Whispering Obsession.

"The audacity of these men!" Naomi almost screamed shaking. All the words she tried to form failed her and she was relentless in trying or that ball of words stuck in her throat would be just the end of her.
 
"How could he dare?" she asked rhetorically to Penelope who was at this point trying to pull her friend from the middle of the party where her friend's frantic actions had caused the music to stop and everyone's gaze was very quickly trying to find where the origin of this commotion was.
She managed to swiftly pull Naomi to the balcony away from the glaring eyes as the music slowly came back on inside. 
 
"How could he do this to me? The years of disrespect and agony...". She choked on her own tears
 
She started to calm down. 
" I cannot believe how much of a fool I've made myself in the eyes of everyone who had to witness the last fifteen minutes"
 
"Girl, it's way beyond fifteen minutes, we're talking years but I'm so happy this is the end now". Somewhere within her, she hoped it would be the end. The genre of women sticking with terribly undeserving men never appealed to her. 
 
 
"How dare HE!!", she growled again. "He said he was going to be better and he has the effrontery to invite a friend to a party I'd been planning for months!", with her fingers doing a weak air quote when she said "a friend". 
It's freaking August and I've been working to make this such a memorable day since February began", she collapsed again into the arms of Penelope sobbing heavily. 
 
 
"That man was damaged, damaged, damaged and I fixed him! For years!" She jumped out of Penelope embrace as they both sat on the floor. 
She ran to the door to the party they just left, sliding the door so frantically the force shattered the glass everywhere and now she had cuts and bruises on her arms and once across the face. 
The music stops again and every gaze falls on her. 
This was a room filled with everyone she had toiled and sweated to have present at this party and she had an idea of the sort of thoughts that currently raced through their minds. 
"Poor girl"
"But the signs were visible"
"Five years together with no further signs of commitment, what did she think was going to happen!"
 
"You undeserving twat! I hope you rot and rot." She scoffed finding her boyfriend, Israel in the crowd and now she was pointing in his direction. "You are nothing! You've been nothing but damaged! And you continue to infiltrate and destroy wherever you go!"
"Damaged" she yelled again and she took her heel sandals off and into her hands and walked out the party, almost satisfied this time. 
 
"Come here" her friend said enveloping her evidently drained friend in an embrace. "We should leave, darling" she said weakly holding her friend's hand as she led her down the stairs from the balcony.
 
" I don't imagine it could ever get lower than this" Naomi blurted after what seemed like such a long and sad moment of silence for a car ride between them. "Thank you so much, Pen" she said laughing and nudging her friend.  
"I'm not sure what I'd have done without you. I think you gave me the bravery to handle this very gracefully" and now Pen was laughing with her. 
 
"You call that graceful? I'd love to see when it's not" she replied as they got off the cab. 
"Thank you" they both said to the driver who just drove off. 
 
They walked into Naomi's apartment and it was the coziest it's ever been. Cozy and in a mess. 
"These suitcases!" "It appears you never wanted to come back home from Greece!" the stunned Penelope said seeing the neatly packed suitcases. 
 
"The trip to Greece honestly was such a last minute decision. Look how much of a mess I made trying to pack for a vacation.", she sighed. "We were going to spend two days in Mykonos and another two in Santorini. The travel agency just sent my itinerary, our itinerary for the...trip" her voice trailed off. 
 
Pen sank into the mattress with her palms on her face. "What're you going to do now?... you have to take the trip and get your mind off all this. You deserve a break"
"C'mon" Pen jumped off again and onto Naomi to shake her body vigorously. "You have to go! Go! You have the next couple weeks off, thanks to your amazing and hardworking self"
 
"I did work so many hours overtime for this break" Naomi agrees. 
 
"Exactly! We can't let it be for nothing. 
 
"You know, I could think of a thousand more ugly names to have called him but instead I said the nicest possible things anyone in my shoes would've said, urgh" she groaned. 
 
"That's just not who you are! You're not cut out for this toxicity and the miserable life that most of these men have to offer but I'm sure there's someone who will tend to all your required softness. I promise", she reassured her friend as they crashed their foreheads into each other gently. 
"You're smart, caring, driven and deserve to wear the most showey..."
 
"Arghhh" Naomi screamed pulling a pillow from underneath her friend making her stop mid sentence. 
 
"Bikinis.." she got disrupted again when the pillow hit her face.
 
"Don't say it! No!" Naomi screamed again laughing and kicking her feet in the air. 
 
