***
Roseanne Park loved her job. She was great at it. Although it was born out of necessity to earn money, she had loved it from the moment she was able to leave the ground for the first time. The training hadn’t required much time. In fact, it had only taken a couple of weeks, which had made her happy and scared at the same time.
However, she had learned quickly that a hands-on approach was the most effective learning method. In the beginning the job had meant to be an additional income, to be able to afford her real passion, creating art, but she had loved it so much, and had made friends for life, that Roseanne had decided to stay and make a career out of it.
Obviously, every profession had its pros and cons. Her biggest pro and the main reason for accepting all the cons, had been the part where she could lock the door, sit back tight and let herself be carried away to new places, new destinations and new people.
As much as Roseanne Park comes across as a well settled, hardworking and career focused adult, at heart she was still a teenager, who didn’t want to be tied down at one place and hated the number one disadvantage of her profession - the unholy wake-up time when she had an early flight. She had never been a big fan of mornings.
Roseanne preferred to start the day at lunchtime and couldn’t understand that nights weren’t part of the day to be used more productively than being asleep.
She groaned loudly into her little apartment, which was close enough to her workplace to reach it in a short amount of time, but far away to not be actively disturbed by the usual sound backdrop of it.
She frustratingly exhaled a whoosh of air and got up to face the chores of the day. She pitter-pattered into her kitchen and activated her coffee machine, which buzzed to life and blinked excitingly. “Well at least one thing in my life is happy to be awake.” Roseanne mumbled under her breath, whilst fishing for her favourite mug.
She placed a capsule into the device and the cup under the nozzle and pressed the button. The smell of fresh coffee immediately invaded her senses and a small smile grazed her features. Everything was better with coffee in her system.
She showered quickly and put on her uniform before carefully applying her makeup for the day. The flight wasn’t too long, she sighed happily, but she would have to stay overnight at the destination, before they returned tomorrow night.
Roseanne finished her coffee, snatched her trolley and made the short way to the airport just in time, as she had to attend the cabin crew meeting in 20 minutes.
She walked through the airport and was about to go through the security gate for employees when she heard her name being called out into the meagre populated hall.
“Roseanne! Wait.” She turned around in surprise and cursed mentally when she saw who had stopped her. The woman quickly approached her with an apologetic smile on her face.
“Roseanne, you look breath taking as usual.” She whispered, as she kissed the blonde’s cheek as a hello.
“Suzy thanks. I’m in a hurry, what do you want?” She stepped back and looked at her annoyed and frustrated.
“Can I talk to you for a moment?”
“There’s nothing to talk about, Suzy.” Roseanne brushed her off and turned to leave.
“Please. Give me one minute.” The slightly taller brunette begged her.
“What do you want?” Roseanne repeated exhaustingly.
“I’m so sorry.” She started and moved them away from the security desk. “I didn’t mean to do it.”
“You didn’t mean to fuck her?” Roseanne snorted angrily. “Your hand accidently slipped into her pussy and you couldn’t pull it out until she came all over it?” She growled sarcastically.
“I…“ The other woman cringed at the vulgarly descriptive words.
“Leave it. Really.”
“I love you. Baby, please give me another chance.” She tried to hold onto Roseanne and pulled her into an embrace.
“Let go of me.” Roseanne pushed against her. “You screwed up and in case you hadn’t gotten the memo, I don’t love you anymore.” Suzy’s face fell immediately upon hearing Roseanne’s last words.
“That’s a lie and you know it.” She hissed angrily, tightly closing her fingers around one of Roseanne’s arms.
“Would you mind taking your hands off of this woman?” A calm but eerily cool voice interrupted the slight wrangling. Both women turned to the source, one scowling in fury, whilst the other looked like she was seeing one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
***
Lisa had been sat at the café vis-à-vis the airport entrance. She had been way too early for the mandatory meeting and had enjoyed the calm before her hectic workday would start.
She’d sipped at her coffee, and had let her eyes wander through the terminal when a stunning blonde woman had walked past her on her way towards security. She’d had the most beautiful face Lisa had ever seen and the long tight coat had hugged her so perfectly it had seemed it had been sewn onto her body.
She’d slowly swallowed the coffee to empty her mouth and had let her eyes follow her, when she’d witnessed her being held back by another woman, who had run up to her.
Whilst finishing her drink, she had observed the interaction between them. It was clear to Lisa they were more than just acquainted. The body language screamed lovers; the scowl on the blonde’s face however yelled ‘ex’.
