I lean my back against my seat, staring at the roof of the airplane, slightly tapping my left foot on the floor. I scroll through my phone until I stumble upon Zarina's text.
I fixed you a blind date, and he's currently on that airplane with you. He's tall and good-looking; trust me, you can't resist him. I already sent his picture and other details to you on Instagram. It read. I scoff and toss the phone back into my purse. I throw my head back to lean against the head rest of my seat as I shut my eyes.
"You must be Yelena Zetian." I peeled open my eyes at the sound of that. I wanted to know who had the effrontery to call my name in such a disrespectful manner. My eyes widen in shock as my gaze falls on this intruder. He's tall, has a well-chiseled face and a very beautiful smirk, and he's obviously towering over me. That smirk he had on made me want to take it out almost immediately. I adjust my shades and look at him one last time.
"You're right. "How may I help you?" "Zarina... you're my blind date, dude." He says this, and I look at him with a straight face as though searching his soul. "Excuse me?!" The words finally escaped me in shock.
"Yeah. She didn't tell you? "Aw man, that bitch sometimes sucks." He says.
I take off my shades and narrow my eyes at him."I beg your pardon?" Who gave you the damn right man to call my sister a bitch?!" I yell.
"Oh, I'm sorry, bruh. Peace out. Well I'm...Zayn Caddel."
"Oh I fucking know who you are."
"Can I?" He asks, motioning towards the seat opposite mine. I raise a brow at him, and he thanks me and settles down."Oh ma'am, I really apologize for walking up to you like that, it's just that, um..." I slightly raise my hand, and he keeps mute.
"Quiet! This is one blind date, huh? Make it worth it! I ain't going to sit here and listen to all you're going to blab about; get straight to the damn point! "My time is precious; if you waste any bit of it, you won't like me one bit." I say and lean back against my seat, legs crossed, with a fake smile that fades almost immediately.
"Okay. I'm Zayn Caddel; I'm 24 years old, and I'm a businessman. I'm from Illinois and…."
He was already starting to bore me with all that speech, and he was also getting on my nerves.
"Enough! You have two options. "Either you get straight to the point of this date or I walk out on you." I say this after calming my nerves a bit.
"Oh, Zarina and I met on a dating site, and, uh, that's how all this came about." Zarina and I have been friends, and, uh, we've met a countless number of times, yeah? And so one day, she said, "Dude, my sister needs a damn man!" And then she asked if I could go on a date with you."
His story dismayed me, and I stared at him in utter disbelief as he kept blathering. I flash him my cutest smile before resting my arms on the table.
"Where do you come from?" "Illinois," he says."Pretty lair. You ain't good at it. You're very much not a black dude, man; you're pretending. I ask again, and I hate lies. "Where the hell do you come from?"
"New York okay?"
"Obviously. You start a date with lies... and you think it would get you in my good graces? You also take me for a fool; you're pretending to be black, but your accent, skin color, and looks sold you off a long time ago." "I'm sorry I lied." He apologizes, and I burst out in laughter.
"You're sorry? Really man?" I ask with a stern face."Yes, I truly am."
"I thought you wouldn't like me for being a white dude."
"You know what, man?" I don't need no man! I'll find a man if I need one. Get out!" I say.
"Look, I know we started off on a bad page; perhaps we could redo this again, don't you think?" He asks.I look at him with fury in my eyes.
"I said get out!" I repeat hitting the table hard with my palms.
"It won't make me go away." "I wanna make things right."
"Oh, how about I call in security?"
"You won't either; you have to listen to me." He says. I leave my seat for another and he tails behind me, blabbing and blathering; it makes me very furious, so I turn around and slap him hard across the face, causing everyone in the VIP section with us to stare."Fuck off; I don't wanna see you any more." I say that and adjust my dress. I put on my shade and dust my dress. I walk towards an empty seat with pride, shoulders back, and head held high.I settle on the seat, legs crossed, a glass of wine beside me, and a fashion magazine in my hands.
"What would you like to have, ma'am?" The air hostess asks
I tilt my head slightly to her side before taking off my sunglasses. I stare at her sternly; I see her tremble a bit. A smirk forms on my lips.
"A glass of champagne would do." I say and return my gaze to the fashion magazine in my hands after putting my sunglasses back on. The lady returns with a glass of champagne shortly after, and I ask her to get me something crunchy. Zayn approaches my seat a couple of minutes later. I look up at him from the corners of my eyes, and he settles down in front of me without saying a word.He tells the air hostess to get us some wine, and then he brings out some cookies and chocolates from his sling bag and a plate of ice cream too."You did not sneak that in." I say, and he smiles at me."Well, what do you think?" He asks to hand me a bar of chocolate.I stared at him for a while before taking it from him."I'm sorry for everything, for the lies, for breaching your personal space, for wasting your time, and for treating you like a fool." He says as the air hostess puts down a bowl of neatly cut fresh fruits in front of us.
"It's fine. "You're actually a nice guy; I'm not all that sorry I slapped you, but I wasn't in a good mood." I say, and he laughs it off."Yeah, I knew." "I was only trying to cheer you up; I didn't expect that slap."
"So, what kind of business are you in?"
"Hmm, let's say I run a mini-restaurant in Maryland." He says. I look at him quizzically."I know I'm way below your level. "Well, I also work for my own company. It's a fashion company."
"Interesting." I say as I take out a piece of watermelon from the bowl and stuff it into my mouth.
"So, Zarina has already told me much about your business. "Tell me about yourself." He says. I choke on the fruit I'm eating. He walks over to my side of the table, rubbing my back and trying to soothe me, and he gives me a glass of water, which I gulp down almost immediately.
"Excuse me?" I say this after clearing my throat."I said you should...start first," I say, interrupting him.
"Okay, I'm a fan of Khalid; I like black dudes." I love to paint and, uh, write. "Singing is a plus to my talent or skills."
"Okay....I love my business more than anything. "I'm pretty sure you know I'm the CEO of Allure and also the CEO of GlamourGloss, my app." I say. I stared at him for a moment while eating my fruits. I could use him. I've got an app for beauty and fashion hacks; having him in here would be a massive break for me. I thought. I signal the air hostess to come, and she does so. "Two glasses of rosé and two plates of grilled chicken." I say
."Uh, no. "Billionaire vodka would do in place of rosé." He interjects. I glare at him. Is he trying to show off how rich he is? I'm taking an expensive drink, but he's taking a more expensive one."Oh, please get me a glass of rosé and keep a bottle of tequila for me in a room." I say this to the air hostess, and she takes our order before leaving.
"So, you're an alcoholic, huh?"I smirk at him.
"A workaholic, you mean?"
"Pretty interesting. "Where do you come from?"
"Well, I'm black American by birth. I live in a beautiful town in Maryland. I know you'd ask about age. I'm 22.
"Why are you coming to Maryland?" I ask with my fingers laced."Oh, most of my life is based in Maryland." He says.The hostess returns with the food, and we get to talking while eating. I finish up a couple of minutes later and excuse myself. I walk over to my room with him trailing behind. I lay on the bed, and he sat beside me, and we got on talking. We went past introductions to talk about our lives. He's very open, but I'm secretive, so I just let him do the talking, hoping I'll get to tell him things when I've known him better. We're on a good page now, I guess. We talk about our respective jobs; he's already exhausted like me; we lay side by side on the bed, maintaining a 5-foot distance. The flight to Maryland is taking too long; I slowly drift off to sleep while he's still talking.