George's Shorts

Airport Coffee

Airport CoffeeThe sky was filled with an orange glow as the sun begun it’s decent below the horizon.  We walked in silence, but together.  I stole quick glances over at him, and couldn’t believe we were dating.  I felt so lucky.

He had short dark hair and yet the setting sun was bringing it to life, but his eyes were what really captured me.  They were sparkling.  Hazel, which changed with his mood.  They were intense as we met, but right now they sparkled.  I took in the rest of his features, good bone structure, five o’clock shadow and these sideburns that were perfect.  I smiled at that, remembering how Sabrina had told Harvey that he had perfect sideburns when Melissa Joan Hart played a teenage witch.

A small smile grew on his face as he caught me looking, I guess that I was stealing more than a glance.  He turned his face and looked at me.  “What?” he asked, in this soft voice that had a tone of worry in it.

“Oh I was just thinking how your sideburns were a little wonky.”  I lied.  I was good at keeping a straight face.  His hands went straight up to his sideburns to check out what I was saying.  An air of self-consciousness filled his face.  I giggled a little.

“They are not.” he said with a matter of fact, but his cheeks flushed a little.  I smiled some more, giving him a grin that let him know I was joking.  As his hand fell back down from his face I reached out to grab it and gave it a little squeeze.  I didn’t want him to think that I had really thought that.  The nice thing was that we were around the same height, and so as I held his hand, there was no odd movements between us, such as me trying to bend down a little because he was too tall or hold my hand higher because he was too short.  We walked hand in hand perfectly.

“Are they wonky?”  He asked me.  I laughed, and couldn’t help it.

“No.  Have you ever seen that episode of Friends were they talk about making snide comments about their dates to lower their self-confidence so that they can get the kiss at the end?  I think that’s what they were doing anyway.” I smiled as I said this, hoping that he could sense my jovial nature.

“Oh, so you want to take the piss out of me so that you can get a kiss at the end.”  He stopped and dropped my hand.  Shit.  “I am not sure that’s going to be happening to be honest.”  This was no smile on his face, and I couldn’t read his expression.

“But your sideburns are perfect.”  I stammered.  “I was only teasing, it’s my sense of humour.  Sorry, it’s a bit dry and weird sometimes.”  I flustered and could feel my face go red.  I was having such a lovely afternoon, we had had coffee and talked for ages about the things we loved, we had walked through the park most of the afternoon and I was really feeling excited about us being together.  But now I had ruined it all with a little joke.  Shit.  I looked at him and he was still straight faced.  I tried to smile, but it didn’t seem to want to happen.

Then he grinned.  “Gotcha” was all he said before he moved in and kissed me.  It was gentle at first.  A slight brush of our lips together, before he started to press them harder to mine, his hand moving round to the small of my back to pull me in closer into him.  Our lips parted somewhat and the kiss deepened.  I could taste the coffee on his breath, and I could smell him more, the light spicy aftershave that he was wearing.

I don’t know who pulled away first, but I called him a bastard and he laughed at me, into me.  I looked into his eyes and realised that all that I was feeling, he was feeling too.  It was there in his eyes.  He grabbed my hand and we continued walking along the path.  The sun had set and we talked about getting some dinner, but we couldn’t find anywhere really, and that’s when I drifted out of the dream and woke up with a smile on my face.

I laid there for a while. I didn’t want to let the dream go.  I could still see him, feel him, even though it was all in the dream.  I could see the way he used gel in his hair, and the freckles that were on his face.  The features were beginning to fade, the setting was becoming a distant memory, but I knew that I had met a new boyfriend.  Maybe.  I guess I will have to wait for him to show up in real life.

 

It was only a week later that he did.  I had spent close to 10 hours travelling from London to Chicago.  I was tired, weary and really not sure of what time zone I should be in, was it London or Central Time Zone.  I walked around to find the gate to catch my next flight, and determined to find coffee to help me get to my final destination.  I stood in the queue for a while when I felt someone bang into me.  I looked around, feeling irritated already, until I looked into these hazel eyes.

“I’m sorry”, he said.  I blinked, having that moment where I didn’t know if I was awake or asleep.  It was him.  The man from my dreams.

“No problem.”  I finally managed to get out.  Then there it was.  That smile, that grin.  The five o’clock shadow with the perfect sideburns.

“NEXT PLEASE” was all I could hear, and I turned around to order my coffee.  I don’t know if it was my accent or because I was so flustered but after three attempts she finally understood my coffee order.  I paid and made my way over to the dispensing counter, stealing glances at my dream man as much as I could without it being creepy.

“Here you go sir” said the barrister, without much charm.  It took me out of my daydream and I left the counter whilst he had already walked off in the other direction.

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