July 2000
In hindsight booking a red-eye flight was probably one of the more stupid decisions he'd made that month. Right next to agreeing to a lad's weekend in Amsterdam with Chop, Archie, Barney and Little Al at the last minute in the first place, but it was a lie to say that he wasn't at least looking forward to it. A bit. Work had been non-stop for weeks and by the time he'd got round to booking a flight out all that had been left were either at five in the morning or the one he was waiting on which was closer to two. Finn adjusted himself in the uncomfortable lounge seat, flexed the spine of his paperback and chewed on the corner of his thumb absently once he'd found his place and started to read the words over when the din of the chatter around him died down as the speakers played out the announcement bell.
'Attention all passengers,' the overhead voice clamoured from the crackling speaker above him. 'We are sorry to announce that the following flights departing for: Vienna, Amsterdam, Birmingham, and Leeds have been delayed for approximately one hour. We apologise for any inconvenience, please be advised to check departure boards for further information.'
The collective groan from the seating lounge around him erupted as a few passengers rushed with their suitcases across the departure gates to the screens further down. Finn let out a quiet sigh and collected his holdall as a crowd had gathered in a cluster over at the information boards. Sure enough when he found his flight on the board above him the one forty-five to Amsterdam wouldn't get him there for another two hours. At this rate Chop would beat him there and have already worked his way through the bars and clubs over there by the time he even got on the plane.
Rae had already been running late for the third time that day, she had a marathon sprint to check in after getting stuck in traffic on the way to the airport, then she couldn't find her sodding passport in the check in queue and to top it off she got held up in the security line before she'd even had a chance to sit down. She'd only been at the airport for a few hours and she was already knackered. Uni had been finished for a week and she had three left before term started back to visit Chloe before she went back. Before that was her little sister's fourth birthday which meant a welcome but long trip to Tunisia to visit her, her mum and Karim while the three of them were on holiday visiting Karim's family. In hindsight an hour delay wasn't a massive problem, a nuisance, but she had her Diskman to pass the time before everything got sorted out. She'd be on the way to 'Sunny Stamford' soon enough.
Famous last words.
Rae glanced up at the screen again and rolled her eyes in exasperation. The one hour delay for Leeds had changed into three. What was she supposed to do for another three hours? There hadn't been an announcement that time and she had been distracted by the thought long enough not to notice the clacking sound of the high heels of one of the air hostesses as she made her way to a kiosk further down from where she sat. Rae watched as she clicked on the Tannoy and spoke into the microphone.
'Could all passengers departing on flights ML673, MA1271 and MH7419 please assemble at the information desk at gate twelve. That's gate twelve for further information, thank you.'
Rae gathered her things and moved towards where a crowd had started to assemble haphazardly around the desk as people tried to push in to the front from all sides in mild panic. As she got closer to find out what was going on she could barely hear what was being said over the shouts of complaint and a few kids in front of her who were becoming more restless as the night wore on. A family of four made their way past her back to the lounge and Rae stepped out of her place in the mass to get their attention for a moment. 'Sorry, what did she say?'
The brunette woman stopped her husband for a second while he tried to keep hold of his overtired sons as they squirmed in his grip and she looked back over at Rae. 'She said they were having some equipment trouble and to collect a food voucher to get something to eat for the delay love.' The woman moved to lift her son up around her waist where he closed his eyes to sleep and Rae couldn't help but feel her own eyes straining to stay awake.
'Thanks.' Rae left them to return to her place in line and after another quick look around she saw that most of the shops and places to eat were closed. Out of the two places left open at that time of night, a French style self-service food hut and the usual coffee house chain, coffee seemed like the better idea if she wanted to remain conscious for the next flight. Rae slung her overnight bag over her shoulder, pushed it round to her back and reached near the end of the queue. While she waited she dug her mobile out from her bag and waited for the dial tone to ring though when Chloe picked up.
'Rae?' Chloe's voice on the other end was quiet and gravelly and she felt a bit guilty for waking her up by the sounds of it.
'Hi Chlo, sorry. I'm still on Tunisia time, didn't mean to wake you.'
'Everything ok?'
