Ric and Pauline 1: the Airplane

This is Part One of a series. For part two, see

Rick and Pauline 2 : The Park

Rick was exhausted by the time he got onto the packed airplane. He shuffled impatiently down the aisle while every single person seemed to need to fit a whale-sized bag into a fish-sized spot in the overhead bins before letting people past. It seemed like forever before he got to his aisle seat near the back. It was almost midnight after a full day of travel getting all the way back to Milan from a small town outside of Rome. All he wanted to do was get seated, fall asleep, and wake up when they were already in London.

As he sat down heavily, his elbow bumped the young woman curled up in the window seat. Her eyes opened and she glared at him.

"Sorry," he whispered sheepishly. Without response she closed her eyes and leaned on the window. Rick got settled as quietly and smoothly as he could, pulled an eye mask and earplugs out of his bag and put them in place, and tried to get comfortable.

After a few minutes, when he was almost asleep, there was a loud bing signifying an announcement. It was loud enough he could hear clearly through the cheap earplugs.

"This is your captain speaking. Once again we apologize for the delay in boarding. Unfortunately we've missed our takeoff window, so we have to wait for the next opportunity while we do some final checks here. We're still hoping to get on the way soon. There will be an update when it's available. Thank you for your patience."

Rick felt the seat jiggle as his neighbour shifted in hers. He pulled his eye mask up to see her scowling. Trying a sheepish smile, he pulled one earplug out. "I'm sure we'll be out of here soon," he said hopefully.

"We better do," she sighed. "I have an important meeting in the morning."

"Going home to London?" he guessed, based on her accent. She sounded like a BBC presenter.

"If we ever get out of here. I'm guessing that's not your final destination."

"Nope. That's just the easy leg for me. I'm connecting to Seattle, assuming we get to Heathrow in time so I don't miss the connection."

"I guess I'm the one who has it easy then, Mr. America," she smiled just a bit. But it was a very cute little smile. He noticed the slightly crooked curve of her lips. "I'm Pauline. And you?"

"Rick," he reached out a hand, and quickly regretted it as she seemed reluctant to take it. He started to pull his back when she grabbed and shook it a little too aggressively. They both chuckled awkwardly.

"First time in Italy?" she asked after a pregnant pause.

"Yeah, it was awesome. Yours?"

"Third," she replied. "Well, first by myself. I came once with my family when I was a child, and once years ago with my boyfriend."

"Why didn't he come this time?"

"My ex-boyfriend. It was a lot more fun without him, to be honest."

Pulling out his phone to look distracted, Rick tried to hide a smile. "So you were on your own this time? Just a vacation by yourself?"

"Yes. And you know, it was really good. Really good. Who knew it was fun to travel alone? Well, I guess you did." Pauline also pulled out her phone.

"Yeah. Well, no. I mean, I was sorta alone, but not entirely. I met up with an old friend in Venice and we did most of the week together. We just took different flights. He got the good ones and I got the cheap ones."

"Oh, Venice was my favourite. I was there Tuesday and Wednesday. Should have stayed longer."

"We were there Wednesday and Thursday. We could have totally bumped into each other!"

"Yeah. Did you get good photos? The weather was perfect," Pauline started to sit up straight, as Rick searched in his photo app to find the Venice section. As they leaned in to look at the tiny screen together, he noticed her subtle perfume. Chocolate and vanilla. Nice.

When Rick got to the end of the Venice section, he said without thinking, "You've seen mine. Now show me yours." Quickly realising what he just said, he laughed nervously, "uh, that didn't come out right."

"Ha!" Pauline turned bright red, but she couldn't hide a smile. Rick noticed that her left eyelid stayed just slightly closed when her eyes were open. "Fair's fair," she said and found her own Venice photos.

Rick was embarrassed. While he had thought his own photos were pretty good, Pauline's phone camera was clearly superior. As was her skill. Some of her photos looked print-worthy, or like they could feature on an official tourism website.

As she was swiping through the photos, one caught Rick's eye. In the middle of a bunch of random scenery shots, there was one of Pauline, standing nude in a doorway, her left arm draped loosely across her chest, and her right hand resting just in front of her pubic area. She paused, turning even brighter red than before, covering her eyes in shame, before she regained some composure and put the phone away. She had frozen in shock long enough for Rick to get a really good look.

