| Straight: Online Lovers: A Conference in New England (1/11) |
 14 votes |
|||
Share This Story: BlinkList - del.icio.us - Furl - ma.gnolia - Spurl - Yahoo MyWeb - StumbleUpon |
||||
|
He woke up Thursday morning, grabbing his suitcase that he packed the night before. Calling a cab after he turned the alarm off he thought to himself, 'What am I doing. Certainly not acting my age.' He walked down the road a bit, not wanting the cab to have to honk and wake anyone. As he did, he remembered talking to his friend at work the night before. "So you are really doing this?” Jim said. "Yep." "I have to say, I wouldn’t have gone through with it in your place." "Why not, the conference funding is there. What is there to lose?" "How old is she, again?" "I'm not sure; it says 23 on her profile..." "Fuck, lucky bastard." "Oh shut up, you'd do it too if you could, and you have in the past, so don't preach at me." Michael smiled, daydreaming about her, as the cab arrived, and he got in. The cab took him to the airport. Usually he drove all the way to Vancouver, but this time, there was money in the funding he got for the short haul flight, and this, including the cab ride. No travelling on the cheap this time. At the airport, he stood in line. One of his friends was manning the check -in counter. "Hi Michael. Travelling again?" said Kelly, the mom of one of his daughter’s friends. "Yeah, I have a conference this weekend." Looking up his name on the computer, she said, "Manchester NH, through Vancouver, and Chicago. A long trip." "Yeah, there are fewer conferences in the fall and not as much choice..." Especially if one wants to end up at a specific place, he thought. Taking his bag, she handed him the boarding pass. "You have at least 39 minutes till the gate opens." "Thanks," he said, putting it in his travel bag. He went to the only cafe in the Airport, and ordered a breakfast sandwich and coffee. Eating slowly, he thought. Wasn't life funny? He had spoken to this girl in the chat room so many times before, and never thought about her as anything more than an acquaintance, until they had accidentally spoken because he had met one of her friends. He had mentioned that to her, and she just typed a happy face at him. "I'm a tricky little girl, she said." Indeed, tricky, sexy, and more, he thought. When he finished eating, he made his way through security and onto the plane. It was a small turboprop and a 20 minute flight. He greeted Kelly's husband on the tarmac, as he stepped on board, and sat in his assigned seat. The flight was uneventful. He sat down and fished a book out of his bag. Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. He remembered the comedian Dave Allen mocking the scene on the moors and started to read. He barely started it, before the plane landed, and he deplaned, walking into YVR. He made his way to US customs. He watched the familiar terrain pass by as he walked. He had taken this trip every 4 months while doing his doctorate, but he was going to Florida then. Not this time... He had an hour and a half to kill, but he had to |
  |
Venue works for me. :)
