Finding The Goddess In Me

This is ridiculous, Sara thought and slumped in her chair, as one of the airport’s monitors showed that her flight was delayed for yet another two hours. She had already read all four gossip magazines she’d picked up at the airport’s newsstand, thinking they would last her a four hour-long flight from Las Vegas, Nevada to Washington D.C. Flimsy articles and two-line comments with LOTS of celebrity pictures would have been about all the attention she could spare while trying not to think about the fact that she would be thousands of miles high up in the air. She would have to resort to buying some fashion magazines now, she thought; however this time she would wait to board the plane first, before opening to read them. She let out a heavy sigh, and got up to see what she could find to do in the meantime.
Sara placed the gossip magazines in her tan designer handbag and strolled down the long corridor of the Terminal “C”. She wished Mel, her best friend she had been visiting in Vegas for a week, could be with her now. They had had so much fun celebrating Mel’s “Big 3-0”. Now Sara would have to think of something to top that for her 30th next year. They have said their goodbyes three hours ago, and Sara was supposed to be in the air already, on her way back home. That thought made her pull out her BlackBerry and send yet another text to Mel to inform her that her flight had been delayed again. She typed up the short message with an experienced thumb and scrolled to “Send”.
As she was placing the phone back in her pocket, she looked around, noticing her surroundings more closely for the first time. Just to the left and above her she noticed an elegant script of letters forming a sign which read “Cocktail Lounge”.
“Perfect,” she blurted out-loud, catching an attention of a pair of dark eyes sitting behind the half-wall of the Lounge.
The eyes glanced over her carefully and smiled. Sara blushed involuntarily and headed for the entrance to the cozy-looking bar. She found a comfortable sofa chair furthest from the entrance, and by the big windows overlooking the tarmac, and sat in it.
“Hello there. What would you like to drink?” The waitress had appeared out of nowhere, smiling at her.
“Um, I think I’ll have a Cosmo?” Sara smiled back, forming a question, rather than an order, as if she wasn’t really sure if Cosmo would be the best idea right now. Oh, why not, she thought. Another martini would be a nice way to end her celebratory week with Mel.
“Coming right up!” the waitress said, dancing her way back to the bar.
Appreciating the soft cushion of the sofa chair instead of a hard terminal seat she had spent the last couple of hours in, Sara leaned back and closed her eyes. The silence didn’t last long.
“Do you mind if I join you for a drink?”
Startled by the sound, Sara opened her eyes to a tall figure standing in front of her.
“Sorry to bother you, just wanted to see if you mind the company?” dark eyes asked again, holding his drink in one hand and pulling a crimson red suitcase with the other.
“Um, sure,” she didn’t really know what to say, taking his whole presence in, recognizing at once that dark eyes belonged to a very handsome man.
What a strange choice of a suitcase color for a man, Sara mused to herself. I would have pinned him for a navy or black suitcase guy.
“My name is Alex.” He started to sit down, making her turn to look at his face instead of a blaring red suitcase, as he extended his arm for a shake at the same time.
“Sara,” she simply answered, leaning forward to place her hand in his.
The waitress returned at that moment and placed Sara’s Cosmo in front of her. Sara turned to her handbag to get some cash to pay for the drink, but Alex was faster.
“Let me get this one,” his hand was already extended with money toward the waitress.
“No, really…” Sara started to protest, but the waitress was already returning some change to him.
“Thanks. You really shouldn’t have.” Sara blushed again.
“Hey, it’s the least I can do for bothering you while I wait for my plane.” He said, his lips pulling into a grin, showing his perfect white teeth.
“So where are you headed?” Alex asked, his eyes still smiling.
“Washington.” Sara answered instantly, but then bit her tongue thinking she should be more mysterious than that to this handsome stranger.
“Oh, great! Me too!” His face lit.
Well then, he would have figured it out anyways when he saw me boarding the plane with him, Sara thought and relaxed again.
“So you know then, that the flight has been delayed for another two hours?” She offered the information sourly.
“Yeah, I saw that just a few minutes ago. Crazy stuff.” He said, sympathizing, his face serious for the first time since Sara met him.
Pleasantries continued for a while, and Sara found out that Alex also lived in Washington, and had come to Vegas for some business convention. In return she told him about Mel’s birthday bash, omitting some embarrassing details of her drunken stupor she had been in the last couple of days. He laughed at her distaste for exotic male dancers, as they continued to discuss what the most entertaining and hip place actually was in Vegas. They were both surprised that neither of them held any attraction for gambling, and were almost in tears from laughing so hard when each offered description of some strange people they noticed in casinos and on slot machines that were almost everywhere in town.
When she glanced at her watch next, Sara was surprised that their two hours of wait were almost up.
“Hey, we should probably get going. We should be boarding the plane soon,” she chimed.
“Oh, wow.” He was surprised himself. “Um, do you mind watching my suitcase while I go to the washroom before we leave?” His hand flew to his hair, and he suddenly seemed nervous.
“Sure, no problem.” Sara smiled briefly, confused about his sudden change of demeanor.
Alex paced quickly out of the Lounge, heading for the washrooms across the hall.
