Love Takes Flight. [R/L AU]
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The airport looked more like a shopping mall than anything Lucas had expected. It was 3 days before Christmas and the deeper he walked, the busier it seemed. The tiles under his feet gleamed white and everywhere he looked he saw people milling around. There were plasma screens of arrival and departure times on the walls. People were lined up at the check in desk with suitcases and baggage while soft Christmas music played in the background.
In the arrivals lounge there was a curious mixture of bored and excited people. Some looked like they were waiting for a bus, others like they were children waiting for Santa himself. Some lounged on the low comfy chairs and others bounced on their toes.
There were two glass elevators leading to an upper floor which had the appearance of a food mall. And in the middle of several large open areas were blue fabric covered seats. The air was cool and only the faint aroma coming down from the food area gave it any scent. Some stairs lead up to a viewing deck where eager children watched the airplanes take off and land.
Lucas hurried along the long corridor, looking back every five seconds to make sure his best friend Zay was keeping up with him. The airport halls seemed never ending, he couldn’t help but wonder when they’d arrive at their gate.
“Put some pep in your step, Babineaux.” Lucas calls out, glancing behind him.
“It’s 6 in the morning. You know my brain doesn’t wake up until noon.” Zay groans, dragging his suitcase along.
“We wouldn’t have to rush if you woke up on time.” Lucas reminds him, scanning the numbers on the walls to see if they were getting closer.
“So what you’re saying is, this is my fault?” Zay asks, already knowing the answer.
“Yes.” Lucas replies without hesitation. He comes to an abrupt halt causing Zay to walk into him. “This is it.”
The two best friends we’re flying to New York for the holidays. Being born and raised in Texas, they never got to experience a white Christmas so they were headed to the big city to take in the sights and the cold weather in all its freezing glory. Zay’s older brother, Ian, was spending the holidays with his girlfriend and offered up his apartment for the two week of their stay. Which ended up being a lot of help seeing as how they were fresh out of college with barely a penny to their name. The tickets were a combined gift from their parents as an excuse to get them to get out of the house so they could spend the holidays one on one.
After standing in line, they quickly make their way to the front, hand over their boarding passes, head down the walkway and start boarding the plane. Zay makes an ill-mannered joke about the mile high club prompting a glare from Lucas who practically slams into one of the flight attendants at the front of the plane.
He immediately starts to apologize but as his eyes meet hers he begins to stammer as a nervous feeling settles itself into his stomach. The flight attendant was a lot younger than he was expecting, maybe a year or so younger than him, she had a flawless olive complexion, big brown eyes and long hazelnut colored haired that was pinned back into a ponytail. She flashed him a sincere smile, showing off her dimples and for a second he swore he grew a bit weak in the knees. She was stunning.
“Hi.” He manages to say, still holding up the line of people behind him, Zay included.
“Hi.” She smiles again but raises her eyebrows in confusion.
“Hey.” He’s lost all means of communication at this point, completely speechless and seemingly forgetting that it wasn’t the place nor time.
Before the girl can respond, an older man behind him clears his throat. “Hey Romeo, do you mind? Some of us would like to take our seats.”
“Sorry!” Lucas calls out, shaking his head in disbelief at himself. “I’m so sorry about – that.” He awkwardly moves toward the back looking for his seat, Zay follows closely behind, scooting in next to him.
“Switch with me.” Lucas whispers.
“What? Why?” Zay looks around, “so you can hit on the flight attendant?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Lucas scoffs, trying to mask his intentions. “The window seat makes me nauseous.”
“Uh huh.” Zay doesn’t buy it but he agrees anyway. “Whatever you say, man.”
After a tedious run down of the safety precautions they finally take off. Lucas tries to get comfortable in his seat while Zay almost instantly nods off, snoring ever so softly. It amazed Lucas how easy it was for him to fall asleep. He could literally fall asleep within seconds, anywhere and everywhere. Lucas on the other hand was a very light sleeper and any sort of noise or turbulence would’ve jerked him awake.
Because it’s a rather short flight, meals aren’t offered however they do eventually come around and ask if you’d like a drink and a snack. Although still a bit flustered he’s quite happy when the same flight attendant from earlier approaches him and asks if he’d like anything.
“How much does it cost?” He asks, not knowing if it was a dumb question or not. It was his first time leaving Texas let alone being on an airplane.
She smiles sweetly at him and offers him a bag of pretzels, “It’s free.” She assures him. “Would you like a soda?”
“Uh, sure.” He nods his head and thanks her as she moves on to the next person.
