. I looked up and saw that he was wearing the same hat as me but his is a darker shade of blue.

"I graduated last year, but I coach there now." I replied.

"Lacrosse?" He asked, but I shook my head and smiled at him.

"Womens basketball." I replied. He slapped his knee as if saying oh darn I knew it. The woman beside him laughed.

Turns out the woman and the man are alumni of the university. She used to play basketball while the man used to be a big lacrosse player. They met through college and have been married for ten years. We got into talking on how UNC always loses but then last year the women's basketball team won the championships.

"You were playing last year weren't you?" Asked the woman and I nodded.

"Number fourteen." I said smiling humbly.

"Oh my god you're Maverick Bridge? The Canadian?"

"Erm, yes." I said now chuckling and not expecting at all to be recognized.

"Huge fan!" Said the woman as she made her way to shake my hand. The man rolled his eyes at his wife but looked at us in amusement. "Hey, so, can I get your autograph?"

"S-sure." I said, feeling flustered as I signed a piece of paper that she handed me.

"Win us another trophy will ya?" The man said after the intercom told us to buckle our seatbelts because we will be landing soon.

I was at loss for words and just nodded my head at them. Not gonna lie, it felt nice to have supporters. I was recognized in campus but never outside of that so this was a first. It made me smile happily and giddy but I didn't want to show that. I pulled up my grey hoodie and hid my excitement like a fangirl going insane.

When we landed in Toronto, the couple made their way to say goodbye to me and said that they'll be looking forward to watch my team play on TV.

"Thank you so much." I said, and can't help but feel flustered again.

Sighing happily, I watched them leave. I looked at my other plane ticket to Saskatoon and realized that I have two hours to spare before they call for boarding. I looked at the flight screen schedule to make sure that my ticket was correct and nodded to myself in confirmation.

It was five in the morning, and I was starving. I didn't get to eat anything on the plane because I slept through the dinner rounds. The Goldfish Crackers aren't filling enough and so I looked around the airport to find food.

I found a Starbucks or rather Starbucks found me. The smell of coffee and pastries made me walk towards that direction with my mouth watering. I waited in line patiently while holding on to the straps of my backpack, thinking that I wanted a hazelnut americano misto.

My phone buzzed giving me a notification asking if I wanted to connect to the airport wifi. I eagerly changed the settings so I was connected and immediately browsed through my socials. Natasha sent me a snap of her and Dennis showing off their camper van that they'll use to pick me up later. It was a cute forest green vintage Volkswagen van, and ut was sent hours ago. I then took an ugly snap of me looking down on my phone with a silly grin captioning,

Can't wait to see you guys. I'm in Toronto now.

After ordering my coffee and banana loaf from the friendly barista, I went to the pick up station and waited patiently.

My phone buzzed again, and it was Natasha snaping me back a screenshotted photo of Dani's story. I pursed my lips and stared at the familiar brown eyes which still made me feel butterflies in my stomach. I was wondering why Natasha sent me that and realized that she was probably messing with me.

"Black coffee for Steffie!" Called out the barista and a red headed girl about my age approached the counter. She picked up her coffee and almost ran into me. I instinctively held her shoulder to steady her and she immediately apologized.

"It's okay." I said and shrugged my shoulders. "No coffee harmed."

The girl gave me a sad smile and walked away with her coffee in hand and her suitcase rolling behind her. It made me uneasy on how sad she looked but immediately felt glad that she met up with a woman who seemed like her sister and they hugged.

As I was picking up my coffee, my phone rang and it was Natasha.

"Open your snap!" She said.

"Uh, I did." I replied in confusion while sitting myself down at a vacant table in the café.

"Did you really though?" Natasha asked.

"Yeah, you sent me a picture of Dani." I answered and rolling my eyes. "Stop messing with me, I'm nervous enough. My heart cannot take it."

"Oh my god, Maverick were you too busy staring at her and not her caption?" She asked in bewilderment. I must be on speaker because I could hear Dennis laughing in the background.

"What is so funny?" I asked, getting a little annoyed. Obviously I'm missing something. "Amd why are you guys up so early?"

"Look at the caption again." Natasha instructed. With a frustrated huff, I opened the screenshot photo she sent me of Dani and sure enough it says,

YYZ ✌

Below it says 10 minutes ago.

