Part II - The Delay...

"Hi... You look strangely familiar...” he says. I close my eyes, thinking if this is even real. Opening them back up, I face my nervousness by looking towards the deep voice. As I do, I am greeted by a warm smile as it spread across his lips.

“Do.. you mind?” he ushers for the empty seat beside me.

I begin to panic ever so slightly and immediately scooch away to try and give him space to sit. “Please...” is the only word I manage to spit out.

I hear him chuckle at my reply, I also notice how his eyes never went off mine.

“My name is James...” he says, stretching his hand out towards me.

Subconsciously, I take his hand into mine before we shake our hands. “Nice to meet you James, I’m Ana,” I reply.

The palms of our hands slowly drag off one another before we both retract our limbs back to ourselves.

“It’s a pleasure meeting you too, Ana. But I have an important question for you”.

“Huh?” I look at him to show that I am listening.

“How have you been?“. His question leaves me raising my eyebrow, but it never the less causes his smirk to broaden even further.

Something about his intense gaze causes a swirling sensation to spin in my stomach. I discreetly try to lower my eyes from him to help myself, but it doesn’t work. It’s like just his presence is enough to leave a visible effect on me. But somehow, I manage to compose myself and give him a reply.

“To be honest, I am not too bad, tired. You?“.

Even though I am not looking at him, I can feel his gaze lingering on my skin.

“I’m not doing too bad either,” his sudden pause leaves me slightly confused. That is when I realised he scooches over towards me. “... especially after realising I have a secret admirer,” he finished off his sentence with a whisper. I don’t even have to say that his words left a big effect on me... My red cheeks say it all.

I can hear his silent chuckles, which I am lead to think is from my reaction, causing the blush that is already on my cheeks to furthermore strengthen.

“Don’t worry...” his whisper catches me attention.

“I have that effect on most people... women to be more precise...“.

I look up into his eyes just to see a wink that he sends my way. My head drops as quickly as it rose.

I hear him chuckle once again, right before the noise of the passengers behind us was the only audible sound.

“So tell me, why Belgrade?” he asks.

His question really took me off guard. I look up at him, just to see his head turn before tilting down so that his eyes can look into mine.

I try to give him a smile, but I feel like it was anything but that.

“I have family in Belgrade, so I am going to visit them. You?”

“Dunno really...” he begins. I notice how all his concentration is set outside the window in front of us. His eyebrows once again furrow. Seconds pass before he retracts his gaze back to me. “I have heard that the nightlife in Belgrade is pretty awesome, so why not give it a go, you know?“. I find myself subconsciously nodding to his words.

“Tell me, are you Serbian?” he asks me.

I clear my throat before answering him.

“Yes, I was born and raised in Belgrade until my parents decided to move here, to Germany. I was 6 at the time...” I unintentionally stare at his leather jacket, I can’t help but let all the memories seep back into my head. “Just some additional information about me,” I add a couple of seconds later.

I can see him deeply gaze at me and I look at him back.

“You know, people keep on telling me this one thing about Serbia. I now see that it’s no bullshit...” he says.

“And what is that?” I ask him. I can’t help but let some of my curiosity peek through the surface.

He once again draws himself closer to me...

“How beautiful Serbian women are...” he whispers to me. I would never blush at this, I would never even come close to reacting the way I am now. But because it’s him and he is whispering into my ear, I can’t help but once again turn into a tomato.

I try to play it off with an eye roll.

“I have heard that flirt way too many times...”

“But it never fails to make you blush now, does it?“. FUCK.

“You are unbelievable, you know that?” I tell him, something about the way he is looking at me and his smirk causes me to break into a smile too. I am beginning to damn myself for breaking into that smile because I see him moving even closer to me.

“Unbelievably handsome...” he ‘corrects’ me.

He causes me to roll my eyes once again.

“You roll your eyes, I’ll ask you again about this when your lips are all over mine.“.

WAIT WHAT!?

He laughs at my reaction to what he just said.

We were interrupted by the lady at our desk, where we will be boarding. She began speaking through the microphone that was on the desk.

“Good morning ladies and gentlemen. I have just now received some information about Euromania flight 6571 to Belgrade. Boarding will be delayed, new boarding time will be expected in around 12:30. On behalf of Euromania Airlines, we apologize for the delay.“.

I look at the ground as I feel slightly frustrated.

“So in an hours time... Huh?...“.

“Yup...” James answers.

“What the fuck am I going to do for another hour?...” I mutter to myself.

“Talk to me...” I can hear his voice behind me. I really need to practice to mutter more quietly.

“Yeah, you really should learn how to mutter more quietly...” he says, chuckling with entertainment as I look at him, confused.

“You know, you should sometimes really speak in your thoughts, not out loud.“.

I am about to say something, but I decide to stay quiet. Looking up at him, I am met my his amused smirk. I roll my eyes at him.

“Whatever...” I mutter under my breath.

“So you can mutter under your breath?” He teases me, but I reply with a sigh.

He chuckles behind me.

From James, I turn my attention to the window. I look outside at the busy, snowy taxiway.

I watch at the snow as it managed to find it’s way from the sky down to the ground.

A Boeing 737-800 catches my attention as it taxing on the taxiway, moments later an Airbus A321-200 appears behind it and behind the A321, I can see an A320-200.

The two planes taxi across, but the A320 slows down before turning into our gate. It continues slowly moving towards the terminal before slowing and stopping completely.

Even though I am in an enclosed area, I can hear the engines of the aircraft running.

I walk up to the window, looking at the engines. They begin to slow down their spin, they shut down. This is something I love to do at airports while waiting for the preparations for the new load of passengers to board.

As the engines continue to slow down, I see the baggage handlers and caterers drive up to the plane. Minutes pass before the fueling truck joins them too.

Within seconds, I see the first few passengers exit onto the jetbridge. The plane began to disembark.