"Wow!" he exclaimed. "Uh, I guess you didn't mean to show me that one."

Pauline stayed silent and still for several seconds. Then she raised her knees and hugged them, with her head down, in a kind of defensive pose. "You weren't supposed to see that. Nobody's supposed to see that!" she half-whispered.

"Look, forget about it. Nothing happened." He awkwardly tried to change the subject. "Your photos are really beautiful, you know. Uh, I mean your other photos. N-n-not that that one wasn't beauti-. You know what? I should just shut up. I'm sorry. Shutting up." Now Rick was embarrassed, and a little upset with himself. He thought things had been going great here. For once he was meeting someone pretty and had managed to keep a conversation going well, and now, he figured, it was just ruined. He turned a little away, and started adjusting his earplugs and eye mask. As he closed his eyes, he felt a delicate hand touch his arm softly.

"You really think so?" he could barely make the words out through the earplugs. He pulled one out and pushed the eye mask up to look at her. "You really think I'm beautiful?" she said again. He looked at her. She looked small, nervous, almost helpless beside him. As if no one had ever called her beautiful before. Imagine that, with a face and figure like hers.

"Of course I think you're beautiful," he smiled. Now he was nervous. Don't fuck this up. Don't get creepy or sleazy.

"I can't believe I showed you that photo. I thought I had it hidden."

"I'm sorry if you feel embarrassed, but really there's no need to be."

"You're right. You're so right. And that was the whole point after all."

Now Rick was intrigued. "The whole point of what?"

Pauline turned red again. She'd walked into that one. "No. Never. You'll think I'm mad."

This just made Rick want to know even more. "Pauline, I'm a stranger. I won't judge you, and even if I did, you'll probably never see me again. You can tell me."

She hesitated, unsure. Biting her lip in the cutest way.

Rick had an idea. "Is there anything I can do to help you trust me?" he asked, feigning innocence.

Before Pauline could answer, the plane started to move and there was an announcement on the loudspeaker. The flight, now over an hour late, was about to take off. There was a bit of commotion as the flight attendants quickly went through the safety demonstration and final checks. Pauline and Rick secured their carry-ons, buckled up and settled in for the flight. The conversation had been interrupted, and now it looked like Pauline was ready to go to sleep. Rick didn't know how to start it again, so he adjusted his eye mask and earplugs and tried to get to sleep himself. After all, he was exhausted.

He was surprised to be woken up by some insistent patting of his arm. Dazed and confused, Rick slowly remembered his surroundings and removed his eye mask. Pauline was whispering something that he couldn't make out. He removed his earplugs.

"I know what you can do," she whispered. It was dark on the plane, and quiet except for the humming of the engines.

"What time is it? What are you talking about?"

"It's 2am. Most of the plane is asleep. I know what you can do for me to trust you."

"Uh huh?" he was vaguely starting to remember their conversation. And was surprised he had fallen asleep in that situation.

"You have to do the same. Take a photo with nothing on, and show it to me."

"What? Here? Are you nuts? It's a packed plane"

"You can do it in the toilet." Clearly she had thought this through. "You go in, take off all your clothes, take a selfie with a hand covering your,..." she struggled with what word to use, "your that. You show me the pic and I'll tell you what it's all about. Honest I will."

Rick laughed. It almost seemed that Pauline wanted to tell him, but felt like he needed to earn it. "Sure, what the hell," he said. He unbuckled and got up, walked towards the bathroom and came back. "I suppose I'll need this," he said, grabbing his phone.

The bathroom was tiny. There was no room to maneuver, and nowhere to hang his clothes. Eventually he decided the floor was clean enough, stripped out of his t-shirt, shorts and boxers, and tried to find the best angle for the most awkward selfie he had ever taken. The mirror wasn't big enough, so he eventually settled on holding the phone above his head, with his other hand grabbing his crotch. He checked the photo to see if it was good enough. Curly brown pubes were showing clearly, as were his tanlines, but the goods were covered. Good enough. He dressed and made his way back to his seat.

Pauline was blushing again. She had her hand over her face. "I can't believe you did that," she whispered.

"Here you go!" said Rick in a stage whisper, handing her his phone. "Oops!" he added, as he noticed that he had forgotten to zip up his cargo shorts. Pauline took Rick's phone in hand as he zipped up. Before looking, she took a deep breath.

