Of Fate and Second Chances
"No, Patricia, I'm still at JFK. No, I don't know when I'll be home for sure. No, I will not. . ." Haley James trailed off as she bumped into a person also rushing through the crowed terminal of JFK. "Nathan?" She asked the tall man before her unsure she wasn't seeing things.
"Haley?" He responded. "Wow, it's been what 5 years?"
"Something like that, yeah."
"Haley…Haley…"
"Oh, sorry Patricia I have to go." She said quickly snapping her phone shut. "Nathan, this is. . . "
"Odd? Awkward? Interesting?" Nathan Scott, her one time husband-at-sixteen finished. "You look great by the way, Haley."
"Thanks." She blushed just slightly. How he could still turn her to mush she would never know. "You don't look so bad yourself. And yes, this is a little awkward, odd, and interesting all at the same time."
"Where are you headed to or from?"
"Oh I'm supposed to be catching a flight back home."
"And where is home these days?"
"LA, still singing. You?"
"Oh, I live here in the city. I coach basketball when I'm not training for the NBA."
"That's amazing! Did you go to Duke?"
"Yeah, I even got an academic scholarship. I pulled my grades up tremendesly my last two years in high school. Where'd you go? Stanford?"
"Oh, I didn't. Go to college that is. Well, I'm starting in January. At NYU actually. So, I was here to look at apartments. I'll be commuting." What neither realized was they had wandered from there bags, which a security officer had noticed.
"Excuse me Sir, Miss, are these your bags?"
"Yeah." They both responded at the same time.
"You'll have to come with me."
"What?" Haley said a little loudly.
"Hales, calm down." He didn't see her startle at the sound of her old nickname. "Why?" Nathan asked a bit more calmly.
"You both left bags unattended. You'll need to follow me."
"Well, this is just great. Now, I'll miss my flight. Officer, is there anyway you can just let us go with a warning? It's not like I'm carrying a gun in my purse." Haley answered rudely.
"She didn't mean that. Haley, why don't we just follow the nice security officer to where ever we need to, ok?"
"Ok, ok, I'm going." They picked up their bags and followed the officer to the security checkpoint and into a private room. Inside there was four uncomfortable chairs surrounding a very modern, sharp table.
"Please wait here."
"Yeah, like we don't anything better to do." Haley mumbled.
"Hales, just try to remain calm. I'm sure they'll comp your flight."
"They'd better."
"I've missed you, Hales." Nathan responded, laughing.
"It's so not funny and I've missed you too, Nathan."