AtomicCafe1
06-30-2008, 05:33 PM
A short story. One of my first, and definitely my longest. If you see any grammatical errors or awkward words, please say so! And overall suggestions, criticisms and comments I would love to hear! Thanks for reading!
Well Known in a Stranger’s World
If You Look Close Enough, a Passing Moment Contains another Reality
Glenn, along with his beautiful girlfriend, sat in the airport waiting area, hoping to God that his roommate’s flight back from Houston
hadn’t been delayed nor had any problems. He was anxious to get home; for the past week, his company had been on the verge of closing a deal with the Twin Pikes manufacturer, and for the past week, it had been nothing but long hours and mass amounts of stress for him. He had hardly had any time for his lovely girlfriend, let alone time for anything at all. In fact, when he thought of it, he had not eaten a single meal at home the entire week. And all this, of course, did not come without its own set of nuisances. For evidence of the busy schedule’s effects, all he had to do was look at her face- Beatriz was her name- or if that wasn’t enough, notice her hinting sighs of aggravation.
But tonight he was going to treat her to a special night. After dumping the roommate back at the apartment, he planned on taking her blindly- for she had no clue- to Maxwell’s, the swellest, most expensive restaurant in town, and after that, to that show that got all the rave reviews in the Sunday Times. After all, nothing could please her more than a luxurious night of a dinner and a show.
“You can say goodbye to Beatriz’s agitation with you,” he said to himself with a smirk on his face. “And let’s hope you didn’t get too attached to all this strain and stress, ‘cause we’ll be saying so long to it all after tonight!” He glanced over to Beatriz’s area, but she continued her circling gaze around the room, his eyes being just a trivial point on the loop. “Too bad she doesn’t know what’s in store for her,” he chuckled.
But all of a sudden, an overhead voice disturbed Glenn’s pleasurable thoughts. “We apologize for the delays,” the ominous voice sounded. “Flight 157 from Los Angeles has recently arrived, and the passengers will be released shortly. Thank you.” An air of puzzlement began to draw itself onto Glenn’s face. He resolved to touch base with Beatriz, beginning to mouth the phrase, “Honey, did that just say Los Angeles? Is this the right gate?” But the words fell short and deflated to the ground, whimpering, outmatched by the squeals of the young family next to him. He reasoned it was better not to test the words again; he did not want to be confronted nor did he want to be disappointed, and both these were bound to happen if he attempted once further What’s more, he did not want the night he had so carefully devised to be ruined. But he remained optimistic. “It will be fine,” he reassured himself. “I’ll just let it play itself out.”
The minutes turned themselves over, and Glenn sat in his chair, restless. He continuously grabbed for Beatriz’s attention, but there still must have been bitterness towards him in her system, for she did nothing to acknowledge his pleas. He was getting quite nervous; small pellets of sweat had already begun to manufacture themselves onto his forehead. He had seen the plane maneuver its way to the gate a bit ago, and any minute now the passengers would be let out. So, what more to do, he thought, then close the eyes for a second and relax, relax, relax, hopefully loosening the grip of the mounting tension. He took several deep breaths also, and repeated the words, “It’s just a passing moment, it’s just a passing moment,” something he had picked up on from an article in a magazine, which he had read to fill the void while waiting for an appointment once. The article was titled: “Taking on Panic, One on One,” or something like that. Either way, he was never on the winning side.
At that instant, Glenn decided to see how his beautiful Beatriz was hanging in. He opened his eyes, only to find a crowd of people, flocking out of the extended airplane entrances, heading right towards him. This took him completely by surprise; he had been denying that this would happen so quickly, and his character possessed a distaste for unanticipated occasions. His security to him was breeched, and the only thing he could do- the only thing he could think of doing- was rapidly search for his roommate. He desperately sought out for his home-dwelling partner, for it was becoming ever so clear that his arrival would determine the night’s outcome as either a pleasant or an absolutely wrenching one.
And pretty soon, as the crowd of oncoming of passengers firmly took its place, Glenn began spitting malicious glances full of accusations: “Why couldn’t you have sat next to my roommate?” he silently, snottingly demanding. “Why couldn’t you have been friendly with my roommate, and walked next to him out of the plane?” This was totally unreasonable, of course, but Glenn was petrified with angst, and was standing on very feeble grounds. He was coiled with tension, ready to lash out and blame anyone in vicinity for his misfortunes.
And then he came, the harbinger of cruel fate: a muscular, wide-shouldered man with gelled, short hair and a flawless face, whose tight black t-shirt loudly exposed his chiseled chest. He appeared tired and overworked. For a brief stint, he appeared lost as well, but then he found his location on the map, dropping his suitcases and smiling his perfect smile at Beatriz. Beatriz, in reaction, jolted towards him, jumping and throwing her arms upon him as if he was the source of her inner soul. To anyone witnessing, they looked like the perfectly happy couple.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Glenn screamed from the background. He was so stricken with anger and disbelief upon seeing his beautiful girlfriend perform this spontaneous act to a complete stranger, that he was nearly shaking.