"This is too great." Natasha said, and I could hear the smugness in her tone. Without another word, she ended the call and I was left there staring at the photo.

YYZ. Isn't that the Toronto Airport? Wait-

With narrowed eyes, I realized that Dani was in the same airport as me right now.

Oh my god.

What the hell.

"Jesus fuck." I cursed under my breath and looked around. I nervously sipped my coffee and adjusted my hat to try and hide my baby hairs that were sticking out.

She must be on her way home- Well duh I knew that but I didn't expect for us to be in the same location so soon. Her coming from New York, and me from North Carolina... What a small world.

My phone gave me a notification that I had received a snap from Danielle Dubois.

I started sweating profusely and laid my phone screen-down on the table. It buzzed again and I breathed out a panic huff. My palms are now supporting my head upright, and I know I should open it but I couldn't seem to do so.

"Just open it." I muttered to myself. "Just do it."

With a deep breath, I quickly unlocked my phone and dared myself to open the snap Dani sent me.

It was a photo of me currently sitting at Starbucks. It looked like I was sipping on my coffee and the caption on the photo saying,

Permission to approach?

My head shot up to look around and sure enough my eyes caught a certain blonde woman outside Starbucks wearing an orange beanie, a black bomber jacket on top of a plain white shirt, and a pair of adidas jogger pants. It was obviously Dani, and she was standing there giving me a smile as if I haven't seen her in three years.

I cleared my throat and was suddenly standing up. I didn't know what to do or why I stood up and so I awkwardly sat back down.

Dani laughed at my reaction and was walking closer now.

Why is this happening?

Dani sat down casually in front of me.

Oh god she's so pretty.

Dani leaned forward a little and looked at my cup of coffee wondering what I had ordered.

Say something Maverick. Don't be such a dunce.

"Hello." I finally croaked out, daring myself to meet her eyes. "Permission granted, I suppose." I smiled nervously.

"Hi." Dani greeted back. "Small world huh?"

"Yeah." I nodded, my eyes glancing down at her lips, the crook of her neck, and back up to meet her eyes again.

Jesus Christ she's more beautiful than I remembered.

I must've been staring for too long because Dani quickly looked away from me and leaned back on the chair.

I smiled at her apologetically.

"I wasn't expecting to see you so soon." I said while playing with the paper sleeve on my cup.

"Me neither." She said. "You look good, Maverick."

I hid my blush by looking down. Thank god I was wearing a hat that further hid my expression.

"Thank you." I said. "You're looking beautiful as usual."

Dani seemed speechless, while I wondered where I had the courage to say that.

"I just want to say... um, how sorry I am for everything."

Dani watched me carefully.

"We're starting that conversation so soon?" She asked.

"I didn't mean to hurt you." I continued.

"Maverick, that's ancient history." She said, her voice soft.

"It doesn't mean that I shouldn't apologize still." I protested. "I end up hurting people that were close to me, and I don't want to be that person anymore. We can talk about something else if you truly don't want to talk about it."

Dani didn't say anything and was staring at her hands this whole time. I wanted to hold her, but I stopped myself thinking it was way too soon.

"No, I guess we can talk." She said.

"I... okay." I said and tried to calm myself and finding out where I should start. "I thought I could move on and forget about everything, but I couldn't." I said. "I'd like to start on a clean slate, if you'd let me."

She finally looked up to meet my eyes. They were glossy as if she was about to cry. Dani wiped a tear away and gave me a small smile.

"I've rehearsed so many made-up conversations with you in my head, and none of it were like this." She said. "I wasn't expecting you to be... apologetic."

"We're you expecting the hard-headed Maverick?" I asked innocently.

"Yeah." Dani said with a nod.

"I'm trying to work on my temper." I said truthfully. "I was angry for so long that I realized I'm not helping myself or those around me if I stayed angry."

Dani just nodded her head.

"I wanted to reach out to you a long time ago, but it's really hard to start that conversation." I said. "I have drafts saved and they're messages to send you but I never did had the guts to do so. In my head, I still feel like you despise me."

"That's not true." She said. "I never hated or despised you."

"You hated the fact that I hated myself."

"Correct." She said, looking calm now. "You couldn't see how much I lov- admired you, and it was hard to show that. I didn't get why you wanted to be alone at first and then I realized that you were begging to grow because somehow I was trying to suffocate you."

