She caught my eye when I noticed her standing by the window as we waited for the announcement to call for boarding. The entire time she seemed to be frantically debating on the phone with someone. I had to admit that I studied her simply because she was so beautiful that she could have been a movie star. I didn’t see a wedding ring so I figured that it was probably a boyfriend that she’d been arguing with. Once we’d boarded and I’d taken my seat I was surprised that she was in fact traveling alone and that like me, she was seated in first class.

When she walked past me with her carry-on I was a little disappointed, but then she quickly came back and said, “Excuse me.” The empty window seat next to me belonged to her. She scooted by me and made no effort to keep her rear end from my view. She had the word Juicy stitched across her ass. Though I recognized the brand, I loved the double meaning. In the two seconds it took for her to pass me I immediately wondered if what was in those pants was, in fact, juicy.

“How you doin’?” I asked once she had gotten seated.

“I’m fine,” she said and then turned her head toward the window. She made it clear that she didn’t want to be bothered, and I wasn’t the type to push. I was flipping the pages of a magazine and was resigned to letting her be invisible. I was looking forward to us getting into the air so I could put on my iPod and completely zone out. If I had to sit next to a beautiful woman that I couldn’t at least chat with then I’d completely ignore her. It wasn’t like I wanted anything other than conversation from her.

Thirty minutes after the takeoff we began to experience some turbulence. I pulled my headphones off in order to hear the flight attendant’s announcement. Up to that point, I hadn’t even noticed that she’d opened her eyes but I heard her sniffling and when I looked over she had tears in her eyes.

“You all right? You aren’t scared are you, because I fly all the time and this is totally normal,” I said, attempting to comfort her.

“I’m fine,” she said for the second time, without expression. “I just have a lot on my mind. Really I’m okay.”

“Well, how about you let me get you a drink?” She paused for a few moments then nodded her head. “Cognac okay?” She nodded again. “A Coke to chase it?”

“No, straight,” she replied. I smiled, as I knew this was how the conversation would get started.

I asked for six of the mini-sized bottles of Hennessy and placed them in the pocket in front of me. She downed the first one as if it was a bottle of water. The second, she sipped slower. I didn’t say anything, to let on that I wasn’t trying to do more than just be a kind stranger. My head began to bob as I put my headphones back on.

“What you listening to?” she asked.

“Ne-Yo.”

“How is it?”

“Not bad. I really like a couple of the songs.”

She was sitting there next to me but she had a faraway look in her eyes, which were an amazing hazel. “I thought about getting it. Maybe I will.”

“So, listen. I know I’m a complete stranger but I’m a really good listener. You might not get the opportunity to tell another stranger what’s weighing heavy on your mind.”

“You are a stranger. But I wouldn’t want to dump my worries on my worst enemy right now.”

“Well, if you’re sure you don’t want to talk then I might as well introduce myself to you. I’m Khalil. Khalil Graves.”

“My name is Honey. Just Honey.” She almost smiled.

“Well it’s a pleasure meeting you. Were you in Miami for the film festival or for a vacation?”

She turned so that she faced me as she leaned back toward the window a bit. “What makes you think I don’t live in Miami?”

“I don’t know. The accent probably. You sound more like you’re from…”

“Get it right.” She laughed.

“Virginia?” She frowned. “D.C.” She nodded. “So is that where you live?”

“I live just above the line in Chevy Chase. What about you?”

“I live a couple blocks east of Capitol Hill. You never answered my question. If you were here for the festival.”

“Oh, not really. I was here for a meeting. And you?”

“I was actually a judge for the film fest.”

“So you’re in the film industry.”

“Sort of. I’m a cinematographer by trade but I just finished shooting my first film that I’ve directed, it’s called Shades. It’s an indie but I have really high hopes for it. Right now it’s in postproduction. Before that I’d mostly been doing music videos for the last few years.”

“Anyone I might have heard of in it?” she asked. I was used to that tone. She wanted to know if I was a legitimate filmmaker.

“Actually yes. You’ve heard of Shawn Simmons?”

“Of course.”

“What about Nate Montgomery?”

“The boxer?”

“Yeah.”

“Of course I’ve heard of him.”

“Well he’s in it too.”

She chuckled and then said, “I just saw him in the club last night.”

“Oh okay. He’d invited me to The Point last night. So you went?”

“Unfortunately.”

We downed another couple bottles and the conversation began to flow freely and we didn’t stop talking for the next hour and a half. When we landed she said, “You know, Khalil, I feel a little better than I did when I boarded.”

“Well it was nice talking to you and meeting you.” We climbed off of the plane and headed toward the baggage claim. We walked together almost like a couple and stood next to each other once we reached the luggage carousel. From looking at her presentation I wasn’t surprised when she stepped toward the conveyer belt to take the Louis Vuitton luggage. I was surprised at the size of the two huge pieces. She had a ton of stuff.