He smiles to himself but is brought out of his thoughts when he hears Zay scoff. “Mmmhmm.”
“What?”
“I saw that.” Zay says, pulling out his tablet.
“Saw what?” Lucas furrows his brows. “I was just getting some snacks.”
“Surrre.” Zay teases, “Just admit you’ve got a thing for her.”
“I don’t even know her.” He allows the conversation to die down for a bit before he brings it up again. “Would it be in poor taste to ask her?”
“Ask who what?” Zay looks baffled as he tries to keep up.
“The flight attendant.” Lucas sighs, “For her name.”
Zay shrugs. “Is she wearing a name tag?”
Lucas strikes an idea, and without thinking raises his hand, like he was back in high school, and catches her attention. She politely smiles and walks back over to the two boys.
“What can I do for you?” She asks.
Lucas elbows Zay in the arm, hoping he’d take the hint and ask her a question while he looked to see if she was wearing a name tag.
“OH-um. Could I get one of these?” Zay holds up the pretzel pack and smiles awkwardly. “And a coke if you have it.”
“Sure thing.” She smiles again and turns on her feet to retrieve what he asked for.
“I didn’t see anything.” Lucas frowns, a defeated look on his face.
The flight attendant returns and hands Zay his snacks, “Anything else I can do for you guys?”
“Yeah – um I have a – uh question.” Zay continues, racking his brain. “Do you…like…being a flight attendant?”
She chuckles softly and nods her head. “It’s interesting.” She smiles. “But it’s actually my last day.” She admits.
“Excuse me, miss?” A woman calls out from two rows back. She excuses herself and leaves to help the other flyer out.
“Did you see?”
“No.” Lucas sighs, “I was too busy looking at her face.”
“I am not going to continue looking like a fool for you!” Zay whisper yells, “Man up and just ask her.”
On her way back to the front Lucas reaches out and gently taps her arm. “Headphones?” Is the only thing he’s able to say.
“- are hanging from your neck.” She laughs, pointing out the black beats that were laying against his shoulders.
“Right.” He laughs nervously. “I forgot.”
He watches her walk away and turns his attention back to Zay who was laughing at his expense. Lucas purposely knocks his soda can over onto Zay’s lap just enough so he’d need a napkin but not so much that the flight crew would have to clean it up after they left.
“Excuse me?” He puts his hand up slightly, unfortunately for him he catches the attention of the wrong crew member. The male flight attendant walks over and looks down at the mess. “Everything okay?”
“Oh uh actually I was uh.” Lucas rambles, looking between Zap’s lap and the man standing before him.
The guy smiles and leers at him for a moment before looking away, “Riley?” He points her out and the girl he was hoping he’d get turns her head. He mouths the word ‘napkins’ to her and she bobs her head and walks over with a handful.
“I’m so sorry. I accidently knocked over my drink.” Lucas lies, accepting the napkins from the striking brunette. “Thank you.”
“Don’t worry about it.” She smiles, “I’m a bit of a super klutz myself.”
As the flight comes to an end, Lucas realizes there’s a good chance he’ll never see her again. Even though she said today was her last day he had no idea what state she lived in and had nothing to go off of except for her first name. Riley. He thought to himself. Surely there can’t be that many Riley’s on Facebook.
The plane tilted slightly to the left and began a slow and steady turn. Down below, the ground looked like tiny black and white specs. Gradually, everything began to come into view. As they neared the ground, the landscape of the city was more beautiful than he imagined it would be. It was a lot like he saw in the movies, all the tall buildings and lights seemed to sparkle below them.
Rooftops whizzed by as the aircraft made its final turn onto the waiting runway. A loud rush of air giving pressure to the brakes slowly brought the plane to a slow speed, culminating into the final act of taxiing slowly but surely into the arrival gate.
He allowed all the other passengers to get off before him, pretending he was looking for something to buy himself more time. Eventually he and Zay were the only ones left and he knew he’d have to face the facts that he was never going to see this girl again. He knew the universe wasn’t on his side.
The two boys grab their luggage and head to the front. He wanted to strike up a conversation with her, a real conversation. He couldn’t explain it but there was just something about her that made him feel at home. He knew all of one thing about her and still he felt as if he could talk to her for hours on end.
But, to avoid being that guy, he offers a simple ‘thank you’ and walks away feeling like he just lucked out.
Nine Days Later…
Their first week in the city flew by and they were fresh out of ideas of what to do. It was New Years Eve and they had yet to decide how they’d be spending their evening. Zay left earlier that morning to get coffee and 6 hours later had yet to return.
