Story 20 | First-Class Fools
A mile-high attempt gone wrong, based on the reader-submitted prompt: "a vacation tryst takes a wild turn."
A couple nights ago, I dreamt that I finished today’s story. Then I woke up and remembered I hadn’t even started yet. Not the first time this has happened, oddly. I’m always so deeply satisfied with what I’ve written, I can see the words on the page, I can read them. And when I wake up, I remember nothing. Just that it was good.
A month ago, when I asked for your prompts to use for my writing challenge, I missed one of your submissions - and it was a good one! I kept thinking about it, so I decided to use it!
Today’s story is based on that prompt: "a vacation tryst takes a wild turn." My friend submitted this, probably because she’s marrying the man she met on vacation last summer. I took the prompt in a very different direction!
With a little more time and polishing (read: I finished this at 2am, there will be typos), this could be super fun / funny. I also think the ideal format for this story might be film; there’s so much room for physicality, facial expressions and emotion that would be exciting to watch.
Also, we made it to Story Twenty!!
First-Class Fools
She first noticed him at the gate, an oasis in a desert of bored, tired travelers, all strong jaw, kind eyes and really good hair – organized chaos of loose curls often wasted on a smug man, but he seemed grounded, humble even. He was wearing a blazer which reminded her of a boss who once told her he always wore a blazer when flying because it increased the odds he would be upgraded to first class.
She saw him again once she was already settled on the plane. He walked past her to his seat a couple rows back, also on the aisle. He helped an older woman put up her bag and sat down for their long-haul, international flight.
A few hours into the flight, the cabin was dark, with most passengers drifting off, but sleep wasn’t coming easily to her, thanks to that heavy blanket of stress she hadn’t yet shaken off. Usually, a flight was an excuse to veg out, watch movies, enjoy snacks, turn her brain off, but here she was, itching to dig into work emails. Her brain kept going back to a proposal that had already been submitted, turning the pieces over in her head, reexamining her phrasing and retooling formatting. But it was done and sent; there was no more to be done.
She was bored, restless and hyper-fixating on work. This was vacation, this was fun, she needed to loosen up. What was she going to do, join the mile-high club? She smirked to herself and shook her head, wondering if anyone had seen that thought and reaction play across her face. She resumed flipping through the film options on the entertainment screen in front of her.
Another intrusive thought popped into her head, pulling her focus and giving her pause. What if…? She slowly turned her head to glance back a couple rows. He was asleep, hands neatly folded, chest slowly rising and falling, blazer draped over one knee. She turned back and rolled her eyes; she was being ridiculous. Right? But also, why not? She was single. It could be fun…
If he’s awake when I look back this time, I do something, she dared herself.
She peered back, catching his still-folded hands first, then his steadily breathing chest and then his kind eyes, open and looking quizzically right at her.
Instinct and adrenaline collided, combusting: she smiled and quirked her head, nodding it back and inviting him to come her direction, then glanced up at the bathroom sign, indicating where and so much more.
To her great shock, he didn’t wave a wedding ring at her, avert his eyes with a dismayed frown, or summon a flight attendant to have her detained. Instead, he calmly unbuckled his seatbelt, stood up, folded his blazer into his now-empty seat and started moving her direction.
Oh shit!, she thought, scrambling to unbuckle and check her breath.
As they met in the aisle, the bathroom light pulled their attention as it switched off, indicating it was occupied. Her eyes searched the cabin, trying to come up with something that would save her from idle small talk with this potential hookup. Talking was so not the point. Her eyes landed on his blazer, which gave her an idea.
“Come on,” she whispered, taking his hand and pulling him toward the front of the plane.
She surreptitiously pulled back the idiotic curtain veiling the first-class cabin and, seeing the coast was clear, darted for the first-class bathroom, pushed the folding door open and beckoning him to follow.
A heartbeat later, they were standing chest to chest in a slightly larger than tiny airplane bathroom, absorbing the moment. Sneaking into first class had heightened the situation, the tension was real.
“Hi. One question,” she said, her face a few inches from his, thanks to the close quarters. Their eyes searched each other for information.
“Only one?” Oh, so he was playful. That fit.
“Have you done this before?”
“Sex? Yes,” he responded with a hint of a smile. “On an airplane? Absolutely not.”
“That was the right answer.”
Of course, there was no telling if that was true, but at least he wasn’t a cocky asshole.
“You?” he asked.
“All the time. It’s best with a mile-high virgin.”
“What?!”
She was surprised he believed her sarcasm. Then again, he didn’t know her.
“Of course not!”
She stifled his laugh with a kiss, throwing her arms around his neck as he pulled her in close. The first-class bathroom was slightly roomier than its counterpart in premium economy, but it was still tricky to maintain the appropriate balance.
At the same time, the plane hit an aggressive pocket of turbulence, dropping sharply and amplifying their momentum, throwing them off and causing them to fall full force into the bathroom door, hyperextending the accordion door in the wrong direction and disconnecting the lock. The collision knocked their teeth together and his breath from his chest as she landed on him. They could hear rumblings of similar commotion in the cabin as the passengers recovered from the disconcerting jolt.
“Are you okay?” He helped right her; there wasn’t enough space for them to have fallen to the floor.
“I’m all right. That was wild. Oh my God, the door is unlocked. Lock it, lock it!”
“On it, give me a sec,” he said, as he carefully turned around in the tight space. “That’s weird. I can’t get the door locked.”
“What do you mean?” she asked as she rubbed a finger on her teeth, trying to forget that terrible feeling of enamel grinding unnaturally.
“I mean, the door won’t lock. Is that ok?”
