Part III - Flight 5671

I keep my gaze at the plane in front of me. I watch as passengers exit the aircraft.

On the airport grounds, by the plane, I see 2 ground crew helping with the unloading of the luggage from the airplane. An additional 2 ground crew take the suitcases before loading them onto the trolleys attached to the yellow luggage cart.

Pulling my attention up from the ground crew, my eyes are met by the nose of the plane. Looking up even higher, I am met by the cockpit of the aircraft.

I can see only one pilot in the cockpit as he is looking down at something. I then see the back of another pilot by the cockpit door, he is probably saying his goodbyes to the passengers.

Looking away from our plane, I am greeted by an American Airlines A330-200 taxi past out gate. Behind it followed a Lufthansa A321-200.

"This airport is enormous, " I hear James's voice right beside me. Turning my head, I notice how close his body is to mine.

"Yeah, it's big... but it's very beautiful, " I reply.

"But I see something even more beautiful...". I feel his body gently press against mine. His actions give me an insight into who he is calling beautiful.

"Hint, she is right beside me..." he whispers the obvious right by my left ear, but it never the less causes another blush to spread across my cheeks.

I, once again, try to play it off with an eye roll. "That sounds incredibly cliche, you know that?" I say, turning and once again facing him. Once I do, I am met by his amused face.

"Well beautiful... I am a master of cliche. Something that is worth noting, " he replies, giving me a wink before a mighty smirk appeared on his lips. I react by, once again, blushing and diverting my gaze elsewhere. "As long as I can show you my affection, I don't give a rats-ass what way I try to approach you, whether it being cringy or cliche.". Something about the way he worded his sentence caused me to look back at him. When I do, I am met with his deep gaze.

"The 'affection', you say?..." I ask, cursing myself for breaking into a small smile. I guess he noticed when he smiled back at me.

The smile on my face instantly drops and the beating of my heart rapidly increases when I see him lower his head towards mine.

"Yes, my affection..." he whispers to me. Seconds pass before his deep, manly chuckles resonate in my head.

"Is so easy to make you blush, you know that?". I blushed?... I didn't even notice myself blush.

A sudden, muffled roar from a plane causes us both to turn our attention back to the window. I managed to catch a glimpse of a Boeing 747-400 in the colours of Euromania Airlines on its takeoff roll right before its lift-off.

"The queen of the skies..." I hear James's voice trail behind me.

"It's such a beautiful aircraft..." I say.

"Mh-hmm" He hums in agreement.

I feel him slightly move away from me, before resting against the railing by the window.

"So is this the beautiful bird that'll take us to Belgrade?" he asks me.

I reply with a simple nod.

"Very nice..." I hear his voice trail off.

We stood there in silence for I don't know how long, watching the airliners as they operate on the other side of the glass.

"Are you into planes?" his question breaks the silence.

"Well... I guess, sure," I reply. "You?".

He nods before speaking. "I guess... It's more so a fascination. I find it amazing how people make these machines that can actually fly..." he says.

"Modern technology, eh?". He chuckles to my words.

With that, both James and I, once again, return our attention to the planes outside.

"What is time?" I ask him minutes later.

"11:50"

I turn to him and notice how he turned towards me. I give him a smile. "Thanks...".

"My pleasure..." he produces a deep reply.

Over the next 20 minutes, we see a load more planes pass by and take off while some land and taxi into their assigned gate.

Then I see that plane that is due to fly to Narita taxi by, behind it followed an American Airlines with a United Airlines chasing her.

An additional 15 minutes tick by before we hear the woman by our gate speak.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Euromania Airlines flight 5671 to Belgrade is ready for boarding. If we can please ask any passengers who are travelling with younger children or are in business class to please line up first. Thank you and we are, once again, very sorry for the delay.".

Priority boarding... Ugh...

"Looks like we'll be the last ones to get on the plane, eh?" he says. Something about his words causes me to chuckle.

"Yeah..." I agree with him seconds later.

I see him turn around before walking away, his hands are in the pockets of his bottoms. I can't help but let my eyes run up and down the back of his well-built body and big thighs.

I shake myself out of my stare.

"Where are you going?" I ask.

He turns around and faces me with a smug look on his face.

"Missing me already, eh?" he asks, sending me another wink. I feel a blush spread across my cheeks, but I try and brush it off with an eye roll. Straight after, I, once again, drop my gaze off him.

"You ready to go?".

"Where to?..." I ask. My eyes return to his only to see his deep gaze.

