She was torn away from her blissful slumber to the horror that she had fallen asleep on him. She sat bolt upright with a start, mortification written all over her face as her cheeks turned a rich shade of scarlet.
The fact that Daniel was visibly trying to stop the smirk that was threatening to tug on the corner of his lips did nothing to help her situation.
Desperately trying to gain her composure, she smiled as she looked up at the flight attendant and managed to croak. “Yes, please. What are we having?”
“Scrambled eggs and bacon,” the flight attendant replied with a smirk that made Sam instantly lose her appetite. It was a male attendant this time and he was ogling Daniel even more than the female attendant did earlier. He handed Sam a tray of food with a smile and passed one to Daniel.
“How long was I asleep?” she asked Daniel, trying to mask the sheepish tone in her voice.
“Oh, about six hours,” he said with a smile.
Sam groaned inwardly. She had just smooshed her face up against a man she only just met, for six hours. She prayed that she hadn’t snored. Her mother used to tell her she would wake up the whole house snoring.
She forced down a mouthful of egg that had stuck in her throat and gave Daniel a sideways glance. “Please, tell me I didn’t snore,” she whispered, somewhat pathetically.
His smile said it all. She brought her hand up to her face, her cheeks burned under her palm and her eyes grew wide with horror. Daniel’s smile widened.
Sam shoved down the rest of her breakfast in relative silence so she could make her escape to the rest room. To add insult to injury, when she finally got there, what stared back at her in the mirror was just plain scary. She hung her head and wondered if anyone would notice if she spent the rest of the flight in the bathroom.
Sam’s hair was standing to attention on one side of her head and her mascara had run. She looked like a panda that had just stuck its paw in an electrical socket. She sighed; there was nothing else she could do.
At this point, she was just relieved that Daniel was staying on the other side of the island on his stopover in Bali.
She only knew that because in one of their conversations, he told her he decided to stay over in Bali for a few nights before flying on to his home, and that he was booked into a hotel almost on the other side of the island from her.
To be honest, she was secretly relieved. They had been getting on so well she thought he may have wanted to see where the friendship would take them, but she was still too shaken up by her previous, and only relationship with a man, to have anything to do with another one again so soon.
Thanks to her ex-boyfriend, she had no confidence in herself and was extremely self-conscious due to being told on a regular basis that she was fat and ugly. Sad thing was, after being subjected to that for such a long time, Sam believed it.
She was determined to make men, in general, especially those of the gorgeous, dark haired, blue-eyed variety, off limits until further notice.
She stared into the mirror, looked herself straight in the eyes and puffed out a breath. After all, her heart could only take so much. Why would she risk leaving it open to more abuse when that could be easily avoided? She found it hard to imagine that anyone would want to kiss her, let alone bear the atrocity of seeing her with no clothes on. She shuddered.
At that point, she decided she was happy to talk and make friends, but would head for the hills if things got any further than a hand shake. She gave herself a determined nod in the mirror to cement the fact.
After making the necessary adjustments to her appearance, Sam returned to her seat. A few more hours passed, most of them in pleasant conversation. She couldn’t help but notice the side-long looks Daniel would give her when he thought she was preoccupied watching the in-flight movie. She could see him out the corner of her eye and he would gaze at her with what looked like a mixture of amusement and bewilderment.
Sam had to admit there was a pang of sadness when the plane eventually landed. Although, she was relieved to be able to get up and have a proper walk and stretch her legs. They felt heavy and uncooperative.
Daniel and Sam both stood in front of their seats and waited while people retrieved their carry-on luggage. Sam was about to do the same, but as she backed out into the aisle, her uncooperative legs decided to wobble. She was caught off balance and started falling forward, heading straight toward the seat again. Daniel caught hold of her arms and held her steady just before her head would have bumped his. Their faces were just an inch from each other and his eyes once again held hers captive against their will. The hubbub in the cabin went silent and all Sam could hear was the sound of her breath drawing in and out of her lungs.
“Careful,” Daniel said, breaking the silence, after what seemed like an eternity. “Are you alright?” The crease between his eyebrows returned.
His voice jolted her back to reality, and the sound of the cabin was now the same inaudible din it had been just moments ago. She became very aware of the odd tingling that remained where Daniel had his hands on her arms, which snaked its way through to her heart. The feeling made her uncomfortable. She looked down at his hands with confusion before purposefully extracting herself from his grip.
“Sorry,” she replied with a sheepish smile.
“No worries. No harm done.”
She stepped, with care this time, back into the aisle.
Daniel walked with Sam to the arrivals lounge where they stood side by side waiting for their luggage to slide down onto the carousel. She stood holding her breath until her luggage made an appearance and eventually slid onto to the revolving belt. Daniel leaned over before she could and grabbed her backpack for her. He set it down by her feet.
“Thank you.”
“No worries,” he said again. “It was nice meeting you, Sam. Hope you have a great trip around Oz.”
They said their goodbyes and wished each other luck for their respective journeys.
Sam admitted it was a pleasant start to her adventure, that was for sure. At least she had someone she could exploit in her dreams for a while. She wandered towards the shuttle bus parking, making her way past the taxis waiting patiently for their fares.