Faith slept most of the flight from Venice to Madrid after what was a very restless night of sexually charged dreams; it felt good to have a blacked out, dreamless sleep, even if only for 2 hours or so. Her navy blue sweatshirt and sweatpants with a gold UNCG with white bordering providing the perfect amount of comfort for her achy body in cold, overly air-conditioned airports.
As she sat in the gate area for her flight back to Charlotte, she looked around and began to peoplewatch. She saw the wide breadth of humanity waiting to board her flight; a Muslim family conservatively dressed with their heads covered and keeping to themselves; a white man with brown hair in his 20s in a Carolina Blue t-shirt, khakis shorts, and boat shoes with who Faith imagined was his blonde haired fiancΓ© in a light yellow tanktop and short white capris both on their phones not even talking to each other; a small group of Asian businessmen in black suits and ties, though Faith suspected they were more likely waiting on the Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong in the gate next to hers.
Her attention was jarred by the sudden loud voice over the speakers announcing that American Airlines Flight 749 to Charlotte was now boarding. Faith listened until they called her boarding group, gathered her things, and waited her turn to board. When she reached her row a few rows from the back of the plane, she dug through her bag looking for a hairtie and then placed her bag under the seat in front of her. As she looked up, there he stood; a tall Black man, probably 6'4" and maybe in his mid to late thirties Faith guessed, wearing a black Polo shirt and dark navy blue jeans with white and black Nikes.
He smiled at Faith and said, "I hope you don't mind me taking up a little extra space; I can't help it."
"Not at all," Faith replied and smiled back at the handsome man. "I'm Faith."
"Jack." He replied and put out his had to shake. Faith shook his hand; it felt so small in his strong grasp, her eyes noticing how his shirt barely contained his muscular arms. Jack noticed, smiled again, and released her so he could take his seat, as the Captain was now backing the plane away from the gate and taxiing for take off.
After a few minutes in the air, Jack was eyeing Faith and noticed the letters on Faith's sweatpants.
"Do you go to UNCG?" Jack asked.
"I do!" replied Faith. "I'm in their nursing program. Go Spartans!"
"A lot of our nurses went to UNCG; it's a fine school"
"Are you a doctor?" Faith asked.
Jack laughed and replied, "Haha, no no. I work in finance for Atrium Health in Charlotte. Are you originally from the Piedmont?"
"No," replied Faith. "I'm from a small town on the Crystal Coast. It's not Greensboro, or Charlotte for that matter, but it has the beach, and I do miss that!"
"Oh yeah?" Jack exclaimed. "With your beautiful pale skin, I never would have guessed that you spent a lot of time on the beach!"
"I've never been able to tan! I would see all my friends getting tans from a summer on the sand, but I'd still be pale as a ghost."
"Don't hate on yourself. I personally find pale skin very beautiful and sexy," Jack replied as he Faith a knowing, intense look.
"Would you like the BBQ chicken or the vegetarian meal?" interrupted a flight attendant. Jack started to answer when Faith placed her hand firmly ontop of his, returning it to her thigh.
"I'll have the veggies please, ma'am. And then Jack, sugar, can you go to the back and see if they have a Dr. Pepper?"
The flight attendant gave a quick, disappointing look at Faith. "The drink cart will be here shortly miss; they'll have a Dr. Pepper for you." The attendant handed the meal to Faith and then asked Jack, "And for you, Sir?"
"The chicken, please." The attendant handed him the chicken meal and moved on to the other passengers.
"Sugar?" Jack asked smiling.
"Now as far as the flight crew is concerned, we're a couple. You don't mind, do you? I just don't want them to think the big Black man is doing something unwanted with the little white girl next to him."
"I don't mind at all," smiled Jack. "And I would never do anything 'unwanted' anyway."