Lucas sat on the living room sofa, flipping through the channels to occupy his mind when Zay comes bursting through the door, bags in hand.
“A little help here.” He huffs slinging the bags onto the counter.
“Looks like you got it covered.” Lucas smirks, eyes still glued to the television.
“You should be nicer to me.” Zay continues, “I just got us invited to a party for tonight.”
“Seriously?”
“Yup.” Zay smiles, pulling out the contents of the bag. Mostly alcohol and the rest was junk food. “I ran into my brother’s old roommate from NYU, Josh, and he told me he’s throwing a big bash on his apartment rooftop tonight.”
“You got us a last minute invitation to a New Year’s Eve rooftop party?” Lucas raises his eyebrows. “I find that hard to believe.”
“Stop being such a Debbie Downer and start figuring out what you’re going to wear, alright?”
Lucas chuckles, putting his hands up in defense. “Alright alright.”
The day seems to drag on but finally it’s time for the party and the two Texans head out for the fun filled evening. Seeing as how it’s NYE in New York City they struggle to hail a cab and instead they end up taking the subway. Thankfully the subway buys them a little time so they weren’t weirdly on time or the first ones there.
Once they arrive at Josh’s apartment complex they take the elevator to top and wander around the halls until they find an exit staircase leading to the roof. The closer they got, the louder the music beamed through.
Zay, ahead of Lucas, pushes through the door and an immediate smile crosses his face. “I don’t ever want to go home.” He says, partly joking.
Lucas rolls his eyes and scans the crowd. Everyone there was around their age, some slightly older and only a handful looked like they were maybe in high school. He follows Zay around, maneuvering through the sea of people as they look for Josh to thank him for the invite.
When they find him he has his arm wrapped around a petite blonde who’s quietly sipping on the drink in her red solo cup. Josh’s face lights up when he spots Zay, throwing his arms in the air with excitement.
“Hey you made it!” He cheers, pulling the shorter boy in for hug. “And you must be the best friend, Lucas?” He reaches out his hand and Lucas grabs it, giving it a firm handshake. “Yeah, hey man thanks for the invite.”
Josh swats at the air, shrugging it off like it wasn’t a big deal. “This is my girlfriend Maya.” She smiles unenthusiastically, continuing to sip on her drink. “Maya this is Ian’s little brother, Zay.”
“So you guys are huckleberries, too?” She says offhandedly.
The two boys exchange glances and look to Josh for a little help.
“Don’t mind her.” He laughs, kissing the blonde on her temple. “Oh, hey!”
His attention is caught by someone entering from behind them. “My niece is here!”
Lucas and Zay look behind them, half expecting to see a small child, but instead they see a much more familiar face. It was the flight attendant from before. Riley.
“Hi.” He blurts out once she’s close enough to hear.
“Hi!” She replies happily although she seems just as surprised to see them as they were to see her.
“You guys know each other?” Josh inquires, looking between the three of them.
“Vaguely.” Zay chimes in, “Riley was our flight attendant for our flight from Austin.”
“This is the green eyed guy you wouldn’t shut up about?” Josh adds, giving Riley a look.
Riley’s eyes widen at her uncle, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Sure you do, remember you said --.” “BABE.” Maya interrupts him, “Let’s go get another drink…join us Jay.”
“It’s Zay.” He corrects her but stops once he sees her glare at him. “I mean right behind you!”
“So you live in New York?” He asks once the other three are out of sight.
“All my life.” She giggles nervously. “You?”
“I’m from Texas but New York has grown on me.” He admits, “I think Zay and I might be in the market.”
The two walk side by side to an empty spot by the edge, overlooking the skyline.
“You should totally move here.” She suggests, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
“Oh?” He smiles sheepishly, “why is that?”
“Well, I mean…look at it.” She motions to the view. “It’s magical.”
“Yeah.” He swallows the lump in his throat, as he takes in her features. “Really magical.”
They stand there in a comfortable silence for a few moments until he realizes he never introduced himself, “I’m Lucas by the way.”
“Riley.” She chuckles, showing off her dimples as she shakes his outstretched hand. “It’s nice to meet you, officially.”
“It’s nice to meet you too.” He smiles and in that moment he can’t help but think, maybe the universe was on his side after all.
*END NOTE: I added the little *nine days later* part at the end because I’m a sucker for a happy ending and I really just wanted them to actually talk one on one lol hope this was okay and what you had in mind! Also forgive me for my lack of knowledge about plane crew members, this probably isnt accurate at all but I tried lol*