"The queue, of course, " he chuckles at me. "Getting a bit worry where I'm going, are we?" he teases me. But it's his words that manage to pull another eye roll out of me.

Without another utterance made, I walk over to him, then past him and into the long queue. I hear him let out another chuckle behind me. It's those chuckles that make me feel a swirling sensation in my stomach.

I'm not falling for a stranger... am I?

I am shot out of my trance when I felt a hand gently graze mine. Looking to my left, I was expecting to see James but was proven wrong when it turned out to be a middle-aged man. We both exchange our apologies, he walks away from me while I try to look around me for James.

Moments pass before I feel a big hand wrap around my arm. A deep voice makes me aware of who it is.

"I'm right behind you. I noticed your worry, " James chuckles at me.

Suddenly, someone pushed into both James and me, resulting in his body pressing against my back. His head was right beside mine as I felt his hands wrap around me to not let me stumble over. Although he cologne is going to make me do just that...

I let out a sigh of surrender when his aftershave hit me, intoxicating me even further.

I look down and see his leather shoes surrounding my two, small feet. Just then do I realise how closely pressed he is against me. How don't I feel his di-

"Are you okay?" He asks, before letting out a string of chuckles. But I am too deep in my thoughts to process that he is talking to me. First his cologne, now his aftershave. I swear, this can only happen to me...

"Ana?" The gruffness in his voice instantaneously pulls me out of my thoughts. That is when I also realise that he did not move an inch away from me. So I do it for him, I scooch away from him before facing him. I notice how he furrows his brows.

"Are you okay?".

"Yeah, I am fine..." I reply, but I feel myself grow warmer the longer his gaze stays on me.

Then, our exchange was - thankfully - interrupted by a woman.

"I am so sorry..." she instantly says. The way she lowered her eyes to the two smaller boys beside her caused me - and I am assuming James - to look down at them too.

"What do you say?" The woman says in a wary voice.

"We are sorry we pushed you..." they both say concurrently. It caused me to smile before I walk up to the boys and kneel down so that we were all at an eye-level.

"No worries, I am sure it was an accident.". They both nod at my words. "You both are so adorable," I add through a smile, causing the younger of the two boys to smile and bite his finger in diffidence. It furthermore widened the smile on my face.

Then suddenly, I sense a wave of cologne hit me. James.

I see him kneel right beside me.

"What are your names?" he asks them in a soft friendly voice, before diverting his eyes to the woman, their mother I assume, who is standing above us, "if I may ask.".

"Oh, of course..." she answers with a nod.

"My name is Ashton..." says the younger boy.

"That's such a handsome name, for a handsome boy!" I reply. The smile on my face does not drop.

"Thank you..." he replies, still shy. He melts my heart, its shown by the chuckles I let out. Both James and I look at the second boy.

"What's your name?" James asks him in that same, friendly tone.

"James," the boy reply.

"Well would you look at that..." the cliche master - beside me - says. "My name is James too.". With him saying that I see how the boy smiled at James.

We were cut short when the lady at our gate announced something else. The two boys and the woman go off.

"Thank you so much for talking to them. As you can see, they can they are a little shy. Sadly we must go. Bye.". The two boys wave at us and we wave back.

 

"They are so cute," I say in a giggle. I hear James do the same. We turn around just for our laughs to die out. Reality kicks in.

"You know... you are really good with kids," James states, breaking the silence a couple of seconds later.

"Well, I know how to work with kids. Also, kids love me... for some reason". I hear him chuckle at my remark.

I see his eyes divert from me. "We should get going..." he states, pointing to the queue. The economy class is now beginning to board.

We both take our place in the queue, side by side. Suddenly, I get pushed, resulting in me moving and creating a gap between me and James that was filled the passengers trying to eagerly board the plane. I quickly look back and see James gazing at me, he sends me a smile of reassurance which I gladly take.

Turning back, I realise I am close to being let into the plane. I quickly take out my passport and ticket, and by the time I do so, I am next in line to get boarded.

 

"Good morning," said one of the ladies. I hand her over my passport and ticket. I look at her as she works her way with the ticket and my passport. A faint beep is heard and she returns my travel essentials.

"Have a safe flight..." she adds.

"Thank you very much.". With that, I begin to make my way towards the jet bridge, I glance back just to see James looking down at his passport and ticket. He looks up, consequently landing his eyes on me. He sends me another smile with a wink and with that, I turn around and enter the cold jet-way.