Seat 2A

by Dela

  Her body was tense, but her eyes couldn’t resist glancing back. “What are you smiling at?”

  “Us . . . on an airplane again.”

  She ignored me. This vixen liked to be hunted, and I was going to hunt her hard. I studied her as she went back to her magazine, the same type as the one she read on the plane seven years ago. The cover had an attractive female on it, and somewhere along the border the word sex was written. Same. Old. Crap. I chuckled as I rested my head back and sighed.

  “What’s so funny?” she asked, curious.

  Oh Jessie, my pretty little doe, she was prancing right into my trap. I pointed to her choice of reading. “You still like reading those magazines?”

  She glanced down confused. “What’s wrong with them?”

  “Don’t you think that if any woman really wanted to know about sex she’d just go to her partner and not that?”

  Her eyebrows angled in a teacher-knows-it-all way, her nose a little high. “Not everybody has a partner.”

  “You do.”

  The playfulness across her face fell flat and she froze scornfully. “That’s none of your business.”

  “You’re right, it’s not.” I crossed my ankle over a knee, waiting for her curiosity to get the best of her.

  “Of course it’s not,” she argued. There was no backbone in her tone. I smiled and it drove her wild. “What are you smiling at?”

  “I’m not smiling, I’m wondering.”

  “Wondering what?”

  “How come you didn’t come to find me after Whistler. You told me that you saw me on TV, which clearly means you found out who I was. Didn’t you at least want to see me again? Weren’t you curious about us?”

  Her restless legs went still, and I noticed her hands shaking. “Why do you want to know?”

  “Why do you think?”

  She blinked once, hard. “I was afraid.”

  “Of me?”

  “No, of course not. Of who you were.”

  I twisted my body to her. “So it was me?”

  “Yes . . . no. No! I don’t know. You’re making me confused.”

  I exhaled slowly as I placed both hands behind my head and leaned back. “Excuse me. Don’t let me make you upset your highness. Why do you think I didn’t want to tell you my last name? Because of this. I thought you were different. But you never even tried.”

  She stared at me with grueling disbelief, her mouth split in shock. “You have no idea what I’ve done these past few years. So shut it.”

  Her tone surprised me. I looked towards her, noticing her lip trembling. “Bubblegum, your lip is quivering.”

  I reached for her lips but she swatted my hand away. “Don’t touch me.”

  Her slap barely had any power, a feeble sting, but it shocked me in different places and hurt nonetheless. It rippled unwanted facts from my brain to my heart in painful electric currents. I leaned back as reality sunk in, examining her with a sick feeling. Jessie was more broken than I thought. “I’m sorry.”

  Silence crept into our space and stayed for a good while. I couldn’t help but replay what just happened in my mind. I had to make things right before we left or I would lose her for good.

  “I’m sorry, Jessie. I didn’t mean to make you upset.”

  She sighed. “It’s fine.”

  “But I think it’s only fair that you let me explain. After all, you called me out on buying my ticket last minute.” Her cheeks lifted as she looked down at her fingernails. “You’re right. I do have a private jet that I would much rather fly in, but I would give that up any day for a chance to sit next to you. Next, had I had your phone number seven years ago we wouldn’t be sitting here right now. When my dad died and I had to leave for New York, I would have called you immediately and told you I was leaving, and that I expected you to take my offer to fly out on my family’s private jet so that you could be with me. I really needed you then.” Her face shot up, drowning with emotion. I looked away before she noticed me choking up. “But since I didn’t have your number and I’d exhausted every possible way of finding you, I only had my hopes. I hoped for so long that you would show up on my doorstep. I foolishly waited for months because I actually thought we had a chance after Whistler. So don’t tell me you were afraid. You made my worst fear come true.”

  I couldn’t believe I just cleared out on her like a lovesick sap. My heart thumped hard, my hands shaking. When she didn’t say anything, I reached for my bags, ready to go back to my seat, but her hand slid onto my arm.

