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ASHLEY
“Noooo!”
Ashley slammed her hand against the glass of the hotel in frustration as her Uber just drove off. Her phone chimed seconds later, indicating the ‘No Show fee’ – and then promptly chimed again.
Low Balance Alert
The word that came flying out of her mouth wasn’t pretty at that moment as she quickly requested yet another Uber. The hotel was near the airport, and she could jog it, but in her uniform and rolling her bag behind her wasn’t ideal in the slightest.
She was running behind – sorta.
It was more like, ‘ I’m paranoid, and now my buffer is gone’ kind of morning since her phone didn’t charge and her alarm didn’t go off.
Her phone was currently plugged into the USB port on the lamp base in the hotel which was much too expensive for what it was.
Her parano ia won the day, though, because the hotel’s wake-up call was what roused her from bed at four in the morning in Houston.
Now, she just needed to make her flight – and her ride.
A n hour later, Ashley was walking through the airport, rolling her bag behind her, and mentally singing Disney songs in her mind to calm her down. This was the second gate change for the incoming flight, and she knew the pilot vaguely.
If she was right, they were in for a fast take-off and a hard landing, with a few bumps along the way.
He wasn’t one of the kinder crew members who liked to make small talk or get to know the team before the flight.
Nope, this captain was business-minded, and if it was arranged for him to pull from the gate at six-oh-five in the morning, you better believe that was happening.
They would be loading passengers thirty minutes ahead of time, because this captain would become irate if the door to the plane was still open.
Six-oh-five meant that the doors were closed at six - sharp .
Ashley checked her phone again, which was currently attached to the somewhat-charged battery pack, putting it at eighteen percent according to the display.
No matter, she’d plug it in and charge it on the flight.
As she walked up to the gate, she flashed her badge, scanned it, and greeted everyone before entering the door that would lead her to the plane.
Her hollow steps on the ramp echoed her heartbeat before boarding and quickly stowing her things .
“Where’s the other one?” the grumpy pilot tossed over his shoulder. “I hope he’s dragging his butt in here within the next few minutes, or it’s going to be a long flight for all of us if you get my drift.”
“Good morning, captain,” Ashley said calmly. “May I get you a coffee?”
“Yup. Fire it up and get us ready,” he tossed curtly, and she saw the first officer look back at her, smirking. Yup, he knew the dude was a jerk, too.
“Of course, captain.”
Ashley went about prepping the cabin, looking over things, doing her counts, and getting ready to face the two hundred needy faces that would be watching her like a hawk.
Soda? Cookies?
Can I have a pillow?
This is my seat. No, this is my seat!
Crying kids, dirty diapers, the occasional vomiter (because in her head, that was utterly and equivocally a word that should be in a dictionary).
Vomiter (vom-eh-ter) pronoun – a term used to describe someone who upchucks at the slightest turbulence during a flight, usually creating, as a result, a panicked scuffle mid-flight that was sure to give any attendants with anxiety a case of heart failure.
Not to mention her pay.
Ashley might be here, but her ‘clock’ didn’t start running until the plane left the gate.
Delays, boarding, disembarking, and the rest of the time were not considered part of the flight.
Her last flight had someone refusing to give up a seat, recording it on their phone, and making a scene.
They ended up getting security to drag the man off the plane – but that whole twenty minutes of backtalk was on her dime.
She liked her job.
She loved seeing the world.
She just wished she was a little less poor and a whole lot less stressed.
If her grandparents hadn’t left her the cabin, she would have been up a creek without a paddle – and her canoe would be sinking.
See, everyone thought that being a flight attendant would be a glamorous, high-paying, elitist job – but in reality, it was anything but that.
‘Full time’ was no more than 95 hours in a month, whereas another job could have you earning 120 hours in a month – and let me tell you: those ninety-five hours were hard-earned .
No, her job involved racking up a ton of points on her credit card for hotel rooms she couldn’t afford, utilizing hostels, Air B&B, or anything to get a cheap place to sleep for the night that wouldn’t leave her cringing or wondering if she picked up something awful.
She was lucky to have no house payment, or else she couldn’t have afforded the luxury of owning a home of her own. She was currently waiting for her paycheck to hit her bank in two days, so she could keep from having her three-year-old pickup truck repossessed.
