I toss my backpack over my shoulder and start moving quickly, pulling my rolling suitcase behind me. I hear the woman over the announcement system mention my flight number but over the chatter in the airport I can't really hear what she had said. I pray that maybe she was announcing a delay, my 1st flight had been delayed an hour and my luggage had taken so long at the carousel that I was about to miss my connecting flight back to Chicago. I picked up the pace even more, breaking into a run when I heard the same woman over the speaker mentioning a "final boarding call". I sprint, being nearly halfway across the airport from my boarding zone.
I finally made it to the gate to see a flight attendant at a podium cleaning up and the gate closed behind her. I catch my breath,
"Hi, I'm so so sorry, my luggage was lost and my earlier flight was delayed is there any way I can board?" I beg. The woman looks at me with a bit of pity in her eyes,
"Let me see what i can do." She says, picking up the phone at the podium, she talks for a moment with someone else on the line. I wait, tapping my foot anxiously. Suddenly someone else joins me in front of the gate, also gasping for breath and clearly in a hurry.
"My bag- and my flight earlier was delayed and-" the man says, still trying to catch his breath. The woman put the phone down and looks at both of us apologetically.
"I'm sorry but they're already in line for the run way, there's nothing I can do really." She says, the man and I both groan and the flight attendant apologizes a few more times, suggesting options for us.
"Thanks." I mumble and start to walk off to figure out how to get to Chicago now. A moment later the other man who'd missed our flight catches up to me. I realize how tall he is as he takes long strides beside me.
"I can't believe I missed the flight." He laughs, I smile, appreciating someone friendly to share the stress with.
"I know! And on Christmas Eve!" I groan. He laughs,
"God this sucks. So, you were heading home to Chicago for the holidays?" He asks. I nod,
"Yeah, I knew I should've flown in a little sooner but I got caught up with work." I admit, "I'm Sophie by the way." I say.
"I'm Shane, I was hoping to get home a little sooner too but I also got caught up with work." He says.
"Well Shane it looks like we'll be stuck in Denver for Christmas Eve." I sigh, he nods,
"I knew I should have just bought the nonstop flight." He laughs at his mistake and I break into laughter as well, thinking back to the moment I'd bought my tickets.
"It's just cheaper with the layover! Ahh whatever nothing we can do about it now." I say, Shane smiles,
"I guess you're right about that. So where are you coming from Sophie?" He asks,
"L.A." I say, Shane's eyes widen,
"You were on my earlier flight! It was delayed an hour right? I'm coming from L.A. too." He says, I nod,
"Yeah! It was a pain in my ass!" I say, he laughs and agrees with me. We walk towards one of the help desks and take a few moments sorting out new tickets for another flight to Chicago. The woman says they have two seats on a flight departing at 4:30am tomorrow morning, which would get us home at around 6:45 am Christmas morning. She looks at us apologetically, that's about 7 hours out. I buy my ticket and call my parents while Shane gets his. They're upset but they know there's nothing I can do about it now.
"There's a Quality Inn a few miles from the airport that the buses can take you to." She offers. We thank her and then step away.
"Well that sucks." Shane sighs, I nod.
"Now I have to drop another 80 dollars on a shitty hotel room." I groan, thinking about how broke I already am after all the holiday spending. Not to mention I'll have to go through customs again in the morning. Shane glances at me,
"Yeah... Listen I can pay for your room if you want." He offers, I'm shocked by the gesture,
"Oh my god absolutely not! I just met you!" I say laughing, he smiles,
"Just think of it as a gesture of holiday spirit!" He says, I shake my head,
"Nope, not happening. Thank you though, honestly i think I might just stay here for the night, it's only..." I count the time on my fingers quickly, "7 hours..." I say sheepishly. I've spent double that time in an airport after a delay and cancelled flight before, it's just that after I speak I realize how absolutely cheap I must sound. Shane laughs, and then he thinks for a moment,
"You know what you're right, that's not long at all!" He says, I can't tell if he's being sarcastic or not, he must see it in my face though because he explains himself quickly,
"I mean it, no really. We could go get dinner, and then it will already be around 11pm and we just have to occupy ourselves for a few more hours or try to sleep in some of the chairs by the gate! Who knows it might be kind of fun, I've spent nights in wayyyy worse places than this." He says smiling, I laugh, though I'm surprised he's proposed to get dinner together and wait it out together. We just met after all... even though he is quite funny and nice... and tall.
"Do I even ask?" I joke and Shane laughs but doesn't elaborate.
"Alright... well Sophie, it looks like we'll be spending Christmas Eve together." He smiles and I laugh, "now where shall we dine on this festive occasion? Hmmm... Buffalo Wild Wings? Irish pub? Mike's subs?" He says in a fake posh British accent that makes me break into another fit of laughter.
"Well let me think... how about the only place where I can get a drink." I say, nodding to the Irish pub. Shane laughs and agrees.
