Roxanne

When I was first practically forced to sit down next to Blondie on the flight I’ll openly admit that I was worried; perhaps even a bit pissed off. I avoided looking at the man at all costs by just sitting and staring out the window at the night sky with one of my iPod’s ear buds placed in my left ear so that if by any chance Blondie did decide to be social at all, I’d be able to hear him.

He didn’t seem like the social type, though. Not at all.

I couldn’t really decipher if he was nice or not. If you had asked me an hour or so ago I would have easily said that the guy was the biggest asshole in the airport. Actually, all of five minutes ago I would have said the same thing—especially when he was snapping at me about his seat. However, the fact that he had in fact allowed me to sit in his seat and then gently maneuvered me from the aisle made me begin to think, well, differently of him. If Blondie had wanted to be a complete asshole, he could have made me leave and find my given seat. Perhaps the man actually did have some feelings.

I continued to stare blankly at the outside world and all of its lights with Muse playing into my left ear while I could faintly hear Blondie shuffling about next to me. A rather large part of me wanted to just turn and get a good look at him. Despite the fact that I had gotten a few chances at getting a good look at this man I never took any of them because I was too caught up in the moment. The fact that I was sitting next to him wasn’t exactly much of an opportunity, either, because there really wasn’t any nonchalant way to turn and stare at someone.

It wasn’t much later that the plane had gone down the runway and took off from the ground. I groaned involuntarily at the feeling and knowledge of being flying and then sighed. I could have sworn I had heard a chuckle next to me but I didn’t bother to acknowledge it.

Things were silent for a good ten or fifteen minutes around me and I figured it was because most people on the plane were probably sleeping. It wasn’t unlikely, considering it was late. I figured that Blondie here had done the same thing because he had been considerably quiet for once. I realized how much I really wanted to sleep as I stared out the window at the sky around me, but I couldn’t. I wanted to sleep but I wasn’t tired. I wasn’t tired because I was currently sitting on a plane next to an asshole heading to Chicago. Well, California really—if I was lucky enough to get there.

“Do you have gum?”

I picked my head up from the window and looked over my shoulder with a cocked eyebrow in question if that had been meant towards me. Once I realized that it was, my expression changed to surprise. Blondie sat next to me in his “friends” seat, looking at me with almost the same look I had been giving him. Once he saw me looking at him, however, he smiled.

Well, shit. He was capable of doing that? I wouldn’t have believed it had I never seen it.

I then did what I had been telling myself not to do—I got a good look at the asshole by staring at him. From what I could see in the dim lighting, Blondie was actually quite young. There were hardly any wrinkles on his face and the ones that were there looked to be there from lack of sleep. His hair was neither long nor short, but slightly curly. Despite it all, the mess of brown and blonde actually looked pretty good together as of now. Due to the lack of light, I couldn’t see the color of his eyes.

What caught my attention, however, were his arms. They weren’t covered with tattoos, but they were pretty damn filled. They didn’t take up all of his arms from what I could see, just mainly his forearms. I couldn’t make anything out other than the fact that they were all pretty damn colorful.

Blondie cocked his head to the side and then chuckled at my obvious fixation on him. “Is that a no?”

I jumped at his voice, which was surprisingly high for a man—especially a man with so much art inked into his skin. “Oh, no, I uh, I do.”

I was surprised—shocked, really, that Blondie was actually being slightly nice to me. Despite the shock, I managed to shove my hand into my front pocket and pull out a pack of gum. I always had gum because I was constantly chewing on it—it was a habit that I had picked up from Bryan a few years ago. I slid out a piece and handed it to Blondie, who accepted it. “Thanks.” I nodded and smiled politely at him.

My eyes shifted from Blondie to around the surprisingly dark plane. I watched as the people beside and around us slept soundly. I wished that I could have done the same thing then. I knew, though, that once I boarded my next flight, the one that would be finally bringing me to California, I’d be able to sleep—just not now, when I wanted to. I had too much anxiety at the moment.

It was a couple minutes later when my gaze finally turned back to Blondie and that was when I first noticed him staring at me as I had been staring at him only a little while ago. Our eyes made contact once he realized that I had noticed him looking at me and he grinned crookedly at me. I blushed although I didn’t know why at the exact time. “I’m Billie, by the way,” Blondie finally announced after a slightly awkward moment, "B-I-L-L-I-E."

Billie?

I stared at Blondie for a moment, repeating his correct name in my head. Billie. He actually looked like a Billie, to be honest, no matter how odd of a name it was. The more I look at him, really, the more he matched his name. I resisted the urge to point out that the way he spelled his name was most definitely wrong. After all, it was apparently time for the two of us to at least try to be civil.

Billie cocked an eyebrow, most likely waiting for me to introduce myself. I didn’t notice for a minute or so due to the fact that I was once again staring at the poor man. Once I did, though, I found myself grinning sheepishly and avoiding eye contact. “Roxanne,” I finally mumbled. “I’m Roxanne.”