“Hey y’all,” a breathless man began, practically vaulting into the plane. “I’m here. I’m here…”
“Oh goody,” the captain muttered loudly. “The other half of ‘the dynamic duo’ is finally here. Is my coffee ready yet?”
“Oh how fun - it’s you! ” the man exclaimed – and Ashley fought back a snort of laughter. “So it’s gonna be that kind of flight this morning, eh?”
“I’m coming with the coffee!” Ashley called out quickly. She reeeeally didn’t need to start her morning like this after the di saster with her cell phone. She met the other flight attendant’s smirk and patted him on the shoulder. “Hey, Adrian.”
“Hey yourself, Hot-Chicky-Mama – when are you gonna let some fine man put a ring on that finger?” he stressed the words – and she rolled her eyes.
“Are you volunteering? I’ll happily hand over all my bills and take a gaudy diamond ring any day of the week,” she retorted, calling the flamboyant man’s bluff. She liked working with Adrian because he worked hard, wasn’t afraid to say his piece, and made the flight enjoyable.
“Heck no, Chicka. You are much too high-strung for me. I like my women a little less in the air and a lot more grounded than you or I will ever be,” he sassed back, snapping his fingers. “Now, you get ‘ Captain Crotchety’ his coffee before I decide to ruin his day, too.”
“Oh boy,” she chuckled, moving quickly past him in an effort to separate the two of them.
Within no time, Adrian and Ashley were greeting the guests, welcoming them on board the plane, and putting on their ‘game faces.’ You couldn’t look nervous before a flight because then the customers were on edge. This was business, but there wasn’t any reason it couldn’t be enjoyable.
“Welcome aboard,” Ashley said, meeting the eyes of a blond man who seemed to tower in the entrance to the plane.
His golden-brown eyes looked almost dull like he’d been verbally abused and kicked to the side like a wounded being, and she just wanted to wipe that look off his face.
“Don’t be nervous,” she whispered, smiling at him.
“The captain is a wonderful one, and you are lucky to have him.”
Adrian made a ‘ harrumph ’ under his voice and paused, looking between her and the handsome man. Then, to her horror , Adrian said in a loud, telling whisper, “There you go – get you some of that, girl. No ring – I repeat – no ring!”
She managed to keep her expression schooled as the gorgeous man looked past her at Adrian – then met her gaze again.
“Where’s seat 3B?” he said simply.
“She ain’t wearing a ring either, Stud-Muffin,” Adrian sang out nonchalantly – and Ashley shoved her leg backward, her heel catching her coworker in the shin, causing him to yelp once more. “And she’s a feisty one!”
“Business class is this way,” she said simply, holding out her hand politely to the right and keeping that ‘work-smile’ plastered on her face as her brow broke out in a sweat.
I’m gonna maim Adrian for doing this to me, and now the next five hours are going to be uncomfortable for two reasons – the captain and this hunk.
As the handsome man stowed his bag on top and sat down in the plush seats, she saw him slide the panel closed, giving him privacy from the other guests and her. Yup, those panels were designed to effectively cut you off from the rest of the world, and the move was telling.
“Coffee?” the captain hollered from the flight deck. “Now!” And Adrian muttered under his breath, the same thing flying through her head at the rude man’s sharp words.
“Now I know he ain’t talkin’ to me like that!”
“I’ll get it,” Ashley muttered and then glared at her coworker. “But for that stunt you just pulled with He-Man, I ought to make you get ‘Captain Crotchety’ his caffeine.”
“ Gurrrrl – yes!” Adrian gasped emphatically, laying a hand on his chest. “Both of those names are so appropriate – why do you think I call him that to his face? And me getti ng that fool coffee would be a definitive, ‘ not on your life, ’ missy. Oh, and your phone just buzzed.”
“It did?”
“Yupper.”
“Shoot,” she hissed, knowing that once they pulled away from the gate, there would be no checking it until they landed. Her neighbors were supposed to go by the cabin to check on it for her last night or this morning, which made her wonder if something was wrong.
