Finally going home, Tony thought relieved. The past week had been a stressful one, filled with lots of business meetings, dinners and small talk he excelled at but even small talk with beautiful women with nothing but hot air in their head got boring after a week.
But that was finally over. He was currently sitting in the International Airport of Berlin, waiting to board his airplane. "Passengers flying with the LY 9370 please get ready to board" a bored voice boomed through the hall. Relief flooded his mind. His flight had been delayed because of the torrential rain and strong winds, which have loomed over the beautiful city throughout the whole week he had stayed. After checking his small handbag if he had everything with him, plugging the adapter for his iPhone out and getting his passport with boarding pass ready, he got up to get in line.
Walking down the familiar tube to the airplane, he contemplated whether to watch a movie on board or get a handful of sleep. He didn't like to admit it but he detested hotel beds and couldn't sleep very well in them. Another reason to look forward: his own bed, with the perfect mattress and the not-too-chubby-pillows, unlike the ones in the hotel. They gave him a stiff neck. Perhaps he would treat himself to a nice massage. Yes, going home was definitely marvelous.
"Seat 25 K, Seat 25 K…" he murmured walking down the aisle to his designated place. It was the second row in the economy class. He put his bag in the box above and wanted to sit down. That was when he realized: The space between the rows of sets was atrociously small. He couldn't fit his legs properly and had to arrange them in a very uncomfortable and awkward position. Slightly annoyed and muttering obscenities under his breath, he pushed the call button. After a while a smiling stewardess appeared. Shuddering he thought how creepy that smile looked but forced a sickly sweet one back before saying: "Do you think it would be possible for me to move to another seat? There is no place for my legs and quite frankly I prefer not to spend my time cramped up in this tiny space you call seat. Because this is clearly not a seat it's a fucking torture device designed to cut the blood out of my legs." The stewardess didn't seem to be bothered by his rude words. "I have to check after everyone has boarded if there is a spare seat left. Is that alright for you, Sir?" "I guess." He grumbled still a bit miffed that he had to wait. He already felt how the blood circulation in his left leg was hindered, which caused an unpleasant prickling in his whole leg. Today was just not his day.
Twenty minutes later it seemed that everyone was on board and he looked around. Next to him, on the window was a tiny woman. She obviously had no problem with the small seat although he was sure she looked as annoyed as he did when she was how restricted the space was. And they would be in there for about 12 hours. As he was wondering who he should call, once he was home to complain about the whole thing the stewardess walked up to him. "We have one spare seat. If you would follow me, please? And would you mind taking your bag with you so you don't have to walk through the whole plane." Next thing he knew he had moved 7 rows to the back, still in a seat at the aisle but with much more leg space.
Sighing contently he stretched his legs. Well as far as possible, it still wasn't much in the cramped plane but it was a lot more than before. Again he looked around to muster his new seating partner for the next hours. An attractive young woman was sitting next to him. Her wild brown curls were put in a high ponytail and she wore a plain olive green shirt with faded blue jeans. And she looked absolutely stunning. Her face was not perfectly proportioned but there was a hidden beauty behind it, which made him study her face a bit more. She wore no make-up and her lips were slightly chapped. His gaze moved down her neck where he was surprised to find tiny white lines sprinkled across her whole neck. They almost looked like scars but that was ridiculous. Why would such a young woman have such scars on her neck?
Shaking his head to get rid of the disturbing images that were invading his mind his eyes wandered down to her shoulders and arms. Her skin had a natural glow caused by an even tan and it toned her firm arms. It was obvious that she worked out and as he lifted his eyes again to look at her face, he found her looking at him. And she didn't look too pleased. A blush crept to his cheeks and quickly he jerked his head away, pretending to look out of the window which was behind her. The next few hours passed too quickly and too slowly at the same time. He sat nervously in his seat, fidgeting with his hands. Every thought of a nap or a movie went right out of the window the moment he saw her. Just to make it clear: he didn't believe in love at first sight but there was something with this woman that kept him constantly at the edge of his seat. All his smoothness was just gone, leaving him unable to talk to her as much as he wanted to. So he just continued to sneak secret glances at her.
She appeared to be sleeping through most of the flight, sitting relaxed in her seat whist taking deep, calm breaths. And yet there was something that made him sure that she wasn't asleep. He just couldn't put his finger on it, why he felt that way. Somewhere in the process of studying her face he fell asleep, only once waking up when food was served. Too soon the speaker snarled, announcing their landing in Washington. As the plane touched the ground the usual hectic broke out, everyone scrambling out of his seat to get to their hand luggage. Luckily he had his under the seat before him and it appeared that the mysterious woman had so as well, because she was still sitting in her seat. This time with open eyes, twinkling in amusement, she watched the other passengers trying to get as quickly as possible out of the airplane.
She took a small but robust looking bag out from under her seat and stood up to leave. This left Tony with no other choice than to get up as well, the majority of the passengers had already left. Stepping out of the plane he first stretched his arms above his head, popping his shoulders. He felt a soft brush against his jacket and saw just in time the wild locks of the woman disappear around the corner. Slowly he walked to the baggage claim, pep talking and trying to convince himself to talk to her. But when he arrived, she was nowhere to be seen. The suitcases weren't out yet which meant that she had no luggage other than her hand bag. Hmm, strange, he thought, trying not to admit how strong her absence upset him.
Eventually his suitcase appeared and he went home. Standing in his foyer, he took his jacket off when a small piece of paper fell out. Weird, he never had paper in his jacket. It was too much of a risk of creating a mess when he forgets to take them out for the laundry. Picking the note up a huge smile stretched across his face. There was a series of numbers scribbled neatly across the paper signed with a small Z.D. at the bottom.