Airport Meet Cute

He stared at her, sizing her up as she waited in line for her order to be completed. He was almost certain that she was a basketball player and by the USC sweatshirt she donned and the adidas sports bag she carried, he supposed she was a college athlete as well. Swallowing his nervousness, he plucked up enough courage to ask the girl,
“Do you play ball?”

The girl snapped out of her dreamy state of mind, surprised that someone was talking to her, especially as she waited for the idiots at Burger King to finish preparing her veggie burger she thought she had paid way too much for. But the boy’s question was really what startled her. Never before had someone pegged her for a basketball player, just from looking at her. True, she did often wear sweatshirts and sweatpants from her time on basketball teams in high school but even then most people saw her as a track runner. And that really boggled her. She guessed that it was probably because of her long legs, and maybe she looked quick. But in all honesty she wasn’t, she could never keep up when she was a runner – which might have had to do with her decreased lung capacity. Looking at boy she decided it would be a bit rude to just ignore him, and she also thought he was a bit cute, if not in physical features but in the way he had outright asked her a question, flirted with her (something she was definitely not used to ). Her food was finally ready as she replied with a small smile, “I used to.” She then proceeded to walk away and went back to the gate her airplane would soon depart from, marveling at the short encounter and feeling a big regretful that she hadn’t continued the conversation.

A few minutes later she returned, breezing by the boy who was just sitting down to enjoy his greasy meal to grab some napkins. The numbskulls behind the counter had gotten her order wrong and put ketchup, her least favorite condiment on earth, on her veggie burger. As she was leaving, she walked past him and he asked her, “Why’d you quit playing ball?”

“I wasn’t tough enough,” she replied, almost sadly.

“’Not tough enough’?” he echoed.

She shrugged.

“Yeah,” she said, with a gorgeous smile dancing across her lips.

“I can understand that,” he said. She smiled again and then continued on out of the airport restaurant and out of his life.

She walked back to her gate. Regret began to cloud her mind. She realized she probably should have stayed to talk, to learn more about this guy, to see if anything more could grow out of this chance meeting. As she found a seat in the crowded waiting area and began to wipe the ketchup off her patty, she thought to herself: I couldn’t have stayed there. I hate eating in front of other people .Especially strangers.