Free Moments of Julian by Keary Taylor

of the plane.
    My brows furrow and my eyes focus on
Julian. No words are coming right now and I’m half wondering if I
am still sleeping.
    Why in the world would Julian be on
this plane?
    “ You look confused,”
Julian says, this time without his signature smile.
    “ I’m on my way to Canada.
You have been absent for two weeks. So yeah, I’m a little lost as
to why you’re on this plane,” I say, my voice flat.
    “ What a coincidence,”
Julian says. “I am taking a four day getaway trip to
Toronto.”
    I scowl at Julian for a full thirty
seconds before I say anything. “Are you stalking me? And I’m asking
this somewhat seriously.”
    Julian looks uncomfortable and I’m
pretty sure it’s the first time I’ve ever seen him look that
way.
    “ After all the craziness
I’ve been going through the last couple weeks, I just wanted to get
away for a few days. I needed a serious brain break. I called your
work last night to see if maybe you wanted to go do something
before I left, but Gretchen said you’d already gone home for the
night to get ready to leave.” Julian keeps his voice low, but not
quite low enough to keep the nosey woman in the aisle across from
me from looking our way every once in a while. “I bribed her into
telling me where you were going and on what flight.”
    “ I’ll be sure to fire her
as soon as I get cell service again,” I say. Everything in me is
bristling.
    “ Don’t,” he says with a
shake of his head. “Trust me, it took some serious coercion. I
think the poor thing is desperate to see you enjoying
yourself.”
    “ So, you are stalking me?” I
ignore his previous statement.
    “ Yeah,” he says, that
smile finally returning to his face. “I guess I am a little
bit.”
    “ Hmm,” I say as I fold my
arms across my chest and look out the window.
    Due to the loudness of the plane and
the too close proximity of the ears of our fellow passengers,
Julian and I don’t say another word as the plane finishes its
descent and touches down in St. Paul. As soon as the seatbelt sign
turns off when we roll into the terminal, everyone erupts from
their seats and start grabbing baggage from overhead.
    I too climb out and reach up for my
bag. During the flight, it shifted and it’s turned and jammed
itself in the compartment. I jerk it, but it doesn’t
budge.
    “ Here,” Julian says,
suddenly directly behind me. I feel his thigh brush against my rear
end as he steps forward. My shoulder meets his chest as he leans
over me and I am enveloped in his scent. He gives my bag two solid
tugs and it comes free.
    I don’t reach for it, knowing he is
going insist on carrying it anyway. He retrieves his own duffle bag
and we wait silently and crowded up to each other to get off the
plane.
    Thankfully the benefit of first class
puts us at the front of the plane and it only takes a minute for
the crew to let us off. The pilot has come out to watch everyone
disembark and winks at me as I walk by.
    Julian and I walk side by side up the
ramp and into the airport. Neither of us says a word, but every
nerve ending in my body is aware of every cell of his.
    The airport is fairly quiet, being an
afternoon on a Wednesday, not one of the highest travel days.
Julian slings his bag over one shoulder and wheels my bag behind
him. He glances over to me as we walk down the tarmac toward the
connection screens. I bite my lower lip to try and suppress the
smile that wants to spring onto my lips.
    “ Gate B12,” Julian reads
off the screen. “Other end of the airport. You hungry?”
    Actually, I’m starving. I was too on
edge to eat much last night and I completely forgot about food this
morning. I nod.
    “ Map says there’s a café
this way,” he says, nodding his head toward the end of the airport
we need to be heading. “We’ve got an hour before the connecting
flight.”
    Silently, we once again set off toward
the café.
    “ Hey,” Julian greets the
worker at the register. “I’ll have the