Liz is a single woman who recently won a five day vacation for two, with air transportation and either a double room or two single rooms at a nice hotel on the beach. I won't mention the name of the airline or of the hotel, not because of any negative experience but because I don't want to give them free advertising. Also, they might object to my mentioning them and sue me, so I will just call them "the airline" and "the hotel" to avoid any hassle. Because Liz has no husband or steady boy friend or other friend close enough to share her good fortune, she invited me to accompany her. There was one stipulation though. Liz had always had a romantic fantasy and this would give her a chance to play it out, so we had to pretend to be strangers on the airline, who would be attracted to one another. We would spend a lot of time together, and a romance would blossom, and I would court her in the romantic places and historic sites of Hawaii. There would be handholding and good-night hugs and kisses but no actual sex until the last night. I agreed because it sounded like a really nice trip and my love life had been very active lately. A few days of celibacy would be good for me, and I knew the love-making the last night would be particularly memorable.
Our local airport does not have a flight to Honolulu so we flew from there to San Francisco and changed flights by the bay. We decided to start the role-playing when we were ready to board the plane at the San Francisco airport so on the first part of our journey we were friends on a trip together. Both of us avoided discussing the role-playing we would be doing because we wanted it to be as spontaneous as if it were natural. The airline was not aware of what we were going to be doing so they had assigned us adjacent seats and the hotel had assigned us adjacent rooms. That was good because it would make our game easier to play.
After we disembarked in San Francisco, we ate an excellent lunch together because neither of us is big on airline food. When we finished, we separated since we had only a short wait. In the lounge by the boarding gate, we avoided each other. Liz boarded the plane in the same group as I did, but with at least ten persons between us. We were going to try to do it right. Liz and I each had our own carry-on luggage and when the time came to stow it overhead, she had a problem. At five feet, five inches, Liz is not really short but in the cramped aisle, she ran into difficulty. Helping her was just normal courtesy, and I helped another woman also, besides stowing my own, so it wasn't out of character and it made a good ice-breaker. Liz thanked me and sat down, and I sat down beside her, both in our assigned seats.
"I see we'e going to be seatmates", I said, by way of beginning introductions. "This is a long flight, so I might as well introduce myself. My name is George Boxlicker, but there's no reason to be formal. Just call me George."
"Glad to meet you, George", she responded, offering her hand. "My name is Liz."
As I shook her hand, I asked "Is that short for Elizabeth?"
"Yes, but I don't like the long form because people used to call me Lizard Breath, almost as much as I dislike being called Lizzie. It makes me think of Lizzie Borden."
"Okay, since I don't want you taking an axe to me, I won't call you Lizzie. Elizabeth has more nicknames than just about any other woman's name. I had a great aunt named Elizabeth and everybody called her Bid or Aunt Bid."
"Bid sounds better than Lizzie. Or better than Elizabeth."
All through the flight, we chatted amiably or read magazines or looked out the window at nothing. I also sneaked an occasional look at Liz, which is what I would have done if she had actually been a stranger, because she is very pretty. Although she says she is overweight, I have always told her she has a great figure, especially her breasts, which I happen to know are size 38D. Besides her great figure, Liz has soft and pretty medium length red hair, fair skin and a pleasantly pretty face with a great smile. All together, a very attractive woman, besides having a sweet disposition.
During the course of our conversation, shortly before landing, I happened to mention the name of the hotel where I would be staying while I was in Hawaii. Liz thought that was a remarkable coincidence, that we were seatmates and that we would be staying at the same hotel. "What are the odds?", she asked. Then she went on to point out that, as part of the contest prize, she was entitled to a rental car, and that she would be picking it up at the airport. "You seem like a nice guy. Since we are both going to the same place, how about a ride? You can help me get my carryon luggage out of the overhead compartment and you can help me put my stuff in the car trunk."
"Well, Liz, that seems like a good idea. You seem to be a bit of allright yourself, as the British might say, and my plans aren't really set. I will probably be getting my own car tomorrow, but for now, I will accept your offer. But in exchange, you have to let me buy you dinner tonight, unless you have other plans or are meeting someone."
No, George, I'm not meeting anybody and I don't have any plans for dinner. Thanks for the offer. That's nice of you. I don't really like eating alone, anyhow."
At the car rental stand, the clerk saw Liz and me together and tried to rent the car to me. "Don't look at me", I told him. The lady here is your renter. I'm just bumming a ride."
"That's right", Liz told him, as she handed over the voucher from the contest operators. Then Liz had to fill out the documents and sign a sttatement to the effect that she would be the sole driver. Both of us were traveling with a fair amount of baggage so Liz suggested that I wait by the exit with our baggage and she would go and get the car and bring it back. This arrangement worked out fine and in less than an hour, she was driving to our hotel while I sat in the front bench seat, next to the passenger door, looking admiringly at the beautiful woman whom I would be pretending to just be getting to know for the next five days.
At the hotel we checked in and Linda noted that our rooms would be close together and on the same floor. "Fate again", she observed. Since our rooms were close together, the bellman used the same luggage cart for Liz's baggage and mine. Upon discovering that our rooms were actually adjacent, Liz marvelled again at the strange series of coincidences. "What are the chances", she asked, "that two total strangers would be seatmates on the plane and then have their rooms, not only in the same hotel, but on the same floor and side by side?"