She had checked the time and had decided she needed to get going anyway, when she had slowly walked closer to the arguing couple. By the time she had been in earshot the brunette had had the other woman’s arm in a firm grasp.
Lisa had debated whether to interfere or not, but upon hearing the clear distress in the blonde she had made up her mind quickly.
***
Roseanne couldn’t do anything but stare at the striking vision in front of her. The woman had black straight hair with bangs, smoky-eye makeup and a beautiful brown eyes she had ever seen. It would have been appropriate to stop ogling, but the blonde couldn’t help herself as her gaze wandered slowly over sensual lips and a chiselled jaw, both tight and tense in annoyance. The rest of her body was hidden under a tight black shirt; half covered by an equally black leather jacket and lose fitting combat pants tucked into biker boots.
The woman stood regally, her legs slightly parted, her body weight shifted onto the left one and her arms folded in front of her chest. Roseanne gulped visibly. By the time her eyes met the stranger’s, Roseanne saw her pupils dilating and heard her breathing in deeply seconds later.
Roseanne fought the urge to moan at the sign of attraction and watched the woman turn her head back to Suzy, who still had her hands around her arms and started to shake her to regain her attention. “Rosie, I’m really, really sorry. Please.” The blonde turned back to her ex-girlfriend, and said in a very quiet, but all the more threatening voice.
“Leave me alone.” She then wriggled out of the grip and stepped closer to the other brunette, who had come to her rescue.
“I hope this event is unprecedented.” Lisa said, eyes flickering between the two women, one looking at her as if she wanted to punch her.
“Mind your own business, will ya.” Suzy spat out and stepped closer to Roseanne again. “Can we please talk, when you’re back?”
“No.” Roseanne vehemently shook her head and stepped further back. “We’re done.”
Sensing the finality in the beautiful blonde’s voice, Lisa moved herself silently between them both and slowly articulated the next words in a low tone, the warning palpable in each syllable. “I suggest you respect her answer and leave. Now.”
They eyed each other for a several moments, before Suzy smiled as insincerely as possible and took a few steps back. “I’ll call you.” She looked at Roseanne once more.
“Please don’t Suzy.” She sighed.
The taller brunette finally nodded accepting her defeat, for the moment, and Roseanne turned to face the other brunette, when she heard her speaking up again. “Merry Christmas in case I don’t see you.” Roseanne looked over one last time and smiled a thin-lipped smile.
“You too.”
Lisa’s gaze followed the woman until she saw her leave the building. She exhaled slowly and turned back to the blonde she had helped with a small smile.
“Thanks.” Roseanne extended her arm towards her and smiled gratefully, when the brunette slowly took her fingers and enclosed them with her warm hand. “She cheated on me and is not accepting the end of our relationship.” She elucidated further, unsure as to why she felt the need to explain her situation.
“I really don’t need to know...” Lisa answered short-clipped, unsure of the intention of the woman’s words.
“Roseanne.”
“Pardon?”
“My name is Roseanne.”
“I really don’t need to know Roseanne. It’s none of my-” She repeated her earlier sentence, but lost track of her thought, when expressively gorgeous eyes seemed to bore into her very soul. Lisa only returned to earth and cleared her throat awkwardly, when Roseanne had closed her eyes for a second to get her heart rate back to a healthy pace.
“Business.” Lisa finally finished. She smiled shyly, still holding the blonde’s hand, unwittingly caressing the soft skin with her thumb. Roseanne smiled, highly aware of the soft strokes on her wrist.
“Thanks, again. You’re kind of my knight in shining armour.” She then said softly, effectively pulling Lisa out of her reverie. She let go of her hand and nodded sharply.
“Sure.”
They smiled once more at each other, when a loud whistle pierced the calm atmosphere of the early morning at the airport. Roseanne turned annoyed at the sound and saw her two favourite colleagues, who had become her closest friends with their hands on their hips and amused grins on display. “You coming or what?”
She nodded and signalled wide eyed to leave her alone for another moment. They laughed but walked back into the meeting room.
“So.” Roseanne started turning back, catching the brunette’s eyes flying back up from her lips to her eyes, expression guarded but not closed off. “I better get going. Thank you…” She drawled the ‘you’, hoping to get the brunette’s name, who eyed her suspiciously, but quietly offered.
“Lisa.” She breathed out, an unsettling tension taking hold of her.
