c h a p t e r | 05
FLUSHED CHEEKS
'Would a 5 year old make your cheeks flush?
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"WILL YOU PLEASE JUST STAND STILL FOR A MOMENT?" Indy pushed herself in front of Tessa, pulling the shirt out from her grasp and threw it at the bed, wanting the whole attention on her.

"So you're telling me that you are now Hale's new personal stylist and furthermore you're gonna fly out with him to London for a runway show?" Indy asked for quite possibly the hundredth time in what could only be a time span of a mere 10 minutes.

"Have I been living under a rock?" She asked to no one in particular, feeling as if her brows vanished into her hair by the surprise she could not seem to shake off her.

"Not a rock, I think more like under a mountain of clothes. I could barely find your bed the other day. Seriously, Parker is right, we need bigger closets," Tessa assessed and took in her room, which was just as crowded with clothes as Indy's.

"Tessa focus!" Indy shook Tessa's shoulders, forcing her to look back at her. "Why didn't you tell me before?" Her features turned downwards into a frown by not hearing about the job offer of the century. Really, if anything juicy went down she wanted to be the first one to hear about it and if it also included Hale Westbrook she expected herself to be on speed dial within the first 5 seconds.

"I tried after I got home, but you threw your juice in my face!" Tessa defended herself and stepped around Indy, going back to randomly stuff things into her overnight bag.

"Because I thought you wanted me to walk Mrs. Livingstone's dog again! You know that dog hates me! And lastly you know not to wake me at the butt crack of dawn!" Indy protested as Tessa went to her bathroom to grab her essentials.

"It was 1 o'clock! And if one of us had a reason to be grumpy it was me. I was hungover and bribed into signing a deal with the devil," Tessa sighed heavily and looked at her watch.

"I'm already late and I still have to get to the airport! Please tell me the cab is here?" Tessa hurried to her bag once again, this time zipping it up and slinging it onto her shoulder.

"The cab's here," Indy promptly responded.

"Really?"

"I don't know?" Indy replied with an innocent smile and Tessa glared at her.

"What? It's not like we can actually see the road from here," Indy shrugged and followed her out into the hallway.

"Whatever. I'll be back either tomorrow night or Friday morning for Parker's Sun Kissed shoot."

"Oh yeah. What do you say we spend the weekend there? I'm very good friends with the manager at Costas," Indy lit up by the idea of a whole weekend of relaxation and Tessa looked her over for a moment, before her phone suddenly blew up.

"Hold that thought," she held her hand up to silence Indy who was already dreaming about margaritas by the pool and room service in the Jacuzzi. "Yeah?"

"So when were we supposed to fly out, again?" Hale's voice boomed through the phone and she gripped the phone tighter.

"What?!" She barked into the phone, and she heard Hale sigh dramatically.

"You're blasting my eardrums by your obsessive yelling. I ask—"

"I know what you said and you better be at the fucking airport in twenty minutes or I'm gonna make sure you're gonna be seated out on the wing," she sneered into the phone and heard a loud honking of a horn indicating the cab was waiting.

"Wait, is that Hale on the phone? Put it on speaker!" Indy pleaded reaching for the phone, but Tessa swatted her hand away.

"If the plane has already left, then how can I end up on the wing?" Hale acted like a real Captain SmartyPants through the device, and Tessa let out a huff of aggravation. For some reason Hale kept being insistent on wasting her time.

"Come on!" Indy whined, causing Tessa to glare.

"Seriously, I can only deal with one brat at a time," she hissed at Indy, while doing a poor job at covering the phone. "I gotta go," she added and hurried down the steps pulling the phone back to her ear.

"So, if I'm the brat then what were you yesterday?" Hale spoke calmly into the phone, obviously having all the time in the world.

"But Costas!?" Indy yelled after her as she threw her bag onto the backseat.

Hanging up on Hale and getting into the cab she waved at Indy, sending her a quick message, before she gave the address to the cabdriver and let herself slump into the seat.

"I swear to god, I'm gonna chop off his balls if he dares to be late," she muttered under her breath, oblivious to the incredulous looks the driver kept sending her as she kept on mumbling profanities and creative ways to fry his gum drops.

Quite possibly because the driver wanted to get rid of Tessa as soon as possible, she found herself at the airport faster than she anticipated and came face to face with their contact who greeted her with a sheepish smile.