"On the beaches of Santorini!" She finally completed her sentence and they laughed so hard, it almost hurt their tummies.  
"You're so easy to cheer up and I love that. Really it..."
 
"Makes my work so easy!" They both chorused with Naomi mimicking. 
 
"Come with me, please" Naomi blurts after a few seconds. "Please".
 
"You know, I wish I could"
 
"I do". They went silent again.
 
"This fresh start is for you and I'll always be one call away my sweet girl. Breathe air. Flirt. Dance on the tables by 2am" Penelope said playing with her friend's hair now. "You can catch at least two hours of sleep before it's 2am and we'll be on our way to the airport, she continued. 
 
She rolled off the bed to the floor and her fall was broken by the very soft and furry rugs. Naomi had always had such a soft taste when it came to colors and decor and she picked the most delicate colors on the palette leaving her apartment with a seamless blend of calm colors. 
 "Super grateful for these rugs", they both chuckled. "You nap, I'll make sure you're fully packed and ready to go".
 
"No idea what I'd do without you", Naomi said eyes shut and weakly. 
 
 
"Oh My Goodness! How did you go from fixing my luggage to sleeping for three hours. Oh no! I'm gonna miss my flight. Wake up, wake up! Oh no! Oh no!" Naomi was moving frantically and panicking as she checked the time on her phone charging by the bedside table on opening her eyes. She grabbed her coat and ran into the bathroom with Penelope waking up from all the commotion.
 
"What?"

They arrived at John F Kennedy Airport with the suitcases rolling loudly on the tiled floors barely thirty minutes to check in time for Naomi's flight. Luckily, Naomi had mistaken their 3am flight for a 2am flight so they weren't as late as they thought they'd be. 
   The departure board showed their flight to Athens with a status of "Check In Open". 
A clock near the counter read 30 minutes to the check in deadline. The tension in the air is palpable. 
 
Naomi approached the airline check in desk. She had imagined her boyfriend, now ex would hold her hand and walk her into the airport and do all the checking in himself while she stands right next to him prettily enjoying the view and daydreaming. 
The queue was short and she was so thankful for that. Pen had wondered how awful she'd feel if they missed the flight. Her only job was to make sure the minutes left before the flight were blissful. 
Her turn came in no time and she presented her passport and flight details.  
The airline agent weighed her luggage, printed her boarding pass and tagged the suitcases. 
 
"You're all set," she says, handing back their documents with a polite smile. "Boarding begins an hour before departure at Gate 32. Security is just down the hall to your left."  
They hurry to the security checkpoint, where a winding line of passengers awaits. 
"I honestly can't stop thinking of how tanned you'll come home to me!", Pen squeaked quietly enough to not attract attention to themselves or so she thought. 
The line moved steadily, and soon, it was their turn again. 
 
"Please, let go and have fun, friend" Pen says pulling Naomiinto an embrace. "Be strong".
"I love you" they chorus quietly before letting go of each other's arms. 
She watched as Naomi proceeded with what she'd concluded were a hundred procedures. She just hoped her friend's trip would be fine and she wouldn't run into any more trouble". 
 
   A security officer verifies their passports and boarding passes before waving them through to the screening area. She got cleared to travel and her bags checked. She had about thirty minutes left to boarding before moving to immigration. 
 Naomi had planned this trip because she shared a likeness for Greek mythology with Israel. They had known a visit to Greece would not quench their affinity for the sultry stories of the gods and goddesses.  
 
"You know, there's chances that when we visit the museums housing famous paintings of these goddesses, they just might not let me take you back home with me" he had said one day randomly. 
"Because you my angel, have a sit right there" he continued pointing to the skies.
 "With the gods of their myths" he flirted every chance he could and she loved it. 
 
She threw her arms around him thinking how lucky a woman she was to have him in her life as a partner.
People had said it was getting odd that she had no rock on her fingers when it had been over five years not only spent with him but devoted entirely to him and being better for him. It was five years of her learning and unlearning the things that made her personal in order to accommodate him and increase their compatibility as a life time couple. 
She was ready for a rock to sit on her finger too but she'd told everyone she was not traditional and everything didn't have to be about marriage and the conventional order of things. This was a lie she told a bit too often. 
Naomi wanted it all; the big proposal and the jittery feeling of being blessed with family and friends in attendance. She wanted to be so swamped making arrangements for her wedding just as she played a major role in the wedding arrangements for Sukie, her sister. And there'd been moments she wallowed and feared that might've been her only shot at ever truly experiencing planning a wedding unless she was ready to take up a different career path. 
Despite not being the most extroverted in any room, she wants to buzz like a bee when it came to weddings and this was a part of her that he had not paid any heed to. 
 
