Shetland Air Pt. 1

I stood at the front of the plane with the cockpit behind me. "Thank you for flying with us," I said waving to the passengers as they exited the plane. "Have a great day." I flashed everyone my best smile even though I was exhausted. They were too. It was a rough flight due to some extreme wind over Kansas.

I thought I could hear the pilots getting ready to come out. When the door opened behind me, my stomach dropped. One of the pilots, Chase Barrington, had been hounding me for a date.

I was one of the only people at Shetland Air who hadn't slept with him. I wanted to keep it that way. I knew it had earned me a certain level of respect among my co-workers. Everyone saw how hard Chase tried to charm me, but I resisted.

Captain Chase Barrington just wasn't a commitment kind of guy but I'd heard he was like the best drug you'd ever do according to some victims. He was gorgeous and when he turned it on, he could charm anyone. I'm sure after a few drinks with my guard down, we'd end up in bed together.

So I knew I had to avoid him. Otherwise, I'd be just another one of those women that all my colleagues gossiped about. I'd be the sad supposed "loser" in the corner, taking extra time to stock the beverage cart in hopes of having time to reapply my make-up after bawling for an hour in the bathroom.

I'd be the desperate woman who would try to get him to look at me each time we crossed paths knowing full well I should have listened to my instincts. He'd leave me not only hating him but myself. Then he'd move on. I'd have a broken ego at the very least and an appointment with a clinic to make sure I didn't catch any crud from his crotch.

As I heard the cockpit door open, I braced myself for the inevitable greeting.

"Hello, Janessa." I could hear him standing behind me now, probably waving.

"Thanks for flying with us," I said to a passenger, ignoring him. One woman glanced behind me at Chase and gave him a smile. Then a young man gave Chase the same bashful grin with a blush to his cheeks. Everyone was captivated by our captain.

I began gathering my belongings then I removed my periwinkle-blue hat with the garnet-red insignia "S". I placed it in my bag with my phone, planner, and a menu for the nearby hotel restaurant. My colleagues and I were all staying at the same place tonight. It had been booked ahead of time due to our 1 am arrival time.

While I stepped off the plane down the stairs into the airport, I could see one of our new flight mechanics near the front wheel of the plane. He had ear protection on and was wearing a light blue jumpsuit to match our regular uniforms. I had noticed him before and I thought he was cute, but I didn't know anything about him, not even his name.

I extended the handle of my shiny cherry-red suitcase and wheeled it behind me trying my best to avoid running over nearby passengers' feet. Once inside, the airport was busy but all I needed to do was get to the other end where the shuttle would pick me up. The hotel was only five minutes away.

My walk was short down through B gate and then I'd be outside. I could get there before Chase could stop me if I was fast enough. The only problem was that the shuttles came every fifteen minutes and if one wasn't there when I got outside, I'd be in trouble. I hurriedly rushed to the outside automatic doors feeling the warm humid air blast into my face.

I tried to be inconspicuous by blending with other hotel guests, but my uniform made me stick out like a sore thumb. It also didn't help that the lights in the garage brightened the place like a football stadium at night. I was steadily moving when a piece of gravel stopped me short as it grinded into my suitcase wheel. I bent down to pull the pebble out of the track when I heard, "Janessa!"

F*ck, it was him. I exhaled, not turning around. It didn't matter though because he came up behind me and said my name again. In my ear he whispered, "Janeeeessa."

"You don't need to come that close to me. I heard you the first time," I said glancing over my shoulder.

"Why didn't you turn around, then?" he asked. I couldn't deny that he did look quite handsome in his white uniform but the fact that he borderline stalked me for the past year was enough to cancel out his looks.

"I'll let you work out why," I said as the shuttle stopped in front of me. Hotel guests and some of our flight staff were boarding up on the shuttle. I could see him out of the corner of my eye as I boarded. Normally, Chase wouldn't lower himself to mingle with the "common folk" and get a shuttle, but this time was different.