“You know this guy, Stace?” the brown-haired, ideal-bodied man questioned her.
“No, but he’s been looking at me funny this entire time I’ve waited for you. Let’s get out of here.” She snatched her purse from the chair next to Glenn’s, and as she walked away, she clutched the arm of the charming man. “I’ve missed you so much, Jake,” she crooned as her voice trailed off and as the pair disappeared into the swarm of people.
To Glenn, this was total devastation. He had hit rock bottom, and he had landed with a loud thud. A terrible, crushing feeling pained him throughout his body and throughout every last particle in which he was composed of. “How could someone do this to me?” he bewildered with delirium. He felt the weight of his head drop into his palms, and for the next ten minutes or so he remained like this, feeling the despair and anguish sear itself onto his soul. He was in absolute torture.
After cooling down a bit and letting it all settle in, Glenn recovered himself, at least in the sense that he was on the same page as everybody else. With a little effort, his whereabouts came into focus: he had gotten off of a plane a while back, and had decided to sit down in the airport waiting area to take a tiny rest. Those seats in the airplane sure cramped one’s legs. With the past behind him, and grounded in present time, Glenn realized he was rather hungry. And then he remembered that he had a delicious meal at home, waiting just for him! A stack of ready-made dinners were in his freezer, remainders from his latest shopping expedition. Should he have the Boneless Pork Riblet meal, or the Fettucini Alfredo? He’d just have to choose when he got home. Beats fixing your own meal, anyways.
So Glenn slowly gathered his few bags together and heaved his stiff body up to go catch the bus. But then something unexpected happened. A stunning, brown-haired woman replaced the seat Beatriz had sat in. Her bangs flitted and feathered across her face, and she brushed them out of the way with grace one might expect a blockbuster movie star to have. Her appearance was Glenn’s cue to sit down again. So he did.
Glenn, along with his close friend- whose alliance he had savored since the wee days of childhood- sat in the airport waiting seats, anticipating the 6:30 flight back home to Milwaukee. He peeked over at her- Julie was her name- and a dusty recollection from the past uncovered itself: “Remember that time when we were kids when we took all the pillows and sheets in your house and turned your basement into a humongous fort?” he began to say. But he caught himself, for he decided the time wasn’t right. “I’ll just ask her on the plane,” he said silently. “That’s a much better time, anyways.” He paused, reliving the long-lost memory in his head. “Boy will she get a kick out of this,” he chuckled.
Well Known in a Stranger’s World
If You Look Close Enough, a Passing Moment Contains another Reality
Glenn, along with his beautiful girlfriend, sat in the airport waiting area, hoping to God that his roommate’s flight back from Houston
hadn’t been delayed nor had any problems. He was anxious to get home; for the past week, his company had been on the verge of closing a deal with the Twin Pikes manufacturer, and for the past week, it had been nothing but long hours and mass amounts of stress for him. He had hardly had any time for his lovely girlfriend, let alone time for anything at all. In fact, when he thought of it, he had not eaten a single meal at home the entire week. And all this, of course, did not come without its own set of nuisances. For evidence of the busy schedule’s effects, all he had to do was look at her face- Beatriz was her name- or if that wasn’t enough, notice her hinting sighs of aggravation.
But tonight he was going to treat her to a special night. After dumping the roommate back at the apartment, he planned on taking her blindly- for she had no clue- to Maxwell’s, the swellest, most expensive restaurant in town, and after that, to that show that got all the rave reviews in the Sunday Times. After all, nothing could please her more than a luxurious night of a dinner and a show.
“You can say goodbye to Beatriz’s agitation with you,” he said to himself with a smirk on his face. “And let’s hope you didn’t get too attached to all this strain and stress, ‘cause we’ll be saying so long to it all after tonight!” He glanced over to Beatriz’s area, but she continued her circling gaze around the room, his eyes being just a trivial point on the loop. “Too bad she doesn’t know what’s in store for her,” he chuckled.
But all of a sudden, an overhead voice disturbed Glenn’s pleasurable thoughts. “We apologize for the delays,” the ominous voice sounded. “Flight 157 from Los Angeles has recently arrived, and the passengers will be released shortly. Thank you.” An air of puzzlement began to draw itself onto Glenn’s face. He resolved to touch base with Beatriz, beginning to mouth the phrase, “Honey, did that just say Los Angeles? Is this the right gate?” But the words fell short and deflated to the ground, whimpering, outmatched by the squeals of the young family next to him. He reasoned it was better not to test the words again; he did not want to be confronted nor did he want to be disappointed, and both these were bound to happen if he attempted once further What’s more, he did not want the night he had so carefully devised to be ruined. But he remained optimistic. “It will be fine,” he reassured himself. “I’ll just let it play itself out.”