  “No. Don’t go,” she whispered, and I slowly slid back into my seat. “Let’s catch up.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Kendal

  The creases in her face softened as she set her magazine down and fiddled her fingers nervously. “Where do we start?”

  “How about where on Lankershim do you live?”

  “Right. I’m right there on Ventura.”

  I chuckled. “You are literally five minutes from me, tops.”

  “You live in the hills?”

  I nodded. “Just up Laurel Canyon.”

  “Oh . . .”

  “Yeah. Sucks. All this time and we never knew. . .” The air grew stagnant and silence fell between us for a moment. “So when are you moving in with Colby?”

  Her eyes went wide and a rattled expression smeared across her face. “Oh, I’m not moving in with him. I’m going to find my own place.”

  “Really?” I acted casual of course; she couldn’t have known the tightening in my gut eased.

  “I’m not that type. I don’t need to live with someone to test our relationship. If it’s meant to be, it’ll work out whether we live with each other or not.”

  “Good girl.”

  “Good girl?” she chuckled.

  I adjusted my shirt and cleared my throat. “I mean, that’s smart. You don’t want to rush into anything.”

  Her eyes narrowed and a faint smile lifted in the corners. “Actually what it does, dad, is force you to solve your problems before you get married and move in with each other.”

  “Married?” The word erupted with a surprised laugh and my heart started to race in a bad way. “You two are already talking about marriage?”

  “Oh . . . no. Not that. I’m just saying hypothetically speaking.”

  Phew. The idea of marriage lived in a place so far from me; it lived on my list of things not to do for a very long time. I did enjoy the thought of being ready to marry one day, like Gizelle, but with my commitment issues, especially after losing dad, it was tough to imagine. “So what are your plans? When do you think you’ll move to Portland?”

  “I’m hoping to find a place before school starts in case I find a teacher’s position available.”

  “That’s in a couple weeks,” I said, astonished.

  “Does that bother you?”

  I sat back and crossed my arms. I wasn’t going to lie. I dug this chick a lot. “In the worst way.”

  She didn’t answer me after that, as if what I said had bothered her. I pulled my reading glasses on, grabbed some work notes, and started shifting through papers for tomorrow when I noticed her long stare from the corner of my eye.

  “Since when do you wear glasses? And how long has your head been shaved?”

  My stomach moved with a deep laugh. “Are we playing twenty questions? Because if so, I don’t play. I only play Yes or No, and only when clothes are being stripped off.”

  “What?” Her voice rose unsteadily.

  “Oh please don’t tell me you’ve never heard of Yes or No. It’s a classic. The hottest game I’ve ever played, too.”

  Her cheeks began pinking. “I’ve never played any sort of stripping game.”

  “Well, it’s not really a stripping game. Those are just the rules I make when I play, otherwise it’s boring.”

  “Oh? Do you play often?” Her voice was shakier.

  I leaned back comfortably with a wise grin, wondering if she was imagining me naked. “If I answer yes
then I would have to take off my shirt. Anytime you answer yes, you have to strip off an article of clothing, that’s the only way I’ll play. So I can’t answer that unless you want my shirt to come off. Sorry.”

  She rolled her eyes and picked up her magazine. “Don’t be such a wiseass.”

  I smiled and went back to my stack of papers. Between surfing competitions in Hawaii and New York Fashion Week, my schedule was not going to let me off easy . . . and now with the house repairs added, I was going to be swamped. But I was living on the edge now, and if Jessie asked me for anything, I’d do it in a heartbeat.

  As we waited for our luggage in the LAX airport I didn’t feel the same amount of discomfort as I did when I left her in Vancouver. I had her number this time, and I knew how to play very well when I had a girl’s digits. Wait a minute. What’s she doing?

  “So I’ll see you around?” she asked, looking up from her phone.

  I glanced quickly to her screen. She was texting Colby. The thought vacuumed my breath and I had to exhale hard to answer, but it only made my voice crack. “Sure.”

  She nodded funny and then looked back down to her phone as she walked away. Say something, Kendal.

