The Airport

Corrie hated travelling with Jeff but their jobs meant that more often than not they’d be sent to the same international office at the same time, meaning that they’d be expected to take the same train to the airport and do all the airport things together. Why? thought Corrie. Why did convention say they had to travel together? Well this time she’d put her foot down and said she’d see him at the gate.

It wasn’t that Corrie disliked Jeff, quite the opposite, they got on really well most of the time. But when it came to travelling they were like chalk and cheese. Corrie liked to get to the airport early, have a look round the shops, get a nice latte and settle down at the gate with time to spare. Jeff on the other hand was a 'last minuter', he liked to cut it so fine that he’d never get to the gate before final boarding was called. He’d never missed a flight but that was more by luck than judgement. But it wasn’t just the timing issue that Corrie disliked, it was the disorganisation, the where’s my passport panics and the water bottle in the bag at security scenes. Corrie smiled to herself as she checked the screen and then opened her kindle; a book and coffee would help kill the 30 minutes till boarding. If Jeff didn’t get there on time, she’d go without him.

Jeff pushed his way through the crowds to get off the train first. He daren’t look at his watch. He leapt up the stairs three at a time and then ran down the labyrinth of tunnels towards his terminal. Sweat formed and fell from his brow as he slalomed through the dawdling crowds of holiday-makers.

He’d checked-in online so all he needed to do was bag drop but it was his face that dropped when he saw the queue. What’s the effing point of checking in online if there was still such a queue for bag drop? Fuck it he thought and walked straight to the front ignoring the stuffy tuts as he did so. Bag dropped, he hit security, he managed to talk the girl into letting him go through the VIP lane but in his rush he forgot his liquids. Surely one little bottle of water didn’t mean his whole bloody bag needed to be emptied, he tried to tell the guy he was going to miss the plane but the guy was only doing his job sir.

Jeff ran to the gate hearing his name as he did so, his shirt was now soaked with sweat and he was decidedly out of breath. As he got to the gate the woman was just telling the world that if he didn’t get there soon he’d be offloaded from the flight. He patted his pockets looking for his passport finding it eventually in the pocket of his bag and then ran on to the plane.

He expected to see the disapproving eyes of Corrie as he walked down the aisle but there was no sign of her. He sat down and got out his phone.

‘Where are you?’ He texted as surreptitiously as he could.

‘Where am I? in the lounge of course? Where are you more like?’

Jeff couldn’t believe his eyes?

He quickly typed another message pressing send just as the cabin attendant  approached.

‘Sir, we are taxiing, you have to turn that phone off now!’

Corrie looked at her phone and then looked around her. There was no one. Just an empty gate.

‘Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. No way no fucking way!’

How on earth had she done that? She’d been sitting at the gate for 30 minutes. How the hell had she missed the plane from there?