Here it is! I'm already working on Chapter 3 heheh, so I'll try to update soon. ENJOY! :D

xX0Xx

"Sir, please! Stop that plane; I'm begging you! You have to let me on!" Courtney pleaded, clasping her hands together and giving the tough, military-looking security guard puppy dog eyes. He was blocking the gate entrance with his body.

"Miss, there is nothing we can do," he replied gently in a deep, thick foreign accent. "The plane has already taken flight. You may catch the last plane of the night in the next 2 hours or so. Otherwise, Italy must wait until morning. Good night."

Courtney let her mouth hang open as she watched the guard tap a code on the gate doors and slowly walk away. "Shit," she angrily muttered under her breath. With a sigh, she straightened the hem of the white, knee-length sundress she was wearing, picked up the olive green suitcase that lay at her feet, and spun on her heel to walk away as well.

The seats outside most of the gates were completely vacant, and almost every eating-place was closed, considering it being 11:46pm on a Saturday night, early spring. Courtney wandered the cold, empty halls of the airport, scowling at how much she felt like a lost, homeless person with every second that passed. She was completely exhausted, but she knew that if she slept, she'd probably miss her flight once again.

What the hell was she supposed to do for another 2 hours? If only her stupid cab driver didn't get into a car crash on the way there, she could be sipping some exotic fruit juice in a first class seat. Yes, being one of New York's successful lawyers had its perks.

After walking along the wall for a while, a bright neon light around the corner caught her eye.

Courtney came across a dim café, a "Simple At Best" sign flickering above a couple of wooden tables. The walls were painted with dark orange and tan stripes, mostly covered with framed vintage photographs of bicycles and Paris. She could feel the warmth radiating from the small place, seemingly welcoming. All the black, metal chairs were upside down on top of the tables, saying that the café was closed, but the man wearing a dark blue apron behind the counter carving something into the cash register with a pocketknife noted otherwise.

With a roll of her eyes, she violently yanked a chair off a corner table and slammed it onto the ground, startling the employee to jump by the sharp sound of the chair connecting to the floor.

"Whoa, sweetheart," he said smoothly, finally noticing her. "Calm down. It's pretty late, and some people here actually want to have a peaceful, boring Saturday night."

Courtney looked up to see a pair of icy teal eyes giving a questioning look back at her onyx ones. She glared at the man, who seemed to be her age despite the childish green Mohawk and piercings that scatted his face.

"Well listen here, sweetheart. Sorry if I'm too much of a bother," she spat sarcastically. "But I'm stuck here for the next 2 freakin' hours because my stupid plane flew off without me."

Much to her dislike, the guy undid the strings of his apron and tossed it to the side, walking towards her table. "Looks like you're gonna be ranting for a while," he said, flashing an amused smirk as he grabbed a chair and sat across from her.

Courtney gave him a suspicious look. "What are you doing?"

He shifted in his seat comfortably and propped his head on his hand with his elbow on the table, shrugging. "Getting ready to listen."

"Why?" Courtney asked incredulously, narrowing her eyes. "I thought you were busy uh… drawing." She glanced at the poor cash register, which was all scratched up and had a skull engraved on the side, much like the large one on his black shirt.

"Nah, working on the latest night shift is pretty boring anyway… so yeah."

She took a good look around the café, seeing the surrounding untouched chairs still up on the empty tables. "Night shift? I thought this place was closed already."

He simply shrugged his shoulders. "I just put the chairs up so people think that. It looks like it worked for a while." He leaned in closer, and Courtney failed resisting to get lost in his hypnotizing eyes. "…But that didn't keep you away, did it?"

Courtney instantly snapped out of the brief trance, her face twisting in disgust. Was he actually trying to flirt with her? At a time like this?

The guy leaned back in his chair with that aggravating smirk plastered on his face. "You have a name, Princess?" He asked, crossing his arms behind his head and slinging his feet onto the table.

Nicknames? She thought, scowling. Is this guy for real? "Okay, one: it's definitely not Princess! And two: it's Courtney. Courtney Weston?" She replied confidently. Maybe now he'll give her some respect once he realizes who she is.

He merely blinked at her, giving her a blank stare. "Yeah… and…?"

Courtney felt her blood boil underneath her naturally tanned skin. "What? What do you mean 'and…'? I'm the Courtney Weston!" She exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air in frustration.

He shook his head. "Yep, still not ringing any bells."

