Part IV - Master In Cliche

Walking deeper into the jet-way, I can just about sense the typical airplane smell.

Upon my entry of the aircraft, that is when the scent truly hit me. It causes comfort to seep through my body. I love flying and this smell brings nothing but joy to me.

I get greeted by the friendly flight crew.

"Seat 5F..." I mutter to myself, looking at the labels below the baggage bins. Within a few steps, I get to row 5 very quick and take my assigned seat. The window seat.

Looking out the glass, I get a great view of the engine, I note its spinner right in the centre, with numerous blades emitting from the middle outwards. The engine is slowly turning at the light breeze outside and the ground crew are too busy taking the equipment away from the plane.

"Well, would you look at that... Looks like we are bound to be together...".

I jump as a result of a deep voice frightening me, but instantly calm down once I see and realise who it is. It is just James...

"Yeah... Looks like it..." I reply, widening my eyes at his ridiculous statement. But I do feel glad that it is him sitting beside me and not some random stranger.

"Tell me..." he begins, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"You never told me whether you are single or taken.".

I was about to answer, but I force myself to stop. I turn to him before giving him a look. "Why do you want to know?" I ask. I can't help but let a small smirk evolve on my lips. I want to know what his intentions are...

He reacts by raising an eyebrow. "Am I not allowed to ask you whether you are single or not?".

"Depends..." I respond, unintentionally biting my lip. "Do you have interested in someone like me?".

"Maybe..." he replies. "But why should I tell you that?..." He adds, trying to do the same thing I did to him.

 I surrender with a sigh. "I am single..." I tell him.

He furrows his brows at me in confusion.

"You are single?" he asks.

I nod to his question. "Yeah... I am a single pringle...".

He suddenly breaks into laughter. His laughing causes me to chuckle along.

"How can you be single?..." He asks me.

"Believe me, I don't know..." I reply.

I see the way he shakes his head in disapproval.

"I knew that people were blind when it came to love... but to be this sightless..." he states before once again shaking his head. His words cause another wave of red to spread across my cheeks.

"What about you?" I ask.

"I am single too... or should I say, became, once again, single a few days ago..." I can see a slight frown form on his lips.

From there we share the silence that landed between us for a minute or two.

"Tell me, James, where are you from?" I break the silence. I can tell I caught him by surprise by the way he looked at me.

"I am from Cork, Ireland," he answers seconds later. Wow, I am intrigued by the fact that he is Irish. I don't think I have met an Irish person before. "And I know you are from Belgrade..." he declares with a teasing smirk stretching across his lips.

His words cause me to roll my eyes again. "Wow, no way..." I say. I notice how he picked up my sarcasm in the form of chuckles. "I was the one that told you I'm from Belgrade...". He furthermore chuckles before his giggles die out.

"I assume you live in Cork, right?" I ask.

But he shakes his head. "I live in Los Angeles.".

I widen my eyes as I can't believe it. Los Angeles? My dream city!!

"No way..." I utter.

He laughs at me.

"You look so cute when surprised.".

I blush at his words.

"You know..." he begins. "That feeling of freshness... like taking in a breath of fresh air?".

I nod.

"That is what you make me feel right now... As if I was given a fresh start...".

We were once again interrupted by the flight attendant.

"Cabin crew, boarding complete.".

Moments pass before the flight safety video on the plane's monitors begin.

"Welcome, Wilkommen, dobrodošli."

"Dame i gospodo, dobrodošli na ovaj let do Beograda. Ceo let do Beograda će da traje dva sata i deset minuta."

"Ladies and gentlemen welcome on board this flight to Belgrade. The entire flight to Belgrade will be two hours and ten minutes."

"Meine Damen und Herren, Willkommen an Bord dieses Fluges nach Belgrad. Der gesamte Flug Nach Belgrad dauert zwei Stunden und zehn Minuten."

Not long after, the first engine powers back to life. I watched as the spinner began to turn, with each spin, it spun faster and fasA sudden tug moved the plane. Looking outside, I notice we began to pushback. ter.

The second engine powered up soon after. Minutes pass before I hear the flaps extending. The barking noise of the hydraulics is heard as the air rushing into the cabin sounds around me.

"...Pušanje u toiletima je strogo zabranjeno u toku leta..."

"So... I take it as you are not a first-time flier, correct?" James asks me, causing me to face him.

"... Smoking in the lavatories is strictly prohibited during the duration of the flight..."

"Yeah... been flying for the last fifteen years. Let me tell you, it never gets old, you?".

"... Das Rauchen in den Toiletten ist während der Flugdauer strengstens untersagt..."

"Meh..." he begins, using hand gestures to aid his explanation. "Here and there I guess... not too often do I fly. But when I do, I prefer by myself.".

"Private jet?" I joke with him.

His deep chuckles once again resonate in my head.