  “Jessie!” I called out.

  She poked her head up from her phone, and I couldn’t miss the smile that Colby was putting on her face. I stilled as pieces of my heart broke off. “I, um . . . What are you doing for dinner tomorrow night?”

  “Kendal . . . no. We’re not doing this. I appreciate you coming with me so I didn’t have to travel alone, but this,” she motioned between the two of us, “is not going to work.”

  Crushed. Entirely crushed. Talking, heart crunched by her bare words and all blood squeezed out to a deathly dry state. Drip. Drip. “Very well. See you around then.”

  I watched her walk to the long-term parking, giggling at her phone, as I headed outside to greet my driver. My head was foggy as all hell, and every inch of my body ached with jealousy.

  “Mr. Vargas, what time shall I pick you up for work in the morning?”

  But what could I do? She made it clear what she wanted with me. I sat stumped, my head throbbing from thought.

  “Mr. Vargas?”

  I shook my head out of its daze and stared blankly ahead. We were already parked in my driveway. “I will drive myself tomorrow. Thank you.”

  He carried my luggage inside and left me alone in my desolate state. I flopped onto the sofa and stared through the dark windows at the city lights below. This was horrible. I was home, with Jessie right down the street, and I couldn’t even go stop by. I wiped my hands through my hair and sighed. I needed a fix. I swiped my keys from the coffee table and left for Xen nightclub to pick up a one-night stand.

  When I woke up the next morning I was hung over. I couldn’t go through with picking up a lay because she wasn’t Jessie, so I drank myself drunk to drown my misery. I wanted an unavailable girl and now I was paying for it in more ways than one. I fumbled for my phone and texted Amanda, my secretary.

  I’m hung over. Bad. Cancel all meetings. I’ll be in tomorrow.

  You have Quicksilver today about the tournament in Honolulu.

  Change it.

  When I woke up later that afternoon, my balance had returned, but I still felt a little woozy. I slipped on a white T-shirt and tennis shoes and left for a jog to sweat out whatever was left in my system. I started up the hill on my normal route, then stopped. I flipped around and headed down the hill towards Lankershim. Maybe I’d be able to see where Jessie lives, in a non-stalker way. By the time I turned onto her street I was a sweaty mess. I had just pulled off my shirt when I heard my name from behind. I turned to find Jessie coming out of a small walkway hidden in bushes.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked.

  I breathed in hard trying to catch my breath. “I’m jogging.”

  She looked me up and down, an approving twitch in her eyes, then glanced back up. “I’ve never seen you jog here before.”

  “That’s because I’m always working at this time.”

  “Why aren’t you working right now?”

  Women. Always asking questions that don’t matter. And this is why I always chose to stay single. Except I had to believe Jessie was different, and my grace period was almost up. I shuffled my feet across the loose gravel. “That’s none of your business.”

  She rolled her eyes and opened her car, which had been parked along the curb. It was a red Saab. Perfect, now I know where to find you.

  “Where are you going?” I asked, feeling the swelling in my chest coming back at her departure.

  She watched me grimly as she hung onto her door, probably thinking of returning the smartass remark I deserved, but said softly. “Returning some movies.”

  “People still rent?”

  She laughed and she was gorgeous. It was then, without all her makeup, that I noticed how much she looked the way I remembered her. I preferred her lips this way, glossy, probably with a strawberry scent. I couldn’t help but stare at her with a longing desire when she moved. “Yes Romeo, people still rent.”

  It wasn’t until I walked up to her that her breathing faltered. I grinned that I made her uneasy. “Want to pick up a movie for tonight?”

  “I don’t know, Kendal.”

  “Skip dinner, just a movie. I’ll let you pick. And tell Colby. I don’t want you sneaking around him, okay? Just friends. Promise.”

  She thought a second and then nodded. “Okay. What time?”

  “Eight,” I said, treading up the hill again before she could change her mind.