"I'm one of the best lawyers in the city! How can you not recognize me?"

"Well, it's either the fact that I'm not one to care about politics, or that I just don't give a crap at all."

Courtney scoffed at his ignorance. "Well, what's your name? I bet a person like you would be recognized anyway… by the cops!"

He chuckled lightly, obviously amused by her outrages. Courtney could feel her ears getting red. For an ogre like him, he does have a nice laugh… whoa. Did I just think that? What the hell?

"FYI, Princess, I'm Duncan. And yeah, you're probably right."

She froze in her seat. "You mean you're a… criminal?"

"Ex-criminal." He pointed out. "I did my time, so I'm just here for community service. And trust me doll face, this was the most decent choice the judge offered. It was either this, or scrubbing nasty urinals in the guys' bathroom at Planet Fitness."

"Oh, gross!" Courtney couldn't fight back the shudder that crawled up her spine. Here she was, having some sort of conversations with a somewhat hot ex-con. Wait… somewhat hot? Ugh, whatever; she may be tired, but she can handle whatever came her way, as always.

"So, what flight did you miss?" Duncan asked, his eyes swimming in questions.

"Venice, Italy. First class." Courtney replied proudly. She smiled as she pictured herself happily sitting in a nice, clean leather seat with her laptop beside her, enjoying a rerun of CSI on the little TV screen in front of her. She grimaced as the image faded away, remembering that she had to wait another 2 hours for that kind of treatment.

"Wow, really," Duncan's eyes wandered around the café, obviously not finding anything special with her planned destination. "What's happening there? Business trip or something?"

"Well…" She hesitated. It wouldn't hurt to share a big part of her life with some guy she just met, right? It's not like she'd like to keep contact with someone like Duncan, anyway. "I was just going there to give my boyfriend a surprise visit, that's all."

She noticed how his face fell at the sound of "boyfriend", and watched a streak of jealousy cross his face. Bit it went away almost instantly when another smirk took its place. "Wow, who's the poor guy?"

Courtney sent him a heated glare. "Justin's a model, just so you know. He's there to sponsor a few Italian clothing lines. Not only is he drop dead gorgeous, but he's the sweetest, kindest, most loyal-"

"Alright, alright, I get it. Just stop with the gushy-mushy stuff! It's starting to give me a headache," Duncan protested, getting up and walking over to the counter. "Want a coffee? It's on me."

"Decaf, please and thank you!" Courtney told him. As he nodded and turned to a coffee machine, she kept her thoughts on her one and only Justin. She still couldn't believe how lucky she was just to know him, considering how he chose her over the most popular girl (and whore) in college, Heather Kim.

A few seconds of silence slowly passed through the halls and the café, despite the whirring inside the machine behind the counter. She pulled out the black box from the pocket of the shorts underneath her dress, opening it and gazing at the shining diamond stone…

"Whoa! What that hell is that?" Duncan asked, interrupting her dream-like state. She looked up to find him staring seriously at the beaming stone she held in her hand.

Courtney sighed in defeat. She hadn't told anyone that she had bought a ring, not to mention about what she was planning to do with it. She had to tell someone eventually, so why not now…? "I…I'm going to Italy to propose."

She felt the blush creep onto her cheeks, hearing nothing but the sound of red chucks stepping towards her. A pair of hands placed below a chin a beige cup with dark, creamy-looking coffee filling it to the brim. She let the warm steam reach her face and relax her.

Duncan pulled out a chair next to her instead of a cross, holding a similar cup and taking a gulp. "You're not kidding, right? Don't chicks do that on a leap year or something?"

Courtney scoffed, taking her gaze from the gem to fix her eyes on him. "That's, like, an ancient myth! And not to mention downright sexist!" She angrily gulped down her coffee quickly, ignoring the burning sensation that followed in her throat afterwards. "Screw leap year! It's the 21st century for God's sake! Us chicks don't need to wait around for men to propose. So wake up and…"

She took one last sip of her drink and waved the cup in his face, smiling. "Smell the coffee."

Duncan chuckled, gently pushing the cup away from his face to take a drink of his own coffee. "So… I guess you really like Mr. Mannequin, huh Princess?"

Courtney sheepishly brushed a lock of her silky, brown hair from her face. "Hell… I-I think I'm in love with him…" She stuffed the black velvety box back into her pocket and tried to cover her goofy grin with her hands.

