destination unknown

 

I was nervous. It wasn’t only the flight, but it was the knowledge, that in a few hours, I would be able to look into his eyes, to hear his real voice, to feel his arms around myself and to smell his scent.

This was not my typical self. I was never the adventurous type, I preferred to live my life as straight and predictably as possible.

But then I met him. A lot of things are different with him. We met on the web. It was never really my world and meeting a man and falling in love? That was for fools only. He made the first step, chatting me up and at first it was only meant to be fun and distracting for me. Banter and flirting, where’s the harm in that? Slowly though, his mails and the photos he send me day after day, became the highlight of my mornings.

 

****

 

The plane started to move and took me out of my memories. Instantly, my hands became clammy. Trees were only a blur anymore and then I got pushed into my seat. Take off. Silent tears streamed down my face. I wasn’t able to stop them and I was too panicked to make a noise. I looked out of the window and I could only see the clear blue sky. I looked past the other passengers in the same row and looked out of the opposite window. I could only see green fields. My hands gripped the armrest, that separated me from the empty seat next to me, until my knuckles were white and my fingers hurt, but I wasn’t ready letting go. And suddenly, the plane seemed to have reached it’s travel height. The tension slowly faded away and I breathed relieved. I was not really afraid to fly, I was panicked for the take off and with no one by my side, to soothe or distract me, the panic was almost overwhelming. Once the plane was up in the air, everything was okay, I had to sit by the window though, I needed to see everything around me.

 

****

 

I gave up my old life for him. I sold everything I couldn’t fit into a few bags, I gave up my job and my flat, only to fly into the unknown. A new continent, a different language, no job, no apartment and I had never met the man in person, who was supposed to take me in and help me get my feet on the ground. What, if he doesn’t like me? What if we don’t get along? And what if he is just some creep?Before I could rile myself up too badly, I felt my eyelids becoming heavy and I slowly drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

 

Next thing I knew, was that a nice flight attended woke me up and asked me to fasten my seat belt. “We are going to land soon.” Had I really slept almost six hours? In a plane? Alone?

 

The plane landed effortlessly and I breathed again. The landing was never as hard for me, as the take off, because of the simple knowledge, that soon there would be solid ground under my feet again. People scrambled together their belongings and made their ways to the exit, where a flight attendant waited and said good-bye to every passenger.

 

As soon as I entered the terminal, my heart began pounding in my chest. The inevitable moment was close. My bags came and I heaved them onto my luggage cart and pushed it to the exit. Ropes separated the newly arrived from the ones being there to pick them up. My heart beat so fast, it threatened to burst my ribcage. I saw people falling into each others arms, crying happy tears and clinging onto each other. Families, mothers, fathers, daughters, sons….

The crowd slowly dissipated and I was still looking for the one who was set to pick me up. Through a group as laughing teenagers, I saw a man holding up a poster. It simply read SHELLY. That was my nickname. It was him. It took me a moment to get my legs to move. At first sight, he was even more gorgeous than he was on his pictures. I saw him stretching and scanning the crowd and then he saw me too and he recognized me too. A bright smile erupted on his face and I knew it was mirroring my own. Step by tiny step, we got closer to each other, until we both stopped in our tracks. Only three steps separated us and I saw his face becoming serious, the smile faded. I was unsure what to do, my instinct told me to run away, but my body wouldn’t obey. And I didn’t know where to hide anyway. Dreadful moments passed and I waited. Frozen. Unable to act or react.

“Shelly.” he whispered almost inaudible, because of the busy people hurrying to get to their planes and the ones hurrying to get home. I nodded, not knowing what else to do.

The poster glided from his hands and slid to the floor, while he took another step towards me. The suspense and anticipation was killing me. I couldn’t wait any longer and almost jumped into his arms. He was shorter than I had imagined him to be, but he was still a few inches taller than me. My body fit his perfectly. I buried my nose against his neck and smiled, when I noticed his scent. It was an aphrodisiac for me. His arms came up and circled my waist almost lifting me off the floor and I laughed happily.

My hands cupped his cheeks and I looked him in the eyes – beautiful light blue eyes, while taking a step back to look at him. His cheeks were stubbly, just how I loved it and his ginger hair was cut close to the head, but not too close. He was gorgeous. His lush lower lip begged to be kissed and again, it was me, who took the first step and I kissed him hesitantly. He kissed me back and pulled me even closer against him. Reluctantly, he let go of me and now, he looked me up and down, making me slightly uncomfortable.

“Let’s go home” he said smiling and got behind my luggage cart to push it towards to parking lot.

Time and time again, we looked at each other, only to shyly look away again. We loaded my bags into his truck and he came around to open my door.

Before I could climb in, he held me by the wrist and spun me around and into his arms. He kissed me passionately. I’ve been kissed before – a lot, but I’ve never been kissed like this before, it took my breath away. My heart skipped a beat and it was as though an electrical shock rushed through my entire body.

“I am glad you are here. Finally.” His voice was gentle, but deep and a little hoarse. I liked it very much and I wondered what it would sound like in the morning, when he woke up.

“You must be starving. Would you like to go out on a dinner date with me?” he asked formally. Finally, I found my voice too and I accepted his invitation. We sealed the agreement to our first date with a long kiss and we drove off. Destination unknown.

 

–^–^–

This can be read as the first part of three, but it can also be read on its own.