▋▍Stranded || Corinne & Aria
ariajung
♖—; Good thing she had her seatbelt on—or she would have launched herself out of the back seat and onto the asphalt at 100 kilometers per hour. They weren’t kidding when they said the traffic in New York was among the worst in the world. Straightening up to catch her breath, she caught sight of the driver’s eyes in the rear-view mirror. Corinne was beyond furious, bordering crazed and her LEVO was buzzing dangerously on her wrist, warning her of her dropping levels. Popping a chocolate into her mouth, she stared back at the driver’s reflection.
“You okay there, miss?” he asked in what seemed to be an attempt to appear concerned. Huh. He’d probably gotten into this situation plenty of times. Fixing her fringe into place, she replied curtly, “Fine and dandy.” The rest of the journey continued on in silence and in an agonisingly slow pace. She didn’t dare to let her eyes close once again for fear that that would be the last time she’d see daylight even if they were travelling slower than a trapped turtle—yes, they barely moved a feet.
Corinne was indeed in a hurry—she had woken up late that particular day and she had a flight to catch in half an hour. But now, she doubted that she could get there in time thanks to another cab that ran the red light earlier, crashed into the vehicle ahead of hers and caused a standstill, as if the usual one wasn’t bad enough. After what seemed like an eternity, she finally made it to the drop zone. Hastily, she just handed the driver a twenty and slammed the door shut as she dashed to her designated boarding gate with her luggage in tow.
As she made a sharp turn around a corner, she accidentally ran into a man who happened to be enjoying his ice-cream—or what was left of it. The boarding pass that was in her hand just a second ago flew across the floor and slid under a row of seats. There was no time to waste begging to be pardoned—especially for that mess she made on his expensive-looking suit—so she just shot him an apologetic look and scurried off to get her boarding pass. She could already see the gate—it was just two gates away. Grabbing the ticket, she then made a final sprint towards her destination.
And she would have gotten there if not for the sudden foot jutting out in right in front of her. She didn’t see it until it was too late. “Noooooo!” she screeched as she fell forward and landed face first on the tiled floor. A loud crunch followed upon impact. The pain only appeared seconds later. She whirled around to glare at the owner of the foot who was sitting with one leg crossed over the other at the edge of her seat. But she soon froze when she felt something warm flow down her upper lip. Panicked, she touched the spot and found her fingers coated in crimson. Her head instantly started spinning.