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“Like you? You are always so nice to me when I am working.”
“Are most passengers not nice to you?”
“Most are fine. Some are rather rude, but it’s to be expected.”
“Even in First Class?”
“Especially in First Class.”
“I understand.”
Arianna gathered her things and shoved her phone into her sweater pocket. “Thank you for the conversation, Ms. Sparrow, but I promised to meet a coworker to go out to a movie later. She loves the IMAX nearby.” She slid off her stool and slightly bowed her head in Elle’s direction. “And thank you for your help with Ms. Tan earlier. She is worried about having lost face with the company and passengers, but you agree it was an accident, yes?”
Elle was slightly surprised to be asked for her opinion. “Don’t see how it wasn’t.” What she didn’t say was that Ms. Tan didn’t have to worry about a thing. Even if it hadn’t been an accident, Elle knew how to make the debacle go away. She couldn’t bring back Esther’s missing parts of her paycheck due to not being able to work, but she wouldn’t get in trouble.
“I should be thanking you for talking with me, Aria.” Elle held out her hand for the flight attendant to shake. “I know you didn’t have to.”
Gingerly, the other woman shook Elle’s hand, her grip soft but nonetheless lovely to experience. “The pleasure is all mine. Will you be flying back to Singapore on Wednesday?”
“No. I’m heading back home to Seattle tomorrow. But I’m sure I’ll see you again soon enough. Time flies, as they say.”
“Especially over the international date line.”
“Especially that.”
Although Arianna reclaimed her hand to wrap it around her wrist, Elle spent what was probably longer than acceptable in the flight attendant’s presence. I can’t get over how regal she looks. Even standing “casually,” Arianna’s back was pleasantly straight, her shoulders confident, and her civilian clothing falling gracefully across her arms and legs. She may have been tired after a long day at work, but it wouldn’t stop her from presenting a perfect image to this four-star hotel by LAX.
“I hope I’ll see you soon, Aria.”
Elle looked away before she made this moment more uncomfortable for the other woman. Arianna still lingered, the burning desire to ask a question radiating off her skin.
But she didn’t ask. She instead said another goodbye and walked away from the bar.
“Do you see her come here often?” Elle asked the bartender when he came over.
“That woman? Sure.” He cleaned up the spot where Arianna had been sitting, his tattoos a far cry from what Elle would see back in Singapore. “Hard to forget. Like a swan, right?”
A swan? That was one way to describe the elegant way Arianna floated through the air, even when she was on the ground.
Arianna returned to her room with something stuck in her throat.
It wasn’t allergies. Nor was it a remnant of her early dinner tickling her uvula. The best she could describe was a tickle of temptation.
What has gotten into me? She was supposed to be getting ready to meet with Charmaine to see whatever movie was on the docket that week. Instead of heading straight to the hotel lobby where they were supposed to be crossing paths, however, Arianna had cut her meal slightly short and come back up to her room as if she had forgotten something.
Like her sanity. Or who she was.
She’s so… pretty.
That was the only thought Arianna could formulate as she sat on the edge of her bed and hid her face in her hands. It wasn’t that she was embarrassed to think about a passenger’s unsurpassed beauty, since Elle was exactly Arianna’s type, all the way down to her effortlessly wavy dark hair that kissed her ears and futilely attempted to brush against her shoulders. Or the pantsuits and jeans she favored when flying in any part of the plane. She could wear sweats. Or a dress. And I would hardly blush, but…
Arianna was such a girly girl that she never saw herself with a woman who wasn’t a good bit different from her. She wanted someone who understood her need to be presentable… maybe someone who wasn’t afraid to enter a Sephora and pick up what was missing from the go-bag… but it would always be clear in their relationship who took an hour to get ready in the morning.
Relationship… listen to me. As if Arianna knew anything about that. The closest she got to having her own relationship was when she hooked up with the same woman twice. The only time in her life, and it was a complete coincidence.
She couldn’t get sucked into fantasies about a passenger, of all people. What was she thinking? Hell, who was she?
Arianna quickly recollected herself, touched up her makeup – as if anything were wrong with it – and texted Charmaine that she would be down in the lobby in ten minutes. Charmaine was already there waiting for her.