“Hell no! I’m not into getting caught like this!” What did he think? That she’d like the danger of an unlocked door? No way, this was about as adventurous as she got. Maybe more adventurous than she got.
“Hmm.” His unconscious sounds brought her attention back to him. He was still fiddling with the lock and door. “That’s not good.”
“What’s not good?”
“The door won’t move.”
“What are you doing? What do you mean? What do you… mean?” She looked over his shoulder to see what he was referring to.
“The door used to push into the bathroom, but when we fell, we pushed it out, and now it’s wedged in the tracks, in the wrong position.” He rattled the door, trying to shake it loose, but it didn’t budge. “Yeaaah, we’re stuck. Someone might be able to push the doors in from the other side, but short of breaking down the doors, I don’t know what we can do.”
Her mind raced as she considered what being trapped would mean. They weren’t due to land for another eight hours or so. No way, there had to be a solution.
“Excuse me, are you all right in there?” a bright voice said. “This is the flight attendant. I’m so sorry for the turbulence. Did you fall? I thought I heard a crash.”
His eyes met hers, wordlessly asking what to do, how to cover for them. All she could do was shrug. There was no way out of this.
“We’re fine, thank you,” he said clearly. “Though the door appears to be jammed. Can you get it to open from your side?”
“We?” the flight attendant squeaked out. She cleared her throat and moved to a different tact. “I’ll try the door.”
They heard a feeble skittering of sounds on the door, accompanied by mutterings of frustration and concern from the attendant.
“I’m afraid I’m not able to move the door, either. I’m going to get a colleague to help. Before I do, would you please confirm your seat numbers?”
“I’m in 25C,” he offered promptly.
“23B,” she chimed in, cringing inwardly as they revealed how much they weren’t supposed to be in this bathroom.
“I’ll be right back,” the flight attendant said with a parting attempt to move the door, to no avail.
“They’ll figure out a way to open the door, right?” she asked, afraid of the answer. What if they were stuck for the rest of the flight? On the one hand, they were in a bathroom, but the thought of peeing, or worse, in front of this man… just no.
“I hope so. This won’t be comfortable for long. Maybe there’s a trick to the door?”
“I’m so sorry. This was my idea, and look at how it’s turned out.”
“You couldn’t have known this would happen.”
“Sure, but I feel responsible. What if we’re stuck in here for the rest of the flight?” She didn’t want to picture it, but now all she could do was catastrophize. No food or drink. They would be standing for hours or taking turns sitting on the toilet – nightmare. All the passengers in first class would now have to use another restroom, so surely, they would be mad.
“Babe?”
“You good in there?”
She knew those voices: two of her best friends from college, traveling together for their annual girls’ trip. She would never hear the end of this. “Oh dear God,” she said under her breath. “Lacey? Jen?”
“Our flight attendant said you’re stuck in the bathroom with a gent,” Lacey said. “So I wanted to make sure you had protection. I think I can get these in the door up here.”
Sure enough, a short roll of condoms slapped against the top of the door as Lacey fed them through the gap caused from the doors coming off the track.
She pushed by him, as though physically distancing him from her friends would help the situation in any way. Taller than her, he grabbed the condoms just before she could, laughing and holding them behind his back.
“You know how you were saying we need to do a better job of taking pictures together?” Jen asked. “Smile, Lacey.” They heard the camera snap through the door, then an ominous “Your turn!”
She could just make out the top of her friend’s phone case through the crack in the door, the camera shutter going off in a long burst of shots. The camera was bound to catch her reddening cheeks, not to mention this ridiculous situation.
“Bitches! Go sit down. Please!” she begged. She could hear their laughter as they walked away.
She leaned her forehead against his back, despondent. This is what happened when one ventured from their comfort zone.
“Honey, are you in there?” This came from a more mature female voice.
She pulled back and raised an eyebrow in judgment. Was he traveling with a girlfriend? An older girlfriend? Or wife?! Couldn’t be a colleague – she wouldn’t have called him ‘honey.’ Come to think of it, one other woman would use that term…
“Mom?” It was his turn to push to the door, so they were chest to chest again, this time each with a shoulder leaning on the door.
“Did you just say ‘mom’?” she whispered. “You’re traveling with your mother.”
“I promise I am more mortified than you are,” he whispered back.
“Honey, is someone in there with you? Do you need help?”
“I thought you traveling by yourself.”
“You thought wrong.” He directed his speech back to his mom. “I’m good, Mom. You can sit back down. I’ll find you in a bit.”
“Why aren’t you coming out now?”
“Mom, the door’s stuck. But we’ll figure it out. Go get some sleep.”
The plane’s intercom interrupted with announcement. “We sorry to disturb your sleep, but one of the lavatory doors has become stuck with some of our passengers inside. We’re looking for a mechanic or engineer to help us. If you think that might be you, please press your call button and a flight attendant will come to you.”
“Well, at this point, I never want to get out of here,” she said, covering her face with her hands. “This is a disaster.”
She was surprised to hear laughter. Removing her hands from her face, she saw him laughing.
“This is funny to you?”
“Isn’t it? It sounds like neither of us would ever do this, so of course it’s turning into an international incident. Honestly, I thought you’d back out as soon as I unbuckled my seatbelt.”
“I didn’t even think your eyes would be open.”
“I barely got them closed when you looked back the first time. I happened to be looking at you, and didn’t want you to be creeped out.”
“Oh, so you just happened to be checking me out?”
“I was looking around the plane, people watching.”
“Surrrrre. I totally believe you,” she teased.
“You know we could still…”
“You don’t think the moment’s passed?”
“We may as well really give them something to talk about,” he said with a mischievous grin.
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This story had me laughing out loud! My favorite so far. Thank you for sharing!