Earlier that day: 

     Jada stepped out of the subway and headed up the stairs to the North exit. She had ten minutes to get to the studio and it was only a matter of time before her phone rang. “Run run run running go go go butakhae my bus!!” suddenly sprang from her cell phone as she stopped at a red light. This was it. She slowly opened the phone an inch or two from her ear, ready for the blast on the other end. “WHERE ARE YOU!? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LONG I’VE BEEN SITTING HERE. YOU’VE GOT 9 MINUTES TO GET UP HERE JADA. YOO THIII THIS IS A GAYY? IS THIII PAAYY TIIIE? She grinned at how funny he could sound when the phone was so far away. “No, Jay, I do not think this is play time. I left my ticket at home and had to go back and get it. Can’t get on the subway without a ticket..” The voice simmered to a level of slight annoyance and Jada was glad because she felt like she’d just been attacked by a bear via cell phone. A rather short, and haughty bear. “Soooo let me guess. You drank again last night.” “Nooo..never.” The voice let out a sigh. “Jada. Look I understand you have your problems, but we’re in this together.” She’d heard this before. It was the same speech Jay gave her every time she did something he couldn’t stand, but couldn’t bring himself to stay angry with her about. “Be there in 5. -click-” was all Jay heard after his motivational monologue. “Ugh that girl.” he said as he slammed his phone down on the table. Immediately regretting the decision, he quickly picked it up and caressed it as if it were an injured child.

      The light finally turned green and Jada headed blindly across the street. A hand suddenly yanked her back to the curb by the collar of her shirt. “Aghhh” Jada choked. “HEY YOU GOTTA DEATH WISH OR SOMETHIN?” a voice called from behind. She stepped back to turn to see who dared yank her by the shirt, only to find that it was just a random man. Jada hated men. She despised the lowly creatures with their vulgar language, need to spit every ten minutes, lack of hygiene, and uncontrollable drive. They sickened her and this man had just grabbed her by the shirt and was now screaming at her. Just as Jada raised her fist, ready to give this man a taste of it, a large van buzzed behind her wildly as it passed her. Her eyes widened as the gravity of the situation sunk in. “Y-you..saved me..?” It was more of a question than a statement because Jada had never expected anyone to save her, and certainly not a man to do so. The man raised his hand as if to stop her, “Yeah yeah. Whatever. Just be careful.” He then crossed the street with the others. Jada stared after him for a moment, then realized that time was slipping away more and more. She looked at her cell phone, “3 minutes.” With a jolt, she darted across the street, dodging pedestrians, strollers, and fire hydrants. Nothing was going to get in her way. Finally, she made it to the front door and swung it open. Looking inside, she could see the elevator, full of people, about to close. Somehow, she made it just before the doors closed. Panting heavily, trying to catch her breath, she waved innocently at the people inside. 

     Jay was waiting by the elevator when she stepped out of it. “Really JD? Really? 1 minute? Are you TRYING to give me angina or something?” She grinned as they headed to the board room. “Do you even know what that is?” “No. Does it matter?” She stopped and looked at him, forgetting who she was talking too for a moment. “Kinda-never mind.” The two entered the room and took their seats. As usual, Jada tossed her bag on the table, took out her bottled water, and kicked her feet up. “So..where is he?” She surveyed the room, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. “He’ll be here.” Jay replied. His phone rang. He answered quickly, “Yes? Where? Oh, is that so? That’s perfectly fine. See you then.” He shut the phone in contentment, but Jada was not satisfied. “Uh uhm” she cleared . Jay snapped out of whatever visual bliss he was stuck in at the moment. “Oh! That was him. He’ll be here in about an hour.” Jada sat up slowly, placing her feet on the ground. “An..hour? I thought you said I had TEN MINUTES” she added through slit eyes. Jay smiled nervously. “Now Jada. We know how important it is to be early in case our colleagues somehow do. It is our duty as representatives of this -” “Yeah, right. Whatever. I’m gonna go have a drink. Be back in an hour.” she said as she was already exiting the room. 

      Quickly making her way out of the building, Jada couldn’t wait to get to the airport bar. It was like her own personal haven and she loved to watch the passersby go about their busy schedules. “Besides,” she thought, “I haven’t seen Ash in awhile.” Smiling at the thought, she walked the three blocks it took to reach the airport and went inside ready for a drink. 

     Ash, the bartender, saw her coming and was already preparing the usual. Extra dry martini with a pink umbrella toothpick on the side, 2 napkins, and a traveler’s magazine. Jada plopped down on what she claimed as “her stool” 1 because it was where she was sitting when she met Ash, and two, it was the only way she could watch Ash and the travelers at the same time and that was where she sat every time and it wasn’t about to change now. “How you holdin up?” the bartender asked. After looking through several pages of the magazine, and taking a few slow sips of her martini, she sighed and lay her head on the bar. She rubbed her eyes, annoyed at life. “Uggh you don’t even wanna know.” Ash grinned “Forget your ticket again?” Jada jumped. “Why does everyone think it’s like a habit of mine?” “Because it is..” “No no. See here miss. I forgot my ticket two times. TWO times. Okay? That’s nooot that bad.” “Four times JD. Four times within the last two weeks. And who knows of how many more in the future?” she winked, knowingly. “Hahaha…you know me too well Ashley. Too well. Say what’s a girl like you doing workin on a Saturday?” “Because it’s Saturday and I work at a bar JD. It’s the busiest time of the week. Saturday Is like the black Friday sale of the week.” Jada smiled and swung around on her stool. 

      She began watching the travelers, more so admiring them. Oh how nice it would be to just up and leave to Hawaii or California for a week getaway. She watched the children jump over the seats, the mothers tend to their babies, lovers bid goodbyes to one another through tear filled eyes. She was entranced. Jada loved the airport, filled with so much noise, yet somehow silent and comfortable. Lazily, spinning around in her chair, she played a game called “Where did they go, where are they going? inside her head. She’d try to figure out who was coming or going, where they were going, and where they were arriving from. What were they there for? Did they miss their families while they were gone? Did the husbands cheat on their wives while they were gone? Are they going too? She imagined riding the escalators up and down like the children did, and watched the business men hold important meetings at the café across from the bar. Spinning slower now, one man caught her eye. Walking particularly fast, suit case jumping behind him, cell phone to one ear, portfolio of some sort in hand, he was leaning over to one side almost to support himself. She found it kind of funny, the way he resembled a hunch back, but still quite handsome from as far as she could see. Beautiful black hair, toned, sculpted cheekbones, broad shoulders. As he neared, she could make out arched eye brows and a single pierced ear. Dark, passionate green eyes. Wait. She stopped. “Wait.” She said out loud. He was coming closer. He was headed straight for her and he was traveling at impending velocities. 

    Everything happened so fast. Too fast for her to have time to react. She wasn’t sure what happened, or even why, but before she knew it, she was lying on the floor, her glass was now scattered across the marble floor in millions of pieces, the olive rolled under her stool and she was bleeding. She looked up from the ground and saw a man quickly fleeing from the scene, suitcase rolling behind, desperately trying to keep up. This was all it took for Jada to know exactly what had happened and now that she knew, there was no way that man was walking out of there just like that.