#the Passenger vibes are so soothing but haunting at the same time

[somederangedwierdo]

So I look in people's windows,

Like I'm some deranged weirdo.

I attend Christmas parties from outside.

I look in people's windows,

In case you're at their table.

What if your eyes looked up and met mine

one. more. time? 🪟✒️☁️

[brien-odylan]

Fourth time’s a charm

Noah Centineo x Reader

Word count: 3,309

Warnings: fluff

The first time he saw her, it was like everything around him had been frozen; people stopped walking, the air stopped moving, the information in the led panels glitched. There was only her wheeling her trunks over the linoleum floor, looking around, trying to find her way as she walked past every column of the airport. Her hair was dancing around her, her eyes glistening as if she was about to cry, her hands nervously clutching the handle of her carry on luggage. She was something out of a movie, so innocent and lost, like when a small town girl finally goes off to the place where she’s supposed to find herself. That would explain the unshed tears and the constant dance of her eyes, looking for something that she mind find familiar, but with no such luck.

Noah watched the girl from afar, his eyes completely focusing on her and nothing else, mesmerized by her. She wasn’t the most beautiful girl in the world, but it didn’t mean she wasn’t beautiful, because she was. She had an aura around her that was drawing his attention, something that made him not want to avert his eyes from her direction, like there was some kind of light shining on her, putting him on a trance. Noah didn’t know where that had come from, he had never felt like that before. It was a weird kind of feeling, like he should be able to steer away from the unknown girl, but he couldn’t, he didn’t want to.

Maybe it was the way her lower lip was trembling as she picked at the sleeves of her hoodie, or the way she had her eyes cast down, staring at her shoes. Maybe it had nothing to do with that and he was just being a creeper, but whatever it was, he was transfixed, his hands itching to reach out for her and ask if everything was ok. She was alone and on the verge of crying. He could be a nice guy and ask her what was wrong, calm her down if he needed to, but his feet couldn’t move. His head was yelling at him to not approach the girl he barely knew, not because she could be dangerous, but because she could see him as a weirdo trying to come close to her, someone who had nothing to do with her life. No one likes to open up to a total stranger. So he sat back, his eyes roaming all over the place, going back to the girl every once in a while, studying her from afar.

By the time he was supposed to board the plane, though, he had lost her. In a fraction of time, just when he looked down to check his phone, she must’ve gotten up and left, hiding somewhere, cause there was no signal of her anywhere. He couldn’t be hallucinating, right? The girl had to be real.

The second time he saw her was a few hours after that, when Noah decided to take a walk around the airplane. He had been sitting for far too long, his long legs needing more space to stretch, more than the first class seats gave him. He was tired of being in his pod, bored out of his mind. Nothing could hold his attention for too long, his mind still on the girl he had seen earlier. Was she going to the same place as him? Was she feeling better now? He hadn’t had the chance to see her getting on the plane, so he had no idea if they were going to the same city. His thoughts were haunting him, as weird as it seemed. He didn’t know her, he didn’t know her name, he didn’t know what she was like and yet there was no way her face was going to leave his mind. It was weird how much of an impression she had left on him, something that had never happened before. So he needed to take a walk, feeling much too overwhelmed by it all.

It didn’t do much help, though, as the source of his subconscious daydreams was right there, sitting a few meters away from him, flying coach, her much smaller frame pressed against her seat, her legs tucked under her body, eyes fixed on the flat screen in front of her, eyes never leaving it for a second. She looked more tired now, bags under her beautiful eyes, the hoodie she was wearing covering her disheveled hair. There were no sign that she had been crying, but she still looked sad, like she was trying her best to push it all aside and focus on what she was doing at the moment.

Noah watched it all from afar, his feet not moving an inch forwards as he studied the girl, her shoulders slunched, her chest rising and falling in a steady pace, eyes roaming the corridor she was in. She had earphones pierced in, probably hers cause it looked so much better than the ones the airline would give to the passengers, the blanket wrapped around her body as a protection from the cold air in the cabin. She didn’t see him, his body hidden in the shadows the turned off lights provided, leaning against the restroom door as he kept looking at her, creating a thousand of assumptions about her, trying to find out everything he could about her only by watching her, as if it would work.

He didn’t know how long he just stood there, his arms crossed over his chest, his back still pressed against the restroom door, but it was probably too long, because he noticed when she looked up, her eyes meeting his for the first time since he had seen her. She had a curious look on her face, as if she was trying to understand what could hold his attention for too long and when she noticed that he had been fixed on her, she felt the blood rush to her cheeks, her eyes breaking the contact as she looked back to the screen in front of her. Noah blinked a couple of times, suddenly very aware of the fact that he had been caught staring at someone he didn’t even know. And, as if it wasn’t enough, he felt his body lose contact with the surface it had been backing him up, tumbling backwards as the restroom door opened when someone was about to walk out of it.