"I can't believe you did that," she repeated. "I can't believe I suggested you do it." She straightened up in her chair. "Ok, ok. Let's see." She looked at his phone for the first time since he got back. The photo was there. Not a great artistic or erotic shot. The angle was terrible, the lighting flat. Still, you could see his entire body from head to thighs, save for the strategically placed hand. "Oh wow," she said. "You've got some serious muscles!"

"Thanks," Rick shrugged. "So what's this all about?"

Pauline realized she had been staring at the phone photo a little too long. Now she quickly handed his phone back. "Ok... this is kind of embarrassing."

"As embarrassing as a nude selfie in an airplane bathroom?"

"I suppose not. Right, so I've been really down on myself recently and my non-existent dating life. My friend Maxine, she's mad. Absolutely mad. She signed me up for this website that gives you dares that are supposed to boost your confidence. At first it was simple things like to ask a random person on the street to take your photo. Fully clothed, I mean. But this last one was bonkers. Take a photo, completely nude with just your hands covering things. I still can't believe I really did it. For days I was sure I would never. But I was on holiday, maybe a little drunk, so I did it and sent it in."

"Sent it in?"

"Yeah, you're supposed to send in the proof of each dare in order to get the next one. I really hope it doesn't end up on some porn site. Or worse, somewhere people would recognize me. You must think I'm mad now."

"Actually it sounds like fun. I'm intrigued. But wait. Who took the photo?"

"I wouldn't trust anyone to do that. Not even Maxine. I did it myself, when no one was about. I propped up my phone on some books. It took forever to get the angle right. Anyway, I'm done. This has already gone too far."

Rick had an idea. "Honestly, it sounds like a lot of fun. What if I joined the site and played too? Would you keep in it?"

"Hmm, I'd consider it. But how would I know you're not lying? We're strangers."

"We'd have to agree to send each other all the photos as proof. Here, take my contact info. When I get back to Seattle I'll join the site and catch up to you. Once I'm caught up we can do it in sync. Like pen pals."

"More like porn pals, the way this looks like it's going," Pauline laughed. "I'll think about it."

Rick gave Pauline his contact info and took down the address of the site. Pauline yawned.

"Look, Rick, I'm really sorry but I just have to try to get some sleep. I have a busy day tomorrow."

"Of course," Rick agreed. Maybe a little too obviously disappointed. He had been wondering if this would go further. But he resumed the trying-to-sleep position, with his earplugs and eye mask in place. He must have drifted off, because the next thing he knew the captain was announcing final approach to Heathrow.

Rick pulled off the eye mask and looked at his watch. Shit. They were landing a lot later than he had expected. He was supposed to have a two hour connection, but now it seemed possible he would miss the next flight.

"Shit.Shit!" Rick said, hitting the call button for the flight attendant. But it was too late. They were already strapped in for landing and wouldn't come to check on him now.

"What's wrong?" Pauline asked with a yawn. "What time is it?"

"It's 2:30am. My next flight is at 3:10. I might not make it!"

Pauline's attempts to reassure Rick went nowhere. The plane landed and he bounded out of his seat, only to be told to sit down until the seat belt sign is turned off. Once it was he ran towards the front of the plane, only to be stuck behind other passengers who were taking their time with the overhead luggage. It wasn't until he got off the plane and started running that he realised he had never even said goodbye to Pauline.

He made it to the gate just in time to see the plane pulling away. Exasperated, he asked the airline rep if they could somehow still get him on the flight, but to no avail. Instead, they booked him on the next available flight to Seattle. At 11am.

Rick slouched down in the closest chair, exhausted and defeated. He pulled out his phone to try to see what his options were, when he noticed a message from an unknown number.

"I hope you made your flight!"

"Just missed it. Sorry, I didn't even say goodbye properly. I was a mess."

"Bummer. What's the plan now?"

"They're trying to put me on an 11am flight, but I'm going to see if there's a better option."

"Better, or sooner?"

"What do you mean?" Rick was a little intrigued.

"Sounds to me like you have about 6 hours before you need to be at the airport. And you do owe me a proper goodbye..."

As Rick was trying to figure out the best way to respond to that, he received a link to a Google Maps location.