"Miss Maccio. Right on time as usual," he greeted and bobbed his cap with a finger in greeting.

"Where's Mr Westbrook?" He asked as he looked around hoping they came together.

"I was hoping you would tell me he was already here?" Tessa spoke tiredly, rubbing her forehead, before hanging up in her bag, however Jorge relieved her of it by taking it by the strap and motioned towards one of the security personnel who was quick to walk off with it and get it checked in.

"I'm afrai—"

"You've got to... Seriously that guy. How does anyone get anything done with him around?" Tessa blurted out annoyed and shuffled through her purse to find her phone, which was hidden at the bottom of it like usual when one needed it.

"Mr. Westbrook—" Jorge started, but Tessa cut him off by blocking him out as she heard the other end pick up and instead he gestured for her to follow him through the doors.

"Look, apparently John is doing a poor job at managing you and I aren't exactly thrilled on taking on his job, but if you're not here I'm gonna get the guy from the dog food commercial to take your place on the runway!" She warned through the phone and was greeted by squeals and a muffled chuckle.

"Relax, I'm here. Just... You can't deny his adoring fans a chance at getting a photo up with their one and only, ca--," Hale boasted in response before he got drowned out in another round of additional squeals and screams and Jorge's walkie blew up with chatter noise.

"He'll be escorted straight to the gate as there'll be too much attention on him at security. We won't be able to get the plane in the air on time otherwise," Jorge informed to which Tessa nodded and showed her passport to the awaiting security worker and threw her purse on the bond for x-ray.

"I can't believe you aren't taking any of this seriously. Were you spoon fed 'til you were 12?" She wondered into the phone and took a step towards the scanner.

"Miss, the phone?"

"What?" Tessa spoke up as a woman blocked her path and motioned towards her phone.

"The phone, Miss. You can't take it through the scanner. You have to put it on the bond together with the rest of your belongings," she politely informed and gestured back to the bond.

"Sorry. I got interrupted, did you say you wanted to spoon me?" Hale chirped up through the phone again and Tessa rolled her eyes which made the security lady's mouth turn into a thin line, her eyes cold and businesslike.

Deciding it was better just to hang up on the cocky jerk, she threw the phone in a basket and sent her an apologetic look, "I'm sorry. I'm dealing with a deranged delinquent who thinks he's the crown prince of England," Tessa muttered under her breath and she saw to her relief that the lady's lips twitched upwards.

"Miss Maccio. This way please," Jorge announced as soon as she got through security and she hurried after him, thanking herself for choosing to wear her most comfortable wedges.

"Do you have any knowledge as to how far he is?" She asked as they got to the gate, and got her boarding pass back.

"We'll make sure he'll make it on time," Jorge promised with a sincere smile before gesturing for her to leave to the plane.

"Thank you, Jorge. But let's just say for argument's sake. If he keeps this up, how do you open the escape hatch so I can shove him out at a decent height?" She leaned into him as she asked him, and Jorge laughed of her antics, squeezing her arm lightly.

"Trust me, Mr. Westbrook is one of the easy cases," he spoke up sincerely, and Tessa tried her hardest not to scoff and instead went to chew on the inside of her cheek as sent him a light smile.

Taking her seat, she for the first time in a while let out a breath of content, and let herself relish in the feel of sitting comfortably in perfect silence, not being annoyed or forced to accommodate other people.

"Thank you," she said sincerely as one of the flight attendants offered her a glass of champagne and she concluded she really could get used to flying on first class.

It was way better than her usual of flying coach, and she felt like clapping herself for complaining to John after the first fitting with the retarded womanizer, making him give in to additional bonuses as he had admitted that Hale's stylists normally seemed to become less of a stylist and more like a personal assistant.

She let out a small groan by the thought of having to watch him for two days straight.

"He really should just title it babysitter," Tessa muttered into her glass of champagne, before downing half of it in one go.

"Your seat Mr. Westbrook. Do you care for a glass of champagne?" The flight attendant asked out loud and Tessa slumped further down into the seat, holding her breath.

However she could soon relax as she realized they were not seated next to each other. As she looked around, she locked gaze with Hale who teasingly nodded to her in greeting while raising his glass of champagne knowingly. Tessa rolled her eyes, chugging the rest of her glass and turned back comfortably in her seat, set on ignoring him for the over 10 hour flight.

Soon, they were in the air, embarking on the too long flight, but what felt even sooner was feeling the seat next to her being invaded.