From her seat, the girl watched it all, a small smile on her face as she watched the handsome guy make a fool of himself, his feet stumbling as he tried to regain his balance before his hands grabbed onto the walls by his side. He was really cute with his messed up curls and those brown eyes, darker than it should be because of the lack of light in the corridor.

The third time should have been when they landed in the LAX. He was going to walk up to her, introduce himself, say that he had seen her when they were about to get on the place and then apologize for being such a stalker earlier. They would smile at each other, he would find out her name and, if everything worked in his favor, he would ask her out. He had everything thought of, every little word he was going to say and he could only hope she wasn’t going to shoot him down. What he didn’t expect, however, was the fact that he wasn’t going to see her again. He knew the airport was going to hectic, with people coming and going, but he didn’t think he was going to lose her in the crowd, something she seemed very good in doing so. Everywhere Noah looked, there was no sight of the girl in the grey hoodie.

But the universe must have been working in his favor. It had been four days since Noah had gotten back to LA and his mind was occupied with his friends, but he still remembered of the girl and how she looked like. Sometimes, he would stop and stare off into the distance, his mind flashing back to the small smile she had on her lips when he almost fell into the restroom. She was beautiful. The way her eyes squinted at him when she caught him staring at her, the way she cracked her knuckles when she was nervous. It was weird how someone like her, a passing person, could still be on his mind. He wished he had worked up the courage to talk to her sooner. He wished he could’ve asked her for her number, but it was already too late. Or so he thought.

It was a sunny day, not a single cloud in the blue sky, the sun shining brightly above his group of friends. It was a nice time to spend at the beach, no worries in the world. Noah enjoyed those moments. It was like the fame hadn’t gotten to him yet. Of course there were a few people who would see him and ask for a picture, but it seemed like it wasn’t much of a deal at the time. He had been there for the past couple of hours, just enjoying a lazy day with his friends and nothing else. The waves were crashing down the shore, washing away the seaweed, wearing down the sand, the sound of the moving water soothing him.

“Come on, Y/N!” he heard someone saying out loud, their voice carrying away in the nearly empty beach, laughs echoing around them.

The boy turned his head around, trying to find the source, not even knowing why he was curious about it. It was like something was drawing his attention again and when he saw a couple of girls giggling and splashing water around, trying to lure some other girl into the ocean, he understood why he had done so. Because she was there too, sitting on a beach chair under a beach umbrella, laughing at her friends attempt of getting her into the water.

“It’s too cold!” she shouted back at them, laughter etched on her voice and Noah soon realized it was the first time he had heard her saying anything, a smile finding way to his lips almost immediately. The melodic sound that came from her suited the girl he was seeing and Noah couldn’t believe he hadn’t heard it before. Now everything seemed like it made sense, it was like he was slowly discovering everything there was to know about her.

Her laughter reached his ears one more time, his attention fully on her now, completely neglecting his friends and whatever they were talking about. It was like, once again, she was everything he could see, everything he could think about and it was so out of the ordinary for him to act this way, even more when it came to someone he had only seen a couple of times, literally.

But, for as much as he would like to have sat there and watched her interacting with her friends, he was very aware of the fact that she might have not liked it, his stalker vibe acting once again. She would probably remember him as the weirdo that was watching her in the airplane and would tell her friends that they needed to go before he approached her. It was sad, but she was going to be the one who got away and there was nothing he could do about it.

What he didn’t know, however, was the fact that she had seen him there, his head turned to the direction she was in, paying attention to the things she had been doing and saying to her friends, laughing every now and then at the thought that she had met him again, wondering if this time he would walk up to her and say anything, her heart beating slightly faster at the thought of it. She wanted him to do it, she wanted to hear his voice being directed at her.

“You’ve got yourself a fan?” she heard one of her friends saying, her voice bringing Y/N back from her thoughts, a smile still on her lips.

“What?” she asked back.

“That guy over there,” Cheyenne mentioned, a smirk on her lips. “He’s been watching you for a while now. You didn’t know?”

“Oh, I did,” was all she said, her head shaking as she tried to dismiss the subject. The truth was that she knew her friends would try to get everything out of her, every little detail and then proceed to walk up to the guy and question him on not making a move. Or worse: they would make her do it and she couldn’t have it.

“What? And you didn’t say anything?”

She shook her head and sighed. “We were in the same flight.”

There was a moment of silence before all her friends turned to her, their eyes wide open as they waited for the girl to keep talking, explain everything.