'Yeah. I'm alright. Just wanted to give you a ring and let you know I'm gonna be a bit late getting back. There's been a problem with the suitcase belt or something. I dunno, that's what the couple beside me just said.'
'Oh, you're joking.' She could hear Chloe huffing across the line. 'What time are you getting here then?'
'No idea,' she stepped nearer the front where she could hear muttering of complaints the closer she got. 'Look can I ring you properly tomorrow? It's a bit mad here at the minute and I'm going to miss everything at this rate. I'll talk to you later right?'
'What if I came to collect you?'
'Don't be daft. It's not that bad, get some sleep and I'll ring you if anything changes but I'll be back on Monday if I've got to walk there. Talk to you when I get there in the morning.'
'Okay, look after yourself.'
'Okay mum,' Rae rolled her eyes at the phone.
'Shut up Rae, you know what I mean.'
'I know, I will. Night.'
'Phone me if you need anything. I mean it.' Rae hung up after the third promise that she would.
By the time she got near the desk the locusts had descended and she was flat out of luck. The couple in front of her wheeled their cases out of the way and she approached the desk where the hostess gave her a sympathetic tilt of her coiffed head. 'Sorry, there aren't enough vouchers for demand. I can clear you back through to arrivals, there's more places open over there.'
'You're alright, thanks anyway.' Her stomach protested but Rae pushed the feeling to the side and made her way past the people behind her back to her seat. A cursory glance around the lounge brought the welcome sight of a vending machine and the offering of some chocolate and a drink. It wouldn't be a hot meal, but it was better than nothing. Rae stood in front of the coin slot and fumbled in her bag for her purse. She felt her stomach drop slightly at the empty loose change pocket as she shook her purse for any coins, nothing, great.
Feeling tired and defeated she moved to sit down across from the seats near the windows looking out onto the runways when someone crossed her path and held something out towards her. 'Have mine,' Finn passed her his dog-eared food voucher to her, his gaze fixed on the ground. He didn't want to make a scene. He'd just noticed that she'd been one of the few who'd got there too late and missed out. It didn't seem fair. 'I've got stuff in here.' He gestured inside his holdall and gave her a small one sided smile. He didn't wait to hear her response and moved back to his seat.
'Hold on,' she caught up with him and held the slip of paper back out towards him, 'I'll sort something out, but thanks.'
'No, I mean it. Look I don't really need it Just take it.'
'It's fine, honestly.' Rae stretched her arm out for him to take the paper but he just shook his head again getting annoyed at her stubbornness.
'Would you feel better if we split something then?'
'You don't have to do that, it's fine. Really.' At this point she just wanted to sit down and sleep so she wasn't in the mood to argue with a total stranger for much longer, attractive or not. Finn could almost hear his Nan and dad giving him a lifetime of grief if he didn't get her to take him up on the offer so he pressed on.
'Right, well everybody's going across there anyway and I could use somebody to watch my stuff so-'
It was only when another traitorous growl from her stomach caught his attention and he pressed the slip back into her hand that she realised that he wasn't going to give up.
'Alright, fine I'll watch your stuff for you.' this rate they'd be doing this back and forth till she agreed. It helped a bit that he didn't come across as an axe murderer or anything, he just seemed like a normal bloke, for now anyway. She relented and followed him over to the coffee place and let out a sigh when she saw the length of the line winding out to the outside. The thought of waiting in it when she already felt like her limbs were deadening must have crossed her face.
'I'll wait in the queue if you want to watch the bags,' his offer earned him a small smile of relief and Finn found the pair of them a seat and left his bag under one of the chairs as Rae sat down across from it and placed her own bag underneath her seat.
'Right, I'm going to get some tea, so what do you want to drink?'
'Can I have the same please? Thanks.'
'What about to eat?'
'Erm, just a sandwich is fine.' Finn gave her a quick nod and joined the line. She settled into her seat and watched as the people around her sped past with their cases and the occasional cleaner or pilot walked by and zoned out completely when his voice cut through her trance.
'Everybody's getting the same thing, a panini and a hot drink. There's a massive wait apparently so it might take a bit.' Finn took his seat across from her and moved his bag out from under the chair. Rae watched as he pulled a packet of mints, some crisps and two chocolate bars out from his holdall and opened them out in the middle of the table and gestured for her to help herself while he shook a handful of crisps onto the palm of his hand and put the packet back on the table.
