Breakable Heaven

Part One

Airports always made you nervous. The people, the stress of making flights on time, getting through TSA, not to mention innate fear that not only were you going to miss your flight, but that the gate and flight actually never existed.

Adding on top of that the stress of meeting someone new, a complete stranger you had only a handful of phone conversations with, well that made you more shaky than the coffee with two espresso shots you'd picked up on the way to the airport.

Looking around again, you tried to find the face of the stranger in the crowd, recalling his profile picture from the app. The sea of faces that greeted you didn't match, raising a new fear in your gut: you were being stood up. You wouldn't have blamed them, honestly. It was an entirely insane idea. Hiring a date for your best friend's destination wedding was up there with the stupidest things you had ever done. But the idea of facing your ex, Gavin, during all the week-long festivities alone made your stomach churn.

Hearing your name, your eyes scanned the crowd again, looking for the man from the pictures on his profile. Heart beating anxiously in your chest, it fell as you were greeted with nothing.

"Hey," your soul nearly left your body as a hand landed on your shoulder from behind. Turning, you were greeted with the man you'd been looking for. "I didn't mean to startle you!"

"Oh it's okay." you waved his concern away, calming down, fanning your face a bit with the tickets clutched in your hand. "I was so focused on trying to find you I didn't think that you were trying to find me too."

"Yeah, this place is nuts," he agreed. "I guess we should properly introduce ourselves. I'm Danny." he held his hand out, and you met it with your own in a firm shake. "It's nice to meet you in person."

"Yeah, it's nice to meet you too," you replied back, supplying your own name, though feeling a bit foolish because the two of you had been texting for a week now. But Danny just grinned, his smile slightly crooked. His dark curls flowed from the bottom of his baseball cap, and you had the distinct feeling that if he took it off, he wouldn't suffer from hat-hair like you would. Not realizing you were staring until he chuckled, you cleared your throat, handing him a plane ticket. "We should head over to get through security."

The cattle line through security was as awkward as you anticipated in your anxiety. Danny let you go ahead of him, the set path too narrow for both of you to stand together. Stomach churning nervously, you were dying to fill the silence between you two, but there was very little to discuss at the moment. When you did peek back, Danny seemed preoccupied with reading all the signage around you.

When it was your turn to fill your bin with any metal and belongings you frantically tossed everything you had in taking off your shoes and padding in your socks through the metal detector. The agent beckoned you down to wait for your tray as it went through the scanner with your carry on backpack, and you watched Danny go through. He moved effortlessly, like he did this every day. Whether it was vindication or jealousy you weren't sure, but you felt a tug in your stomach when he took off his cap, his curls bouncing perfectly back into place, not a strand matted down.

"Are you hungry?" you were sliding your backpack back on, wiggling your feet back into your shoes as Danny asked the question.

"I could nibble on something."

"Great, I'm starving. I woke up late and didn't want to chance missing the flight." Danny's smile graced his face again, and you couldn't help but feel charmed by it. Maybe your judgment was broken, to feel this confident about a stranger, but Danny seemed completely sincere off the bat. Something that was going to be key to keep up the lie for the next week.

Finding a small cafe, Danny ordered himself a breakfast sandwich and a coffee, asking what you wanted. After a bit of back and forth, Danny insisting he pay for your breakfast, you yielded, ordering a croissant and herbal tea, feeling like you'd had enough coffee this morning. Danny convinced you to take a seat at one of the small tables in the cafe, assuring you that the gate would not magically disappear, and you had more than enough time to get there.