Home - Selwyn Ch 1 (?)

If Selwyn O'Neil had any idea of what awaited her at the end of her journey, she did not show it. She looked out of the window of the 747 stoically, examining the passing clouds with apparent rapt attention. Her neighbor in the next seat chewed his ham and cheese slowly, so as not to dislodge his precarious dentures. 'Chewing his cud like a fucking cow' she thought viciously while sighing loudly into the glass of the window. As if the older gentleman could sense her unkind thoughts, he finished his sandwhich and rang for the stewardess.
A middle aged blonde woman with her hat slightly askew on her piled hair approached the row of seats. Selwyn looked up as the woman bent over to speak quietly to the cud chewer. She nodded repeatedly, nearly sending her hat tumbling into the old man's lap. As she straightened, presumably to comply with the wishes of her elderly passenger, Selwyn said "Hey!" rather loudly. The relative quiet of the plane was smashed and the stewardess' eyes widened while she jerked back from the seats as if she had been slapped.
Selwyn herself flushed, as if she had startled herself too.
"Sorry, I didn't realize how loud-"
"Ma'am, that type of outburst is not appreciated."
"I know, I'm trying to apolo-"
"If you continue to be distruptive, we'll have to follow up with disciplinary actions."
"I'm- I...what? What are you going to do? Spank me?"
"Ma'am...please keep your sarcastic comments to yourself, or you will be-"
"Spanked. I see you've had to take this airline before." A man's voice interjected. Selwyn, the stewardess, and the old man all craned their necks to see who had spoken.
He was sitting in the row behind, a ballcap pulled down over his forhead and large black designer sunglasses obscuring most of his face. He had a goatee which looked a little scruffy and his lips had twisted into a smirk. The stewardess seemed to know him immediately and blew out her breath in an impatient way, shaking her head. She patted the elderly man's shoulder and reassured him, narrowing her eyes at Selwyn before she finally left.
He slid his hand inbetween the seat cushions and offered it to Selwyn.
"My name is Stephen Cantin, and if you need to take some anger out I'll let you spank me. They're an uppity bunch on this airline."
Selwyn twisted in her seat, awkwardly taking his hand and shaking it. His skin was suprisingly smooth, and very warm. She found herself staring at the tattoo that peeked out from under his longsleeve tshirt. Belatedly, she caught herself and relinquished his hand, smiling at his comment. He tugged it back through the seats and returned her smile, flashing some of the whitest teeth Selwyn had ever seen on a man.
"My Momma taught me to never spank strangers, sorry Stephen."
"Well you know, you're the stranger. You know my name and everything."
"And everything huh? I guess fair is fair, my name is Selwyn O'Neil."
"Jesus...Selwyn? Selwyn? How in god's name do you spell that?"
She laughed at his incredulity and spelled it for him, undoing her seatbelt and turning, kneeling on the seat and looking over into the row behind.
A smile split his face as her head and shoulders popped up over the back of her seat.
"What is that, Jewish?" he asked, raising his eyebrow.
She laughed again, raising her own eyebrow back at him. "Do I look friggin' Jewish?"
He studied her for a moment before shaking his head. "Not particularily."
"It's gaelic. What are you going to Chicago for?"
"I'm going on business, I have to film a tv show tomorrow."
"You're an actor? No wonder you look familiar. What have you been in?" She smiled again, resting her chin on her crossed forarms.
He shook his head and smirked at her again. "Not really...nothing of note. I'm a musician. An out of work musician, but hopefully tomorrow will change that. What brings you to the Windy City?"
"I'm actually going to be on a tv show too, but I'm not a musician."
"Actress?"
"Writer." She nodded and raised her eyebrows at him, inviting him to comment. He went in another direction completely.
"Well, you'll have to give me your hotel room number so I can take you to dinner while your in town."
Selwyn took this abrupt request in stride, keeping her eyebrows raised. "Are you from here?" She countered instead of answering.
"Not at all, but I've been through enough to know the city pretty well." He let the travel sized table down and ripped a scrap of paper out of the in-flight magazine. Once he was done jotting a few things down, he offered it to Selwyn.
"That's my name again, in case you forget, and my cell number. When your free, call me. We'll work something out."
"OK....thanks. They don't mind you vandalizing their property?" She said with a smirk, jerking her head to the stewardess walking down the isle again.
He shook his head again and reached over his seatmate to tap the stewardess as she passed his row. She stopped and glared at him while he casually rolled the magazine up and passed it over.
"I'm ready for my spanking now."