She arrived at Gate 32 just as the boarding area began to fill with passengers.  
With a few spare minutes, she waved her friend goodbye and they blew kisses to each other. She  sat quietly and entertained the thought of grabbing a coffee from a nearby café but she soon put it to the side. She was battling with having a heavy heart about a huge part of her life crumbling in flickering seconds after she fought so hard to make it work. But that was what this trip was for; meditating. She should've been chatting about her excitement for the trip with the man she'd devoted herself to but instead she was seated alone at Gate 32 thinking. Heavy. 
 
"Hey there, Child", she heard a voice call out to her. The expression on the elderly lady's face was more of amused than blank. Naomi figured it was because she had probably called out to her one too many times before she withdrew her from her trail of thoughts.  
Realizing that, she apologized smiling at the lady who looked very kind.  
"I'm so sorry, I must've really drifted in my thoughts. Do you need help with anything ma'am"
"You're such a gorgeous girl, would you mind sitting closer? I'm straining myself a little too much to hear your sweet self". 
How sweet. 
"Oh!" Naomi exclaimed upon the realization as she moved closer to the woman adjusting her hand luggage too. 
 
"You're too gorgeous, not to mention young to have thoughts that keep you that deep in them" she smiled in a way that comforted and put Naomi at ease. 
 
"It's just what I plan to do on this trip, a lot of thinking and restrategizing" she replied honestly. 
 
"Oh sweet girl, I'm Mrs. Smith, I'm .." she paused looking around as though she was trying to find someone. "I'm actually traveling with my grandson today. Sorry, I got distracted, I just clocked that I haven't seen him since I sat but he's been so busy working. Well, I'm Eighty-four and I think I've seen a lot. I've worked a lot and I've been at different places and phases in life " she chuckled and Naomismiled in response. 
She continued "So now I travel and see the world though I have to admit I have a few favorite places."
 
"Is Athens one of them?"Naomi asked finding the elderly Smith lady quite talkative but very interesting. 
 
"Yes, yes actually. It holds so many memories for me. I'm sorry, you just seemed like a nice girl and I thought I could use your company for the next couple minutes but that's entirely if you don't mind". 
 
"You're so adorable and I could use your company too ma'am" Naomi beamed. The lady had a very calming aura she could've really used around her given all the chaos that had transpired.
 
"Please, call me Angela" the lady playfully nudged her. They smiled at each other. 
 
"You're most graceful, it's so endearing... Angela" Naomilaughed softly. 
 
 
 Soon, the boarding announcement came over the PA system.  
"I sure hope my grandson heard that-Oh" she exclaimed on seeing him head towards their direction. "Always on time".
 
Naomi quickly put her bags together once again, only to look up to see a figure she didn't believe belonged here on earth. 
"What in the name of the universe is this face?" She thought to herself. 
He looked like the runway was where he belonged-a runway in heaven along with the angels. 
 
She gave him a warm smile waiting for him right before he turned his attention to her after his grandmother and his expression dropped. 
Naomi thought she thought she saw wrong but it really was not mistakable. 
  In fact,He seemed like he went through about three negative emotions on seeing Naomi's face. One of them gave off the thought of him wishing he could shoot himself in the leg rather than be standing in her presence.  
 
This beautiful man looked rather irritated to be in her presence. Turning some hair behind her right ear, she leaned a bit back into her seat to think of what the matter could be possibly. Maybe he could sense her aura of sad and lonely and he didn't want that around his grandma or himself.

He picked his grandma's bag swiftly while locking his arms with hers in an attempt to assist her off the seat- the one she was sharing with Naomi. 
  He'd gently shut off every avenue for his grandma to introduce them but this was the third time and she was going to have her way. 
Taking advantage of their now interlocked arms, she pulled him into the seat.
 
"This beautiful lady here has been my company for all the while you wandered off"
"I'm sorry, grandma, I had a few things to tidy before the flight" he apologized cupping her arms. 
He understood that it didn't end there. He knew she wanted him to acknowledge the presence of her "company" but it was also very evident he didn't want to but then he would have to explain what he could possibly have against this woman who had offered nothing but help to his grandmother. 
 
