Stranded at Gate 32

What shall this event be called? “Miami International: The Great Christmas Blackout?” No, no, that’s too newsy of a title. Maybe, “Stuck Stranded on Christmas?” no, there’s no pizzazz in that line. Oh wait! I know “The White Christmas That Went Bla-"

“Excuse me, sir,”

Ace's eyes motion down to see the face of the person who interrupted my thought proce- 

“Can you please sit properly? We do not sit with our back on the seat and our legs hanging over the top back” 

It was an airport service worker due to the blackout that left every flight grounded. Every airport employee has been given more assignments to help mitigate the chaos. But, her personal task seems to be making sure Ace comply with the universal sitting position. 

As Ace repositioned himself, He was able to catch her name on from the work tag. Elsa, like the Disney princess. It's ironic, given the season.

“Sorry Elsa, I’ll try to do better,” Ace explained, while giving a hefty smile. She handed a flashlight and smirks, as if she knew he wouldn’t live up to my bargain, and walks away to continue her tasks.

"So what now," Ace thought to myself, "on the most festive holiday of the year. Where children of all ages are draped in their reindeer-themed pajamas cooking cookies for Santa. And my contemporaries are out on the streets pouring each other a glass to celebrate. I am stuck at a pitch-black airport with an overly diligent ASW worker."

Time ticks and Ace has returned to my default sitting position. From gate 32, with one eye. He watch the chaos of people arguing over the blackout, hotel reservations, and flight plans. And with the other eye, constantly on the lookout for the tenacious Elsa. He wave the flashlight, back and forth and suddenly I see something.

“Oh it's that girl!” He said to himself. She had Blonde hair and brown eyes, a bespectacled beauty. He had passed by her as she was tying her light blue Adidas sambas, A detail that he didn't have to vividly recall. As she was tying, they shared eye contact. In translation, it meant he was caught staring, and in embarrassment, he had to quickly turn my head away. 

But for some odd reason, She’s back, like maybe the Christmas spirit has given him a second chance.

he spotted her at Gate 29, she glanced at her boarding pass, probably thinking to herself, “Nope not this.” She continues to walk and she passes gate 30, not that one either. Will gate 31 be the lucky winner? And no, with no hesitation she strolls along. She came towards gate 32, my gate. Is this the one? She walks towards it an-

“Excuse me, sir,” oh the wicked witch of the airport has returned, “Do I need to give you a manual on how to PROPERLY...” Elsa made sure to add the emphasis. “...Sit in a seat.” 

Again Ace smiled and reposition Himself. As he looked up, he noticed that the future love of his life wasn’t there. “I guess it wasn’t 32” Ace spoke unconsciously out loud. Elsa responded with a vibrant, “What?” As if she had believed he was talking to her. But at last, she wasn’t the person his heart was speaking to.

Elsa begins to reach down searching for something. At last, it was his ID, He must have dropped it when he was changing positions. Before I can say thank you, she yells, “Mr. Ace,” clearly it wasn't proper etiquette to pair the prefix with someone's first name. But I guess, it’s revenge for Ace using her first name. 

She continues, “You drop your ID, next time keep it safe.” She hands it off and leaves.

Between Ace switching positions and Elsa handling my ID, He didn't realize that the bespectacled beauty had returned. She is now sitting a few rows in front of him. She was holding a Starbucks cup, an iced matcha latte, the one that all the city girls crave. “I guess this was her gate,” he spoke in awe and amazement.

Like a hawk, he is watching her every move. discretion isn’t his strong suit. She turns her head and catches his eyes. Spooked, he turned away in embarrassment. 

He thought to himself, “She must think I'm a stalker now, I give her the stalker eyes." He's cringing on the inside. Before he could fully sink in my embarrassment, through his peripheral vision, he saw Elsa. Frantically, he try to change my position before she sees him, but to no avail. he ended up slipping onto the airport floor.

Elsa makes a b-line to him as if she is ready to tell him, “I told you so,” but instead she simply reaches out her hand and laughs. he turned my head and saw the bespectacled beauty give off a slight laugh as well. If this day couldn’t get any worse.

_

Every 20 minutes or so. The P.A. system sends out an upda- “ATTENTION, ATTENTION, FLIGHT GOERS, WE ARE STILL EXPERIENCING DELA- Yes, we get the gist of it. 

The frame woman has changed her seats and has moved closer to Ace, if this was anyone else they would take this as a sign, but for Ace? No. A wrestling match had occurred in his mind, "should I talk to her, or just admire her from afar?" He sighed, "I've never been good with the opposite race." 

While he was lost in thought, Elsa had walked over. She leaned forward and asked, “How long are you going to stare at her, it's creepy” Ace glanced over, surprised she didn't scold him for sitting upside down again. 

Anxiously He replied, “I don’t know, do you thin-”

Elsa interrupted him, “I think you should talk to her, what’s the worst that can happen?” 

“Gasp” those dreaded words. “What’s the worst that can happen?” They are always preceded by the worst possible outcome imaginable. 

Being flooded by all the possible ways this could go wrong, he soberly countered, “I don’t know how to.” 

Like a momma bear looking after her cubs, Elsa meets him eye to eye and begins to shake him. Leaving him a little disoriented, Elsa says, “Don't let on good opportunity be ruined because of shyness, go get her tiger”

Pondering, She’s right, he gets up, and with a pep in his step, he marched to what is his destiny. As he makes my way to her, suddenly some random person swoops in and takes the available seat next to her. His jaw dropped, He had missed my opportunity. Defeated and broken, He turn around. And all he see is Elsa laughing. Talk about a strong support system. 

Waiting for her to stop laughing, Ace ask Elsa, "What to do now?" She looks over at the blonde-haired beauty and says, “I’m sure you don’t have anything to worry about.”

