Moment of Weakness

Chance Encounter

Rey waits impatiently, fiddling with the zipper on her jacket and surveying the wide range of people around her. She had always hated crowds, too many people, too close to her, with very little room to escape. Escape from what? She wasn't really sure, she just didn't like it. Being a loner had always come naturally to her but she still had her few close friends, most noticeably her friend Poe who had dropped her off at the airport only thirty minutes ago.

Really, he was probably a big reason as to why she was so tense. It was only a forty-five-minute drive from her apartment to O'Hare airport, but they had successfully fought the entire way. The fight had started because she hadn't been ready right when he got there to pick her up and it had ended with her yelling at him for not taking the route she wanted. Rey didn't know why they had fought so bad, none of it was that big of a deal, but she chalked it up to the fact that her leaving today was making her big move to New York official.

For the last four years, Rey had worked for Leia Organa, the CEO of one of the most prestigious publishing houses in America. Leia has started Alderaan publishing when she was young and living in New York, but when she got married and started a family, she had moved to a suburb outside of Chicago where she was from and opened a small second office downtown while running the New York headquarters remotely. Now that Leia was retired as of last Tuesday, the title of CEO was being transferred to her son who ran the New York office for her. Leia's retirement came with a big change for Rey though as she was recommended with highest regards to Leia's son to hire Rey as his new PA. After a bit of deliberation, Rey had accepted the position and started preparing for her big move to New York.

Rey digs through her pockets and throws her phone and other random items into the bin, then bends over to remove her shoes. She also hated taking her shoes off for security and walking where thousands of other people had, but that's why she always was sure to wear socks to make it slightly less gross. As she watches her items run through the machine and the person in front of her goes through the security scanner, someone at the next security lane over catches  her eye. She watches him as he strings his light brown belt through his dark blue dress pants. His Adam's apple bobs slightly above the collar of his white shirt that is unbuttoned at the top. His features are prominent, almost harsh, but at the same time kind of soft too, and his hair falls in dark chunks around his face, covering his ears. Rey swallows hard as she watches him and how the veins pop out on his arm as he picks up his messenger bag and slings it over his shoulder. He glances up as he moves to walk away and catches her watching him. He holds her gaze for a moment and Rey feels her stomach flip frantically and her cheeks flush a little as he nods and walks away.

"Ma'am?" The TSA worker grunts at her and she looks up at him.

"Oh sorry," she giggles nervously and gets into the scanner as the worker rolls his eyes.

She looks around, wishing she would have watched to see where the man had gone, but he is nowhere to be seen.

After collecting her items, Rey makes her way to her terminal to double-check that she has the right one before locating the nearest bar since there is still over an hour before the plane will start to board. The idea of airport bars boggles her mind because time doesn't really seem to matter here. You could have a drink at 8am as long as they are open, and no one cares because you are in an airport and they too are also probably craving a drink.

The Irish pub themed bar is mostly empty which is to be expected considering it is only 9:30 am. Rey takes a seat a few chairs down from the corner of the bar, evenly spaced between the two other patrons.

"What can I get for you, ma'am?" The bartender wearing a white shirt and green tie asks.

"Brandy old fashioned sour please," she orders with a smile and fidgets with the napkin he just set down in front of her.