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Suddenly, everyone in First Class whipped their head toward Arianna, who meekly waved and accepted the round of confused applause. Charmaine was the loudest, leading everyone who was around her while Boss Tan allowed it. Once the fervor died down, Riley was on the speaker, thanking Capt. Fan for the compliment and insisting that, “I’m nowhere near as lovely as our Arianna.”
Being called out like that didn’t make her job any easier. The female passengers looked at her as if she were a celebrity to emulate, going as far as asking her what skin care products and makeup brands she used. The male passengers were either dead set on not looking at her when around their wives, or bold enough to ask her out. She gave the standard thanks, but I’m taken, that every flight attendant said whether they were coupled or not. But Arianna meant it.
She was off to spend a week in Seattle with her girlfriend, after all.
When she was called to cover for one of the Economy flight attendants, Arianna overheard a little girl gasp and ask her mother, “Is that the lady from the magazine?”
She double-backed and winked at the girl, who giggled into her mother’s shoulder.
Maybe being a minor celebrity isn’t such a bad thing. Most people didn’t care, as long as she did her job. Others offered revenant awe. As long as they didn’t treat her any differently to the point that it elicited the ire of her coworkers, Arianna could live with it. Especially when some of the American flight attendants in Business Class whispered that Arianna was “as hot as Riley, but like, in a totally different way.”
When Arianna glanced at them, both Americans looked away, one even whistling as she pretended to fiddle with items in the galley.
“Don’t mind her,” the other woman, Tessa, said when Arianna lingered behind. Her ascot, decorated in the same floral pattern as Arianna’s kebaya, swallowed her round face. “She knows Riley. Very well.”
“Duly noted,” Arianna politely said. “I won’t tell anyone.”
Both women gasped before falling into a fit of giggles.
As soon as they deplaned a few hours later, Arianna broke off from the group and hit up the nearest women’s restroom with an empty handicap stall. She changed out of her uniform and into a pair of silky leggings and a loose blouse that would be comfortable for hanging out in LAX before flying up to Seattle. As she wandered through the airport as a normal tourist in her everyday clothes, she pretended that she hadn't been in this terminal a hundred times before, and she definitely wasn't on a first-name basis with some of the other Royal Asia employees waiting to board their aircraft.
“Hey!” A Royal Asia uniform backtracked to where Arianna sat at a steakhouse, eating a large salad for lunch. “What's up? I haven't seen you since before our faces were plastered all over the place!”
Arianna leaned over the rope separating the seating area from the rest of the airport. “I'm on vacation. Probably going to be on your flight to Seattle, in fact.”
“Is that so?” Sherry propped up her luggage, looking more refreshed than any woman had the right. Even I don't look this awake and alert on my flights from Singapore. Then again, Sherry didn't have to deal with jetlag. “Taking some time off to bask in being a model? I should be doing the same. I haven't seen my mom in Anaheim in five months, and I live in LA.”
“Suppose your goal when you get home tonight is to call your mother.”
“When's the last time you talked to your mom?”
Arianna grinned. “Six months ago.”
When both women finished laughing, Sherry said, “Well, if you're going to be in Seattle for a few days, we should meet up! I've got tomorrow off. Have you ever been to Pike Place?”
“I'd love to have lunch or something! But I'm staying with a friend, so I might be busy tomorrow as she gives me the tour.”
“Neat! Well, you have my Instagram. Message me when you have some time this week, and I'll treat you to the best sushi you'll ever have in America. Because, believe it or not, it's not in California or Hawaii.”
Sherry had to turn around and head back to work. “I'll hold you to that!” Arianna called.
She sat back in her seat once she was alone with her thoughts again. This is already the best vacation I've been on in years. One of the only. And she couldn't think of a better way to spend it than talking to people she liked.
Arianna didn't see Sherry on the plane since she was sitting in a completely different zone. But when they deplaned, Arianna caught her doing a sweep of the seats and said hello.
Elle had relayed a few instructions for her girlfriend once she landed. Arianna had agreed it probably wasn't good to be spotted being picked up by Elle at the Arrivals Walk and instead waited for a ride-share. With the address to Elle's building in hand, she got in the back of a Nissan and rode in silence to Capitol Hill, Seattle, while the driver played the Top 40 from his speakers. Arianna didn't recognize a single song.
“I just got home from work,” Elle wrote in the message she last left upon Arianna's landing. “Outside of a couple of afternoon video meetings, I'm all yours for the rest of the week. See you soon. I'm having Italian delivered.”
Arianna grinned to read it again. Originally, Elle had offered to order in Vietnamese, since her favorite place was down the street from her. When her girlfriend reminded her that most Asian cuisine was nothing special to her, changes were made. Arianna asked for Mexican, but Elle swore that there wasn't a decent place near her. “Not like you get in LA. You're spoiled down there.” So they settled on Italian for their first meal, a bigger novelty for Arianna, while being familiar enough to Elle that she knew exactly what to order… that wasn't pizza, anyway. Arianna didn't know what the difference was, but Elle wouldn't have it.
The Nissan pulled up before a nondescript skyscraper in the middle of Seattle. Arianna thanked him for his help getting her suitcase out of the trunk while the doorman lazily looked out from behind his glass and eventually met Arianna in the lobby. That was when Arianna learned that her board of directors girlfriend lived in a building with a guest list and someone whose job was to ensure the “wrong people" didn't get onto the elevators.
Thought I was going to have to prove myself for a moment. Yet Arianna was escorted to an elevator once a call up to Elle's was made. Did I hear him right? She swore she heard the man call Elle something other than Ms. Sparrow but wasn't sure what she heard instead.
Saving? Saching?
There was no time to contemplate it. Once he pushed a button in the elevator, Arianna lurched upward, repeating the instructions on how to navigate the hallway to Elle's door.