Another silence awkwardly passed as Duncan tossed the cup onto the floor, burping loudly in the process and breaking the brief tension in the room. There went his chance at getting her phone number. "Wow," he muttered, not knowing the right words to say. "That's…deep, I guess."

"W-Well…" Courtney stuttered, mentally kicking at herself for sounding so weak. She groggily rubbed her tired eyes with the backs of her hands. "I said something about my life. It's only fair if you spill some of yours!"

"Alright, you got me," He held his hands up as if surrendering to the police. "Long story short, my parents disowned me for, well, being me. I did some things, got me a good few months of jail, and here I am, doing community service." He spread his arms proudly, gesturing the near-empty café.

Courtney wrinkled her nose, not seeing the kind of "community service" he was doing exactly.

"And not only am I getting some hours done, I get to make the most of my Saturday nights talking to hot girls like you." He leaned close to her…

She could feel his hot breath against her ear. The blush returned onto her cheeks, making her freckles stand out. She opened her mouth to protest when-

"Flight 5683 to Venice, Italy. Flight 5683 to Venice Italy, ready to board," a young woman's voice echoed from the speakers and through the halls.

Courtney gasped sharply and whipped around to get her suitcase near her chair. Her hair swiftly hit Duncan's face and he shot up in surprise. The young lawyer stumbled out of her seat and tossed her cup into the garbage.

"Thanks for everything, Duncan," She smiled at him before hastily running out of the café and into the hall, racing around the corner and towards her gate. Suddenly, she felt a strong arm quickly snake around her waist, causing her to stop abruptly.

"Hey, hold on, Princess," Duncan half-whispered in her ear from behind her.

Courtney felt herself slip into panicking mode. "Duncan, when I come back, I'll make sure I pay you for the coffee, okay? I just have to-"

"No, it's not that," Duncan cut her off, yanking out what looked like a cell phone out of his cargo shorts and dialed a few numbers. He put it to his ear and looked down at her. "Just wait a few seconds, alright?"

Courtney fidgeted in his tight grip, blushing as she looked down at his arm, which was still secured comfortably around her waist. He's pretty warm… She thought, slowly making his hold an excuse to lean closer to his chest…

Courtney! NO! She heard an inner voice scream at her. What do you think you're doing? You have a boyfriend in Italy waiting for you, remember? Now, GO!

She gasped, imagining Justin's innocent, handsome face loyally smiling at her. Not even hearing Duncan talking loudly into his phone to a Mr. Wenner, Courtney struggled even harder in his grip, which only caused him to hold her tighter.

"Yes…yes, thank you! Thank you, sir! I swear, I'm not gonna do anything wrong. Yes, thank you… 5683… yep, call Molly… I'll board the plane now…"

"Flight 5683 to Venice, Italy. The plane will be finished boarding and ready to take flight in 1 minute." The voice echoed.

Upon hearing that, Courtney clutched her suitcase handle tighter and felt over the bump in her pocket, which was where the ring's box was. Justin's waiting for you, Court.

She darted to the gate, feeling that Duncan had loosened his grip as he shut his cell phone closed. "Whoa, wait!" He called after her, but Courtney's feet couldn't stop. She couldn't afford getting another ticket. She already had to pay for the second one since the 1st flight was gone, not to mention the expensive price of the engagement ring.

As soon as Courtney reached the gate, she threw her ticket at the young blonde security girl who was chatting away on the phone and standing near the now open gate doors. The flight to her love was just through those doors and into that plane.

After thanking the young lady politely, Courtney began walking gracefully onto the plane when a calloused hand wrapped around her waist once again and fell on the top of her stomach, stopping her dead in her tracks. She whipped around to glare up at a too-familiar pair of teal eyes looking down at her. "Hey, Princess, I told you to wait!"

"Uh, excuse me sir," the blonde security girl called from behind him. "Where's your ticket?"

"Oh, I'm the new flight attendant Mr. Wenner called you about, Molly." He replied, shrugging.

Courtney's mouth fell open, feeling pretty shocked and more than a little confused. What the hell is going on?

Before she could even ask, Molly simply smiled and nodded at the two of them. Duncan put his hands on Courtney's thin shoulders.

He smirked mischievously as he began to push her lightly onto the plane.

"Looks like I got a trip to Italy, huh?"

xX0Xx

A/N: And so the story starts off! So, how'd you like it? Please review! I'm debating whether to continue it or not. Anyone who finds out what 5683 translates to gets a cookie, or some sort of pastry x3. REVIEW!
~Raf