I had six minutes before the love of my life got on her plane headed for Costa Rica.
She sat opposite me, her legs tightly crossed with a foot dangling madly at the end of it. She wore a tan dress that hugged her figure and a wide brimmed hat made of straw. Even though it covered most of her face, I had no doubt my high school sweetheart was hiding beneath. My heart was pounding – finally for something more than just keeping me alive.
It had been around 15 years, eight months and eight days since I had last seen Stacey. She had left for her schoolies trip to South America and never returned. In all that time, I still hadn’t worked out what I would say if I saw her again. I checked my watch. Now I only had four minutes left.
Without thinking, my eager eyes scanned her fingers. She had many gold rings, but no wedding ring. Sure, I had less hair, less muscle and more bad cholesterol than last time she saw me, but our love had been special. She was alone. All I had to do was get up and talk to her. Easy, right?
Three minutes left. Fuck. I still had no charming or nonchalant opening line. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch another man staring at her. He’s much younger and more handsome than I. He looks over and sees my gaze quickly shifting between him and my love. It was at that point, we both realised we were after the same beautiful human being.
One minute left. And Stacey is blissfully unaware of the contest. I glance back to the man’s chair and my heart freezes. His chair…it was empty! Like a spring, I was up and bolting towards my love. I powerwalk into the path of the younger man. I try to shove him, but his rock-solid biceps are just too strong. Quickly abandoning physically overcoming him, I resort to a verbal assault.
‘We have history. You have no chance,’ I say. My heavy panting creates short sentences with weight. To my surprise, he doesn’t falter. Without taking his eyes off my love, he whispers to me.
‘Stand down.’
As if my body obeyed his command, the ground came to meet me. Two men dragged me down to the linoleum floor, pinning me down. I was outnumbered! One of the brutes called out to the young man.
‘Get her!’
At this point the world around me goes quiet. I couldn’t even hear my frantic heart. I stared at my love, and waited to hear the slick and enchanting opening line from the man.
‘You’re under arrest for drug trafficking,’ he said. I start crying. It was a terrible line, but it definitely got her attention.
