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Central International Airport This choice: Tell the truth, and hope it doesn't freak her out • Go Back...Chapter #5Tell the truth, and hope it doesn't freak h... by: Choconut   "Parents? Why would you ask about my parents?" Justin's face turned white and, for the briefest moment, his mask of complacency slipped.
"Oh, I, ugh. Sorry. It's just, everyone on this flight seems to be with someone. You know, partners or parents, and you don't look that old, so I just guessed parents. Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you."
The flight attendant broke up their conversation, and Jessica breathed a handful of deep breaths.
"Duty free? Would you like perfume, cigarettes, alcohol?" The attendant smiled and pointed to her display trolley.
"No," Jessica and Justin said at the same time.
As the attendant walked away, Jessica leaned in toward Justin and said, "That stuff might be duty free, but it's still way more than I can afford. Did you see that Black Opium? $68! It's a shame because it's my favourite. But that's ridiculous."
When Justin smiled, his amber eyes flashed fire. Nodding, he replied, "It's daylight robbery."
A silence followed that made Jessica feel uncomfortable. She was about to ask him about his family, then remembered her faux pas with his parents and thought better of it. In the end, she squeezed past him and said, "Excuse a moment. I'm just going to the rest room." He didn't move; didn't make way for her to exit her seat. She was acutely aware that her butt almost touched him in a place she didn't want to touch him.
The queue for the toilet relaxed her a little. It was the first time she had ever been glad of such a queue on an aeroplane. She guessed ten minutes must have passed by the time she got back to her seat. While she was gone, she had tried to find a list of conversation topics to make the flight more bearable: music, TV shows, sports, pets, work. She wanted to speak to him. She had been raised to always be polite and not upset other people. But there was something about this guy. She couldn't put her finger on it. His dark red hair brought out the colour of his huge, almond shaped eyes. Yes, he was good looking. But something just seemed . . . off.
"I'm sorry I reacted badly when you mentioned my parents," he said, before she had a chance to refasten her seatbelt. "It's bit of a difficult subject for me."
Her skin prickled as she looked at him. "Oh, that's okay. I'm sorry I said the wrong thing. Just forget—"
"My parents died. Eighteen months ago. There was an accident and, umm, I survived, but they didn't." She followed his gaze to his lap, where he was absentmindedly scratching the back of his hand.
"I'm sorry. That's terrible. Let's talk about something else, shall we?"
"It wasn't my fault. I did nothing wrong."
Okay, so we are going to talk about this. Great.
"I'm a scientist, you see. My work involves experiments that involve chemicals. I can't really speak about my actual work; it's top secret."
"That's fine. I don't—"
"There was an experiment that had the potential to be explosive. I urged my parent to stay away from the house. But they didn't." He snapped his head up to face Jessica. "Oh, you're probably wondering why I was conducting the experiment at home. It had to be that way. That's really all I can say."
Jessica nodded and a strand of chestnut-coloured hair fell across her face. She watched Justin flinch and, for a horrible second, she thought he was going to move it away for her. She leaned against the window, her heart pounding in her chest. The more this guy spoke, the less attractive he became.
"What was I saying? Oh yes. They shouldn't have been at home, but they never listened to me. Never! And so, they came home just as everything went wrong."
Holding her hand in front of her mouth, Jessica tried to hide her horror. "They died? Oh my God. Were you injured?"
His head twitched and she sensed that, once again, she had said the wrong thing.
"I wasn't there. I knew what could happen. They shouldn't have been there either. Well, they won't disobey me again, will they?" He let out a laugh, then looked back to Jessica; deadpan.
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