Kim looked down at her over-stuffed carry-on bag with an exasperated sigh. She now regretted the three extra pairs of shoes she brought 'just in case'. There was no way it would fit into the incredibly small compartment space above her seat and she didn't want to find another bin away from her row. Her long curly black hair fell around her face as she attempted to force her 12" bag into a 9" compartment when she unexpectedly felt the arm of someone brushing against her back.
Suddenly, a large masculine hand grabbed her bag and realigned the others in place, easily fitting her luggage into the slot. She looked around and saw the bluest of blue eyes looking back at her.
"That's got it," He said with a smile. "Sometimes you just have to play with it a bit. It always fits."
"Thanks!" Kim couldn't stop staring at his eyes. She finally broke her gaze and found her seat next to the window. The stranger looked down at his ticket and looked up at the seat assignments.
"Well, looks like we're going to be neighbors. This is me," He said pointing to the seat directly next to hers. Kim looked up and smiled again.
"I'm Brian," he said extending his hand. She grabbed it and was taken aback by the sheer strength of his shake.
"I'm Kim. Nice to meet you."
She quickly released his hand and began to buckle her seatbelt. Brian dropped his briefcase down in front of his seat with a thud as he tilted it on its side and shoved it under the chair in front of him. He swiftly removed his jacket and the first class flight attendant, as if on queue, swept by and hung it up for him by the cockpit door.
He sat down, buckled his seat belt as well and reclined his seat as far back as it would let him and yawned. His long lean body stretched the entire length of space and then some. He looked over at Kim who was pretending to read a magazine.
"Going home?" He said running his fingers through his brown, curly hair. It looked like he hadn't slept in a while.
"No, I live here in Los Angeles, I'm just going to San Francisco to visit."
"Ah, spend time with some family or friends?"
"No, I'm just going because I've lived in L.A. all my life and I've never been to San Francisco," She looked at Brian. "How sad is that?"
Brian laughed. "Well, I'm impressed with your sense of adventure." He looked down at her smooth brown legs and impure thoughts flooded his mind.
"I live in San Francisco. I'm going home after a week in L.A. on business. Can't wait to get back, actually. I hate L.A."
Kim abruptly turned toward him and furrowed her brow.
"Excuse me? L.A. happens to be one of the greatest cities in the country." She said matter-of-factly as though the topic were not even up for debate.
"Have you even been anywhere outside of L.A.?"
Kim let her eyes drop down to the magazine on her lap.
"I've been to Sea World San Diego."
Brian's guffaw was so loud the other passengers looked up to see what was going on.
"Then how would you know that L.A. is the best city if you've never really been anywhere? That's why I hate L.A. The people there have a mentality that the whole world revolves around them. Not to mention the traffic. Give me San Francisco any day. I've been all around this big world of ours and I still come back to the bay area with anticipation."
He looked at her again, she, still pretending to read her latest issue of Entertainment Weekly, trying her best to ignore this man next to her.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. I just think you should experience more of the world before you make such broad claims. I'm sure to you, L.A. is great -- but that's only because you've never really been anywhere else."
Kim put her magazine down and smiled at him.
"I'm not upset. I just grew up there, you know. It's hard listening to someone bad mouth your home town. It's like someone bad mouthing your favorite sports team."
"Oh?" Brian said surprised. He sat up in his seat with interest. "You're into sports?"
"No."
Brian chuckled, reclining in his seat once again. "Then what exactly DO you do?"
"Apparently, I sit on planes and talk to strange men about my likes and dislikes." She looked down at her magazine again.
"I see. And how is that working out for you?" Brian mused.
"Well, you know. It's slow going but as someone so eagerly pointed out, I'm trying to expand my horizons." Kim said coolly, not looking up from her magazine.
Brian laughed so hard he bolted straight up and forward toward his lap in convulsions. Kim watched as he lost control of his body in amusement and the comical sight of it all made her laugh out loud along with him.
The two of them had spent the length of the trip conversing and laughing during the hour long flight. Brian truly enjoyed talking to her as he thought Kim was an extremely attractive, funny and interesting woman. He learned that she played the Oboe and was a graphic artist for a major tech company in L.A. She told him that she had just begun to get her wings and wanted to start traveling the world, but first she'd start with the great state of California.
As the plane started to descend, Brian found himself dreading the moment when they would part at the airport. He really liked this woman and wanted to get to know her better.
When they landed in San Francisco, Brian helped remove her bag from the overhead bin and walked with her out on to the jet way and into the airport. They grabbed their respective luggage from the carousel and began to part ways.
"Well, I guess this is it. It was really nice meeting you, have fun in San Francisco. It's really a great city."
"Thanks! I'm sure I'll have a great time." Kim smiled. Brian thought he could live in that smile forever. He lingered for a moment until Kim glanced around looking for the rental car booths. She saw the "ground transportation" sign and started walking in its direction, waving to Brian on the way.
