Chapter Three
Ten Years Ago – LAX Airport
"Hot hot hot!"
"Shit. I'm so sorry!"
She takes a step back and the man in front of her holds the fabric of his now stained shirt away from his skin, still managing a charming smile for her, "I didn't mean the coffee."
She resists the urge to roll her eyes, such a stupid line, "You okay? I'm sorry I wasn't looking whe-"
"No worries," he lifts the duffle in his hand, "Good thing I've got a change of clothes right here."
"Umm okay," she moves around him dragging her bag after her before turning back to him again finds him watching her walk away, "Sorry again."
After washing away what little splatter of coffee that had landed on her jacket and hand, that poor guy she can still feel the sting of the hot liquid on her skin, she finally manages to find a row of unoccupied seats to wait out her flight and tries not to think about what she's doing. About leaving Stanford and about what's waiting for her in New York; honestly this delay must be a punishment.
Holy shit, she just quit Stanford. Her mom would have been so mad at her. But she isn't here. she isn't. she isn't. She leans forward supporting her elbows on her knees and covers her face with her hands. Maybe she shouldn't have left.
She startles when a throat clears right next to her, she looks up and sees a coffee cup right in front of her, she looks up further to find the guy she just spilled her coffee all over now in a slightly wrinkles plaid shirt. He brought her coffee.
"You got me a coffee," it comes as a confused statement rather than a question.
"Well you know it's only fair I was wearing the last one you had, and you looked like you needed it," when she doesn't say anything he adds, "It's vanilla latte. I guessed that was what you were drinking, judging by how wonderful I smell now."
She smiles sheepishly and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, "Thank you." Her fingers brush his when she reaches for the cup, and his eyes meet hers. His eyes are so blue.
"You're welcome. I'm Rick by the way."
She moves the cup to her other hand to shake his offered hand, "Kate."
He seems to hesitate for a second, "Do you mind if I sit here?" he points to the empty seats in her row.
She considers for a second.
He lifts his hand in supplication, "I just wanted a quiet place to write and all other rows around my gate are either taken or invaded by kids," he adds dramatically.
"Umm yeah, sure. Least I can offer you after basically attacking you with burning hot coffee."
"Told you wasn't the coffee that was hot."
She presses her lips into a line and nods once.
He laughs at that, "Not a fan of the lame lines?"
She chuckles at that.
He drops his duffle to the ground, "Alright then, I'll take that one out of the cycle."
"Good call," she's thankful that he at least has enough sense to take the seat two down from hers, gives her space.
They sit like that for an entire hour, no words exchanged. At first, she thought he might annoy her, start conversation after conversation, but he just sits there and types away at his computer and then it suddenly clicks, he's that mystery writer her mom kept telling her about. She smiles as she remembers how her mom got her one of his books, told her to stop being a snob and read something from this century, she also mentioned something about him being handsome as if that was a good reason to read it. She glances at him, yeah…that part's true.
She's stranded in an airport after quitting Stanford, moving back home to do god knows what with her life and here comes in one of her mom's favorite authors. Okay, yes, he didn't exactly come in, she did spell her coffee all over him but still, surly this is some sort of sign from the universe, to what she is not sure, but it does make him more interesting and she can't help but glance at him occasionally as she pretends to read her book.
Then he suddenly closes the lid of his laptop, looks at his watch then drums his fingers against the closed lid and she can't help but smile at his childish fidgeting. He turns towards her catches her glancing at him and he grins.
"What are you reading?" he asks, leaning a bit towards her to get a better look at the book in her lap.
"Not one of yours," she isn't sure what is it about him that makes her wants to tease him.
He looks up at her surprised but grins when he sees a smile tugging at her lips, like he's pleased with her little dig, "Oh you're a fan?"
"Umm actually my mom used to read your books, she really loved them."
"Used to? I didn't think the last one was so bad," he quips.
She averts her eyes, the sting of tears immediate, "No she-" even now she can't wrap her head around it. Her mother was murdered. Killed. Her mom. She can't get into it now,"She passed away."
"Shit. I'm so sorry, I'm such an idiot," he puts his laptop aside and turns in his seat to face her, "I'm really sorry Kate, that was insensitive."
She doesn't turn to face him, her head ducked to hide the tears swimming in her vision, it's been months but every time she has to explain it to someone, every time she has to say the words it clinches her heart. She swallows and waves him off, "It's okay you didn't know."
He doesn't turn back in his seat, "Do you want to talk about it?"
Her eyes lift to his at that, "I don't know you," it comes out sharper than she intended but it doesn't seem to bother him.
