Ghouls

The mystery man and I continued to talk for the remainders of the flight; I found out that he has a boxer dog he named Boxer (I also found that he wasn’t the most imaginative.) I learned that his mother makes the best cookies in the country and that she owns a small bakery in the heart of the city. He even invited me over to try them and that I should bring Cam and the band over too. Unfortunately, I had to decline as I already knew that by this time tomorrow, we’d be in a completely new state and there would be no time for things like that.
Disappointed though I was, he had ensured that he’d try and get tickets for the show tonight and we’d meet afterwards for as long as I could before we had to leave.

I was extremely grateful for the conversation; it calmed me. I was so worried about sitting next to someone, having that someone be so interesting and so willing to talk was great.

We neared the end of customs after landing in Chicago. We fairly awkwardly said our goodbyes and went to turn in opposite directions before he called: “hey!” he ran to catch up with me, “I didn’t get your name.”

I blushed, “Lauren.. I’m Lauren,” I smiled.

“Well, hey Lauren.. I’m Greg,” he smiled widely. A smile that was reminding me more and more of Brian the more I looked at it.

“Hey,” I awkwardly smiled at him.

“Hey, um, I feel kinda bad letting you get a taxi all on your own in a country you don’t understand, nevermind a city you don’t understand... you want to share?” he seemed fairly honest but I panicked. And I panicked hard. I shouldn’t be getting into taxi’s with men I’d barely known a few hours.

I shook my head vigorously as my palms sweat, “no, I... I.. I’m sorry,” I picked up my bag and began to speed away as fast as I could.

He grabbed my arm and I screamed. Everyone stared at us which made things all the worse. I was suddenly embarrassed and scared and wanted to fall out right there and then. Security slowly tried to make their way towards us.

Greg, as I now knew he was called, retracted his arm and hissed, “what the fuck?”

All of a sudden, a giant of a man was stood to my left, dressed in black trousers, a blue polo with the word ‘security’ written in bold white across the chest, “is everything okay here?” he growled, scowling at Greg.

“Yeah, it’s fine, I didn’t touch her; I only offered to share a taxi with her,” as he spoke, Greg seemed to realise what he was saying as his face dropped vaguely.

“Is that so?” the giant spoke sceptically, crossing his arms in front of Greg.

“You know what? Lauren, I’m sorry... I’ll go..” he leaned around the security guard to talk to me before picking up his bags and walking away.

The guard turned to me slowly, keeping his eyes on Greg to make sure he was out of the airport, “you okay, Miss?” he asked, in a very new type of American accent; nothing like the Californian I had grown used to.

“Yeah.. yeah, I’m fine.. it just shocked me..” I told him, rubbing the arm Greg had grabbed.

“Are you sure?” the guard asked, placing his large hand on my shoulder, making me jolt slightly but soon calm after meeting his eyes that were full of kindness and security.

“Yeah,” I managed a smile, “as I said, I just wasn’t expecting it.”

“Okay... where are you heading? I can get a colleague of mine to drop you off if you’d rather that than taking a taxi?” he offered politely.

“Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to be a bother...”

“Of course! You wouldn’t be a bother! In fact, if you’d rather I took you to where you need, I’m sure I could be let off early,” he smiled sweetly.

“Thank you,” I returned the smile.

-----

We made our way towards the security desk before the guard radioed who I had assumed was his boss. After speaking, he picked up his keys from the safe below the desk and guided me out of the airport through the staff exit.

Once at his car, the guard opened the passenger side door for me to get in before taking my bags and placing them in the trunk.

“So, I suppose I should introduce myself now, I’m Buddy,” he smiled warmly.

“Hey, uh, I’m Lauren... sorry about all this I –“

“Shush, it’s fine; it’s my job to help damsels in distress,” he smiled again, only this time what he said sent chills up my spine and made me start to panic again.

“So, where are we heading?” he asked as he turned on the ignition.

Notes