However, he's confused. "nothing to worry about it?" He thought. "My mind and I have already ceded, we are waving the white flag, and we have lost this war."

Elsa turns back to him and asks, “If he want to take my mind off things for a little while”

he nodded, but little did he know, "getting his mind off things," was helping her with her work.

Ace started to ponder, "come to think about it, she was spending a lot of her work time here." And as if a light bulb went off somewhere. he realized she was ditching his work. And now she is delegating her assignments to me. "It's a setup, this is unpaid labor." He cried.

He tried to say decline. “No," he said, “no!”

_

"So how did I end up pushing carts around the airport?" he contemplated.

The carts are carrying supplies for the PA system. They entered the room and Ace noticed that no one was there. “He must’ve gone on break,” Elsa explained. As they were about to leave Elsa suggests something absurd. "Let’s do Karaoke over the sound system." Ace yelled out the loudest “What?” he could.

Elsa tries to shush him, Ace goes on about how there must be rules to this and the potential fallout. She convincingly explains, “All we have to do is queue the songs over the system, then we’ll leave and just sing along.” 

Shocked, He didn't know this old woman had this in her. “What’s the worst that could happen,” She added. Those words again, Ace reluctantly agrees. 

They leave the P.A. Room and as they walk out. Elsa song begins to play. Based on the melody, Ace noticed it was Sweet Caroline. A little basic, but it was a classic. Suddenly, Elsa busted out in a full musical number. “SWEET CAROLINE, GOOD TIMES NEVER SEEM SO GOOD”

Everyone is staring, but they also are singing. It's like for a moment they forgot all about this current crisis and decided to enjoy the moment. The song finished, and everyone clapped and laughed. How could I possibly follow that up? Ace thought. Elsa leans towards him, “It’s your turn, go get it, tiger.”

His song queues up, the music starts bumping, and his head starts nodding. With his first words, I sang, “Coming out of my cage and I’m just doing fine.” The crowd noticed. He kept going, “Gotta, gotta be down because I want it all.” The crowd started singing along, some were rocking out. He continues, "It started out with a kiss, how did it end up like this." Ace sees the bespectacled beauty take off her headphones and start moving to the music. In that moment. For Ace, suddenly everything just seems to made sense. The song finished and Airport Karaoke ended. Everyone went back to their regular scheduled programming.

As Elsa and Ace were walking back to their seats, she explained how she used to sing that song to her children all the time when they were young. He asked, “If she missed moments like those.” She pondered and said, “Yes, but life is all about experiencing all types of moments, and having the ability to look back at them fondly.” She goes on and explains, "how her children, are all living their lives, she misses them, but, regardless how far they may be. They always send their love." Elsa smiled on saying that last part. Ace thought to himself, "So that's why she got this job. To keep herself busy while her children were away"

Before they arrived at their seats, Elsa suggested Ace talk to his mystery woman again. Noticing the horror on my face. She says, just go charge your phone. “Why?” He replied. “There is a charging port right next to her, just ask if you can charge the phone.”

He thought to himself, "that’s a great idea, low risk, high risk." He grabbed my phone and strolled over. He said the line. She laughs and says "go ahead." Then his mind went blank. "What else do I say?" He thought. "She’s waiting." Ace looked at her and said, “Thanks’ and walked away.

Head down, feeling like a fool, he walk back to Elsa. Both of them are now sitting in our seats upside down.

_

“This isn’t comfortable,” Elsa says and repositions. Ace told her, “You’ll get used to it”

 In the midst of them watching the continued chaos of the blackout, as while as Ace's crush. 

They spent a lot of time talking about where Ace was traveling to this Christmas and about his plans for the future. Elsa talked about her family and where she had been in life.

Suddenly, Elsa reached out to Ace, and said, “I have to hide, it's Armando,” 

"Armando?" Ace said in confusion.

Apparently, Armanfdo is her boss. And instead of working, Elsa has been talking to Ace. Before Ave could even suggest a plan, Armando noticed Elsa. And makes a B-line to her. “Huh dejà vu,” Ace thought to himself.

Armando asks her where she has been, why she hasn’t been working, etc. Looking blankly at Elsa, he added “I’m waiting.”

Elsa was speechless. This was the first time Ace had seen her like this. Ace was a little jealous, he wished he had that power. Before she could muster a word,

Ace stepped in and said, “She was with me, my parents aren’t here and I was having a mental breakdown. She was consoling me” Armando looks at him and then back to Elsa, and says, “If that was what you were doing, then it's acceptable. Next time just check in.” He then left.

Ace nudged her and said, “I think he bought it” 

She nudged Him back. But harder, and said,

 “Don't lie, no one likes liars”

While his hands were on his head, Ace said, "Technically I didn't lie. I have been going crazy over this gi- "

“Thank you” she added. 

She has a strange knack for interrupting Ace in the middle of sentences, but this time He didn't mind it.

Elsa looked over at the girl and said, “Go talk to her, seriously this time.

You don’t want to hang out with me all Christmas do you.”

“But you’re so much fun,” He told Elsa.

She looks at him and smirks.

“I’m scared what if I mess up,” he added,

Elsa meets him eye to eye again and says, “Sometimes to find those good moments you must step out of your comfort zone.” 

She continued, “Yes, it can be scary, but what's worse; Doing it and it not working out? Or not doing it and living in regret?”

Lastly, she added, “The good moments and the scary ones, embrace all that life has to offer.”

He hugged Elsa and told her, “Thanks, you're a good mom.”

As Ace began to walk over, he looked back at Elsa giving him a thumbs up, he thought to myself. “This Christmas was fun”

Elsa smiles as she watches him muster up the courage to talk to the girl.

Elsa gets up and walks away. Thinking to herself, “This Christmas was fun”