Rae took a mint. Her breath was probably strong enough to peel paint at this point.
'Which flight were you on?'
'Leeds, you?'
'Amsterdam. I've got an uncle in Leeds, worked down with him for a bit when I moved down from Stamford.' Not one of his better ideas, it had been hell. Nothing to do but go back to a depressing bedsit in his uncle's house after eight hours scaffolding. He'd never let onto his dad, but he was right. He had been running away, and like he'd told him you just took your problems with you wherever you went when you didn't face them. He was still wrong about him leaving college, college had actually been total bollocks.
'That's where I'm going,' Rae brought his attention back to her and he caught her gaze for a second before she looked back down. 'I live there. Well, I did. I moved to go to uni. I'm supposed to be visiting friend for half term. By the time I get out of here I'll be heading back again.'
'My dad and some of my mates still live there and I've got a flat nearer the town, did you move there recently? I don't remember seeing you about in college and about.' Finn tried to place her, sure if they'd crossed paths he'd have tried to talk. He'd have noticed somebody like her. She was hard not to, all that dark hair and pale skin with those expressive eyes glancing over at him when she thought he didn't notice. She was something else.
'No I was born there unfortunately,' she pulled a face. 'Used to go to The Swan a couple of times but it's not my thing.' Mostly because she felt like she stuck out like a sore thumb most of the time and the music was usually shit and she didn't have the guts to go up and change it.
'I would've seen you about then, my mate Chop gets us drinks at The Swan most weekends. Did you go to-'
They were interrupted by the barista calling their table to collect their order. Finn went to get up but Rae was already out of her chair. 'I'll get it.' Rae could feel herself getting too comfortable in her seat. Too comfortable. If she didn't move she'd end up vegetating and never get to her flight. When she got to the counter her face fell. Her tomato and ham Panini looked more like a black brick. Not in the mood to wait for another one or argue she collected the order tray and made her way back over to the table and sat back down.
'Think they burnt mine a bit,' Rae muttered dryly as a snicker of laughter erupted from the other side of the table.
'They cremated it.' Finn looked at her plate and raised his eyebrows at it incredulously.
Rae scrunched her eyes and shot Finn a look of mock annoyance and Finn held back another snicker. 'It's not funny-' she tried to look serious and he just laughed harder then and she couldn't hold hers in any longer as she poked at the charred contents of her plate. 'It's a former sandwich, it has ceased to be,' she mocked and rapped the edge of it on the side of her plate and smirked at the clank it made.
'Are you not going to send it back?'
'I can't be bothered. Too tired. It might not be that bad.' She picked up her knife and attempted to cut into the blackened bread. Short of using a hacksaw it was inedible. With the way most of her today had gone it was really just the icing on the cake of a crap day.
Finn shook his head at her effort then without a word he pushed half of his Panini over towards her and bit into his. When Rae opened her mouth to protest he put his hand out while he couldn't talk. 'S'yours,' he said finally while his mouth was still half full.
After a beat Rae sheepishly took the other half gratefully and they settled into a surprisingly comfortable silence as they ate. Maybe it was because she was so tired, but she almost felt comfortable finishing what was on her plate for once. One of the few hang-ups left over from being a teenager was eating in front of people. Friends and family were something she could manage, they didn't care or make snide comments or faces if she so much as looked at a walnut whip. They didn't make judgements like the ones she could sometimes still see in the faces of other people. She'd worked hard to get to a stage where she didn't pick the darkest corner when she went out for lunch anymore or being embarrassed to order anything that wasn't a soup. To a stage where she could collect her lunch and sit near the window at the café near her uni, but some days were harder than others.