We take a seat at the bar, there aren't many patrons around. A lot of flights have already departed so the holiday crowds from earlier have died down a bit. Shane and I both order a pint.
"So Shane what do you do?" I ask, taking a sip,
"I work in media." He says, the statement is fairly vague but I decide to accept it and not push, "What about you?" He asks, apparently a little eager to switch the attention onto me.
"Well I'm actually a camera operator." I admit a bit awkwardly, people always seem surprised when I tell them, "but I uhh I do a lot of freelancing and stuff." I say, trying to justify myself and maybe make him think I wasn't broke, even though I 100% was.
"That's super cool! So what kind of freelancing are we talking? And what kind of productions do you 'camera-operate' for?" He says, obviously intrigued. I smile a little bit, happy to find someone interested in my passion, because even though i don't make very much money i do love working behind the camera.
"Well I do freelance editing and writing and stuff but I bounce around as an operator from movie to movie." I say, Shane nods,
"That's so cool! So like what kind of movies are we talking?" He asks, I laugh a bit,
"Well, the most recent one was Bird Box." I say, his eyes go wide,
"You were a camera operator for Bird Box!?" He says, I laugh and nod.
"That's awesome!" He says, i smile,
"Thanks!" I say, the waiter comes over and we each order a meal.
"So what are you working on now? Can I get any spoilers?" He asks once the waiter has moved on.
"Well actually I'm kind of looking for something right now... there's not always a lot of job stability." I admit, Shane nods, he pauses for a moment and thinks,
"I might have something, it's very uncertain right now but... you're probably going to think I'm insane," he laughs, " but my friend and I work for Buzzfeed right and he's got this show that he just launched, where he does paranormal investigations and stuff...and well, we we're actually hoping to start going to some of these haunted locations because right now we just kind of sit at a desk and talk about 'em..." I can't help but smile when I see how enthusiastic he is about the project, "Well we would need a camera operator to like follow us around and stuff." He says, I smile.
"That sounds super cool! I'm going to be honest I don't really believe in ghosts but I'd totally be willing to film you and your friend getting scared out of your minds." I say, now Shane laughs.
"Oh no no no I don't believe in them either! My friend Ryan's the believer and I'm the skeptic. It's a nice little dynamic." He says. I smile, wondering to myself how I've only known this guy for an hour?
"Well I can give you my number and you can interview me at some point if you're really serious about hiring someone." I say, feeling the need to act more professionally now that I know this guy could be my ticket to my next paycheck. Shane seems to pick up on it immediately and laughs,
"Well I'd love your number but there's no need to act all formal with me now, I'd be your coworker not your boss." He says smiling, I relax a bit.
"Alright, well thanks. Here," I hold my hand out and he passes me his phone, which I add my contact into. He shoots me a text so I'll have his and then we move on from the topic of work.
About and hour later we've finished our pints and our dinners and we are still chatting lightheartedly at the bar. It's almost 10:30pm and Shane and I decide to pay our checks and wander around the shops in the airport for a while. Shane offers to pay my tab but I refuse, thanking him before putting some cash on the check and leaving a few dollars tip. Shane and i get up and walk around the airport, luckily the airport in Denver is pretty nice and there are a few candy shops, duty-free shops and small stands scattered throughout the terminal. Shane and I buy a bag of candy and walk around snacking on it and talking.
"So you're just heading home to see your family?" Shane asks, I nod,
"Yeah they live right outside Chicago." I say,
"Mine too!" He says, we spend a minute figuring out how close we live to each other, discovering our parents houses are only about an hour apart. It really is a small world huh?
"I will admit i feel kind of lame being 30 years old and still heading back to my parents for every Holiday." He says laughing,
"Hey I'm 28 and I still head back to my parents for every holiday too! Who else are you supposed to spend the holidays with if not your family?" I say,
"I dunno a... significant other maybe?" He shrugs, and I laugh.
"Well I don't have a significant other, what about you Shane shouldn't you be spending the holiday with your significant other?" I joke, Shane laughs,
"Unfortunately not" He jokes, I smile, "I don't have a significant anyone." He says, I don't know why my heart jumps hearing that he's single but it does. We walk for a little while longer until it's almost 11 and then take a seat at our terminal and plug in our phones. I think by now we've both had a long day. I pull out my headphones and am about to open up Netflix when I remember that Shane told me about his web series with his friend Ryan. I look over to see he's gotten his laptop out and is doing some work,
"Hey, sorry to interrupt but I was wondering what your web series was called? I thought maybe I could check it out." I say, Shane looks a little embarrassed,
"Umm... Buzzfeed Unsolved." He says somewhat apprehensively, he watches me type it into the search bar,
"I'm not actually in the first couple episodes that was before I joined the team." He clears up, I nod and start watching the first one.