“Is he the cute one you mentioned?”

“The one that almost fell when the restroom door opened?”

“You were in the same flight and now meet again? Destiny!”

And that was why she didn’t want to say anything. They were going to keep saying things like that all day long, trying to convince her that should do something about it, talk to him, give him her number or something like that, and she wasn’t in the mood to deal with that at the moment. Yeah, he was cute and of course she would be interested in him, it was just that she had too much going on in her life at the moment. She had just gotten to the city and it was much of a change for her already. It would take a few more days before she felt like going out with a guy or anything. Y/N just shook her head, ignoring all the pleads coming her way, all the ideas her friends were having.

“Whatever it is that you’re thinking, forget it, ok?” her tone was stern, something she had never used on them before, so they accepted it. For the time being.

But maybe the universe was really working on his favor. Because there was no way he could ignore the fact that he had come face to face with her for a fourth time, it was impossible, The odds were never going to be on his favor and he couldn’t believe it was happening.

A week had passed, Noah not entirely over the beach thing, beating himself down for not walking up to her and talking to her. He had been scared of her friends. Why did girls always have to travel in groups? Why couldn’t them walk a few feet away from each other so he could have some space to talk to the girl that, he now knew, was named Y/N.

Y/N. He liked the way it sounded, the way the name rolled off his tongue, almost like he was meant to say it all his life. And this time… This time he wasn’t going to ignore the signs life was giving him.

She was sitting by the bar, a black velvet high necked dress, loose on the hips, fitting her perfectly, stopping on her mid thighs, her head thrown back as she laughed at whatever her friends had been saying, a colorful cocktail in her hand.

“Are you gonna keep staring or are you going to do something?” he heard from behind him, a voice he didn’t recognize, making him turn around almost instantly, his eyes meeting a face he thought that looked familiar, but he wasn’t sure.

“Excuse me?” he asked taking a step back and watching the girl that had interrupted his thoughts. She had blue green eyes framed by black eyeglasses, her long hair reaching the middle of her back, a smile on her face.

“Y/N,” she said motioning her head towards the girl in front of them. “I remember you from the day at the beach. You were watching her and the she mentioned you two were in the same flight.”

That was why he remembered her. She was one of her friends, the one that kept looking at him every now and then, squinting her eyes as if she was deep in thought. At the time, he suspected she was about to call the police on him or something, but now he could see something else in her eyes, giving away what she was really thinking about.

“Yeah, I know who you are,” she laughed dismissively, shrugging at the unasked question he had in his eyes. “But don’t worry. I’m not one of those fans that get all excited. I’m just casually asking if you’re ever going to approach my friend over there.”

Noah looked from one girl to the other, his thoughts going insanely fast through his mind, his chest a little constricting now. He didn’t know what to do. He wanted to talk to her, but he was so scared of her turning him down that he felt like he couldn’t do it. She remembered him, she knew he had seen her the other day. What if she had kept her distance because she didn’t want anything with him?

“Erm… Do you think I should go then?” He sounded nervous, more nervous than he had ever been his entire life, and he didn’t know where it was coming from.

“Talk to her?” the girl cocked one eyebrow up. “Of course,” she scoffed. “Why would you stand here looking at her if you’re not going to talk to her?”

That was it. That was the one thing he was needing to hear before finally finding the courage of going to Y/N, his resolve completely made up now.

Without much of a thought, Noah took a deep breath, his eyes focused on the girl as he made his way through the crowd, trying his best to avoid everyone else before he could reach the one person he hadn’t stopped thinking about for over a week. It was a ‘now or never’ situation and he was going to do it now.

Before he could do anything, however, she turned around, their eyes finally meeting. And it was like something had snapped inside of them, like all the things they had been through were leading to this moment in time, the one that would change everything in their lives. It was clichê and silly to think like that, but it did feel like they were meant to meet.

“Hi,” she was the first one to say anything, more like a breath than a word, but she did say it.

“Hi,” he said back, his right hand reaching back to scratch his neck, an obvious trait that he was nervous. “I’m Noah and I…” he took a deep breath. “We met in the plane last week.”

“Yeah,” she smiled, nodding her head at his words. She couldn’t do much more than that, her heart beating way too rapidly.

“Right,” he agreed. “And I… I couldn’t help but notice that I would love to go out with you for a coffee or something. It could be a restaurant.”

Noah really didn’t know what to say anymore. He was feeling way too pressured, way too out of his element. He had asked girls out before, of course, but it felt like it was something else, something new and he was dying to know what she was going to say.

“Well, Noah,” she started tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as she smiled shyly at him. “I couldn’t help but notice that I would love that.”

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