1 keep your head down
"what do you want my autograph or something?" he questioned.
with a blank stare she looked him up and then down " who did he think he was?" she thought.
on a hot summer day, a man is wearing all black clothes like he's dressed for a funeral, a hat that's way too big for his head, a scarf around his face, a pervert.
there was no other conclusion than that he was a pervert she thought, she looked down "well a pervert with nice shoes"
he spoke up " are you checking me out, I'm sorry but I'll have to stop you right there, i am way out.."
her eyes met his eyes as she stopped him mid-sentence " sorry but i don't go for perverts"
he gave out a disbelieving laugh as he coughed out "p p per pervert, who me"
" who else would it be then, me?" she questioned as she continued " last time i checked it's too hot to be dressed in all black with a scarf around your face and a hat either your extra or you're a per" "hush" he whispered as he placed his hand over her mouth.
she was in utter disbelief "did he just" then she heard it like a growing sound it came the sound of females not just 2 or 3 it was more like 200 or 300 yelling females and they were all rushing towards where she stood. she stood frozen was she about to be trampled by an ocean of screaming fans she was too young to die and she hadn't even gotten her first kiss yet, she was so entrapped in her thoughts she didn't notice that her feet were moving until she heard his voice " are you gonna run" and as he finished that statement he picked her up bridal style and .....
"no,no,no,no,no,no,no NONIII" her boss yelled "i asked you to write a romantic story, something sweet, something people will read and be like: oh my gosh i wanna be in love too" she added as she flung her manuscript across the room
"well this is what you get for asking a woman who has never experienced love to write a love story" she wanted to say but all that came out was "I'll do better next time"
"listen i asked you to write this because i wanted you to venture into new genres, as a writer you have to be open to expanding your area of expertise," her boss said " just forget it, I'm sending you to Greece, zack can't go because he sprained his back"
zoning out on sprained his back anoni thought "sprained his back okay like when he broke his foot but still managed to hop to a football game" "did you hear me noni" her boss interrupted "write a good travel guide one that makes people go: oh my gosh i should spend all my money on a trip to Greece" nodding anoni picked up her feet as well as her manuscript and left
gosh her boss irked her every being, why did she always come for her? she sighed as she looked at her manuscript "it couldn't have been that bad" she thought as she walked towards her desk. "what happened" Amanda her coworker and closest friend there voiced in her smooth British accent
" the usual" anoni answered as she put her head down on the table "cheer up sweetheart" Amanda said in a comforting tone as she patted her back before walking away.
picking up her head anoni packed her things and headed to the bus stop.
a positive side she thought, " to Greece, i go"
a negative side she thought, " now i have to come up with a dazzling travel guide that makes people go: oh my gosh i wanna spend all my money on a trip to Greece" she mimicked her boss.
getting on the bus all she heard was "oh honey" and all she saw was a bunch of couples who just happened to decide to take the same bus as her today "ugh" she cringed on the inside with a slight bit of jealousy as she watched couples hug, kiss, and hold hands. worst of all was that she was smushed between 2 couples who couldn't get enough of each other. anoni couldn't take it she got off the bus as quickly as she could.
sadly she was still a 20 minutes walk away from her apartment but that was better than staying on that bus. as she began to walk home she felt a drop of water hit her head, she looked up and it began to pour. as she looked down she spotted a man waving "at me?" she questioned pointing to herself. he was holding an umbrella and quickly began running towards her direction smiling. she stood there stunned "is he smiling at me?" she pondered she looked at him and smiled as she began walking towards him...
but then he passed her, she turned around and there was a woman behind her who he embraced in a tight hug.
she burst out laughing she wasn't angry at herself she was amused that she actually thought he was running toward her but deep down she didn't want to admit that it stung the feeling or the realization that she was lonely. in this immense world, she stood alone. she quickly shook the thought off and walked back home allowing the rain to pour on her, to flow down her eyes as the tears she wouldn't bring forth as she kept her head down.