"I know, but sometimes that's a good thing. Strangers in an airport, we can confess our hearts out and then each gets on their plane and off we go and that's that. Probably won't see each other again, I'm going to New York, and you're going to...," he offers his palms out for her in question.
"New York," she says, a little amused at the surprised look on his face.
"Huh," he smiles sheepishly, "okay…but it's still a big city."
She shakes her head at him, "Thank you, but no thank you."
He shrugs, "Alright, well we will be here for-" he looks down at his watch, "three and half hours if you change your mind,"
"You could go back to writing and I could go back to reading," she taps the book still open in her lap.
He sighs, "I'm stuck. Besides my battery ran out," he shrugs.
"You don't have a charger?"
"You know, if you weren't smiling at me right now, I'd think you were trying to get rid of me." He gives her a mischievous grin, "I do have a charger but when my publisher asks me why I haven't submitted the chapters, I'll say I forgot it in my hotel room."
She purses her lips in an attempt not to laugh and shakes her head at him.
"What? Don't judge!" He exclaims, "She's ruthless."
"You are so dramatic."
He sighs, "Unfortunately I think that part may be hereditary."
She lifts her eyebrow at him, confused.
"My mom's an actor, but I promise she's so much worse than me."
"Aha," she bites her lip and nods, not believing him one bit.
His eyes fall to her lips and he clears his throat, "So, do you want to talk about something else?"
And suddenly she's not actually bothered by the idea, she's enjoying talking to this goof-ball of a guy, he makes her nervous and at ease at the same time, and it's enough to distract her from all the things that she needs to think about; she finds herself asking "Something like what?"
"I don't know, have you read any good books lately?"
She rolls her eyes at him, "I haven't read any of yours if that's what you're asking," she teases but turns in her seat to face him as well.
"I wasn't," he narrows his eyes at her, "but you should read them, they're good, if I do say so myself," he puffs out his chest.
She nods to the book she was reading, "I'm more of a Russian literature girl."
He huffs at her, "and here I thought we can be friends."
"What's wrong with Russian literature?"
"It's just so…dead."
"Dead?"
"It drags on forever. It's like get on with it Tolstoy. We all know someone is going to dramatically commit suicide."
"It's called description. Depth," she defends a little bit thrown off by this attack on her literary taste by a writer no less.
"It's called a coma," he dead bans but smiles when she laughs. She has a beautiful laugh.
There is a silence for a moment before he breaks it again, "So are you a student?"
"Umm yeah, actually transferring to New York." She leaves it at that, not particularly willing to delve into the details of her shattered life right now.
He seems to sense her hesitance, "Will that's good, New York is the place to be."
"Not a fan of LA?"
"It's alright," he shrugs, "but nothing's beats New York. I was just dropping off my daughter at her mother's."
"You have a daughter?" she asks surprised, she can't picture him as a dad, he's too young and…childish.
"Yeah," he grins.
"Huh."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
She shrugs, "I just didn't think you as a dad. You just seem-"
"Irresponsible?" he fills in for her.
She flushes, "Umm no just …young to be a dad."
He sighs, "Honestly, Alexis is responsible for the both of us. Someone has to keep things interesting."
"Such a martyr," she grins.
"You have no idea, I mean sometimes she refuses to even let us have ice cream after dinner! Something about balanced meals, blah blah blah."
She chuckles, "I think you'll survive,"
"I don't. I just wait for her to go to sleep and then eat both our shares out of spite."
She laughs at that, yeah definitely a child, "Very mature."
"Well thank you."
A/N: Thank you all for continuing to read and review. Would love to hear your thoughts on this glimpse at their time in the airport.
Jenine99: Thank you for the kind words and I appreciate the review. Hope you like dteh update.
ucsbdad: oh yeah…
Guest 1: Thank you very much
Guest 0815: hope you liked this one.
Caskett1963: hahaha, thank you! Hope you liked this one
Guest 2: Thank you very much for the kind words and the review. Specially thanks for the typos, going to fix those and keeping an eye out for more.
Cristalskies: Thank you! Hope you liked the update.
blodi52: Thank you thank you
sasans: Hey there, I hope this chapter didn't disappoint, thank you for reviewing.
DREAMWRITER 08: Thank you! Hope you liked this one
nalex411: aww thank you so much for the kind review! Hope you liked the update!
CrimeGirl912: Thank you! So glad your excited about this
Guest 3: Thank you thank you
dopeysac: Many thanks for the review and reading the story, hope you liked this one.
Hadley13: :D so glad your excited for the story, sorry I couldn't post sooner.
Guest 4: Thank you very much for that review, made my day 3, if anything thank YOU for reading and encouraging me to keep writing.
Madelynn one: Thank you for reading and reviewing, really appreciate it.