"If I only had one..." he replies. I realise him moving closer to me. "If I get one, I might let you see it and fly in it one day..." he says in a deeper tone. It's the volume and the roughness of his voice that causes goosebumps to spread across the surface of my numbed body.

"Maybe..." I reply. I feel a small smile grow on my lips.

"Look at you all so smiley..." he remarks teasingly.

"What's wrong with me smiling?" I ask, damning myself for, once again, breaking into a smile.

I can see he was about to say something but surprised me when he remained quiet. I noticed how deeply he gazed at me, but I was not expecting to see his eyes turn a shade darker.

He blinks himself out of his prolonged gaze.

"Sorry..." he begins, I note the nervous chuckle he produced, I also see how his face tensed, but just slightly.

"I have never met anyone as beautiful and as..." he pauses, I see he is thinking. Something about his actions causes a ticklish feeling in my chest. I don't notice the smile that is growing on my face. "... You seem like a woman whom any man would be so lucky to have...". I look into his eyes and stumble upon the sincerity I see in them.

I become speechless and quickly see his amusement at what he sees - and that is me, speechless.

"I'm not kidding. You are honestly something quite different.". He causes fluster to spread through my body when his lips show off his majestic smile.

"So cliche..." I blurt out a couple of seconds later to which he chuckles. I curse myself for joining him.

"I'd say your cheeks show otherwise..." he teases me before sending a wink my way. I instantly drop my gaze off of him and slowly out the window. I note how we are still stationary.

"Just..." he begins, breaking the couple seconds of silence that went on between us, but abruptly stops when I jump. His deep tone and me not he was about to speak to me was what scared me. The sound of him laughing is what causes me to face him once again. I give him a look, but my vicious glare does not seem to get him to stop his chuckling what so ever.

"Sorry..." he begins not many seconds later. "It was not my intention to scare you but if you can wake me up when we are about to take off?...".

"Sure..." I say, nodding at him.

"I don't want to miss my favourite part..." he adds, I also heeded of how his voice got deeper. A wink marks the end of his sentence. I keep my eyes on him until he rests his head against the headrest of the seat. From there, I turn my attention back to the window and everything outside the plane. 

The engines spool up and we begin moving.

But I can't get his actions out of my head. "How cliche..." My mouth goes off. Milliseconds pass before chuckles behind my catch my attention. Turning my attention back to James, I take a glimpse of the smirk stretching across his lips.

Within a matter of seconds, his eyes open up and look down at me.

We just gaze at each other, which - I feel - soon turns into a staring contest, whilst the flight attendant is talking.

"Hvala na vašoj pažnji, zelimo vam prijatan let."

"We thank you for your attention, we wish you a pleasant flight."

"Wir bedanken uns für Ihre Aufmerksamkeit und wünschen Ihnen einen angenehmen Flug.".

I see him blink first and a smile of victory instantly grows on my lips.

"Well, what can I say. I'm a master at the cliche. You should know that by now, mainly because I told you so myself," he affirms. "Now, if you will excuse me...". He doesn't even finish his sentence before returning to what he was doing, trying to go to sleep.

His actions cause me to raise an eyebrow before I roll my eyes.

I look out the window and I see cars moving forward and back as planes rest at their gates and within minutes we reach the end of the terminal building. 

30 minutes of stopping and going pass. I saw plenty of passenger jets race past us. Now we are next in line for takeoff as another plane is already on the runway waiting to take off. This is when I decide to wake up James as he asked me to do so.

"James..."I whisper, gently shaking him by his arm. I blush when I feel the size of his bicep. I shake my head out of the gutter before repeating my actions. "James?..." I whisper to him and shake his arms that bit stronger, but all I get in return is a quiet groan. His eyes greet mine once opened.

"We are about to take off..." I whisper to him, as I see he's still sleepy.

He replied with a smile of appreciation before yawning into his elbow. 

Moving my eyes from him, I look out the oval window. 

The cabin bell chimes above us just as I see the plane in front of us blast off. "Cabin crew, prepare for departure."

The shushing from the air rushing into the cabin quietens. With the spool up of the engines, the plane begins to move again.

I bite my lip as the feeling of both euphoria and anticipation take over my body.

"You ready?" I hear his voice ask.

I nod a reply. "You?" I ask, turning to him.

I notice how he is leaning on his armrest, his head closer to me.

"I love takeoffs..." he says.

"I'll then take that as a yes," I reply, causing both him and me to chuckle.

We then both divert our attention to the window. I see how we crossed the first runway with as the airliner sped further down the remainder of the airstrip.

Our plane turns and lines up onto the second tarmacked piste that has an arrived aircraft slowly taxiing off of it.

I swallow whatever is in my mouth as the plane fully halts. My euphoric feeling is only intensifying as the anticipation is making me sense nothing but impatience.