THE END
Castaways
Chapter 1
Abby finished the last of her pre-boarding checks just in time to see Malcolm, her really good friend, strolling into the jet with his carry-on. A wide grin formed on her face. There was something about the smirk on his face that she could not explain. But then again, he always had that smirk on.
In the three years that she had been working here as an air hostess, Malcom and her had grown to be become really good friends. Malcolm was a pilot; a darned good one at that. They had gotten close really fast and she always looked forward to working with him every time, not only because he was a good pilot but because there was never a dull moment when they worked together. And her job was always fun.
At 25, she had experience in both the commercial and corporate fields. She had started out working with a commercial airline but had decide to venture into the corporate field. It was much more challenging and much more fun here.
Unlike her former job, she had to cater to whoever it was she was working with personally. She loved the one-on-one experience it gave and the fact, that she could be called up at any time to go to any place, added a thrill to the job that she could not explain. All in all, she loved her present job and didn’t see herself leaving anytime soon.
Abby really hoped it would be as much fun this time. The job today was a long-haul flight from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia and they were catering to no other than their boss and client, Richard Myers. She had heard stories of the billionaire businessman, unpleasant ones and really was not looking forward to meeting this person.
Richard was known to be quite condescending in the way he related with his staff. Word that got around was that he felt he was far more superior to anyone else and did not bother to hide it. It was public knowledge that Richard was one of those bosses who had no form of relationship with his staff and could be a really annoying pain in the ass sometimes. She did not do well with irritating bosses, never had and she was sure she never would. Unfortunately, she could not go out of her way to avoid this one. Her job was to actually be in his face a lot of times.
“Thinking of how you would seduce the boss?” Malcolm’s voice cut into her thoughts.
“You are such a pain.” She replied and tapped his belly playfully.
“I am your pain. Although I really doubt that would last any longer. We are about to have a royal pain in the ass on board. He would be taking my place as the pain in your life for the next,” Malcolm looked at his watch, feigning seriousness, “fourteen hours, thereabout.”
“You really do not give up, now, do you? I wonder how I have been able to cope with you for this long.” Abby responded rolling her eyes.
“Nice try.” He said with that smirk plastered all over his face again.
“What are you talking about?”
“Like you don’t know.” He said and sidestepped her to get to the other end that led to the cockpit.
“Don’t do that. I have no idea what you are talking about and you want to leave me hanging? No sir. You do not get to do that.” She said and Malcolm raised an eyebrow. “Really. What in the world are you talking about?”
“You just managed to evade my first question.”
“Which is?”
“Are you thinking up schemes to seduce the boss?” Malcom asked with a salacious smirk.
“You’ve got to be freaking kidding me. Really?”
“Yes, really. You know you can tell me, right? I would probably even help you get him in your bed.” He teased.
“That man is the last person I would ever seduce. If he was the last person on earth, I wouldn’t touch him with a six-foot pole.”
“You can’t possibly hate him so much. You don’t even know him.” he teased on.
“I really don’t need to know him to not like him. His reputation precedes him. I know all about him from the little I hear.” She replied.
“It is wrong to judge someone by the things they say about him. You know what they say about the book and its cover.”
Abby eyed Malcom. He was the last person that should be telling her about judging a book by its cover. In all the time they had spent together, Malcolm was the one who quickly judged a book by its cover, the font the cover was written in and even the author’s name before bothering about content. He was quick to judge people by their appearance even before meeting them.
“You are one to talk. But really, how does anyone sleep comfortably when everyone practically hates him? The people that work with him do not even respect him. They just fear him.”
“You know this how?”
“That’s what everyone says. And do not even tell me that is not the truth because you know it.”
“Well, I do not know for sure that it is true. What I do know is that it is what everyone says.”
“Really?” Abby said raising a brow. “You just said the exact thing I said.”
“No. There is a huge difference. You spoke like you knew for sure when in actuality it is just stories. So yes, I have heard stories about him too but no, I do not know for sure. I do admit he has a pretty terrible reputation.”
“Exactly!” Abby said excitedly. “He feels as though he is so high and mighty and is better than everyone else. He is said to speak to people like they are not on his level. Who does that? Because he has a few billions in his account?”
“How many billions do you have in your account, again young lady?”
“Very well played, sir. Touché.” Abby said, accepting the truth of his talk. She had no right to talk about ‘a few billions’ when she could not even boast of a few hundred thousand. “Don’t you have to be in the cockpit or something?”
