She woke early that day to make sure she packed everything. A weekend away with the husband was just what she needed after an exasperating week alone with the kids having to taxi them to school, sports, practices, and lessons. She couldn’t wait for her mother-in-law to arrive so that she could start her peaceful journey. She loaded up her eReader with several of the top Indie books of the week and sat on the couch patiently waiting.
As soon as she heard the doorbell, she gathered her bags and sunglasses. She kissed her son and her daughter, gave her mother-in-law an aggressive thankful hug and was on her way. She drove to the airport with the sunroof open enjoying the warm spring air and the sunshine spraying in from the cloudless sky singing along with Bruno Mars about Young Wild Girls.
She made it through security seamlessly, heading straight for the bar near her departing gate. She ordered a Bombay Sapphire and tonic and sipped it quietly anticipating seeing her husband after a week of his absence. He was in California for a meeting at his corporate office and suggested she meet up with him for the weekend so that they could have a little much needed together time. His work travelling had picked up speed the first quarter of the year, which resulted in their spending a lot of time apart.
She finished her drink, paid her tab, and headed to the gate just before the plane began boarding. She boarded the plane along with the other people in the First Class group. Having a traveling husband had its benefits, one being automatic upgrades. She settled into her seat and sipped champagne, hoping that the seat next to hers would remain empty and buried her nose in her book, ignoring the crowds as each passenger made his way to his assigned seat. Out of the corner of her eye, a passenger stopped on her row and started struggling with the overhead bin. Her eyes traveled up, taking stock of her potential flight mate, clearly a man, youngish in Levi’s and a hooded sweatshirt. She couldn’t see his face but noticed that he had his ear buds in and would probably be unlikely to try to make the obligatory small talk fellow passengers always tend to make with one another. She took a deep breath and turned her attention back to her book when she felt rather than saw him sit down in the seat next to hers.
“First class is the only way to travel.” He said as he typed something on his phone. Her ears perked at the familiar voice.
“Hey,” she said and turned her attention to him.
He studied her face for a minute as a wide smile took over his. “What are you doing here?” He asked.
“What are you doing here?” She matched his tone.
They both jumped from their seats and gave each other a quick hello hug and laughed at the coincidence that brought them not only to the same flight but to neighboring seats. The flight attendant asked them to sit back down as the plane began preparing for takeoff.
They spent the entire flight talking, laughing, drinking the complimentary drinks, and getting to know each other in person after a year of being online buddies. She asked him what he was listening to, which prompted a very lengthy game of “guess this tune.” When one guessed an incorrect answer, they both had to drink. They kept the flight attendants busy for the three hour flight, which seemed to go by in just 20 minutes.
When the plane finally landed, they departed at the gate, exchanged hugs and promised to actually get together again some time. Just as he was walking away, she called out, “See. It’s not such a big world after all.”
)
Warning: This story is FICTION
Cellulite Looks Better Tan 
Sigh, dreaming of the days of upgrades and free drinks. I lost all of my status when I was pregnant and didn’t travel much. Now I’m stuck in the back of the bus. On my biz trip to California last week, they actually ran out of food by the time they got to my seat! Grumble.
This was a great story. I was immediately hooked and love the ending. It really is a small world, after all!
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Thanks, Nicole. I never get upgraded anymore for the record, but that’s mostly because you don’t get upgrades in the carpool line.
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Carpool lane(above) hahahahah. You know what though, you are right. Although the world is a big place isnt it strange how you can run into someone twice? I find it crazy there are millions of people on this earth and how random to ever see the same person again?
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It reminds me of that James Blunt song “You’re Beautiful” about a girl he sees one time on the subway and never again. It’s a big world, but then it’s also small.
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I love how they recognised one another by their voices. Muy cool, you 😀
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Thanks, Lizzi. You’re everywhere today. Does your mind ever rest?
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Rest? What is this alien concept you speak of? Je ne comprends pas…
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I believe it, Lizzi.
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This was great, Mandi. I had a friend years ago that we also played the name that song game with also. It would be so cool to meet a friend like that 🙂
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I love that game. My husband and I play it all the time. I love music quizzes!
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Love this Mandi! Great story and I sat patiently (maybe) waiting to find out who you met on the plane. Clever girl!
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Sorry – I know how you get frustrated with the “fiction” stories.
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That would be nuts! The ultimate double take of “wait, what, how, what?”
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Wouldn’t it, though? But still, it’s possible.
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Loved this, Mandi. It is a small world. Every time we go to Disney World we run into someone we know. Four huge parks, and we end up on the same ride as a neighbor. Just crazy!
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How crazy is that? I run into people all the time. Most of the time I try to hide since I rarely ever wear make-up or anything but my yoga pants. 🙂
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Ohhh to be upgraded would be nice!! What a fun story- so cool to actually recognize someone by their voice.
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Wouldn’t it be? I don’t think I’m that observant. Nothing beats an automatic upgrade, especially since they’re free.
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But you left out the part where they joined the “Mile High Club”! I guess this was the PG rated version.
Also, I recently got a free upgrade on a flight while on biz. After experiencing that it sucks going back to coach!
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Good grief, phil. Did you miss the part where she was going to see her husband?
On Friday, March 14, 2014, Cellulite Looks Better Tan wrote:
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Oh I saw that. Still, you never know!
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AHHHH you got me! The whole time I’m thinking, who was it? Who did she meet? 😉
That was so good Mandi! I was hoping for a Mike high romp though. You know. Cuz I’m filthy and need to read about raunchy sex.
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MILE HIGH. M#%+ Fu%#€!
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I’ll make sure and write a raunchy sex piece next time I feel the flare for fiction. Gah!!
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What is with you people and sex? She was meeting her husband for that later. Good grief, gutter minds!!!
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and you have NO room to talk, missy!!
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*bats eyes* Who me?
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We might get in trouble if we’re somehow on the same flight one day!
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Get a room, you two!
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That person you met sounds amazing for the record…..I dont know why but he just does.
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Oh and whoever this guy is I doubt he would “struggle” with the overhead bin. I bet he is actually pretty strong. Or he sounds strong I meant……..
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Maybe he wasn’t struggling with the weight of his bag but more with the full overhead bin since he didn’t board with the rest of the first class passengers and was left with no room for his bag. Or maybe he should work on his guns. Who knows?
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Maybe I was wrong because the guy I thought it sounded like would have never checked into his flight late causing him to have to board after everyone else. The guy I know would totally have checked in early enough that he would board first and have no issues with struggling with the overhead bins. Actually he would hoist his bag up there with ease and have spare time to organize for everyone else trying to put something in that same bin…….And this guy has some serious guns so maybe I was mistaken. Must have been someone else………
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Oh good grief!
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Great read! Good message too. 😉
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Thanks, Adrea!
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Adrea, I just tried to comment on your blog, and it won’t let me. It says it’s password protected. I wasn’t sure if it was just on my end or if you made some changes, but I’d want to know if that were happening with my readers. Let me know if I’m doing something wrong.
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It’s not you, I password protected a bunch of posts – send me an email at smurfland2013@gmail.com and I’ll send you the password. You only have to put it in once to see everything right now and then just occasionally it asks for it again. 🙂
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Wait…who was it? OMG, you can’t leave me in suspense like this!!! Are you going to continue it?
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It’s nobody. It’s a fictional person. I read a blog post that talked about what a big world it is and how it’s crazy to see someone twice. It made me think, and this is what happens when I think too much. Thanks for reading, though. I’m sorry if I mislead you. I need to make a button that says “fiction” when I write these kind of stories so that nobody gets the wrong idea.
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