“Coffee, then the phone, girlfriend - and I’ll handle the announcements,” Adrian offered, smirking. “Are we even now? Can you blame me for trying? Y’all would make pretty, pretty babies.”
“Yes,” she whispered quickly. “But you’re the best person regardless of your weird quirks.”
“Oh, I know it…”
Ashley poured the coffee into a cup for the captain and quickly made her way to the flight deck, smoothing her expression once more.
Just a few more minutes…
Just a few more minutes…
Annnnnd no .
She heard one of the panels of the business class seats slide open behind her the moment she handed the captain his fresh cup of coffee. It was as if the hair on her arms stood on end in that split second because she knew without looking who it probably was.
“Ten minutes or less,” the captain muttered, slurping a quick sip as if to test the coffee and whether he would deem it ‘palatable.’ “Handle that,” he pointed. “I’m closing the doors.”
“Yes, sir.”
And before she finished speaking, the captain slammed the fl ight deck door almost in her face. The two metal bifold panels were so precariously close to pinching the tip of her nose that she jumped. Thankfully, she had enough self-preservation to back up a step before the doors shut.
As she turned, she saw the handsome blond man staring at the doorway over her shoulder, shocked and dismayed. She cleared her throat, angled her chin upward slightly, and smoothed her uniform.
“Can I help you, sir?” she asked coolly.
“Did he just… are you… I’m not married,” he finished, strangling on the words – and then winced.
“Look,” Ashley began, feeling heat rising up her neck in embarrassment and could feel all eyes on her.
The plane was almost full, and they would be taking off within minutes – and this was not exactly a perfect start to her workday so far.
“I apologize for my coworker for making you feel uncomfortable or…”
“Are you… are you married?” he interrupted in a hushed voice, his eyes holding hers with something almost akin to hope in those golden-brown depths… and she swallowed, shoving down the awareness that seemed to perk up suddenly from out of nowhere.
“My life is a hot mess,” she whispered in a panicked hushed voice. “I’m gone all the time, I’ve got issues, and I’m not married for a reason… okay? I’m the reason for the ‘ it’s not you, it’s me’ cliché ’. You seem nice, but this isn’t appropriate right now. We are about to take off.”
“Could we talk, maybe over a drink?”
“Sure,” she replied numbly, seeing Adrian in the distance giving her a shocked look mixed with a proud smile as his mouth hung open in surprise with a hand on his hip. “I need to check in with my coworker. Did you need something? ”
“N-Never mind,” he whispered, looking away – and sighed.
“If you need something, just press the attendant button, and we’ll be right over,” she offered, feeling unsure and a little curious about their brief conversation. She would not be opposed to getting a drink with this handsome man when they landed in Quebec.
Not. At. All.
“I’ll check on you in a few minutes,” she offered, moving away – and nearly stumbled as she heard his voice behind her.
“My name is Liam.”
Oh man, today was just going to be one of those days – wasn’t it?
Less than a minute later, Ashley was no longer wondering about that – but horribly positive that someone had punched her karma-ticket at some point during the night while she was sleeping.
She was listening to a voicemail on her phone while Adrian was closing up the airplane door.
Her neighbor had left her a message, hollering about how it her truck had been repossessed already.
Ashley, I drove over to your place to take the trash can to the street for trash pick up - and they were pulling out with your truck on the back! I couldn’t believe it! I was honking and… and waving at them… but they took your truck! I got the guy’s license plate number…
Yep. That is usually how repos work. Pop in, hook up, take off with the car. It had happened once to her mother when she was a child, and she had no clue what was happening then, but she did now.
They took her truck, and she had ninety-seven bucks in her ac count after settling up her hotel bill this morning. She needed two days – one if she wanted to chance ‘floating’ an e-check… if that was even possible.
“Are you okay?” Adrian asked warily. “Problems?”
“Ninety-nine of them,” she muttered. “But money is my biggest one.”
“Gurrrl, I hear you on that one. Let’s get this done, and we’ll chat, gossip, and do all the things, okay?”
Ashley nodded numbly, her mind racing as she stood up in the aisle – held up the mock seatbelt regally, and showed the operation. She hoped things clicked for her someday , because she needed a break or for something to go her way… soon.