AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Curiosity killed the cat,” she offered nervously and looked away.
“Cookie?”
“Oh yes, thank you.”
He tried to slide his hand through the fence and hesitated, carefully trying again… and laughed nervously. Instead, she stuck her hand through the fence and saw his sheepish smile.
“Well, that’s a bummer,” he began. “I guess any handshakes will have to be made by you reaching through. My palms are too wide and it’s getting hung up where my thumb is attached.”
“It’s fine,” she offered nervously, taking a bite of the cookie gingerly and opening her water bottle. “Did you have a nice day at work?”
“Yeah. You?”
“No busted noses or bodies,” Giselle volunteered absentmindedly and winced. “Sorry, that’s kind of a thing that I smart off to my boss. Gretchen usually asks how things are going and I always respond with ‘No busted noses or bodies’– just like if you ask her? Gretchen will respond with, ‘Well, I didn’t kill anyone… yet’,” she finished, feeling like a dolt explaining things – and heard him chuckle softly.
“It sounds like you have a good rapport with your boss.”
“She’s amazing.”
“I’m glad.”
“What about you? Do you have any ‘things’ that you do on a daily basis?”
“Oh, um, before a flight we always huddle up and talk about what we have going on with ourselves personally, keeping our group close and tightly knit… and then each of us has a ‘theme song’ that we use to get us in the right frame of mind,” Austin volunteered – and winced.
“Two things,” Giselle said quickly, marveling at what he said and liking it immensely. “First request? Don’t share about this meeting – please. I could get in trouble. Second request? What is your song?”
“Oh gosh,” he chuckled, reaching up and rubbing the back of his neck… and it enchanted her at this bashful side of him. “I wish it was something edgy or glamorous. Let’s just leave it at ‘peppy’… okay?”
“Uh noooo?” she laughed in disbelief. “I really want to know now.”
“No judging?” he said warily, smiling at her. “And meet me here again tomorrow night?”
“Fine,” she agreed, surprising herself with the ease that she did so – and saw his smile widen. “Now fess up… what song do you use to get your head in the right place for a flight?”
“Well, ah, uh…” he was stammering, and she was really enjoying this.
“I bet you dance to it – don’t you?”
“Oh, geez…” he chuckled, looking away and taking a sip of his water. “You are going to make me sweat this, aren’t you?”
“You pushed me,” she smiled. “I’m just pushing back,friend.”
He barked out a laugh loud enough to make her look around quickly as she marveled at the sound of it. She took another bite of her cookie just to keep from sighing or saying something stupid, really adoring his laughter.
“Fine, fine…” he began, grinning at her. “Have you ever seen the movie ‘Trolls’? Some guys play Led Zeppelin, some guys play ‘Sabotage’by the Beastie Boys. I know one guy who plays classical music, and another that is partial to The Black-Eyed Peas… but yeah, my song I use is ‘Can’t Stop the Feeling’by Justin Timberlake – and yes. I do dance in my cockpit – a lot.”
She felt her smile widen and felt something shift inside of her, realizing that this guy was just so stinkin’ nice yet down to earth. He liked peppy upbeat music, stole cookies, negotiated meeting her again, and she really liked the attention… plus, he was adorably cute.
“I like it,” she admitted softly, meeting his eyes.
“You don’t think it’s stupid?”
“I have the same song on my iPhone,” she replied openly. “I like music that makes me happy, feel good, or bouncy… and I think it’s an excellent song to get your ‘head’ right, if you need to keep from feeling stressed.”
She heard announcements on the speaker system in the distance and met his eyes.
“Light’s out,” he volunteered simply, and looked almost regretful that they were out of time already. “Tomorrow? Same time?”
