The would-be passengers groaned as the public address announcement finally gave them the news that they had been dreading. Bad weather had led to the cancellation of the last flight of the day, and they were stranded in this God-forsaken place. Ann sighed inwardly, her anticipation of being home, safe and warm, instantly displaced by the prospect of another night away from home.
The passengers began to abuse the harassed customer services assistant. It wasn't her fault. But she was there, and so the passengers vied with each other to give her tales of woe and threats of action to seek compensation. Wearily, she referred them to the customer services desk, where they would each get a voucher for an airport hotel and a meal, and a guaranteed place on the next flight tomorrow morning.
Ann rang ahead to let her friends know that she was going to be delayed and resigned herself to a night of lonely isolation. She queued patiently at the customer service desk, as other passengers jostled her and pushed in to get to the front of the line. When she go to the front of the queue the customer services staff member took a phone call before dealing with her.
"No rooms at all? Gee! We had 167 pax, how many you got free? OK, so I'll need one overflow. I'll put her in the crew hotel. Yeah! See ya later!"
Ann wondered if this was about her, but the "customer services" assistant resolutely ignored her, focusing instead on her computer screen, typing in some numbers and words with no eye contact. Eventually she looked up.
"Ma'am, it's your lucky day! The voucher I'm giving you is for the crew hotel, not the passenger disrupt hotel. Is that OK?"
Ann didn't really know what that meant.
"Is that good?" she asked, hesitantly.
"It is for you!" replied the assistant; you are staying in the best hotel in town, where the flight crew stays. Do you mind traveling in the crew bus?"
"No, not at all" answered Ann, without really knowing what she was letting herself in for.
"Come this way" said the girl, walking through a door marked "crew only". Ann followed, down a dusty corridor inside the belly of the airport which passengers never usually saw. At the end of the corridor was a gaggle of flight attendants, chattering away loudly, and some men with gold braid on their jackets, talking in low voices.
Just then a bus pulled up, and the uniformed staff casually loaded their bags into the bus, before climbing on board. Ann felt like an intruder, an outsider, as the crew eyed her curiously.
"Here's your voucher" said the assistant, pressing a slip of paper into her hand. It entitles you to one night's stay, an evening meal to the value of $25 and a breakfast in the hotel restaurant. All extras as to your own account Ma'am"
Ann climbed onto the bus, and looked embarrassed as she tried to find an empty seat. Eventually she found an empty seat at the back, and self consciously settled herself into the seat. The bus jerked, pulled away, and wound an uneventful path through the dark streets, until it pulled up outside the Stamford Hotel.
Ann waited until the flight attendants had giggled and gossiped off the bus, their chat full of tales of escapades in night clubs and shopping adventures. When she alighted, there were two bags left in the bus, hers and one other.
"Ill help you with that" said a deep brown voice from somewhere behind Ann. She whirled round and there was a pilot or something, in a uniform dripping with gold braid. He smiled, and lifted her bag off the bus and placed it on a luggage trolley before placing his own bag next to it.
"I would have been your driver tonight" he smiled, "but I guess we are all staying here tonight?"
Ann looked up into his dark eyes, wrinkled into a smile, and saw a kindly face looking back at her.
"Shall I drive?" he inquired, with a twinkle in his eyes, as he guided the trolley towards the hotel lobby. Ann was tired, frustrated, intrigued and flattered by the attention, all at the same time. She smiled a nervous smile, and approached the front desk with the pilot. They both checked in, and the bell hop offered to take their bags up to their respective rooms.
As they journeyed up in the elevator, Ann studied the carpet intensely. She hated being confined in small places with men, especially as she was aware that the pilot was staring at her intently. Soon her floor arrived, and to her annoyance, the pilot's room was on the same floor. He let her out of the elevator first, and as she walked down the long and lonely hotel corridor, she could feel his eyes burning into her back as she imagined his intense stare focusing upon her.
Now here was her room, and she smiled and turned to say goodnight to the pilot, but he was not there. He must have gone into his room already, she told herself, opened the door and went in. The room was larger than she had expected, and it was a four or five star room, with TV, CD, and velvet drapes and furnishings that gave the room a soft and welcoming feel. She looked in the bathroom and saw a huge tub. She immediately thought of relaxing away her stress by a long soak in the bath, and so she turned on the faucets and began to loosen her clothing.
As she slipped off her blouse, she looked forward to the warm kiss of the water. She found some bath gel , and she poured it under the running water, and watched as the water turned in to a foaming mass of bubbles and the air was filled by the sweet scent of perfume.
Ann slipped out of her skirt and hung it up carefully in the wardrobe with her blouse, when suddenly there was a knock at the door. Ann wondered who it could be, and slipped on a bath robe which was hanging behind the door.
When she opened the door, it was the bell hop with her suitcase. Ann had forgotten all about it! She blushed as the young lad in a bright blue uniform grinned at her and carried her bag into the room, glancing at her as he walked by. He placed her bag on a trestle and asked her if she was familiar with the facilities of the room.
She knew that this was code for "I want a tip", so she went to look for her handbag, opened her purse, and found a couple of dollars to give him. When she looked up she realized that the bell hop had been looking down the front of her bath robe. She felt her cheeks color, but worse was to come. At that moment the bell hop- who couldn't have been more than 19- walked past her into the bathroom and switched of the faucets . They had been running all this time, and the bath was close to overflowing!
"If you get in that now" he said helpfully, " the water will go everywhere! Let me help you " and with that he knelt down and opened the plug to drain some water out of the bath. Ann felt silly having left the water running, and she really did not need some kid helping her drain a bath.
"I'll take that" she said, moving toward the bell hop, but as she reached out to take the plug off him, her bath robe fell open, right in front of his face. His eyes opened wide, as his eyes stared at her body . She felt silly again, but this time she felt in control, and she let the bell hop milk in the sight of her body, watching his mouth fall open as her body loomed right in front of his face.
Before she could say anything, the bell hop leaned forward, and kissed her tenderly on her navel.
Ann felt the thrill of sexual tension race through her veins, as the soft lips circled her navel and she felt the lad's warm breath on her stomach. She looked in the bathroom mirror and saw someone, a bit like herself, seducing a young lad. It seemed like somebody else because things like this never happened to her, she told herself. The lad's attention had moved south, and he was kissing her panties, with soft and affectionate kisses. Ann moaned softly, and lifted the boy to his feet. He planted a clumsy kiss full on her lips, but she was eager to get him out of the bright blue uniform.
She span him round so that his pert little bottom faced her, and she reached round his narrow waist and undid the button at the front of his trousers and opened the buttons and zipped down the fly, before sliding his trousers down over his hips. He unbuttoned his own tunic, and soon he was standing in front of her wearing only his boxer shorts.
She savored the moment, being in control and reversing the roles that she had shared with the Pilot only a few minutes earlier. Now she was staring at the bell hop, taking a curious delight in his discomfort in the narrow confines of the brightly lit bathroom. She slipped her hand down the front of his boxers and gently cupped his balls and squeezed them playfully. He was not yet fully erect, but he was certainly excited.