Chicago

So I'm back from Chicago and feeling exhausted. Getting home was a real ordeal and the trip overall was just a bad idea in the first place.
Anyway, I'm trying to stay awake, so I figure I'll just write something.

The trip itself was not worth it except for the flight to Chicago.
The story is as follows:

While waiting at the gate for my flight to Chicago to arrive I started to appraise the crowd of people around me. Nearly everyone was in their 40's or 50's and reading, typing on a laptop, chatting to one another, or talking on a cell-phone. I started to regret not bringing something to help pass the time when I noticed that I was staring at a girl intently reading a large book. I didn't mean to stare, but rather I was just zoning out.
As I started to become conscious of my hazed glare the book lowered, revealing a gorgeous pair of blue eyes. I looked away and felt embarrassed for having unintentionally been gawking.

A few minutes later some people got up and moved around, as they did this girl left the area for a bit. When she returned she sat directly across from me, which I truly do believe was unintentional. I occasionally looked and her and as she'd look back I'd turn away. I tried to make it seem as harmless and unimposing as possible, but I really couldn't get over how attractive she was. She looked like she was part Brazilian and a more attractive version of someone I was involved with years ago.

I started thinking, "gosh, this is the calibur of girl I need to start flirting with and dating." However, the problem is; how does one approach such an attractive female? (which I suppose has been an age-old question for many men)

As I pondered this, a voice came over the PA system saying, "the flight to Chicago has been delayed from 9pm to 10:15pm." The inhabitnats of the entire gate shared a communal sigh of frustration. As I slouched in my seat with annoyance the girl across from me made a similar gesture, we caught eyes and smiled at one another. I knew that I had a brief window of opportunity to break the ice.
I immediatley thought that I would walk over and say something about the flight or something indicating our similar situation and common enemy (the delayed flight). As I was getting up she grabbed her cell-phone and called someone, so I sat back down and waited.

As her conversation dragged on I realized that my window of opportunity had closed. I tried to think of how I'd open the lines of communication within the next hour and a half, but didn't come up with anything good.
Her conversation ended and she went back to reading her book. I figured I'd take my old approach of meeting women, which is basically just to suck it up, walk over, and say hi with no 'line' in mind. I got up and immediately chickened out, centrally because 1) haven't done it in so long and 2) because she was so attractive. I guessed she was used to getting unwanted attention and was especially good at repelling it, so I figured I needed an especially good line to get things started... Cause even in the past I didn't approach girls that were this attractive.

In chickening out I walked around the tiny terminal area trying to somehow attract attention to myself while thinking of what I was going to do. Frustrated, I thought, "I really need a cigarette." Although, I didn't want to have to walk down this extremely long corridor and go through the metal detectors again upon my return, then it hit me.. I'd do just that.

I walked over to the girl and got her attention, I was taking off my bag as I was going to ask her to hold it when she finished my statement for me, "You want me to watch your bag? sure."
Delighted at her response and the ice nearly being broken I walked off to have a cigarette.

As I returned and sat near her I thanked her for watching it. I was about to start a conversation when she asked if I could watch her bag. I agreed and she was off. While she was gone I tried to consider what I'd say.. and honestly, I can't remember what I did say, something about the flight being delayed I'm sure. I remember one of the first things she said is that she saw a movie recently and that I looked like a guy in it, of which I didn't really consider until later as being a compliment.

We chatted for over an hour (because the plane was further delayed) and it turned out that we both live fairly close to one another and that she is 19. The fact that she was 19 was quite a big shock to me considering I nearly never talk to or consider involving myself with people who are younger than me. However, she seemed quite mature given her age.

Later, the plane started boarding and I was expecting that she'd go running off into gate as soon as it opened, but she didn't. We continued talking and I figured that it was fairly probable that I wouldn't see or talk to this girl again, so I asked if it was alright if we exchanged numbers. We did and got onto the plane.

It turned out that she was only sitting a few seats in front of me, and as the plane took off I realized that the seat near me was empty. She also saw that it was empty and I coerced her into jumping over to the vacant spot near me. We continued talking through the flight and I really found the conversation to be quite good. It really amazed me that I was having such a pleasant and causual conversation with such an extremely attractive girl.

In feeling a little blown away I had to ask her if any of it was awkward for her. She didn't understand what I meant, so I pointed out that she must get a lot of male attention and I was hoping that I wasn't just another annoying male sutor. She assured me that I wasn't. She did explain that she does get a good amount of male attention, but she rarely responds to it. So the fact that we were actually talking was an indication of there being some genuine mutual interest.

Before the plane landed we made tentative plans to go see a movie and possibly get dinner within the next couple weeks. When the plane started making it's descent she went back to her seat to get her things ready for departure. Her seat was in front of mine and I lost her in the crowd of people shuffling out of the airplane aisles.

As I was making my way out of the plane I was thinking, "Well, that was really satisfying.. I hope that we actually hang out!." I got out of the plane and noticed that she was waiting for me, which I thought was considerate and sweet (something I'm fairly unaccustomed to). We walked through the airport and continued talking while we looked for our rides and moved around as a unit, which was reminiscent of being in a relationship... which was nice..

We stood out on the departures platform as cars drove by.. It was nice sharing this transitory moment with someone fresh and new. While reveling in the moment and ejoying the summer night, her ride came. We had our goodbyes and that was it!

So, we're supposed to meet up this weekend, but we'll see. Even if nothing comes of it, I feel satisfied at the fact that I dusted off my social skills and am completely capable of meeting new and attractive people.. I've also been realizing that I don't have a very hard time relating to most anyone.

but yeah, the rest of the trip was horrible. However, Chicago is a really beautiful city. I'm planning on going back in August.. hopefully that trip will be more fun.

P.S. if I refer to this girl in the future, I'll call her Jailbait. =P