She watched him until he disappeared from her view, thinking what could have made him get so nervous all of a sudden, and then decided to get up herself and stretch before he comes back. Maybe he’ll ask for my number or something, so we can meet up in Washington again, she mused to herself again. That thought made her smile and turn her stomach into a nervous twist. No wonder he was nervous, if I am getting butterflies about the thought myself.
Garbled female voice came through the airport’s speakers announcing that her flight was starting to board. Sara got even more nervous then, her eyes darting to a distant point of Terminal “C” where she’s last seen Alex. She glanced at her watch over and over again. Five minutes turned into ten, and ten to fifteen. She decided that she would start moving toward their gate, where he would probably try to find her once he realized the time. How long could one take in the washroom, Sara wondered.
She wrapped her hand uncertainly around the handle of the red suitcase, and pulled it along with her. Little black wheels rolled without a sound and Sara couldn’t stop turning to look at it over and over again as she walked toward her gate, wondering again why a man, so handsome and “manly” as Alex would decide to buy the suitcase so femininely blaring in color. The two just didn’t match. Oh, whatever, maybe I’ll manage to ask him or joke about it with him when he gets back, she thought and smiled to herself.
A small line of passengers formed in front of her as they waited patiently for a strikingly beautiful female flight attendant to check their boarding passes before they proceeded to enter the plane. Sara stood awkwardly on the side of the line, still hoping that Alex would appear out of mass of faces that strolled by.
The crowd around her started to thin out, and when she turned again, her eyes met with the questioning look of the pretty flight attendant.
“Are you boarding the plane with us today, Miss?” She asked, forming a perfect smile.
“Um..I…I am waiting for a…a friend… that is also supposed to board this plane. He asked me to watch his suitcase for him while he went to the washroom…but he’s not back yet.” Sara tried to explain the conundrum that would explain her awkward position at the gate still.
“Will he be back soon?” Flight attendant asked. “We’ve already been delayed for quite a while, and we would like to leave as soon as possible,” she explained.
“I..I am really not sure,” Sara was overwhelmed with sudden anxiety about the whole situation. “I actually just met him two hours ago, and he said he’ll be right back and asked me watch his suitcase for him,” Sara pointed to the red suitcase and continued, “I’m really not sure what to do. He…he’s been gone for a while now.”
“Hmm, what’s his name?” the attendant asked, doubt creasing her forehead, while she turned toward the computer at her side.
“Alex.” Sara answered quickly. “I don’t know the last name.”
Attendant’s fingers started flying over the keyboard of the gate’s computer. Her eyebrows furrowed as she read something on the computer. Sara was feeling nauseous with anxiety, waiting for the woman to explain her computer search.
“I am afraid we do not have anyone named Alex on the passenger list for this plane today,” she finally explained to Sara, not bothering to turn her eyes off the monitor yet.
A fresh wave of anxiety washed over Sara in that moment and her head turned to the direction of where Alex disappeared last.
“But he was just here with me not twenty minutes ago. “ She turned frantically to the woman at the gate again, “He left me his suitcase to watch! How can he not come back?”
“I am not sure, Miss,” the attendant seemed apologetic for her lack of insight. “Maybe you should board the plane, and leave that suitcase with us,” she said, her eyes glancing toward her colleague, whom Sara hasn’t even acknowledged in presence until that moment.
“Um…,” Sara tried to absorb attendant’s suggestion. “Yes, I should probably do that.” She felt like a child being comforted through some trivial predicament.
She dropped her hand from the handle of stranger’s suitcase, for then he was obviously a stranger to her if he lied. His name may not even be Alex, for all I know, Sara’s thoughts were in a whirlwind. She fumbled through her bag until she found her boarding pass and her passport. Her hands were shaking when she offered the papers to the woman. The attendant checked her papers and motioned her that she is free to proceed to go to the plane.
Sara took longer than needed to approach to entrance to the long hallway that led to the plane entrance. She turned back to a mass of people walking down Terminal “C”, still holding miniscule hope that she could spot Alex again. Her gaze fell to the red suitcase still standing where she left it, in the middle of two rows of hard terminal seats. It seemed to blare with color even more than before as it stood there alone in the sea of shades of gray. Even though she couldn’t do anything anymore, she still felt responsible for the red thing. She suddenly wondered what could be in that suitcase that its owner would just leave it with her. However, there was no point in waiting any more.
With a heavy sigh, Sara continued walking more determined then to get to the plane. She found her window seat and slumped in it, glancing apologetically to an older woman who was sitting next to her. The woman looked annoyed that Sara interrupted her book reading with her presence. Sara turned to look through the window, replaying everything that has transpired in the last thirty minutes. Anxiety started to subside, but something even worse was overwhelming her just then. Betrayal. She felt so foolish for believing the first stranger she met at the airport. How stupid do you have to be, she thought.
She couldn’t help but wonder about his agenda. What was it all about? Why would he want to meet her, pay for her drink, spend two hours talking with her, being so believable in everything he’s said, just to disappear then and leave her with his irrational red bag?
I wanted to see him again, for God’s sake! Sara cringed at the thought of having some romantic desire towards the beautiful stranger. Yes, despite everything, she could acknowledge he was still handsome.
Admitting defeat to making sense of anything that has transpired, Sara closed her eyes. Still seeing the mysterious red suitcase in her mind, she wished she could fall asleep fast.