the rain had stopped 5 minutes into her walk but it was enough to leave her completely drenched from head to toe, when she arrived at her apartment she quickly flung her stuff on the couch took off her clothes in the laziest manner, put on a big shirt she had bought at a thrift store and crashed into bed not caring that her skin was covered in the skies tears. she thought to herself as she laid in bed "love, what made it so unattainable for me, why hadn't i stumbled across it yet, what was i ugly, stupid, or just not loveable?" she looked across her room and saw her manuscript lying on the floor "it must have fallen when she tossed her stuff on the couch" she thought. it was drenched, the pages instead of love poured water. " it's better this way" she thought " let's put romance aside and place my dreams ahead" she nodded to herself as she dozed off.
she woke up the next morning to her alarm beeping continuously as she rolled off the bed landing in a thump. she rubbed her eyes groaning as she attempted to get up only to crash back down. squinting her eyes as everything was a bit blurry and her head ached she tried to read the time. her eyes opened and closed until finally, they focused and she read 9:00 am. nodding she pulled her blanket over her head but she quickly realized what she had just read as she yelled "9:00 am" she dashed to the bathroom in a frenzy, she had forgotten her flight was at 10:00 am she quickly rinsed her mouth with mouthwash. with one foot in her pants and one hand in her shirt, she threw a bunch of clothing into her suitcase. hoping to the kitchen she grabbed some bread as she finally got the other foot in her jeans. as she gobbled the bread chugging milk as she ate she put her other hand through her shirt. jogging back to her bed she grabbed her suitcase and dashed out the door putting on whatever shoe she saw first. she ran down the stairs and began yelling in an attempt to catch a taxi. she looked at her watch it read 9:20 am.
finally, a taxi pulled over to pick up a man who was wasting too much time waving goodbye to his girlfriend. she looked at her watch again (9:21 am) she looked back at the man "if he can waste time waving goodbye then he can also wait for another taxi" she thought as she quickly hopped in the taxi".
"Please drive to the airport," she told the taxi driver who looked at her shocked. she looked back at the man as the car began moving and mouthed a sorry.
still feeling anxious she told the taxi driver " please hurry i have a flight to catch and i can't be late". the ride felt so long especially since she spent most of it glancing at her watch which now read 9:35 am as soon as the car stopped at the airport she gave the driver the money not caring for her change back as she yelled: "keep the change".
she hurried into the airport dodging person after person, luggage after luggage. finally, she made it in line, as she checked in, dropping her luggage off she heard the woman on the intercom say " the plane to Greece will depart in 5 minutes". upon hearing this she darted to her gate handing the woman her ticket as she caught her breath. " go ahead" the woman said.
she did it, she had never been so proud of herself, she smelled like sweat, her hair was a mess, there was a stain on her shirt, and she had just realized that her shoe was broken, and her breath most likely smelled like raw sewage, but she made it and that was all that mattered.
as she got to her seat avoiding the weird stares she was getting, the plane intercom turned on as the pilot said " we would like to welcome all of you aboard southern airways, we hope your flight with us will be an amazing one, I'm your pilot James with my co-pilot josh, we will be taking off in about a minute please be seated and fasten your seatbelt and keep them on until the yellow sign is off, around you are flight attendants who will gladly answer your questions or help you in any way possible, thank you for choosing southern airways". as he finished anoni got to her seat luckily it was the exterior seat so she could sit down easily.
sighing in relief she settled down in her seat and was now all buckled up she looked beside her to see a sleeping man whose face was all covered up whose clothes were all black she thought to herself " who did he think he was?". she quickly shook it off poped a piece of mint gum in her mouth and laid her head back, dozing off as the plane ascended.
she woke up 1hr later and looked out to see the sky she wanted to get a picture but the man beside her was blocking the way. taping him she whispered, "excuse me can you take a picture for me?"