“Honey, let me help you with that,” I said as I grabbed the first of two fifty-pound pieces. “How long were you in South Beach for, a couple of weeks?” I said sarcastically.

“One of those was nearly empty when I went. I filled it up, courtesy of Bal Harbour Shops.” She smiled.

My luggage came and I said, “Is your ride here or did you drive?”

“Oh, I’ll just catch a cab.”

I started to part ways then. I knew that my girlfriend wouldn’t approve of what I did next but I told myself that it was harmless.

“Well consider today to be your lucky day. I drive an SUV so I can give you a ride home. That way you don’t have to ruin some poor cabbie’s shocks with your ton of luggage.”

“Are you sure? I catch a cab home from the airport all the time.”

“Absolutely. Come on. As a matter of fact, let me wheel one of those for you.”

We pulled out of the garage in my Cadillac EXT and hit 395 headed for Chevy Chase. It was blazing and humid so I turned on the air but she still put her window down. “I need some air, maybe the liquor,” she said.

“No problem.”

“So, Khalil. Do you love what you do?”

“I did love it at one point. I still like it.”

“If you don’t love it anymore, why do you do it?”

“It pays the bills and it’s a stepping stone to greater things. Plus I’ve made a lot of connections to help me with my future in directing.”

She nodded as she stared straight ahead. “So do you make a lot of money doing what you do?”

I laughed. “I do all right for myself. Why do you ask? You thinking of getting into the profession?”

“No reason. I hope I didn’t offend.”

“Not at all.”

Then she turned to me and asked, “So do you have a wife, a girlfriend?”

It amazed me that we’d talked for the last couple of hours but this hadn’t come up. I looked over into her beautiful face and realized that I probably hadn’t brought it up for a reason. And although I had never cared enough about any woman not to cheat on her, my situation now was different.

My life had been in turmoil. An abusive situation, to foster care, to more abuse had been my journey. Through it all I’d learned to travel light and look out for myself. No matter where I was mentally the only constant was that school at first, then work, had been my refuge and I’d stayed out of trouble as best I could. I kept my grades up and in the fall of my senior year I’d applied to both Howard University’s and NYU’s film schools. I’d been accepted into Howard and thus landed in the nation’s capital.

On my own it had been a free-for-all. I’d left the poor, beaten, and battered Khalil behind and introduced everyone to a new me. The one who didn’t care about anyone other than himself, and what I found amazed me. Women loved it. The nonchalant attitude seemed to be an enigma, even a challenge that they stepped up to the plate to meet, one after the other.

I crushed them all. Even the nice ones, for reasons I couldn’t really understand at the time. That was until I met the girl who I believed was the one.

Now here I was, riding along with a stranger, playing the role of the Good Samaritan. In all actuality, I was captivated by her charms. Still, I felt compelled to answer her truthfully once I replayed her question in my head.

“So do you have a wife, a girlfriend?”

“Yes, I have someone I’ve been seeing.”

She nodded. I expected the conversation to turn cold from that point. Honey didn’t seem like the type to date anyone who’d try to make her play second string. She was far too stunning for that. I imagined that my dropping her off would be the last I’d see or hear of her. Instead she stayed the same. “Well, she’s a lucky girl, whoever she is.”

“Thanks.”

We pulled up onto her street and as she directed me to her house she gasped then yelled out, “Oh my God.”

“What?” I said back as I watched her slide down in her seat.

“Keep driving,” she said in a whisper. “Just keep driving.” My heart began to pound, because I didn’t know what was happening. I looked over and saw a huge man walking down some steps but that was it. “Make a left at the corner and just keep going.”

“Okay. But what’s going on?”

“Please, just drive.”

I did as she asked. “So where are we going?”

“I don’t know. I need to think,” she said, sounding nervous as a spy whose cover had been blown.

“Do you want me to take you to my place?”

“What about your girlfriend?”

“She’s out of town. She sort of lives out of town. She’s doing a residency in Richmond.”

“Okay, please then. That’ll be fine. It’ll gimme some time to think this through.”

I turned the radio down a little and said, “You’re gonna have to tell me what’s going on though.”

She began to tear up again and then she said, “Okay, I will.”

We pulled up in front of my house a few minutes later. I was glad that I didn’t see any of my neighbors as we walked to the door. She breathed a sigh of relief as the cool air hit her in the face. I motioned toward the living room and she walked in and took a seat on the couch while I offered her a drink. I carried my bags upstairs and when I came back downstairs she was looking at a picture in a frame that sat on the end table.

“Is this your girlfriend in the picture?”

“Yes.”

There was an uncomfortable silence. I didn’t think it was possible but she suddenly seemed to be even more agitated than she was before. Then out of the blue she said, “I’ll tell you everything, but there’s something that I need you to do first.”

I nodded in agreement without even knowing what she was about to ask. “Okay.”

“Take me upstairs and make love to me.” With that she stood up and moved toward me. “Now.”