It wasn't quite as hard then with him sitting across the table at that moment. Probably because he seemed to be in his own world most of the time anyway; thinking hard about something from the furrowed brow he was sporting while he rooted through his bag for something. When she looked at him properly when she was sure he wasn't looking her mouth dried up making her reach for her now tepid tea. He was, well, fit. More than fit, he was a bit of an Adonis really. Maybe it was easier, she reasoned, because there was no way he'd look at her in the same way she was looking at him then. He didn't know her from Eve so there was no point in worrying about what he thought if she wasn't going to see him again after this. That idea wasn't quite as welcome. He had that quiet but thoughtful thing going with deep honey coloured eyes and the freckles starred across the bridge of his nose. There was a small scar there, a clear line from the top of his cheekbone. She glanced down to notice that under the jacket he'd been wearing earlier he had nice arms. Really nice and toned she couldn't help but admire when her eye caught a familiar picture on one of the CDs currently in his hand.
'Is that Be Here Now?' Rae found herself asking after their plates were cleared away bringing the pair of them out of their separate thoughts.
'You what? Yeah,' he flipped over the cover to look at it again. 'I was going to take Definitely Maybe, but my mate borrowed it the other month and I haven't got it back.'
'I've got it at home. I don't let anybody borrow mine, not since the Blur fiasco.'
'Blur fiasco?'
'My mate borrowed one of their albums and spilled nail polish remover over it. It was ages ago. Melted the plastic stuff off the CD and it never played right again.' Rae shuddered at the thought. She'd been devastated at the time. She'd saved up for ages and pleaded wither mum to get her to take her to the record shop to get it for weeks. Not as upset as Chloe who had bought her a replacement and a poster and card making it hard to stay annoyed at her. Rae smiled at the memory, she still had that card somewhere back home. 'It was an accident, but never again after that,' Rae shook her head.
Finn grimaced at the story in sympathy. He took all of what she said in and found himself wanting to ask her more. Usually he wasn't one for talking. He was never good at talking, listening he could do no bother, but he hadn't usually been one for small talk.
'So, who were you backing on all that Blur versus Oasis stuff. You a Damon Albarn fan?' Most of the girls at college had backed Blur. Rae shook her head and he perked his head up to listen.
'Oasis, definitely. Damon's alright, but Noel and Liam, they're the real thing, they're just normal blokes.' Finn nodded in agreement.
'I saw them play at Knebworth years ago and they were brilliant. Wish I could afford to see them again.'
'You actually got tickets to Knebworth? You went, seriously?' Rae didn't bother hiding that she was impressed. 'I couldn't afford tickets, nobody would've went with me anyway.'
'Yeah, me and my mates Chop, Archie and the lads from football drove down one summer. It were amazing.' Finn bit back the reply that he would've went with her, had he known she'd been around back then. It was easy to talk to her, there wasn't much else to do besides talk anyway as they waited, but he had enjoyed her company. At that moment he wished he could have had more time.
As if someone had heard his thoughts the Tannoy across from them blared out with the monotone voice of one of the stewards. 'This is an announcement for flight MH7419 departing for Leeds. If ticket numbers one though thirty would like to make their way to gate six we have begun boarding. That's flight MH7419 departing for Leeds, ticket numbers one through thirty to gate six.'
'That's me,' Rae sighed. 'I better get going before there's a stampede again.' Rae twisted back to face Finn and pulled her bag up into her lap to get her ticket. She hoped she'd managed to mask her disappointment enough, it was stupid to want a bit more time to chat. She didn't know this bloke from Adam. She needed to get home. 'Hope you enjoy Amsterdam.'
'You too- I mean, hope you get home all right.' Finn pulled out his chair and then felt foolish just standing there gawping.
'Thanks er-' She realised she hadn't got his name.
'Finn, sorry. It's Finn. I should've asked.'
'Rae,' she gave him a small wave with her hand. 'Thanks. For the drink and that I mean. I would've been bored stiff stuck here by myself.'
'No problem, it was a laugh.' When the words left his mouth he groaned internally, he sounded like a right knobhead.
'It was,' Rae found herself nodding with a large smile. It had been nice while it lasted. She shifted her overnight bag onto her shoulder properly and shifted from one foot to the other, not sure what she was waiting for, but not wanting to move just yet. 'Right well I'd better head off.' Rae gestured down towards the gate.
'Yeah, right– yeah.'
'Nice talking to you.'
'Nice meeting you too.' Finn watched as she turned to go, his gaze moved from her eyes to the back of her glossy dark hair waving down her back and to her retreating form get further and further away from him as she made her way out to her gate. If he'd have been braver he might have asked for her number.