* * * * * *

Forty-five minutes later Rick stepped out of a cab, which cost him £70. He shuddered to think how much that was in dollars, but at this point he preferred not to know. Also, he didn't much care.

He walked into an apartment building, took the elevator to the third floor and found unit 316 as instructed. As he knocked, the door gave way slightly. It was unlocked. "Hello?" he called out into the darkness. There was no response. Looking for a lightswitch by the door, he noticed a sticky note on it. He pulled it back into the hallway to read.

"Welcome, Rick. Kindly leave the lights off, lock the door, and remove all your clothes. Then proceed to the bedroom."

With just a slight hint of worry this might be an elaborate scam, Rick followed the orders. He folded his clothes as best he could in the dark, locked the door, and felt his way through what must be Pauline's apartment. He checked a few closed doors before finding the bedroom. It was also dark, except for some light from the street sneaking past the blinds.

Pauline was lying in a double bed, covered by a thin sheet, facing the opposite wall. He hesitated a moment, unsure if she was awake.

"Mmm, you finally got here. Aren't you going to join me?" Pauline murmured, half-asleep.

Rick stepped forward and climbed onto the bed as Pauline came awake. She sat up, and as Rick's eyes adjusted to the twilight he could see her soft breasts and hard dark nipples as she pulled him towards her. Her lips found his ear as her hands searched him, verifying that he was fully nude. "Good. I like a man who can follow orders," she laughed.

She grabbed his semi-hard penis in hand and started stroking it. Rick moaned, and began to play with Pauline's nipples, kissing her on the neck.

"Unfortunately we don't have all night, as I still need to get some sleep," Pauline gasped. "I hope you don't mind that I got started without you." Still working his cock with her left hand, she grabbed his left with her right and pulled it down between her legs so he could feel how wet she was. Then she got up on her hands and knees, crawled to the edge of the bed and pulled the blinds open all the way. The blinding pre-dawn light rushed in as she turned back to him. "I want to see everything," she said, staring at his big hard cock.

Rick sat up and tried to grab at Pauline, who he could now see clearly. She was stunning, and she was on a mission. Her wet pussy gleamed in the light from the street. Pauline pushed him flat on his back, leaned over, licked his cock up and down on all sides. He moaned with pleasure as she moved her head back slightly and then forward again to take him deep into her mouth. After a few long licks, she sat up again and then threw a leg over to straddle him. Pushing down on his chest with one hand, she used the other to guide his throbbing dick into her pussy. She leaned forward, kissing him hard on the mouth, and he suddenly realized that this was their first kiss.

But there was no time to think about that, as soon enough she was leaning back, thrusting her hips at him, as she moved one hand down to work her clitoris. Rick moved his hand to meet hers, and she grabbed it gently, guiding his fingers to where she wanted them.

After a few moments of slow rubbing and moaning, Pauline started moving her whole body up and down while Rick rubbed in circles just as she had shown him with her fingers. "Should I pull out?"

"Yes, but not too soon or I'll kick you out on the street," Pauline gasped. As she sped up her motions, Rick tried to match. He was already calculating multiplication tables in his head to try to delay the inevitable. Soon Pauline began to shudder and let out a long, loud moan. Rick held steady as long as he could. Just as he thought he was going to have a problem, she climbed off of him and lay down beside him.

"Come on my face, if you like," she said. "Just try not to gum up the pillows." Rick sat up, got on his knees and grabbed his throbbing cock in hand, squeezing it and aiming it at her crooked smile. She reached up one hand to play with his balls and as she did, he exploded, shooting hot cum all over her right cheek, her nose and her lips. She shut her eyes just in time as another spurt got close to her right eye. He reached for a box of tissues beside the bed, starting to clean himself up. He offered her some, but she was content for now to wipe her face with her fingers and lick them clean.

"Mmmm, that was amazing. But now I really must get some sleep. I'll try not to wake you when I get out at 7. See yourself out. Take the key from the door, lock up, and leave it in the mail slot. Goodnight." Before Rick finished cleaning himself, Pauline had closed the blind again, curled back up in bed and closed her eyes, patting the other side of the bed to make it clear he was welcome to join.

Exhausted and satisfied, Rick lay down beside her and instantly fell asleep.