"Dani you didn't-"

"I'm not perfect Maverick, and I know that." She said. "The best thing for us back then was to break it off. I was too blind to see it."

We were quiet for a while, just staring at each other and wondering what to say.

"I missed you." I finally said, sighing and wanting to hold her hand again but couldn't. "Can I buy you coffee? I'd love to know how you've been doing lately."

My heart beat a little too fast when she said,

"I'd like that very much."

***

Dani and I talked nonstop about anything and everything. She talked about her job as a fashion designer sending her to many places around the world. I said it must be so exciting to travel but she shook her head saying that it wasn't easy. She met so many people who are brutally mean and discouraging at her job. It was toxic, she said. She's planning on doing freelance and wanted to lay low to settle for a while.

"Is that why you're going home?" I asked curiously.

"That, and hopefully to reconnect with you." She said.

"Oh." I replied wondering if she still feels the same way about me. "I heard from Margo that you aren't seeing anyone right now."

"I'm not." She replied, and giving me a knowing smile. "I heard from Margo that you were seeing someone."

"I was, yeah." I admitted. "Olivia. We broke up not long ago."

"I'm sorry."

"No, don't be. We're on good terms."

I couldn't tell Dani that she was the real reason why Olivia and I broke up was because I wasn't exactly over her. If I tell her that, who know how she'll react? I didn't want to risk any of it right now and so I kept my mouth shut.

The intercom stated that the flight to Saskatoon will be boarding soon. Dani and I realized that we were on the same flight. We had different seats, but she weren't that far. It made me feel hopeful that maybe we can be close again, but I shook my head and not wanting to get ahead of myself.

We walked side by side towards our gate, and I was becoming aware of how close she was getting. She was so close that she accidentally brushed her hand with mine. Dani acted as if she's been shocked and pulled away abruptly while I stared back grinning cheekily not minding one bit.

She gave me a look of amusement and rolled her eyes at me.

I handed my ticket to the flight attendant and they showed me to go to the opposite direction where Dani's seat would be.

"See you in a few hours." I told her as I waved her goodbye. I wanted so badly to trade seats with someone just so I can hang out with Dani more but thought that I shouldn't and not wanting to be portrayed as too forward.

I didn't want to rush this.

"Wait, Mave- Excuse me, is there any way I could trade seats so we can sit together?" I heard Dani say behind me when I was walking away.

Oh my god, I need to calm down.

"Actually there is. Looks like the seat beside Ms. Bridge is vacant." The flight attendant said while she scanned the seating chart on her tablet.

A soft giggle escaped my lips. Dani's been thinking the same thing and I can't help but feel so flustered about it.

"Couldn't get enough of me?" I asked playfully as she lifted her carry-on luggage to the storage compartment on top of our seats.

"Don't be so smug." She replied. "You can't get away that easily. I just got you back."

So the subtle flirting begins.

It wasn't long until both of us settled in our seats and I noticed that Dani had her arms folded as if she was on defensive mode. She didn't say anything after a while, but it was obvious that she was thinking about something serious.

After a few minutes, the flight attendant asked if we wanted anything to drink. I nodded my head and asked for a bottle of water while Dani asked for a glass of wine. Raising an eyebrow towards her direction curiously, she only gave me a shrug. The attendant came back with our drinks, and Dani immediately downed her glass.

"I hate flying. Alcohol helps." She said when I looked at her incredulously.

More time passed by, and Dani was still silent. I tried asking her about her designs for Natasha's Van Life Conversions which made her calm down a bit. But then our plane started to move and Dani immediately went still and was frowning in her seat.

Our plane tilted upwards and was starting to increase its altitude. The pressure made my ears pop, and I flexed my jaw to release the pressure. There was a slight turbulence when we were going up, and Dani had instinctively gripped my arm.

"Sorry!" She said panic in her tone and was about to pull away.

I didn't know what came to me, but I tried to hold her hand with mine as gently as I can. Dani let me, and she gripped my hand back. Her eyes were closed the whole time. Finally, the plane was now flying steady, and Dani gave a sigh of relief. She opened her eyes, her eyebrows furrowed stressfully and quickly glanced at our hands touching.

I smiled at her sheepishly but she immediately pulled away. Her grip earlier was so strong that my hand turned red.

"I had absolutely no idea that you hated flying. I thought you were kidding." I said.

"Well, I wasn't." She said grumpily, her arms crossed again.