"I did not think you could even fit in one seat," Tessa said not even bothering to look up from her magazine as she instantly recognized the cologne of mint leathery freshness with undertones of grapefruit and citrus mixed with something she could not place, but unfortunately knew could only make up one person.

"Careful, I might start to think you don't like me," Hale chuckled but nevertheless seemed perfectly unfazed with her insult, and leaned his head back on the headrest with his arms on the arms rests. Tessa subconsciously shifted to her left towards the window to create distance between their brushing arms when she felt the warmth coming from him, and pulled the magazine even higher into her face.

"Think? Good one," she let out a humorless breath and felt the magazine being ripped from her hands.

"I was reading that!"

"Indeed you were," Hale answered calmly, his eyes once again lit up, making the skin around his eyes crinkle in amusement.

"What do you want?" She crossed her arms and turned her torso towards him while leaning even further up against the window.

"Maybe I wanna go over the next appearances and choices of clothes. I do have something to say in the decisions, right?" He started slowly and Tessa scowled at him in return, already positively sure he could not care less about that stuff.

Hale seemed ready to throw on whatever came his way as long as he could move it in, and he did so perfectly due to his supernaturally good looks.

Even today in his casual blue cardigan, print black t-shirt and back turned cap and dark ripped jeans with headphones hanging around his neck, he looked as if coming straight out of a street smart spread. The boyish grin that lingered on his lips was only an emphasis to that statement.

Tessa quirked an eyebrow at him, and the corner of his mouth tugged upwards even further.

"Or maybe you're just here to claim your right as the bane of my existence. Well you succeeded so now go back to where you came from," Tessa huffed and Hale let out a chuckle, but still did not seem like one who was ready to leave.

"More champagne?" The flight attendant showed up again, raising the bottle with the bubbly heaven, and Tessa nodded.

Hale was quick to grab her empty glass and raise both of theirs for the stewardess to refill.

"Be sure to tell me if there is anything else you need," she informed politely with a charming smile, which only intensified as she looked at Hale, whose own smile turned lopsided.

"Will do," he said with a wink, following the woman with his eyes as she walked away and Tessa let out a grunt, grabbing her glass out of his hand as he seemed to have forgotten all about it.

"Do you always look like you're undressing girls with your eyes? I really cannot for the life of me understand why they find that intoxicating," she muttered the last part, taking a huge gulp of the champagne again.

Looking at it, there was quite the possibility of her turning into an alcoholic in attempt to endure her new job position.

Hale scratched the side of his chin briefly, before he turned back to look at Tessa, his grin turning smug. "Well—" he started while leaning towards her, his eyes darkening playfully as he looked at her, the tip of his tongue briefly protruded to wet his lips.

His eyes stayed on her light blue ones, taking in the framing of her face by the wavy blonde tendrils that made their way down her shoulders and back. He followed the line of her nose down to the cupid's bow of her soft light pink lips, before he let his eyes drop down to her neck, following the neckline of her cobalt blue flower patterned summer dress that caressed her collarbone.

"Miss!" Tessa yelled, flinging her arm in the air, almost swatting Hale in the face in the process as she tried to get the stewardess' attention.

"Can you be a darling and get me some peanuts, please?" She asked sweetly, completely ignoring Hale who just chuckled to himself while shaking his head.

"Right away, Miss," the stewardess responded with a smile before she left.

"Got too hot for you?" He wriggled his eyebrows teasingly, though Tessa did not bother looking at him, as she grabbed another magazine.

"Hardly," she responded cooly, taking in the front page of the magazine, scrunching her nose up a bit by watching the gossip head lines, only to have that ripped away from her a few seconds later too.

"What are you 5?" She complained and grabbed his cap, turning the shadow around to force it down in his eyes, before she took back the magazine.

"Would a 5 year old make your cheeks flush?" He grinned and turned the cap back around, once again forcing the magazine out of her grasp and threw it into one of the other vacant chairs out of her reach as she would have to pass him to get it back. That only made her rip off his cap and throw it in the same direction.

"Really, if you're looking for a play date go shag up with the stewar—" She started, only to get interrupted by a cough as the stewardess had returned with her request of peanuts.

"Thanks, just what I needed," Hale spoke up, snatching the bag out of her hands, not bothered by the uncomfortable stares between the two women. "We'll be sure to call if there is anything else," he promised with another one of his charming smiles, and her eyes turned soft, before she gave Tessa a final look and left.