he didn't respond " so she left him and laid her head back down. a few moments later a flight attendant came around and asked if she wanted anything to drink anoni shook her head no, then the flight attendant asked "would he like anything to drink" anoni shook her head no but was shocked to hear him respond " can i have a bottle of water". she slowly turned her head to find the man she thought was asleep wide awake. the flight attendant handed him the water and moved to the next passengers. she turned her head to face the man beside her, was he asleep before or did he just ignore her? she wondered. as though knowing what she was thinking he responded: "I'm not obligated to follow through with your request". she gave out a little laugh in disbelief as she mumbled "you still could've responded"
"I could've but the law doesn't state that i have to" who was this rude man who seemed too full of himself? she thought. she was about to say something when he looked at her and placed his hand in front of her mouth as he said "stop" then he took his hand and wafted the air away from his nose. she paused remembering she had failed to brush. he looked her up and down as though judging her present state. she agreed she smelled a little and looked like a bit of a mess but his judgemental stare was uncalled for. she rolled her eyes "he's gonna need to pee at some point in time and I'm just gonna ignore him and be like "I'm not obligated to follow through with your request" she thought as she began to laugh at her master plan. he looked at her with a stare that clearly read she's weird as she rolled her eyes. she looked at him she thought " look at him, scarf on his face i bet he's and smelly"
( he actually smells really nice like kiwi) she froze mid-thought mentally slapping her inner self.
9 hours had passed she had fallen asleep waiting on him to ask the question she was dying hear so she could respond back and be like how do you like them apples. when she woke up she found the airplane was now landing.
she looked at him and asked " you didn't want to wake me up and tell me the plane was landing?" he looked at her, said nothing and faced the window again, she scoffed.
as the plane landed she heard the intercom turn on "I hope you had a great flight, again we thank you for choosing southern airways, for our passengers returning home to London welcome home but for those who will enter another plane to reach their location we wish you a safe flight and a great stay wherever your destination is".
she smiled "what a nice man unlike the one beside me," she thought. getting up she picked up her carry on and rushed for the bathroom she had three hours before she had to get on the plane for Greece.
she entered a bathroom stall and began to freshen up, taking off the shirt she had on and replacing it with a shirt she had in her carry on bag then at the sink she brushed her teeth and fixed her hair. looking in the mirror she looked at herself and smiled but then her face turned sour as she remembered the man who sat beside her (that smelled like kiwi) gosh she mentally smacked herself again. walking out of the bathroom she reached into her pocket to get her phone but it wasn't there, had she left it on the plane? she thought.
she began to search her carry on in a frenzy but it wasn't there, she rushed to the front desk and after calling to ask, the lady said they found nothing. she frantically rubbed her hair, tilting her head back she saw it, her phone hanging out of a man's pocket. she knew it was her phone because that was her pineapple keychain. she thanked the lady at the front desk and rushed to the man.
she ran yelling "stop thief", as she caught up to him she tapped his back and in short breaths repeated " st st sto stop, thie thief."
he looked at her shocked, tilted his head and replied "me!"
picking up her head as she finnaly caught her breath she was shocked to see the same man who sat beside her "kiwi!" she yelled a little too loudly "ki what" he asked. she squinted her eyes and burst out laughing then she paused looked him in the eye and added " trash, i should've known it would be you"
"t t tra trash" he stumbled on his words in disbelief.
"me?" he questioned "you are CRAZY!!" he said putting emphasis on the word crazy "me?" she asked. " what are you a fan, a stalker, one of those crazy stalker fans?"
" st st stalker fan " she couldn't believe the words she was hearing (who did he think he was?).
" I'm the stalker you're the one with my phone!" she yelled
" phone!" he yelled reaching into his back pocket " you mean my phone" he added, " no, i mean my phone that's my pineapple keychain" she asserted " no, it's my phone because i have a pineapple keychain," he said shoving the phone in her face.
she had it, she couldn't stand this man she began to yell "thief!!, theif!!", but before she knew what was going on her whole body was yanked back into running but this time alongside a lunatic in all black. but she was even more shocked by the fact that this scene made her heart skip a beat.
before she knew it he pulled her into a corner pulled out the phone and before she could get a word out he shoved the phone in her face and asked with an angry expression on his face " does this look like your phone?".
grabbing the phone from his hand with confidence she was shocked to see it wasn't her phone. she handed him his phone and turning around to face the wall "you should've said that earlier" she mumbled. she was about to run away when he grabbed her shoulder and breathing in held out his hand and was about to speak when the intercom came on " the plane to Greece will depart in a minute".
they looked at each other in synchronicity and both took off. by the time they arrived the gate had closed looking at each other in anger, they both simultaneously yelled:
"This is all your fault!".
all she had to do was keep her head down but why did this piece of kiwi smelling trash make her want to stand tall, head up, and yell her problems out into the world but at the same time why did he make her feel weird on the inside.