"I appreciate your kindness miss" he said leaning towards Naomi's direction. "I wish you a very lovely flight" he finished in a very slight bow. 
 
"Oh very well darling, it'll be a lovely flight. We're flying together!" Mrs exclaimed. 
He was used his grandmother being overly excited about the most random events, people- literally anything but today in particular, he didn't understand why she was over the top and about this lady who he really would rather she did not spend time with. He never forgot a face-especially not after this one did. 
 
"We're getting on the same flight" grandma said now getting off the chair and signally her new friend and grandson to follow. 
Brent had not always been eager to meet people especially when he felt like he was being set up so she wasn't going to make a fuss about this one.  
She was simply going to play her game. 
 
 As Naomi said her goodbyes to the family, she felt like she should've been wondering what the matter with the grandson was or if she was the problem and there was nothing off about his countenance but all that filled her mind were thoughts about whether she could really pull off this vacation this soon after what had happened. But luckily, she had a packed itinerary and unluckily, fifty percent of them would better be enjoyed if in a couple. Maybe she was going to make a friend or two- someone in the same shoes as her perhaps. What are the chances. 
She got sat after putting her aside her hand luggage and gave a very dry smile to the passenger next to her who really didn't seem to care a lot about it. 
She buckled in her seat belts and listened to the captain brief the passengers right after the hostess had said her bit. She wasn't listening. A part of her just wanted to leave things to chance. Almost everything. 
 
"Ma'am?" She heard a voice-finally. It was one of the hostesses who once again had knocked her out her apparently very long trail of thoughts. 
All Naomi could see in that moment was the hostess very stunning features, she couldn't make sense of the words her mouth was speaking just yet. 
 
"Yes, yes, I'm sorry" she finally responded a bit shaky. To this response, the hostess gave another warm smile and she repeated. 
"This lady in the first class cabin, Mrs. Smith had made a request for a seat upgrade for you and would like to offer you to chance to move to the first class cabin if you'd wish. I can escort you", her voice soft but carrying a quiet authority.
 
"Oh that's a thing?", she thought to herself but Naomi's face had never been the kind to not convey what she was really thinking. 
She turned to the passenger by her left whose head was tilted towards the window and she was clearly asleep. She seemed so tired like she'd had a rough night, but maybe not in the way Naomi did. And next to her by the right was the seat which was empty now because it should've been Israel's. 
"I-thank you".
She felt very pitiable. She weighed her options one last time and opted for the less sad one. 
 
"I heard they get served champagne" she said making a move to get off her seat smiling at the hostess who then escorted her to the front. 
She'd never flown first-class and as she walked behind the hostess, she wondered why because she was the kind of person who wanted to give herself every sort of luxurious experience at least once in a life time is it was not a lifestyle she could not keep up with or found out she didn't care so much for. 
 
Naomi stepped into the first-class cabin with a purposeful stride, her New Balance hitting softly on the polished floor.One little detail off her outfit and she would've felt like she didn't belong where she was headed. 
 
 Her gaze catches the elderly lady she'd just spend the last couple of minutes with since the morning, a sense of familiarity flooded over her. 
"These rich people really know how to rich right" she thought to herself. 
 
The plush surroundings feel almost surreal-so polished. This seemed like something she could get used to. 
The hostess stopped at Mrs. Smith's seat, turning and gesturing politely to young Ms who she'd escorted before offering another smile and walking away. 
 
"Thank you darling" Mrs. Smith said quietly but with a smile. And still maintaining her smile and warm expression, she looked to Naomi who bent a little to reach her ears.  
"Glad we could meet here too" her voice steady, a hint of amusement in her tone as she surveys the surroundings. 
"Everything tasteful suits you" Naomi added and this was rewarded with a very hearty laugh from Mrs.Smith. 
"You're so beautiful, my darling, please have your seat while I catch a nap" she said grabbing a sleep mask and gesturing to Naomi's new seat. 
 
"You're most kind". She let the elderly lady get her well deserved sleep while she walked to her space only conscious of the seat she'd been assigned. 
She could only think of how she'd tell this story to Pen. 
Maybe this wasn't going to be the worst vacation she thought as she locked in her seat belt, resting her head-just to see him sitting next to her. Was he going to be a non player character or a major deal on this trip she wondered. 
She thought she wanted peace but something about him and his unanswered questions made her want to play a bit.