With all the snow and chaos and the endless reports on the news I got a little inspired. And since I don´t really like Christmas too much I thought I would brighten up my days left with a little.... smut with plot ;)
The title and the chapter titles are taken from the song Show me what I´m looking for my Carolina Liar.
.::part 1::.
I'm finding it hard to resist
DELAYED
CANCELLED
CANCELLED
CANCELLED
CANCELLED
Great. Just great.
That was about everything occupying Bella Swan's mind as she checked the flight board for the millionth time within the last thirty minutes and still nothing had changed – at least not for the better. Flight after flight was being cancelled due to the horrific blizzard raging outside and in the news. Horrible pictures of crashed roofs, houses buried underneath a suffocating mass of snow, blocked streets and blackouts reflected on every screen which did not inform about all the cancelled flights or ads for the numerous stores in the airport.
It was December 23rd, late afternoon and Bella regretted having agreed to come home for Christmas this year. She usually spent it alone ever since she moved to New York four years ago but the pleading tone in her father's voice had rendered her effeminate and so she had agreed to spent Christmas with her family in cold, rainy, cloudy, dull Forks, Washington instead of having a comfortable couple of days in her warm and cozy apartment.
She knew right from the start that it was no good idea.
First she had booked the flight too late and somehow, probably due to her misfortune these days, she had not managed to get a direct flight from New York to Seattle. That alone had caused her blood pressure to raise into unhealthy heights.
Apart from her general dislike towards planes and airports she hated connecting flights. Every time she had finally made herself a little comfortable in the narrow, sterile space she had to rummage her luggage together again and rush across the airport in time to catch her next flight, praying that her suitcases would end up at the same destination she was.
Second Bella had almost missed her flight in New York because of the endless traffic jam and the incapable, smelly cab driver who had apparently won his license in the lottery.
Third the guy sitting next to her on the flight was more than uncomfortable to be close to. Bella could not stop wondering if he was somehow related to the cab driver. Both of them appeared to never have heard of ´shower` or ´deodorant`.
And now Bella sat here at O'Hare International Airport, overloaded with masses of people from all over the world, all of them heading for their Christmas destination and yet nothing was moving. Everything was stuck. It felt as if there was another cancelled flight each second.
Bella was strangely thankful that she had been here for over five hours now and had the privilege of a seat – no matter how cold and uncomfortable it was. At least she did not have to wander around all the time like most of the other passengers whose flights had been cancelled, without any chance of sitting down a minute.
She ignored the pain whenever one of the ´Starbucks Palmers` stepped onto her feet because it was so crowded. She ignored her mumbling stomach and the empty ache she felt because the last thing she had eaten had been a half empty bowl of cereal this morning. She ignored her sore neck and back, her numb legs, her heavy-lidded eyes, the smell of too many people crouched into one place, the incomprehensible announcements, the horrible pictures from the news, the snoring from the man sitting in the chair next to her, the mixed conversations, curses and children cries coming from the crowd.
But one thing Bella could not ignore was the fact that she was bored.
If it had not been for defending her precious piece of metal to sit on she would have loved to get up, stretch her tired legs so she would not die of Economy Class Syndrome. That would be the perfect Christmas gift, indeed.
Even McDonald's seemed like paradise to Bella while she sat there waiting and waiting – and Bella hated McDonald's. Probably as much as the cab driver: smelly and incapable.
Her feet tap-danced on the dark-blue carpet, her handbag trapped between them and to keep herself occupied Bella had started to observe the people passing by – or better: squeezing themselves through the crowd.
There was a red-haired, middle-aged woman standing only a few feet away, her bright pink cell phone constantly pinned to her ear and she talked faster than Jessica Stanley, the girl-type of girl from Bella's former high school in Forks who was now married and, as far as Bella knew, had two sons.
The woman kept talking and talking, first to her mother, than a ´honey` of whom Bella was sure could be her husband because there was a thin, golden ring around the woman's left ring finger, then probably to a hundred friends and currently to someone who was apparently her boss. Her shrieking voice had changed to a quieter one and she was not as forward and offensive as before.
Bella wondered how long the battery would last – her own had died shortly after she had called her father telling him that he should not wait for her and that she would call as soon as she landed in Seattle.
Then there was a young couple, around Bella's age, who stood a few meters away, the blonde girl holding onto the guys arm, her head resting against his shoulder while he ran his hand through her curls. They looked oddly peaceful and oblivious to the disaster happening around them, lost in their own world and Bella did not allow her eyes to rest on them for too long – it felt too private and intimate.
A group of teenagers stood nearby, although everything Bella could clearly see was the tip of seven bright red Christmas caps. The sound of enthusiastic chatter, loud voices and laughs made it obvious that they did not let themselves be bothered by anything happening around them and that optimism infuriated Bella a little.
And then there was of course the man who was currently deep asleep and softly snoring in the seat next to Bella, his huge form crouched together, his head awkwardly leaned against the much to low backrest of the metal seat.
Bella felt a little intimated every time she looked at him – which happened more and more often – because he was literally massive. Tall. Hell, was he tall.
His skin was russet-colored and the way his t-shirt (how in the name of sanity could he wear a t-shirt at this time of the year?) revealed his rippled arms caused a shiver to run down Bella's spine. More than once she caught herself on the brink of reaching out her hand and touching his skin, just once.
The sheer stupidity of that thought made Bella think her maturity levels had just sunken to the ground of the ocean and she might as well put on a blinking Christmas cap and join the group of loudly chattering teenagers.
She could not bring herself to look away too often, though. The stranger had something compelling about him and Bella did not understand what exactly it was.
It drove her insane.
His cropped hair was jet black and silky and it was no good of a distraction from his arms since Bella felt the urge to run her fingers through it.
The grey t-shirt had no use in covering up his chiseled torso, either and after a while Bella started justifying herself. How the hell was she supposed not to look? It was his fault. He could have worn a sweater, after all.
"Damn it," she whispered to herself wit her voice full of venom as she tried to ban a very inappropriate thought out of her mind.
If he would change into that sweater now……..
"Stop, stop, stop!"
Bella started thinking that all stress and confusion and endless waiting today had had a bad influence on her sanity. Talking to herself was nothing she usually did.
"Ouch!"
"Sorry, I´m sorry!"
The young woman who's heel had just been drilled into Bella's left foot rushed by, not even bothering to look at Bella as she stumbled over her apology and soon disappeared in the crowd of people and bags.
"Ouch…," Bella said, quieter this time, pulling up her foot and kneading it through her old, worn-out tennis sneaker.
"Everything alright?"
Bella's heart stopped dead in her chest and the dull pain in her foot was forgotten when she heard the deep, husky voice coming from her right side and even if she had not already known from the direction she was sure she would have been able to assign that voice to the right person. It could only belong to the mystifying stranger.
Too fitting.
Slowly, carefully and scared of what was to come she turned her head into his direction and the first thing she saw surprised her.
She had expected to see more chiseled chest, buff upper arms, smooth, russet skin and inviting black hair. But what she saw when she gathered up the courage to look at him was a pair of dark, caring and soft, warm eyes.
Staring right into her soul.
part 2 will be up tomorrow