Frantically, I searched for a seat that was nearly full so he couldn't sit next to me. The seats were only for three. I practically dove into the first one I saw with two other people. I gave him a half smirk, but he answered that by doing the same thing. Now we were both closest to the aisle on the outside and only a few feet apart. The two other people he was with, who were probably mother and daughter due to their strong resemblance, began to stare at Chase.

"So," he began. "What are you doing tonight?" He tried leaning closer to me, but someone needed the aisle space. Once that barrier was gone he leaned in again. "So?"

"Don't you need to sleep? I'd rather not die because you're too tired to fly properly." I sat up rigidly in the seat.

"What? I do it all the time."

"Yeah, I've heard." I rolled my eyes.

"I didn't even explain what I was asking you to do."

"You're not exactly secretive about it."

"Not THAT. I was asking you to come to my room … just to talk. It has a jacuzzi in it. We could--"

"Excuse me, are you a pilot?" the woman next to him asked. He glanced down at her and nodded.

"What gave it away for you?" he asked her. He couldn't resist an ego stroking.

"Ugh," I said under my breath. I turned to my bag and began checking over my hotel information. I was so glad that woman and her daughter had his attention. I could tell he wanted to continue speaking with me by the tilt of his head in my direction but at least he was polite enough to continue the conversation.

Although it was only a five-minute ride by the time we got there, the woman was already asking him what room he was in. I stood up as fast as I could and tried using the surrounding passengers to block Chase access to me.

We unloaded quickly and as soon as I was on the cement to the hotel, I pulled the handle up on my suitcase, hurriedly wheeling it. It was bouncing back and forth on each wheel barely balancing but I made it to the front desk without tipping it. I checked in and got my key rushing up to the elevator.

I went up to my room 616, unlocking it first then checking to see if anyone was hiding in there. Once the coast was clear I brought my belongings inside. I closed the door feeling happy to block out the rest of the world.

After showering I got into some comfortable clothes. I brushed my hair and was about to turn in for the night when I heard a knock. Slowly, I rose from the bed and looked through the peephole. I sighed in frustration.

"What Captain Barrington?" I asked through the door.

"Open up," he said. "Please."

"I'm heading to bed. You should too."

"I dropped something in your bag."

"Tsk! Are you serious?" I opened the door a crack to face him. A smile crossed his face.

"You should check your bag."

"I'm going to return whatever this and then you're going to leave. You got that?" I asked. He nodded. I went back to my bag and opened it. When I didn't see anything obvious, I took it to the door. "What is it? I don't see anything."

"Check the smaller zipper."

I unzipped the side and found something in there that I didn't recognize. When I retrieved it, I saw that it was one of his pilot's IDs.

"Captain, why did you do this?"

"I lost the lanyard for it. It isn't comfortable in my pants. During this last flight it fell onto the floor of the cockpit. I had Lacy grab it and put it in your purse. It was the closest thing that had a zipper. Remember the last time we hit some chop? Everyone else's bags flew all--"

"Well, here it is!" I handed it to him.

"Thanks. You know I'm in room--"

I slammed the door in his face and triple locked it. I laid down on the bed again, putting on a forensics show. Just as I was drifting off to sleep, I heard a light knock. At first, I wasn't sure if I'd heard anything at all, as it was barely audible. But there it was again.

"Go away, captain!" I shouted. "If you don't leave me alone--"

"It ain't the captain." I heard someone say in a British accent. I sat up, my hair everywhere and my clothes half-way off. This had better be good. I was exhausted.

"What?" I demanded as I opened the door a crack.

"I'm sorry to bother you, Janessa. I'm one of the flight mechanics, Luca. I know we haven't met yet."

"It's great to meet you but I really need to get some sleep."

"Apologies, sincerely. Here, I found this in the elevator." He passed me my wallet. My mouth dropped open in surprise. I took it from him.

"Oh, my god. I didn't even realize I'd dropped it. I just get so frazzled sometimes."

"Yeah," he said with a soft smile. "Flyin' can be that way." Suddenly I saw Chase coming down the hallway. I thought quickly on my feet.

"Sure, you can come in my room," I said loudly to Luca.