“Such a sore loser.” Malcolm bellowed and headed to the cockpit to prepare for the long journey.
Let’s just hope this billionaire doesn’t feel he can waste our time because he feels like it, she thought and started a last minute check around the jet.
Chapter 2
It was twenty minutes to take off and the boss was still nowhere around. Abby sat back in one of the seats, counting down to whenever he decided to make an appearance. She was not surprised that twenty minutes before their scheduled take off time, the billionaire better-than-thou boss was still nowhere in sight. She had expected him to be late and was almost sure he would not apologize when he got here.
It baffled her that she was so angry at this man that she had never met before. It wasn’t as if she hated him or anything, but she just didn’t like the idea of someone feeling all above everyone else. A little humility would not hurt.
His terrible personality would not stop her from doing her job right. She would cater to him even more than she would with the best of her clients. She would embarrass him with so much niceness he would probably be embarrassed by his attitude.
Okay, maybe this line of thinking is a little childish, she said to herself almost immediately. This is you being tired of waiting for someone who feels he is God’s great gift to humanity.
Getting of the lush leather chair, she reached to where her belongings were, got her make-up bag, and returned to her seat. She would as well touch up her look. Going up to Malcolm was nowhere in the options she had. She didn’t feel up it. He was going to just tease her and she didn’t have the strength to banter with him right now. Waiting drained her of her energy.
As she opened the mirror, her eyes were instantly drawn to the fiery redness that was her hair. Her neatly packed tresses were still very much in place. It wasn’t as though she was expecting them to have been flying around. She had not done much yet for her hair to be scattered. The wooden brush went through her locks smoothly as she brushed them despite their look.
As she was applying a touch of lip gloss, she felt a shadow fall over her. The figure behind her coughed and she jumped with a start. Cursing in her head as she turned towards the door quickly, her eyes fell on the face of the man they were waiting for. Her mirror fel
l off her hands and would have shattered if it had not fallen on the soft rug by her feet.
Richard stared at her without a word until she picked the mirror off the floor. When she did, he just stepped in and dropped his carry-on by her feet. He sat on the closest seat with a table and turned to her.
“Please put that away.” he said in the most condescending manner she had ever been spoken to.
“Yes sir. Welcome on board, sir.” The shaken woman said with a confidence she did not feel. She was shaky and disoriented on the inside but she had been trained to endure even the most embarrassing moments. She would not give him the opportunity to see her weak.
“You’re still standing there. Inform the pilot I’m here and let’s get moving. We do not have all day.” He said and set his briefcase on the table.
Abby felt her face heat up with anger. Just a couple of seconds and he was lording over her. He was the one who delayed them yet he had the effrontery to talk about not having all day.
Picking up the luggage, she walked over to an overhead bin, stowed it away and stalked off towards the cockpit. Her hands quickly went to the door before she could think about composing herself. She gave three short raps on the door to inform Malcolm she was coming and then opened the door. Malcolm was about to start his banter but the look on her face shut him up immediately.
“I take it the boss is around.” He said instead.
“The cheek! Can you imagine the height of it?!” she said, fuming.
“The look on your face is enough to let me know exactly how angry you are. Was he that terrible?”
“He was just very condescending in his manner of speaking. I didn’t know when he was coming in and he shocked me into dropping my mirror because I just wanted to touch up my make-up before he comes in. And don’t you dare say anything about trying to seduce him. I just like to look good.
“He just stared at me like I was some sort of nonentity and after that he dumped his luggage on the floor and asked me to keep that away like he was talking to his maid or something. He totally disregarded my greetings after that. Can you just imagine?!”
“Calm down, Abby. I am beginning to wonder if this is anger or you are just a little embarrassed that he caught you with a mirror in your hands.”
“Do not start with me today, Malcolm. I am really not in the mood.”
“I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to irritate you any further.”
“It’s just annoying. He had the nerve to ask us to hurry things up when he was the one who delayed us in the first place. He didn’t even think it appropriate to apologize.”
“Well, he is your boss.”
“But he is human too. These are the basic etiquette one need to learn. How hard could it possibly be to say sorry? Anyways, he said to tell you to get this ship rolling or whatever.”
“Thank you, ma’am. Please have the gentleman settled in and we would make the ascent.”
“Fine.” She said and walked out of the cockpit towards Richard. He was too engrossed in whatever he was doing on his laptop when she came back. Just as she got to him, she heard Malcolm’s voice filtering in through the speakers.
