Summary:

When Olivia Fahringer meets Josef Mercutio on a flight leading to her new life in California, she has no idea that he’s currently one of the hottest actors around. How could she not know about him? Olivia avoids movie theaters like the plague due to a traumatic experience as a child. Find out what happens when a famous guy and an inconsequential small town girl meet in a chance encounter.

Chapter 1: Upgrade

“All set, Liv?” Annie Fahringer asked her daughter, Olivia, as she closed the zipper on her oversized, nondescript black suitcase.

“I think so,” Olivia replied with a nervous smile. Annie crossed over to where her little girl was standing and embraced her in a tender hug while fighting back tears. Regardless of the fact that Olivia had just turned nineteen years old on July fourth, Annie would always think of her as her baby.

“Why California?” Annie inquired sadly as she had so many times over the past seven months, since Olivia had accepted her offer of admission to the University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA). “You’ll be so far away! I wish you were staying in New York.”

“Mom,” Olivia’s voice cracked, “don’t guilt trip me, please.”

“Fine,” Annie wiped the few traitorous tears that fell from her blue eyes, wetting her pale cheeks and plastered on a smile. “Let’s get going before you miss your flight and blame me for wanting to keep you here.”

Olivia felt the familiar sensation of guilt sweep through her body as she gathered her things and turned to walk out of her bedroom. Before shutting the door, she gave one last look over at the room she had shared with her twin sister, Sophia, for thirteen years. The large room was divided in two, each half with a yin yang mirror effect on the other. The twins had thought of that décor themselves at the age of twelve and were so proud when the makeover had been complete. Sophia, who had adored pastels, had chosen a light blue theme for her half, while Olivia, who loved rich, bold colors, had gone with a darker shade of blue in the same hue.

“This isn’t goodbye Soph,” Olivia whispered so that only she could hear, “I know you’ll be wherever I am.”

She shut the door to her bedroom and followed Annie down the stairs, parking her suitcase next to one that was identical except it was a smaller version. At that moment, her father, Derrick, walked through the front door.

“Girls,” he addressed his wife and daughter, taking the two suitcases by the handle, ready to load them into his Acura, “I would have carried those down for you!”

“You were taking too long,” Annie said impatiently, but Derrick didn’t appear to notice.

“Its okay, Dad,” Olivia assured him. The three of them drove to JFK Airport in New York, which was about an hour from their small town of Rembrandt, and arrived in plenty of time for Olivia’s one o’clock flight. After check in, Annie and Derrick walked as far as they could with their only remaining daughter before the moment came when they needed to say goodbye.

Derrick, who is typically not an emotional guy, became very choked up and was unable to make eye contact with Olivia. Annie on the other hand, was downright bawling which caused Olivia’s own waterworks to begin. The security officer, who stood at the beginning of the queue to pass through the metal detectors, watched the little family.

The man noticed that the teenage girl appeared to be a perfect mixture of her two parents. The mom was approximately five feet five inches tall with light brown curly hair, pale skin and blue eyes. The father was somewhere around five feet ten inches tall with very dark brown skin, black eyes, really closely cropped black hair, and a medium build. The parents were both good looking people, but their daughter was amazing.

She was around five feet seven inches tall with a slender build, straightened dark brown, almost black hair, soft mocha skin, large brown doe eyes, a thin yet round face and full lips. When the girl approached the security guard to enter the queue, he nodded his head and involuntarily smiled. She returned the smile and turned one last time to wave goodbye to her parents.

“I love you guys,” Olivia’s voice faltered.

“We love you too!” Derrick and Annie called in unison. They stood and watched until their baby walked the whole way through the airport security process before leaving, and then Olivia was alone. She walked to her gate and sunk heavily into one of the gray vinyl seats and glanced at her cell phone.

She still had twenty minutes until they began to board the plan and she was happy to note that everything was still on time, no delays. Just before boarding began, her name was called by the attendant working the counter at the gate. Olivia felt nervous as she made sure her laptop bag was securely on her shoulder and made her way to the counter.

“I’m Olivia Fahringer,” she announced to the woman named Patricia, according to her name tag, wearing a U.S. Airways blazer and matching skirt. Her hair was pulled back into a tight bun and when she smiled and started speaking to Olivia, little lines began to form around the woman’s mouth.

“Yes, Ms. Fahringer, it seems we have overbooked the seats in your section and you’ve been randomly selected to earn a complimentary upgrade to first class. You’ll still have a window seat, now how does that sound? Do you have any objections?”

“No, that’s perfect,” Olivia beamed, elated that for the five and a half hour flight, she would now have more room to stretch her legs. “Thank you!”

“My pleasure,” Patricia smiled. “This must be your lucky day!”

“I guess so!” Olivia thanked Patricia again and decided to stand for the remainder of her wait, which wasn’t long since her section was called to board first. She was delighted to see that as predicted, her new seat had plenty of room. Since she only carried her lap top bag and small purse, she had no need to store any luggage in the overhead compartment.

