5

           Glancing up from her magazine taking in the people still trickling in, their eyes met for a split second across the room. She looked back down at her magazine pretending to read There was a grace to his tall bodied stride down the ramp coming in from the main terminal. She panicked for a second lest she were going to feel awkward,  wreck the first impression...But, she thought, he's probably having some similiar houghts, and her poise came back. Alert but looking nonchalant she kept reading.till he sat down on the edge of the chair next to the little table she had her bag on, leaned in toward her as he rested his elbows on his spread knees.
            "Hi," he said.
            "Hi," she said.looking up.
         They smiled  at each another for a glance, as their eyes met in the course of them both surveying the terminal..

           "I almost thought I wouldn't make it," he chuckled.

            "Do I know you?" she said with a little ironic smile.

            "No, no" he chuckled glancing at her, looming there next to her with an understated presence, a calm not unlikely a little induced by the alcohol still carousing in his veins  from last night's send off at the village local.he had emailed her about. His easy going manner made her feel in her elements, the way you do when you  meet up with an  old high school chum you used to cut up with,  but not date Then he looked back at her and was saying something and it hit her with a start she could not understand much if anything of his brogue.

            "I'm sorry, but I can't understand a word you are saying," she said jokingly but serious..

            "It's okay. Just nod your head 'yes' at whatever I say," he said with the sang-froid of a seasoned comic.
             Well, guess it was a good thing he had never suggested calling her. How would she nod over the phone?  Never mind videcam, which sounded scary thinking about it for a novice like her coming late to the net.

            "I'm just a country Irish lad with me Wexford dialect." he grinned, and she laughed. She could pick out the words in that. His dialect was great. She liked the way he put things. But then had that not been the point of attraction?He pulled out a Kit Kat and Snickers bar and asked her if she wanted some. She shook her head.

            "No thanks.What are you doing with that," she teased suspending judgment.

            "Hey, it's my vacation!" He intoned grinning..

             He looked nothing like she'd imagined. Yet felt familiar, comfortable. No pretty boy, that was obvious at a glance, but his broken nose was not as bad as he had hinted his concern several times in  joking. Just a prominent nose, bent a little to the side.Maybe one eye had been smashed. And that chin, it was Stephen Fry!!! But his washed out baby blue eyes opened wide from under their hoods as he smiled and that drew you in. His Celtic warrior hair was straight dirty- blond, cut with bangs. Like a do at home job. He made her laugh. God.She had flirted with this character at sometime online? No, she would not have been attracted to him at a bar or party. Not right off, anyway. Maybe in a group of friends.She could see where girls would find him a charming boy., though, looking past the hook nose.. The whole was greater than the sum of its parts and there was a presence about him, and that  felt attractive. He seemed reserved, but ready to be mischievous at the slightest provocation And he was tall, massive biceps.

            But she knew this guy from the inside.That's how she thought of it  anyway because it was the first time she had ever gotten to know anybody on a daily basis, on the net. just from their mind, sight unseen.  She never had done any e-ralationships, no online dating, and who had been looking for anything anyway? It was just a movie site.And this friendship had bloomed innocently enough. But now she kept drawing a blank as  to any of their fencing, sparing, playing. It was just the present moment, being becoming.

              He had missed the bus in his village. Barely made it on another to get here..

              "Did you think I had stood you up?"

              "Was just planning the benefits of trekking solo."

               They were interrupted by the appearance of flight attendant who were soon opening  the glass doors and the speaker finally announced their flight. 

            "Where is your bag?" she asked somewhat surprised.

            "I checked it in. Like having my hands free."

            She nodded and swung the bag  around her shoulder  As they got up and walked side by side for the first time, he stood over a foot above her. Somehow, he didn't exactly have the build of a runner, ex- boxer, or footballer as she might have expected You could tell she'd been out in the spring sun already t but he still looked a bit winter pasty. When he ran on Curracloe beach, were the sun rays weaker up in Ireland? But you gave the benefit of the doubt..

            They sat down once again and waited to board the flight to their destination,  having just ended one.