“Good day, sir. Welcome on board. This is Captain Malcolm speaking. We are expected to be in the air in approximately five minutes. Please fasten your seatbelt at this time. I would also ask that your seat and folding tray are in the upright position for take-off. Please turn off all personal electronic devices including your laptop and cell phones. This is a non-smoking flight and smoking is prohibited throughout the duration of this flight on the entire aircraft. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to speak with the red-haired beauty that is our flight attendant. Her name is Abby. Do enjoy your flight, sir.”
“Hello again sir. I am Abby.”
“I know that. You are the only attendant on board.” He said dismissively.
“Please shut down your laptop and fasten your seat belt sir.” Her cheeks hurt from having to fake the smile on her face as she spoke.
“You do not have to hover over me. I’ll call you when I need you.” he said and turned back to the laptop.
Abby sighed but waited till he had put away his laptop. This was probably going to be the longest fourteen hours of her life and she really was not looking forward to spending so long attending to this obnoxious man that was her client.
Chapter 3
“Good day again, sir. This is your captain speaking. We are currently cruising at an altitude of 30,000 feet at an airspeed of 350 miles per hour. It is 8:30 am by my time. The weather looks wonderful and with the tailwind on our side, we are expecting to land in Sydney give or take twenty minutes ahead of schedule. Abby would be coming around to offer you refreshments soon. I’ll talk to you again before we arrive at our destination. Until then, sit back, relax, and enjoy the rest of your flight.”
Abby couldn’t help but roll her eyes when Malcolm was done with the announcement. He always loved this part of the job; the talk part. It usually beat her imagination why he had not decided to go down the radio presenting line instead. That man sure liked to listen to the sound of his voice.
She padded out of the kitchen and moved towards the only passenger on board, her nemesis. His stare on the laptop screen was as intent as it had been since he came on board. Abby wondered if he ever felt any discomfort from staring at the screens too much. She could never sit for this long looking at all that light no matter how low the brightness setting was.
“What would you like to have sir?” she asked.
“Umm first off, coffee.” He said without looking up. “Black with two spoons of sugar.” At this point he raised his head and looked pointedly at her. “Nothing more or less. I’d like one or two scones with that.”
“Anything else, sir?” She said, straining the ‘sir’ on purpose.
“Nothing for now. Although I would be needing a proper meal sometime soon. While we’re at it…” he paused as though he was thinking it through. “Never mind. I’ll let you know when I need anything else.” Richard replied and turned back to his work.
Abby turned on her heels and went to make his coffee. She would remain calm irrespective of however he treated her. She had gone through worse with some clients on the commercial airline she used to work with. Maybe he isn’t so bad and I just interpret all his actions because of the things I have heard about him. Maybe Malcolm is right.
In no time, she was done making his coffee to his specification and she placed the cup in a tray with some scones. Her eyes swept over the busy form as she took his coffee to him. Despite his bad attitude, he was a little bit of a looker. A silly thought crossed her mind as she watched him; did he ever smile and how would he look when he did? This thirty-five year old would pass for a fifty- year old the way he took everything so seriously but that didn’t take away the fact that he was cute to an extent. She set the cup and saucer on the folding tray some distance from his laptop.
“Here you go, sir.”
“Right. That would be all for now.”
Having satisfied the client, Abby went back to the kitchen for Malcolm’s coffee. Malcolm on the contrary always had his coffee white and with as much sugar as possible. She set the coffee cup on another tray with a small canister of sugar and took it to him in the cockpit.
“You really should cut back on your sugar intake, honey. You take way too much.” she said and set the tray down beside him.
“Thank you for caring, love. But I love my coffee the way I love it.”
“You’ll get fat and stuff.” She joked.
“You’ll love me all the same. That’s what love does. It endures.”
“Don’t count on it, love. I’ll be out before you say anything more.”
“How’s our client doing?”
“Busy and still annoying. I am overlooking his flaws the way I overlook yours, though. He has been staring at that laptop since take-off.”
“Well that isn’t odd. He is a
businessman and besides, he’s going to Australia to close a deal. I heard he is quite the thorough type. I would be disappointed if he was not at least pretending to be busy.”
In that moment, they felt the plane jostle and Malcolm’s coffee cup shifted slightly in his tray. They both gave each other a knowing look. Just as Abby was about to speak, the jostle returned, this time, a lot more severe that it threw Abby completely off balance and the coffee cup to the floor.
“Get back to the cabin and get settled in. Tell Mr. Myers to fasten up to be on the safer side. I doubt that the turbulence would persist though.” Malcolm said.
Forever Together Page 48