  “Okay, but you have to watch whatever I chose,” she hollered. I only nodded and placed my music back in my ears.

  Right before eight o’clock rolled around, I placed a few work calls and tidied up my place. I knew there was a fat chance Jessie would end up here tonight, but just in case, and I was too anxious to not do anything.

  I pulled up to her house exactly at eight. Good. Early would give away my anxiousness, and I didn’t want her to know I was teetering on the edge of sanity. I knocked twice. It was a small bungalow house with its own little yard. There was a dark alley next door that catered to the neighboring fast food joint. Thank goodness the tall bushes in Jessie’s yard covered it and gave privacy. She answered a moment later and I felt an instant rise in my pants. I worked hard to steady my concentration, but I found I could hardly breathe she was so beautiful. Her brown eyes were soft with happiness and a messy braid fell across one shoulder.

  “I didn’t dress up. Not a date, remember?” she asked, but it sounded like a mere reminder to herself.

  I stepped inside and looked around. The place was as big as my bathroom. I turned to her. “Did you tell Colby I was coming over?”

  “Of course, all good. We’re friends . . . ” She dazed into me a while until her face slipped. “Oh!” She took off and ran to the small kitchen in the other room. She came back with a plate of cookies and then suddenly her face turned shy.

  “Want a cookie, friend?” she said in the most horrible Cookie Monster impression I have ever heard.

  I laughed and replied in my more practiced and much sexier Cookie Monster voice. “What is friend? Someone to share the last cookie with.”

  She giggled. “It’s good to have you back, Kendal.”

  I chuckled. “I didn’t know I went away.”

  Her goofy eyes suddenly strained with worry.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked once her lip started quivering again.

  “You were always there, waiting for me. Weren’t you?”

  I sighed, deeply saddened that I was making her so upset, and spoke softly. “From the moment I knocked your purse off your pretty little shoulder.”

  She threw her hands to cover her face and breathed hard. The loud pants were making me lose my hard-worked control and it took all of me to not wrap my arms around her. I clenched my fists together as a distraction.

  I ducked my head to peer through her loose fingers ove
r her face. “Jessie, hey . . . shhh. Don’t do this. Please.”

  One more long breath and then she veered her eyes to mine. The deepness in them swallowed me whole. Breathe, Kendal. Now we both struggled for breath, staring into the complex galaxies behind each other’s lost eyes. I didn’t understand how I felt imprinted on. I realized, gazing into the depth of her brown eyes, that our souls were meant to be together. It killed me. She was untouchable, and I not only needed her, but I wanted her bad. Her body was perfect. And underneath those tight yoga pants I could imagine her body preparing for me.

  I grunted, annoyed, and looked away. “So what are we watching tonight?”

  Her body shook out of its daze. “Breaking Dawn, part 2.”

  “The Twilight crap?” I asked, sitting down in the middle of the couch. This would force her to sit closer to me.

  “You said I could pick whatever I wanted. This is what I was going to pick even before I ran into you today. I swear.” She threw her hands up defensively.

  “Alright Bubblegum, whatever you want.”

  She put in the DVD and sat back down as far away from me as possible. As she tucked her feet beneath her butt she glanced at me awkwardly.

  “Are you sure you told Colby?” I wondered.

  “Yes. Why?”

  “Because if you were my girl, I wouldn’t share you with anyone.”

  Her head shook side to side in conclusion. “I know, you’re not in the habit of sharing.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Well I promise. He’s cool. He trusts me.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh at her naiveness. “It’s not you he should be worried about.”

  She shot me a stern look.

  “Relax, I’m not saying I’m going to try to put my arm around you or rest my hand on your thigh. I’m just going to sit right here in my spot and keep my hands to myself.”

  “Good,” she said.

  “Alright.”

  “Okay then.”

  We looked away from each other at the same time, trying to avoid the awkward tension between us. The movie was horrible but worse, Jessie started dozing off half way through. She picked this and now I’m stuck suffering through this vampire shit alone? I don’t think so, Bambi.