Olivia settled into her seat, pulling out a book and her iPod so that they would be ready to go when she needed them. She took out her phone and sent a quick text message to her parents’ cell phones: “I was upgraded to first class! Very comfy. Taking off soon, Love you guys!” She slid the phone closed and shut the power off.

Olivia leaned her head back on the seat and closed her eyes to recite a quick prayer. At the sound of heavy bag being flung on the aisle seat next to her, and the click of the overhead bin’s door being released, she opened her eyes and was confronted with a very tall and lean but muscular frame. It was obviously a guy from the men’s jeans and button down shirt, but she couldn’t see the man’s face as his arms were blocking her view.

A hand reached down to grab the bag that had been dropped and after a moment of shoving, the man closed the compartment and looked down at Olivia who suddenly felt like the wind had been knocked out of her by the force of his gorgeous eyes. She gawked at the boy, who was actually too young to be called a man, but who was probably a year or two older than she was.

Josef Mercutio offered a polite smile to the entranced girl who he would be sharing a seat with for the whole flight. Damn, she recognized me immediately, he thought, upset that despite his new dye job and the hat he wore to shield some of his features, he was still too identifiable.

As he had made his way through the airport, Josef had worn sunglasses, but here on the plane that seemed a little too silly, so he had removed them after passing the flight attendant who was greeting all of the incoming passengers. He sealed his lips tightly and hoped that this girl would just be quiet and not alert anyone to his presence.

Wow, Olivia kept thinking that word over and over in her head as the ingrained image of this handsome stranger’s face stayed in the forefront of her mind’s eye. She tried with all her might not to keep staring, but she couldn’t recall ever being so effected by a guy. For a year and a half, she had dated a guy named Rafael from her high school, and he was definitely cute, but he never took her breath away. She had been inflicted with unrequited crushes before Rafael, but again, no one could hold a candle to the way this striking individual looked.

Olivia stole another glance at her seat partner as the flight attendant came around to check seat belts and luckily, he hadn’t noticed. His dark auburn hair was covered with a dark blue baseball cap, but it was long enough that pieces stuck out of the edges, creating a halo of perfection around his angelic face. Said face was on the pale side with perfectly shaped eyebrows, not feminine in any way, just perfect, and deep mahogany eyes. His jaw line was chiseled, but not extremely or severely and it culminated into a perfect chin, complete with a very slight dimple.

His nose was narrow and pointed to a flawless set of crimson lips, medium in size with the most kissable corners. His ears were adorned with little black hoop earrings which had a design, but Olivia hadn’t had enough time to really study them. She couldn’t recall ever being attracted to a guy who wore earrings, but it utterly worked for him.

She’s staring again, Josef internally rolled his eyes and silently sent a message to the curious girl to keep her mouth shut. He debated on whether or not he should admit his identity to her in exchange for her silence, but he decided against it. He really wanted to remain as anonymous as possible this time. He had gone through great pains to ensure that he could buy a couple of months of ambiguity. As the plane soared into the sky, Josef thought about Giles Monroe, his stunt double who had worked on all four of the Parker Owens movies with him.

Giles had agreed to live as Josef for two months, unless the truth was discovered before time was up, and stay in his New York City penthouse. Giles didn’t understand what the big deal was and why Josef just needed to get away. Josef had tried to explain that he had been living with the paparazzi following him constantly since he was fifteen and the first of the Parker Owens movie franchise was released. He had become an instant success and remained on the Hollywood A list ever since. At the age of twenty one, he really just wanted a break.

So, he had dyed his blonde highlighted hair to be darker, closer to his natural color. Giles had led the paparazzi who camped out near Josef’s penthouse on a morning chase so that he could escape undetected and luckily, it had worked. When he walked through the airport, the only people who had recognized him were the airport’s professional staff who courteously refrained from calling attention to the famous actor.

Josef planned on staying in Los Angeles with his older, doting, sister, Amy Mercutio, the brilliant sitcom writer. He knows L.A. is a risky place to go, but he figured if everyone thinks he’s in New York, then it might be the perfect place. A small smirk threatened to escape as he imagined what his imperious agent, Dan Murphy, would say when he discovered Josef’s disappearance.

Olivia had distracted herself from thinking about her seat mate by picking up her book and reading. Although her thoughts often floated back to the Adonis, she was mainly able to keep her nose buried in her book, until it was announced that a movie would begin shortly. Instantaneously panic began to course through her body, acid built up in the back of her throat and silent tears began to fall.

Why hadn’t she thought about the movie on the flight? She had been doing so well for such a long time, not completely freaking out every time a movie theater was mentioned or her friends invited her to go and see one. The plane wasn’t exactly a movie theater, but it was close enough. If she weren’t already emotional about the days’ events and moving so far away from her parents, she might have been okay. A memory became her foremost though as she froze in her position, clutching the arms of her seat.