The minutes turned themselves over, and Glenn sat in his chair, restless. He continuously grabbed for Beatriz’s attention, but there still must have been bitterness towards him in her system, for she did nothing to acknowledge his pleas. He was getting quite nervous; small pellets of sweat had already begun to manufacture themselves onto his forehead. He had seen the plane maneuver its way to the gate a bit ago, and any minute now the passengers would be let out. So, what more to do, he thought, then close the eyes for a second and relax, relax, relax, hopefully loosening the grip of the mounting tension. He took several deep breaths also, and repeated the words, “It’s just a passing moment, it’s just a passing moment,” something he had picked up on from an article in a magazine, which he had read to fill the void while waiting for an appointment once. The article was titled: “Taking on Panic, One on One,” or something like that. Either way, he was never on the winning side.
At that instant, Glenn decided to see how his beautiful Beatriz was hanging in. He opened his eyes, only to find a crowd of people, flocking out of the extended airplane entrances, heading right towards him. This took him completely by surprise; he had been denying that this would happen so quickly, and his character possessed a distaste for unanticipated occasions. His security to him was breeched, and the only thing he could do- the only thing he could think of doing- was rapidly search for his roommate. He desperately sought out for his home-dwelling partner, for it was becoming ever so clear that his arrival would determine the night’s outcome as either a pleasant or an absolutely wrenching one.
And pretty soon, as the crowd of oncoming of passengers firmly took its place, Glenn began spitting malicious glances full of accusations: “Why couldn’t you have sat next to my roommate?” he silently, snottingly demanding. “Why couldn’t you have been friendly with my roommate, and walked next to him out of the plane?” This was totally unreasonable, of course, but Glenn was petrified with angst, and was standing on very feeble grounds. He was coiled with tension, ready to lash out and blame anyone in vicinity for his misfortunes.
And then he came, the harbinger of cruel fate: a muscular, wide-shouldered man with gelled, short hair and a flawless face, whose tight black t-shirt loudly exposed his chiseled chest. He appeared tired and overworked. For a brief stint, he appeared lost as well, but then he found his location on the map, dropping his suitcases and smiling his perfect smile at Beatriz. Beatriz, in reaction, jolted towards him, jumping and throwing her arms upon him as if he was the source of her inner soul. To anyone witnessing, they looked like the perfectly happy couple.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Glenn screamed from the background. He was so stricken with anger and disbelief upon seeing his beautiful girlfriend perform this spontaneous act to a complete stranger, that he was nearly shaking.
“You know this guy, Stace?” the brown-haired, ideal-bodied man questioned her.
“No, but he’s been looking at me funny this entire time I’ve waited for you. Let’s get out of here.” She snatched her purse from the chair next to Glenn’s, and as she walked away, she clutched the arm of the charming man. “I’ve missed you so much, Jake,” she crooned as her voice trailed off and as the pair disappeared into the swarm of people.
To Glenn, this was total devastation. He had hit rock bottom, and he had landed with a loud thud. A terrible, crushing feeling pained him throughout his body and throughout every last particle in which he was composed of. “How could someone do this to me?” he bewildered with delirium. He felt the weight of his head drop into his palms, and for the next ten minutes or so he remained like this, feeling the despair and anguish sear itself onto his soul. He was in absolute torture.
After cooling down a bit and letting it all settle in, Glenn recovered himself, at least in the sense that he was on the same page as everybody else. With a little effort, his whereabouts came into focus: he had gotten off of a plane a while back, and had decided to sit down in the airport waiting area to take a tiny rest. Those seats in the airplane sure cramped one’s legs. With the past behind him, and grounded in present time, Glenn realized he was rather hungry. And then he remembered that he had a delicious meal at home, waiting just for him! A stack of ready-made dinners were in his freezer, remainders from his latest shopping expedition. Should he have the Boneless Pork Riblet meal, or the Fettucini Alfredo? He’d just have to choose when he got home. Beats fixing your own meal, anyways.
So Glenn slowly gathered his few bags together and heaved his stiff body up to go catch the bus. But then something unexpected happened. A stunning, brown-haired woman replaced the seat Beatriz had sat in. Her bangs flitted and feathered across her face, and she brushed them out of the way with grace one might expect a blockbuster movie star to have. Her appearance was Glenn’s cue to sit down again. So he did.
Glenn, along with his close friend- whose alliance he had savored since the wee days of childhood- sat in the airport waiting seats, anticipating the 6:30 flight back home to Milwaukee. He peeked over at her- Julie was her name- and a dusty recollection from the past uncovered itself: “Remember that time when we were kids when we took all the pillows and sheets in your house and turned your basement into a humongous fort?” he began to say. But he caught himself, for he decided the time wasn’t right. “I’ll just ask her on the plane,” he said silently. “That’s a much better time, anyways.” He paused, reliving the long-lost memory in his head. “Boy will she get a kick out of this,” he chuckled.