"I can't help that people are interested in me," Hale spoke up as Tessa chewed the inside of her cheek looking after the stewardess with regret.

"Thank god not everyone is, and that's my peanuts," Tessa said and reached out for the peanuts, however Hale held them away from her, his arm too long for her to even have a chance at reaching them.

"Oh, but I think they are. You see I have that effect on people," Hale started, and dangled the bag of salty legumes.

"I knew you had a big head, but I wasn't aware you were that conceited," she commented and crossed her arms again.

"I'm not conceited. I'm just telling you the truth. It's only a matter of time before you'll start dreaming about me," he spoke confidently and his head bounced back on the headrest again, turning to look at her directly.

"Eventually, I will get under your skin, and you'll start fantasizing about me. At first you'll try to deny it and wave it off as just your mind playing tricks on you, but then..." His voice turned deeper, as his eyes scrunched together forming a dark canopy for his exotic brown eyes, which reflected the sparse light that reached him through the window.

"Then it'll go deeper, become more passionate, more tormenting until you just have to feel the real deal. The moment where you have to feel me on you, dimming your senses and fogging up your mind to breathe freely. It'll get so intense you feel as if your insides are gonna explode if you don't get to explore it. It'll come, but don't worry, I'm gonna be right there to bring you out of your misery," his voice had dropped to a whisper, watching her intensely. His hand moved to his lips, letting a finger run over the bottom of his lip, which made his own gaze fall to hers as he paused for her response.

A boyish charm fell over his features as she leaned towards him, her lips parting slightly, and he leaned even further towards her when she put her hand on his upper arm to better position herself.

"Kanye West called, he wants his ego back," she replied, her voice without the slightest quiver and she used his stupefied posture to finally claim her peanuts.

Just as she tried to open the bag, like the magazines before, Hale started wrestling it out of her grasp however this time she did not let go, which started a quarreling between them, each fighting to win.

"Get your own!" She whined as he kept on tugging to which he only laughed.

"Nope, these are the ones I want."

With a ripping sound, the bag exploded in both their faces sending the small salty pebbles in every direction and Tessa sucked in her bottom lip while letting out an annoyed breath through her nose. In her mind she was visualizing the sweet revenge it would be of getting Parker's father's hunting riffle to shoot some iron up his ass.

Hale in return, carelessly flopped a stray peanut that landed on his collar into his mouth with a satisfied smirk.

"Look what you did!" Tessa picked up one that landed on the table and managed not to fall into her glass of champagne and flicked it at him, hitting him straight in the forehead while she glowered at him.

"What I did?" He chuckled and threw it in his mouth. "I was right, these peanuts are the best," he exclaimed and reached towards her. Tessa immediately swatted his hand away, however he ignored her and picked out a peanut from her hair, offering it to her and she once again pushed at his arm.

"Please go fuck a stewardess or something. Anything! Just leave me alone, or I might end up throwing myself out of the plane!" She swore and for a second contemplated throwing the peanut infested champagne at him, but settled with tucking her hands firmly into her sides as her arms crossed tightly over her chest.

"Nah, I'm good," he said and lifted his headphones to his ears, and soon his fingers started drumming provokingly on his crossed over leg.

Giving up on counting to ten in her head, she stood up abruptly, making sure she squashed his long legs firmly enough to change his position as she pushed past him to head for the restroom.

"Mind bringing back some more peanuts?" He yelled after her and she flipped him off. 

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A/N: I know and I'm sorry. A Parker less chapter, *gasps* how could I? Honestly I'm not sure, which is why Parker is glaring at me right now. He really is adorably cute when he gets all pouty and moody, though. You just wanna ruffle those gorgeous curls. Well, thankfully Park isn't one to hold a grudge for long, are you?

Don't worry, Parker will be back again in the next chapter, I promise. So how about nudging that cute little star there, or throw me a tiny comment of how you think this is going?

So was it just me or was that little speech of Hale's hot or what? Sure, he's kinda full of himself, but man, I can't even for the life of me understand how Tessa can be immune to those sultry eyes *sighs*

On a final note - Ruckus is life! and if you don't already know that go check it out. I might have weird, witty retorts and Parker, but @LazyBrew certainly understands how to fill her chapters with action packed pranks. Not at all jealous... *does the jelly dance* xD But really. Check it out. It's amazing!

Toodles noodles !