Billie grinned crookedly at me once again and I found myself a bit taken back by his smile. His teeth were crooked and frankly just quite terrible all around, but he somehow managed to pull off quite the smile. “Roxanne,” he repeated to himself. I had done the same thing once he told me his name; I just hadn’t vocalized it. “You mean like Sting’s Roxanne?”

I laughed and nodded. “Yeah, that kind of Roxanne.”

“That’s a nice name,” he stated after a moment. “You don’t hear it a lot.”

I laughed again, only with little humor and restrained myself from rolling my eyes at him. Everyone that I met and introduced myself to said almost the exact same thing because it was true. Roxanne wasn’t very common and that was the reason my parents had named me it. “I get that a lot,” I admitted.

“I bet,” Billie agreed. I found myself a bit worried that the next thing Billie would say was goodnight and then doze off to sleep for the rest of the flight, which was a bit ironic seeing as not too long ago I hated him. I didn’t mind Billie as of now; his company was rather nice. “Hey,” he called softly after a moment. I felt his hand gently touch my arm as if to get my attention. I was surprised by the warmth of his hand but I don’t know why—it wasn’t as if I had excepted him to be cold, did I?

My eyes focused in on his face once again to the best of their ability in the darkness. I didn’t say anything, but instead tilted my head to the side to show I was listening and waited for Billie to continue. “Sorry that I, y’know, flipped a shit on you earlier,” he apologized. “About the seat.”

I wasn’t used to a man apologizing to me at all. Bryan was one of the naturally egotistical assholes that never apologized for his wrongs. Instead of ever apologizing, he’d show up at my house with flowers or something else and tell me he loved me. At first I would be pissed that that was all, but I ended up getting used to it. Billie’s apology to me practically blew my mind.

“Oh,” I muttered. I looked up at him and smiled for what I believe was the first time. “It’s alright. We all have our days.” I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. “I don’t know anything about planes, really. I didn’t even look at my ticket; I just went wherever the stewardess sent me.”

Billie laughed. “For a busy airport, they’ve hired some complete assholes.” He cocked an eyebrow. “This is your first time flying, then?”

“Um, no. I’ve flown a few times before with my family, but this is the first time on my own. I wasn’t prepared for it, either.” I knew my explanation was vague, but I didn’t want to bore the guy to death. If I had gotten in-depth with things, I would have ended up explaining that I was being sent to California because my boyfriend dumped me. It doesn’t sound like a long explanation but it really was—especially when it’s coming from the girl who just had her heart broken.

“Ah,” Billie hummed. He nodded. “So this was a surprise?”

I chuckled. “Yeah, you could say so.” I hesitated, feeling slightly bad that he was asking all the questions. “What about you? Are you going home?”

Billie turned from facing me to face forward. He stretched his legs out in front of him and arms above his head while yawning. “Yeah,” he confirmed. “Home sweet home.”

“Chicago?” I asked. I decided that since we were speaking quite easily that this would be the best time to try to subtly find out if he would be any help to me once we landed. If there was an opportunity to stay with him from now until Oakland, I’d easily have taken it.

“Nah.” Billie slumped down into his seat and folded his tattooed arms over his chest while shaking his head. “I’m boarding another flight to Oakland once we reach Chicago.” Once seeing a blank look on my face, Billie grinned and added, “California,” as if to clarify what he was saying.

And there was my opportunity.

I’ll admit that I should have been a little less eager when he told me where he was going, because the second I gasped at that Billie looked a bit alarmed. “I’m sorry,” I apologized quickly. My heart was practically pounding in my chest out of excitement and relief. “I’ve been worrying my ass off because I know that this plane lands in Chicago and I’ll have to take another plane to Oakland. I just don’t know how to do all that. I’ve been worrying that I’ll miss my flight or just get completely lost.” I don’t think he understood a word of what I was saying because at this point, I was babbling with excitement.

Billie tilted his head to the side and cocked an eyebrow. I held my breath as the silence between us became louder. He then surprised me by laughing. I felt my cheeks burn with a blush and forced myself to look away from his face. I was a very bashful person, in all honesty. I embarrassed myself a lot and often found myself blushing. The fact that the plane was dark was much to my advantage.

For what I believe was the third time that evening, Blondie touched me in some form. It was a shock to feel Billie’s soft, yet rough hand on my arm even if he was only trying to get my attention. Surprisingly, he had an incredibly comforting grip that I think would have been awkward had it been anyone else. I’m sure I was also a bit biased at that due to the fact that his touch seemed to almost melt me. I was exceedingly vulnerable when it came to certain aspects of men and what Billie was currently doing by trying to comfort me had to be the absolute worst for my defense. It didn’t help that right now I was just vulnerable in general—look at where I was, after all.

Billie chuckled and gently patted my arm. “Hey, hey, relax.” He grinned at me. “I fly more than I shower, alright? Just hang with me; we’ll get you California.”

Relief was a beautiful feeling.