“Lisa.” Roseanne repeated, enjoying the feel of the name on her tongue. It felt familiar although she’d never known anyone with the name. It felt warm and homely. “Thank you, Lisa.” She repeated again.
“Of course Roseanne.” Intense chocolate eyes nervously scanned sparkling brown orbs.
They shared one last timid smile before Roseanne turned and finally stepped up to the scanner to start her day.
***
Roseanne sat down next to Jennie and Irene, watching the woman in the front of the room stare at her. Jessica was their supervisor on the ground and responsible for the smooth organisation of the scheduled flights for the airline.
“Thank you Roseanne for finally joining the meeting.” She said in a clipped voice.
“Sorry Jessica. I ran into a problem.” Roseanne shrugged and smiled apologetically.
“A ‘hot as hell’ kind of problem.” Jennie added quietly, snickering with Irene, when Roseanne sent her best death glare at her two friends. “Shut up.” She hissed.
“Anyway.” Jessica cast one last angry glance at the blonde, before she continued eyeing the rest of the crew. “This trip is our best seller. Just because it’s close to Christmas doesn’t change anything.” She explained in a stern voice. “I expect nothing but professionalism, is that clear?” Her gaze fell on the three women in the back, who were infamous for their humour and jokes with the passengers.
“Yes ma’am.” All three answered at the same time, biting back grins.
“I hope so.” She concluded and turned to the rest of the room. “One more thing before you can sort out your work. We have a new pilot working for us. Just transferred, but comes with excellent recommendations. Please take a moment to introduce yourself and try to be helpful.” She said with another pointed glance to the back of the room.
“Don’t worry Jessica. We’re always helpful.” Roseanne shrugged at their supervisor.
“Yeah Jess, we’ll be absolutely professional.”
“Jennie is right.” Irene added as well. “All will be good.”
“I know you. You’re known for the entertainment. You’re loved for your jokes. We get this feedback from everyone. It’s great feedback. We just really need to make a good impression on the pilot. I trust you’ll behave.”
***
“Geez, this Captain must come with a million to invest or pants of pure gold.” Roseanne complained once Jessica had left.
“You never know. What did I read recently? All airlines are only three days away from bankruptcy. Plus there’s the new CEO no one seems to have a clue about. Guess it’s time for extra charm to keep our jobs?” Jennie mused, whilst everyone remaining in the meeting room shuffled closer to organise their work stations.
“Bobby? Ashley?” Roseanne turned towards another woman and a man, who had been quiet and observing. “Your preferred positions?”
“Can we both take the rear?” Bobby asked whilst Ashley nodded.
“If Bae and Jennie are happy to be up front?” Roseanne turned to her friends who shrugged their approval.
“Settled then.” Roseanne smiled. All four flight attendants nodded to their head of cabin.
The standard rule was 50 passengers per flight attendant. Bobby and Ashley would do the 100 from the rear end, whilst Irene and Jennie were responsible for the 100 from the front.
Roseanne would serve first and business class and help out whenever needed, as well as taking care of the ‘oh so precious’ pilots. She hated those old slimy douchebags, who oozed too much confidence, just because they knew how to press buttons and talk into a walkie-talkie in a made-up language. ‘I learned to do that by the time I was four’, Roseanne thought frustratingly. Of course, she was aware, there was so much more to the profession, but she simply couldn’t stand being reduced to a dumb blonde juice pusher in their eyes. She had responsibility too.
She was accountable for anything happening in the cabin. Everyone trusted her to do the right thing in case of an emergency. ‘If I screw up and the masses panic the airplane crashes’, she thought to herself, but focused back on the task at hand.
“Are we ready?” She asked locking her brown eyes with everyone’s who nodded at her. “Let’s do this then.” She smoothed the imaginary wrinkles out of her matching pencil skirt and dress jacket and grabbed her trolley bag, with her coat draped over her arm.
“After you ladies and gent.” She winked and held the door open for her team to walk past her. She loved this short moment of strolling down the aisle of an airport to the gate. The click clack of their high heels requesting the attention of everyone seated left and right at cafés or gates. They paraded down the tiled floor of the terminal in sync, lined up with confidence in their postures and laughter on their lips. They reached the gate and exchanged a few words with the ladies processing the groundwork, before stepping through the final glass door and walking down the gangway to the airplane.
Upon entering the blonde turned to the cockpit to greet the pilots, who were already busy at check-up. She knocked at the open door to announce her presence and opened her mouth to introduce herself and the team, when familiar brown eyes glanced over her shoulder at her.
“Lisa?”
***