There She Was

A lady taped on his head and said, "Your plane is leaving." He only remembered that he had talked to her for a while at some point during the layover.

He shook his head. He grabbed his backpack and ran towards the jetway before they closed the aircraft doors. He looked at his ticket, verifying he was going to the right seat, while passing his left hand over the headrest of every seat before his and counting how many between his seat and the nearest emergency exit. He got to his row, ironically, an emergency exit row. An older lady was sitting on his window seat. He flashes his ticket at her, his finger pointing at his seat assignment. The lady gave him an angry stare and moved to the seat next to her.

Without looking any further he placed his backpack in the overhead storage bin. He maneuvered past the lady, who was still giving him an angry stare, and got to his seat. The whole time he hadn't said a single word. He rested his head by the window, looking at the aircraft's control surfaces, hoping they all worked as designed. He closed his eyes, trying to get a wink of sleep when the aircraft's loudspeaker came on. The beep loud as fuck.

"This is your pilot speaking," like nobody on the plane knew who he was. "We have an American hero on board. We are moving him to first class. Come on over, son." A young Marine in his dress blues, sharp high and tight on him, fresh out of boot camp, stepped out of his seat and headed towards first class.

"That's how we treat our heroes in this country," the lady next to him snarly said. He just looked at her and nodded. The last couple of months in Afghanistan left him with zero energy to even reply to that remark. He knew that he still smelled of Afghan dust, that his boots were covered in it. Maybe his half-shaved face still smelled like that and that his dirty brown baseball cap looked like that because it was covered in it.

The screech of the aircraft tires woke him up. He retrieved his backpack, the dirty stare from the lady still hard on him. He walked into the airport and went towards luggage belt. A crowd was waiting outside, waving signs that read, "Welcome home, Hero!" The young Marine walked out, and the fanfare broke out in tears and laughter.

He looked around the terminal. He knew she wouldn't be there but there was a little piece of his heart that wished she was. But she wasn't there. He retrieved his luggage from the belt, walked outside and hailed a cab.

Once home he told the cab driver to wait for him. He opened the front door, tossed the bags in and walked back to the cab. He sat in the back seat and gave directions to the driver on where to take him next.

He got out of the cab and headed straight to the bar. The bouncer and the bartender rushed up to him and gave him a huge hug. It was both because he was back, safe and maybe sound, and because they knew the tips that night the tips were going to be huge.

He took his first shot of Jack and then he saw her. She was just sitting there, having a drink with her friends. Ladies’ night, it must have been. But it wasn't that long mane of curly black hair, not the big black eyes, not even the eyes that drew him to her. It was her laugh. It just echoed, carrying over the music on the jukebox and the noise from the crowd.

He walked up to her and said, "Sorry to bother you, but you remind of someone."

The laugh came out again, making him skip another heartbeat. She said, "Halle Berry. I've heard that before." The huge smile still on her face.

"No," he instantly replied. "You remind me of my next ex-wife. You look like you will break my heart in a manner of seconds. But I'd be willing to take the chance."

She fist-bumped him and he knew that was the international sign that she was not interested. He tipped the brim of his hat and winked at her as he walked back to the bar. Another shot of Jack and a beer were already waiting for him. The bartender shook her head while laughing. Another strikeout, she thought,

A few minutes later she walked up to him. “You don’t remember me, do you?” The huge smile shining through.

“Ma’am, there’s a part of me that wished I did but I sure as heck don’t.”

“Your mother was my ninth grade English teacher. I went to school with your sister.” The huge grin still present on her face.

“Here’s the thing,” he said before he took another sip of his beer. “I left home at eighteen to join the military. If you’re contemporary with my sister I have absolutely no reason to remember you by. You were about ten years old at the time.”

She let out a very loud laugh. “You know I am in my forties now. May I sit with you?”

“And your friends?”

“They’ll be fine.” She pulled up a stool and sat next to him.

The conversation went on for hours. Everything from old teachers to mutual friends was covered. It turned out they had more in common than they thought. Then, the question came up. “Would you like to come back to my place?” he asked.

She just gave him a nod, took his hand and dragged him to the parking lot. “I don’t know what you drive, but I think we’d be better off taking my Jeep.” She handed him the keys.

They arrived at his house and parked in the driveway. He stared into her big black eyes before he grabbed her face and kissed her. She wrapped her hands behind his neck and kissed him back.

The rays of sunshine woke him up. He felt to his left and there she was. She just laid there, her body naked, the sheets halfway down her hips, her back completely uncovered, and her mane of black, curly hair staring at his face. He ran his fingers down her back, admiring her dark skin. He wondered how could it be possible that such an amazing woman had evaded him for so long.

Then, she moved back and pressed her body against his, turned her head around and smiled at him. “Good morning,” she said, the big grin still on her face.

And, then, he knew she was the one….