Ticket to Verona

one

~Aria

Flight 251 to LA is delayed"

With a heavy sigh, I lent back on my chair, the cold metal touching my bare lower back. It was 11pm in New York and all I wanted to do was get on my flight, sleep, and then wake up home. Now I was stuck in this stupid gate for god knows how long because of the stupid rain.

I let out a big sigh before putting my headphones in and leaning back in my chair.

I didn't realise I was singing along until a shadow came over me and I heard a throat being cleared.

Oh no. Not again.

I scrunched my nose.

Yes, because that will fix it dumbass.

I opened my eyes and damn, the man in front of me looked like a freaking God. His dark hair was gelled to perfection and he had the most beautiful suit on ever. It must've costed more than my whole wardrobe. He looked intimidating and powerful,very powerful. So much so that I found myself shrinking back into my chair. But my favourite thing was his eyes. They were grey but if you looked into them enough, you could see a whirlpool of blues in them.

Snapping out of my staring and finally finding my voice, I decided to try and fix some of the damage my horrible voice did.

"Sorryy. Was I singing out loud? I thought I was the only one in this gate." I mumbled, probably too quiet for him to hear.

He let out a small chuckle "yes you were but don't worry. You have a lovely voice."

what? An Adonis like him thinks that I have a lovely voice? What. the. hell.

"I'm sorry again Mr-" I stopped myself, realising that I didn't actually know his name. I tilted my head, hoping he would tell me his name.

"Leonardo."

"Well, Leonardo, it's nice to meet you. I'm Aria." I smiled before holding my hand out to shake. He shook my hand and his face was still cold for some reason.

"So, you flying somewhere?"

smooth Aria, real smooth.

He let out a small chuckle and oh my God, his laugh was so hot and I can bet a ton of money that he doesn't laugh often.

"Yeah, I'm flying home. What about you?"

"Oh yeah me too! I've been here for two weeks and that's more than enough time away from home. You know what they say, home is where the heart is!"

He spaced out for a second before shaking his head, taking a deep breath and stared straight at me, his eyes boring into my soul. Then in the calmest, softest voice I've ever heard, he asked me a question I never in a million years thought anyone like him would ever ask someone like me.

"Do you wanna get some coffee?"

"Erm.. what? uhh.. coffee? sure" I mumbled, giving him a small smile.

"Great" he smiled, showing his dimples that made him look like a little boy. "Follow me" He said, gently grabbing my arm pulling me along with him. I giggled, ignoring the tingles going through my arm before running to catch up with his long strides. He was like a giant against me. He was at least 6'2" while I was only 5'3", giving me a severe height disadvantage.

After being pulled for around 10 minutes, we came to a luxurious looking reception desk with some sort of flight attendant sitting behind it. He was wearing a red and white uniform, which kind of made me think of those barbershop quartet kinda guys but I stifled my laugh, instead giving him a kind smile.

He led me through to a large lounge area, which had sofas, a 50 inch flat screen TV, a bar and a whole freaking coffee shop!

I'm pretty sure I stood there for a good 5 minutes before his smooth voice snapped me out of it.

"Aria?"

"Hm?" wow great conversation, you're so good at this Aria.

"Are you okay? You kinda.. zoned out" He said with a little chuckle. Damn, I could listen to his laugh forever and never get bored.

"Um yeah, sorry, it's just, wow." I chuckled before sitting down at the table he was standing next to.

He smiled, before sitting opposite me and calling a waiter over who took our order. Within a few minutes, I had a caramel iced coffee in my hands and he had a black coffee. So predictable.

"What is predictable?"  Leonardo asked me, raising a perfectly sculpted eyebrow.

My eyes widened as I started to stutter. "I said that out loud?"

He chuckled "Yes b- Aria. Now, what is so predictable?" He started to say something I guess but stopped himself.

"Your drink choice. It's just so, blah." I explained.

"Blah?" He questioned and scrunched up his face in confusion but it just looked like he ate something sour.

At this, I burst out laughing. "You- you- look like you ate something sour" I laughed in between breaths. Once I had calmed down, I noticed that my necklace got caught in my hair. I fought with myself and looked back up at him as I took off my necklace and placed it on the table beside my drink.

His face instantly went back to normal with a small smile and he took a sip from his drink, raising a perfect eyebrow yet again. "So, Aria, what is boring about my drink?"

I cleared my throat. "Well- um, It's just so predictable you know, big tall guy in a business suit has a black coffee because he doesn't eat. You know like he doesn't have time to eat because he's too busy and won't waste time chewing if you know what I mean. Not that I think you're not eating! Or that you're fat! Oh my god I just called you fat! You're not fat, you're gorgeous. Wait no, handsome. Oh no. I just told you you're handsome. Well you are handsome and your eyes are soooo pretty and your jawline is sharp and yeah you look like a Greek god but-" Realisation dawned on me on what I just said and I slapped my hands over my blabbering mouth.

But he didn't look mad. He looked happy?

Leonardo had an adoring look on his face. Which was weird because no one would ever adore me.

Especially not after the whole fat, not fat thing you just said, idiot.

"I-I'm so sorry, I rant when I'm nervous or-"

He chuckled again and lent over the table to brush my hair away from my face. "It's quite alright amore, I find your rambling quite adorable."

I felt my cheeks turn pink. I pulled out a pen out of my bag and started doodling on a napkin to distract myself.

Without realising, I had spent an hour with this man. I was about to respond to another one of his questions when an announcement on the speakers interrupted me.

"Flight 251 to LA is now boarding. Flight 251 to LA is now boarding. Please can all passengers make their way back to the gate. thank you."

"Oh my goodness! That's my flight! Sorry Leo, I have to go, hey that rhymed! Anyway, Thank you for the drink! It was lovely meeting you!" I yelled as I ran out of the lounge, leaving a very confused man, a half full glass of iced coffee, a doodled on napkin and my necklace behind.

~~~

Author's note:

Hello! this is the first chapter of this new book! Please leave your thoughts and comments :)

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