The Layover
"Another delay but I've been delayed three hours already!" I complain to the airline employee, it's really not her fault but I have to complain to somebody.
"I'm sorry Miss, there's still a storm over the Boston area and it's delaying almost all the flights. Why don't you go get a drink, when we're ready to board it will be announced throughout the airport." She suggests to me.
I nod grabbing my carryon and pulling it behind me, this was not how I was supposed to be spending Christmas Eve. I was supposed to be at home with Mom, Glen, Jake and even Darcy. Everyone else was already there but of course I got busy at the magazine I work for in Los Angeles and couldn't get away. Now this damn storm was holding me hostage in an airport on Christmas Eve. I needed my family this Christmas; I'd broken up with my boyfriend last week after a two year relationship. It was a painful decision but I realized I didn't love him anymore. Truth was I had yet to find someone I loved the way I had Eli, not sure what that says about me considering how many times Eli broke my heart and how badly. Then again I guess the more you love a person the more your heart breaks when they hurt you. I hadn't dated or even seen Eli since my senior year of high school, since then I'd had a string of boyfriends, I seemed to have one every 6 months or so in my first three years at U of T. Drew used to make fun of me because I dated and dumped people more than he did. He was one of my best friends now, had been ever since our senior year at DeGrassi, and of course Adam still was too. Not that I got to see them much now that we all lived in different places. Drew and Bianca had rekindled last year and they were engaged again, I was supposed to be attending their wedding in a couple of months with Paul, he would be the recent breakup, but that wasn't going to happen now. Finding the first airport bar had a huge line I kept going until I found a little lounge with one empty table. I rush for it at the same time as someone else; me and the gentleman reach it at the same time and look up at each other. As soon as we see each other we break out laughing.
"Join me for a drink," K.C. smiles pulling out the chair for me.
Before I sit down I hug him tightly, it's been ages since I've seen K.C. but he looks just the same only a little older.
"Where are you flying too?" I question.
"Mom's place in Ottawa, she moved there a few years ago when she remarried. Are you flying home?" He asks.
"Oh Lisa remarried, good for her, tell her I said hi and congratulations. Yeah I'm flying home to Toronto; the whole family is going to be there." I reply just as the waiter comes over.
"Dry martini with an onion," K.C. requests.
"Chocolate martini," I order and the waiter nods.
"That's indulgent," K.C. grins.
"I deserve it, been stuck in this airport too long. So where are you flying from?" I question.
"San Francisco and you?" He asks back.
"L.A. I work at a magazine there as a syndicated columnists." I tell him.
"I always knew you'd go into something with writing. I work at a medical research lab in San Francisco; you know we are only a day's drive from each other we should get together some time." K. C. suggests as the waiter brings our drinks.
"That would be great," I reply with an excited smile before taking a sip of my martini.
"You still in touch with anyone?" K.C. questions.
"Adam, Drew and Bianca but I've lost touch with everyone else, well except for Jake but our parents are married. What about you?" I ask.
"No between work and school I slowly lost touch with everybody. I'm surprised you keep in touch with Drew and Bianca though last I heard they had broken up." K.C. remarks.
"They did but they kept in touch and that romance sparked again last year, in fact they recently got engaged again. Drew and I ran student council senior year and that's when we became close." I explain taking another sip of my drink.
"I would have liked to have seen you two running the school." K.C. grins, then we're silent for a minute, I can see a question on his mind but he's hesitant to ask it for some reason. After a few more sips of his drink he gets the courage to spit it out. "Are you and Eli still together?" He asks slowly.
So that was the question swirling on his mind, I think I hear a hint of hope that I'm not with Eli, but maybe that's just wishful thinking.
"No Eli and I were over a long time ago, I've had a string of…I wouldn't say bad relationships since just boring, not passionate I never quite found what I had with Eli again. My last boyfriend and I just broke up, we were supposed to be going to Drew and Bianca's wedding next year but obviously that isn't going to happen. Guess I can always take Jake or something if it comes down to it." I sort of mutter the last part and then quickly take a sip of my drink.
"Or I could go with you," K.C. offers and I almost spit out the sip I just took but quickly compose myself and blink at him.
"If you want an invitation to the wedding I'm sure Drew and Bianca w…"
"I want to go with you," he says firmly stopping me from finishing that sentence.
I haven't really thought about K.C. in years, we haven't been a couple since grade nine and yet when he says this my heart skips a beat. My stomach fills with butterflies and I feel like I'm 14 all over again.
"That would be wonderful, that is if you want to go and you're not in a…" I stumble over a way to ask if he's with somebody I should not be this nervous it's K.C. for heaven's sake!
"I'm single Clare, I usually work too much and the girl gets fed up." K.C. tells me.
"Yeah that sounds familiar, that was one of the breaking points in a few of my relationships too." I tell him.
"You always were career driven, even at fourteen." He laughs as we both finish our drinks.
"Will there be anything else?" The waiter asks coming over to get our empty martini glasses.
"No just the bill," K.C. replies and the waiter walks off. "Go on a date with me," K.C. requests as soon as the waiter has walked off.
"Happily, when?" I ask.
"Right now," is his answer.
"Right now? But we can't leave the airport," I point out.
"Then we'll go on a date in the airport, we've already had drinks now we'll go have dinner, it's about that time anyway." K.C. responds as the waiter brings our check and he pays.
Rather than respond verbally I simply smile and feel my cheeks blush a little. K.C. signs the bill, stands up and offers me his arm. I get up and take his arm, we're both pulling carry-on bags behind us and must look kind of silly walking with our arms linked but I don't care. After walking the airport a while we find an actual restaurant that looks good and we get a table. We spend two hours talking over dinner, mostly about work but we talk of other things as well. After eating we get ice cream for dessert, laughing and flirting and again I feel like a giddy teenager and not an over worked over stressed twenty five year old. I remember all the things I like about K.C. and all the reasons I fell for him all those years ago. I'm having so much fun I almost forget that I'm in an airport on Christmas Eve and my flights been delayed six hours so far, that is until an announcement rings through the airport that Canadian Air flight 1677 to Toronto is boarding in a few minutes. Just after that K.C.'s flight is also announced and I sigh ruefully thinking that I don't want this night to end.
"I'll walk you to your gate," K.C. says standing up. He takes out his phone, hands it to me and gets both our bags. "Put in your number, I'll text you mine before we take off," he tells me.
I smile and put in my info as we walk to my gate, I hand him back his phone and fish my boarding pass from my purse.
"Don't forget to tell your mom I said hi and belated congrats on the wedding," I remind him.
"I won't, I'll call you tomorrow, we have to make plans to visit after all." He reminds me and my lips curl up to an anticipating grin.
"Yes we do," I say softly.
They announce boarding for my flight and then his flight which is several gates down from mine. K.C. cups my chin tilting it up and his lips embrace mine, softly at first but when my arms go around his neck he deepens the kiss. We pull away grinning and giddy, we don't say another word but I walk onto my plane and I'm the only one wearing a big smile. I'm actually grateful for that storm and the ridiculous delay that stretched my one hour layover into seven. If not for that I never would have reconnected with K.C. and I never would have felt this euphoric newly in love feeling again.