As she sat down in her seat on the plane, Eliza could not help but dread the 12 hour trip ahead of her. As a free lance journalist, Eliza did a lot of traveling for her work. Ironically enough, planes had to be her least favorite thing in the world. Well, somewhere on the list ahead of nails on a chalkboard, but just below taxes. But really, who doesn’t hate taxes? Usually her purse was filled with sedatives, reading material (incase the sedatives didn’t kick in), and an mp3 player (to avoid personal contact with strangers, men trying to hit on her, etc.).

Eliza sat in her seat, waiting for the plane to take off so the sedatives could be taken and the music turned on. She was already ready for this trip to be over and the plane hadn’t even finished boarding yet. Just as she was about to put her head back and contemplate the hundreds of ways this plane could go down, something caught her eye; well, someone actually. When she first began traveling and in turn, complaining about traveling, her mother always used to tell her that she should be more optimistic; she could meet the love of her life on a plane trip. Therefore-ALWAYS put on makeup before boarding. As the eternal pessimist she was, Eliza had dismissed the advice before her mother could finish her sentence. But now……. Well, her mother had been around a lot longer than her. Maybe she had a point.

Fluffing her hair, checking her makeup in her compact mirror, and putting on her best, not at all fake smile Eliza held her breath as the could-be male model sauntered her way. As someone who had spent her life getting the short end of the stick, Eliza suddenly felt her luck changing while she watched the handsome stranger before her settle into the seat right next to hers. After he sat down, handsome stranger turned to Eliza and smiled.

“Hi, I’m Keith. What’s your name?” The man said. Eliza opened her mouth to respond, but no words would come out! She just stared at him with a dumb smile on her face, wanting so badly to start a conversation, but her throat had completely closed. She now had the communication skills of a newborn. Fabulous. Just say something! She was screaming at herself in her head, but out loud, nothing but silence. ‘Ugh, story of my life,’ Eliza thought to herself.

Just when she finally managed to gain some composure and open her mouth to say something, handsome stranger (or Keith, whichever) looked down at his ticket-

“Oops, my mistake. I’m supposed to be one seat back. That’s probably why you were looking at me like that!” And with that, handsome stranger picked up his briefcase and headed one seat back, next to the leggy blonde who had no problem greeting him. And with that, Eliza sighed, pulled out her sedatives and her mp3 player and prepared for flight.