Persuasion

Photograph

JFK Airport - October 2015

I sat down at the gate and grabbed my phone. I dialed quickly and he picked up after the first ring.

"You do realize what time it is here Ace?" he answered.

"You aren't asleep. You are probably still working" I said noticing that I could hear him typing.

The typing stopped "you caught me" he chuckled. "You at the airport?"

"Yeah just got to my gate. My flight gets in around 8:30 tomorrow morning your time."

"I'll be waiting for you at Heathrow."

"You don't have to do that Logan."

"I know I don't, but I want to. We can get breakfast."

"The least sexy of all the meals" I quipped.

He laughed. "Exactly."

"Alright well have a good night and I will see you tomorrow."

"Have a safe flight."

"Thanks Logan."

"Goodnight Ace."

I hung up the phone and my heart fluttered. When we had left Hamburg a couple of weeks ago we left each other with the agreement of trying to be friends. However, the amount of phone calls and text messages between us was bordering a little beyond what a typical friendship would entail. When I got my assignment in London, I was a little too excited at the possibility to be spending more time with my new found 'friend.' I found myself in the airport wearing a fitted navy blue dress with a scarf and knee high boots instead of my typical comfortable attire. An outfit that I was sure to regret at some point during the flight.

I had hoped the fact that this was a red eye flight meant that I would at least get a little shut eye, but my nerves in combination with a flirty, talkative guy next to me made that difficult. When we landed, I took out a mirror and reapplied some make up and put on lipstick.

"Meeting someone at the airport?" the guy next to me asked.

"Just a friend."

"I wish I had more friends like you" he said with a creepy wink.

I tried to return a smile, wishing the line of people exiting the plane did so with a little more haste.

I finally made it through customs and was making my way through a sea of people when I saw him. He was holding a coffee in one hand and a bouquet of flowers in the other.

"Aren't you a sight for sore eyes" I said greeting him with a hug while he gave me a chaste kiss on the cheek.

"Are you talking to me or the coffee Ace?" he said with a laugh.

I took the coffee greedily and smiled "I'll never tell. Thank you for the coffee and the flowers."

"How was your flight?"

"Long. I think they guy next to me was hitting on me, he didn't stop talking the entire trip and when we were getting off the plane he did that awkward wink thing that guys do."

"Not all guys do that."

"Yeah you've got much smoother moves" I said smirking.

He leaned in closer to me and whispered in my ear "I can't blame the guy though, you look stunning."

His words made my whole body blush and Logan smiled, pleased with himself that he could cause such a reaction from me.

"Come on Ace, I've got a car waiting for us" he said grabbing my bag and handing me the flowers.