It had been a Friday night, six years ago, when Olivia and Sophia were thirteen years old. They were dropped off at the movies by their parents who promised to pick them up promptly when the film was over. The two girls had giggled and innocently entered the theater, like they had a hundred times before. Going to the Cinema was their absolute favorite weekend activity and just recently, their Mom and Dad had agreed to let them go without adult supervision.

About thirty minutes into the movie, a madman wearing a cap to shield his face had walked to the front of the theater and held out a gun.

“Everybody give me all of your damn money, right now. And don’t even think of screaming or I’ll blow your brains out,” the man had shouted authoritatively. “Throw your wallets into the center aisle, now!”

All of the patrons began to throw their wallets into the center aisle as instructed, and what happened next was so clear, yet so blurry. Sophia and Olivia had been sitting near the front of the theater, so they were very close to the lunatic with the gun. As he began to bend down and collect the wallets, he held the gun steadily in front of him, ready to aim if anyone moved.

A tall, bulky guy two rows in front of the twins decided to try and be a hero and as the robber passed him, he lunged forward, but the thief was too quick. He fired his hand gun and shot several rounds into the air. Screams erupted and mass chaos ensued. Along with three other innocent people, Sophia Fahringer lost her life on that fateful day. Her twin sister had witnessed the whole grotesque scene. Since that day, Olivia had not set foot inside of a movie theater, even after years of therapy and her Psychiatrist’s prompting, she couldn’t bring herself to go.

“No!” Olivia whisper yelled at the memory. She hadn’t intended to say this aloud, but she did.

Josef looked at the girl who was obviously in some kind of distress and when he saw the tears he cursed under his breath. He hated to see anyone cry, especially a beautiful girl. Against his will, he reached out and patted her back.

“Are you okay?” he spoke quietly, trying not to draw any attention in their direction. Olivia turned and was completely shocked to realize what a mess she must appear to be. Josef offered her a napkin which had been handed to him with his drink of water by a flight attendant.

“Thanks,” Olivia took his napkin and dried her eyes, sniffling. “I’m fine, really.”

“Okay,” it wasn’t that Josef didn’t care, he just didn’t want to get wrapped up in something that he shouldn’t be involved with in the first place. For all he knew, this girl may have been faking a dramatic scene or episode just to get his attention.

“I just, don’t like movies,” Olivia kept talking even though Josef had shifted away from her, clearly ending the discussion. Her statement intrigued him.

“You don’t like movies?” He raised one of his perfect eyebrows questioningly.

“No,” Olivia sniffled again and relaxed back into her seat. Josef thought that sort of statement was so odd, and had he not been trying to hide, if it had been any other flight, he would have pressed on, but a voice inside his head screamed, Don’t get sucked in!

Olivia took out her iPod, placed the headphones over her ears and shut her eyes tightly. She took several deep, calming breaths and tried to fall asleep so that the movie wouldn’t distract her again. She turned up the volume and began to drum quietly on her knees to the beat of the song.

Josef let his guard down for a brief moment and studied the odd creature beside him. He had never known anyone to have such an extreme reaction to a movie. He took in her cutely styled virtually black hair, gorgeous skin, the color of coffee with cream, her luscious lips and cute button nose. It seemed absurd to describe the color of someone’s skin to a food or beverage, but she looked good enough to eat.

Whoa, dangerous thoughts, Josef, he chided himself. He was glad that he couldn’t see her eyes, as she had closed them, or he might have been unable to resist further interaction. He decided to follow her lead and close his eyes. Maybe a little sleep wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

Olivia had calmed down significantly and when she had opened her eyes after being unable to fall asleep, she surreptitiously stole a glance at Mr. Perfect. He had his eyes closed, so after taking a moment to study his face, she closed her eyes once again, but did not drift into slumber.

A few moments later, she opened her eyes as she felt the boy leaning over, resting his head on her shoulder. She automatically reached over and shook him slightly, but he didn’t stir. Olivia decided that it wasn’t hurting anything to leave him there and she reveled in the soothing sound of his even breathing. An hour passed and Olivia’s shoulder was getting a little tired, not to mention a small ring of moisture had formed where some of his saliva was pooling. It sounds disgusting, but it really wasn’t. It was sort of endearing the way he slept with his lips slightly parted. Finally, Olivia herself drifted off into slumber, leaning her head on his.

Author's Note:

Hi everyone! This is my first attempt to write a story from the third person omniscient point of view, so please let me know if I messed it up greatly.

How do you think Josef will react when he finds this girl sleeping on him?

Thanks for Reading!

Katie

p.s. "Amy" the brilliant sitcom writer is named in honor of one of my favorite fictionpress authors who always has a way of making me laugh! Thanks for the entertainment!