I can feel him glancing over away from his work now and again as I watch the video. It's pretty funny which is hard to do with true crime and paranormal stuff. I end up watching the episodes as we sit in the airport, until I'm almost caught up. They have only made a few episodes so far, mostly about conspiracies and mysteries, once Shane took over for Brent though the show definitely picked up.
I look over to see Shane asleep with his laptop still open. I smile and turn back to my phone but he wakes up, blinking and trying to remember where he is. I look over at him,
"Good morning." I joke, he smiles and shuts his laptop.
"Jesus Christ that killed my neck." He says, rubbing it. I laugh a bit,
"Yeah I can imagine. I watched a bunch of your videos." I say, "they're really good!"
He smiles, "Thanks, Ryan will be really glad to hear that." He says. He glances at his watch,
"Jesus Christ it's midnight" he sighs, I nod, yawning.
"Merry Christmas!" He says, I had almost forgotten.
"Merry Christmas Shane!" I say, smiling.
"I'd give your gift but uhh I actually left it at home." I joke, Shane laughs,
"Yeah yours hasn't been delivered yet you know." He says sarcastically.
"Hey you know I think I have a deck of cards in my backpack, if you want to play something." He suggests.
"Yeah sure!"
We end up sitting criss cross on the floor of the terminal for an hour or so playing random card games and breaking into fits of laughter. By 1am I'm slightly delusional and very very tired. We decide to put the cards away and try to get some sleep, I pull a sweatshirt out of my back and wrap it around myself after sitting down on one of the chairs. I notice Shane glancing at me, he also has pulled a sweatshirt out and he leans to the side, towards me. I can only imagine how much more comfortable it would be to lean my head on his shoulder, but we're practically strangers right?... it feels like I've know him for a while already.
"If you wanna use me as a pillow feel free." He jokes, as if he had been reading my mind.
"Usually I might act polite and deny the offer but honestly that sounds amazing right now." I joke and Shane laughs, leaning a bit closer, I put my head on his shoulder and feel him leans his chin on the top of my head. I'm not crazy tall but I am somewhat tall, so the height difference, while still dramatic, is not uncomfortable. I fall asleep pretty quickly.
...
I wake up around 3am, but I can feel Shane still asleep on me and smile. The terminal is pretty much empty save a few people showing up for our flight. We still have an hour and a half till our flight boards so I pull out my phone as gently as possible and start scrolling through my emails. A few minutes later I hear Shane yawn and he shifts his wait off of me, I pick up my head from where I'd been leaning on him and see him wipe the sleep from his eyes. He is one of the few people I've seen look good both with and without their glasses, but he reaches for them immediately.
"Morning." He says tiredly as he pulls them on. "How'd you sleep?"
"You know your shoulder is surprisingly comfy" I say smiling,
"I could say the same thing about your head" He jokes. I laugh lightly and yawn half way through, which makes Shane laugh too.
"Do you want to go get breakfast or something?" He asks. I'm honestly surprised he's offering to spend more time with me, after all we've just spent 7 hours together in the airport.
"Sure!" I say, we get up and stretch out a bit before heading to one of the few places open in the airport. Shane buys a coffee,
"I'm going to need a shit ton of caffeine to get through all the festivities my family has planned today" he laughs, picking up the cup. I laugh,
"My family is pretty low key, I think I might even be able to nap once I get home." I say, opting out of the caffeine fix. I order tea and a bagel instead. Once our food is out we take a seat at one of the small circular tables, even though it's almost 4 in the morning on Christmas Day and I have a flight ahead of me I'm in a surprisingly good mood.
"So when are you getting back to LA?" Shane asks.
"Umm well actually in like 3 days." I say. Shane nods, "what about you?" I ask taking a sip of my tea.
"A week." He says, "why are you cutting your visit so short?" He asks,
"Well I have some work I need to finish up back in L.A. and my parents are actually going away after Christmas so it's just going to me and my siblings for a few days." I explain, Shane nods and looks like he's about to say something when there is an announcement over the PA system.
"Flight 422 with service to Chicago is now boarding zones 1 and 2"
"That's us!" Shane says, standing and tossing his trash out. I follow suit and then we grab our luggage and head to the gate. We compare tickets, a bit disappointed to discover our seats are not next to each other. As we get closer to the gate Shane smiles,
"Well it was great to meet you Sophie and these last 7 hours have been surprisingly enjoyable as a result." He says, I laugh,
"Thanks! It was good to meet you too, hopefully we'll see each other again in L.A." I reply, he nods,
"I'm sure we will. Merry Christmas, have a good holiday!" He says as he boards the plane, waving goodbye. I wave and echo the sentiment to him, handing my ticket over to the flight attendant and boarding soon after Shane.
I find my seat and settle in, the plane is small and there are not very many passengers on board. I can't say I'm surprised. I glance behind me and see Shane a few rows back in his seat, already settling in with his headphones. I face forward and wonder if I'll ever actually see him again. I sigh, deciding not to think about it, at least not until I get back from Chicago, and then I close my eyes and wait for take off.