I do not own Zoe Dean, her stories, or any of her characters. This is simply a fun other version of the first in the A-List Series from Ben's point of view. In the beginning it's pretty predictable, setup the same way the story is, from another point of view, however as it progresses more imagination will be necessary to find out exactly what happened to Ben while we were reading so much about Anna and her Hollywood experiences.

CHAPTER 1

"Champagne Mr. Birnbaum?" the young and pretty flight attendant asked as she held out a tray of flutes. Ben nodded and took one and thanked the woman. He leaned back in his chair and got ready for the long flight ahead of him. He was just beginning to doze off when he heard a loud slurred voice behind him. He did his best to ignore it, but after several minutes that proved impossible, so he turned around to tell the guy to shut up. However, when he turned around he was very distracted by the sight of the girl sitting next to him. She was gorgeous in a totally unhurried, no effort kind of perfection. Drunk's girl? No way Ben thought to himself. She was huddled against the window, looking totally disgusted. Ben watched the two for a bit, feeling more and more like he had to meet this girl. She caught him staring and he quickly looked away feeling momentarily ashamed at being so bold, but found himself staring again. When she caught him staring again this time he didn't look away, and she winked! He was shocked at her boldness, and intrigued, so he winked back. Several minutes later, he couldn't resist himself.

He unbuckled his seatbelt and casually made his way down the aisle trying to come up with a way to get drunk guy's seat. Something hit him; brilliance he thought and leaned over the row.

"Paige?" He exclaimed with fake recognition as he looked at the girl. She looked confused.

"Sorry, but my name's not…" Ben cut her off

"Oh come on, Paige, you must remember me, we met at that party? Where some drunk-off-his-ass guy was hitting on you?" He asked pointedly. "It's me! Jack!" He said, praying that she'd catch on. When a look of realization crossed her eyes he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh yes! Jack….Jack, Kerouac!" She exclaimed faking recognition. He smiled as he caught the joke of the name.

"Yo, buddy, rewind, she said her name is Annie" the drunk guy said and put his hand on her knee. Ben resisted the urge to punch him….that would be inappropriate.

"Actually I said it was Annais" 'Paige' said as she forcefully shoved his hand out of the way. "And please don't do that" Ben just fell harder and harder for this girl. He loved her spunk.

"So buddy, now's when you switch seats with me" Ben said. The drunk guy shook his head.

"No freakin' way! I'm just having a friendly conversation with Annie, when you come barging over here expecting my seat?" Ben shook his head.

"One more time, trade with me so that I don't have to report that Thai stick in your carry-on" Ben said knowingly. Sometimes it helped to be able to hear well. The guy started to protest.

"Then why did you offer me some what did you say, 'primo shit'" the girl asked. Drunk guy looked shocked and grumbled, but left the seat. The girl sighed a huge sigh of relief. "Thank you so much, and by the way, my name's not Paige" She said with a smile "Anna, and it's a pleasure to meet you" Ben smiled as he shook her outstretched hand.

"And mine isn't Jack, its Ben, Ben Birbaum" Ben said. "A pleasure to meet you too" He smiled. "So what is sending you to the fine town of Los Angeles?" He asked this mysterious Anna in front of him.

"Boredom" She said with a shake of her head and proceeded to tell him about her early acceptance at Yale, finishing high school early, and a fallen internship at home in New York that had driven her to her father's home in LA. He found it all fascinating. "What about you?"

"Home, and a wedding, I'm originally from LA, spending my year at Princeton" She smiled.

"I thought as much" She said gesturing to his Princeton sweatshirt. The two laughed. She had a beautiful laugh, she was beautiful, he wanted more than anything to touch her beautiful face, but thought that would be presumptuous, so he made an even bolder move. He put his hand on her knee. When she didn't push it away, and instead took another swig at her champagne he got even bolder. He leaned over to whisper to her.

"I want to be alone with you" When she smiled shyly he got up out of his seat and headed down the aisle. He turned back to her and winked, hoping she got the clue. When she got out of her seat and followed him to the lavatory he opened the door to allow her in first, slid in behind her and locked the door shut. He began kissing her, and it was like nothing he'd ever experienced. He lifted her up onto the sink and allowed his hands to explore gently the beautiful body in his arms. Her lips were soft, tender, her tongue felt moist against his, and just he was beginning to lose himself more and more in her touch, there was a banging on the door.

"Attention! Attention! This is the co-pilot speaking! It against federal regulations for more than one person to occupy the lavatory at one time, please exit now!" A firm, angry voice announced from the other side. They immediately broke apart and Anna gasped as she ran her finger through her hair. Ben was pretty surprised himself and unlatched the door to find a flight attendant, and co-pilot staring angrily at them, and Anna's former seat mate looking very proud of himself. "Thank you very much for reporting this sir" The co-pilot said patting the guy on the shoulder. "You two, back to your seats. Now!" He barked. Anna blushed a deep shade of red. She was still gorgeous, even when she looked like a cherry. Ben resisted smiling to himself as he led the way back to their seats.

"I'm soooo embarrassed." Anna muttered.

"Don't be" Ben said, "We enjoyed ourselves, and think of this, we added some excitement to the half-assed movie they were playing" Anna shook her head and they returned to their seats talking quietly and trying to avoid the stares of the rest of the first class passengers who'd seen the whole thing.

As the plane touched onto the ground Ben turned to her. "I don't want to say good-bye, can I see you again?" he asked. She smiled.

"I'd like that" Anna said and pulled out her cell phone. "Here, put your number in, I'll call you." When he did that he suddenly had an idea.

"Hey, I have an idea! Why don't you come to the wedding with me?" Anna looked shocked.

"What? I mean, we just met, people don't invite people they just met to a wedding, do they?" She asked

"Oh come on! It's Jackson Sharpe's wedding, it'll be fun!" Ben said.

"I still don't think—Wait, did you say Jackson Sharpe? He's one of the few actor's I actually respect, how do you know him?"

"I grew up with his daughter Samantha, come with me, please?" He asked, feeling as though he was begging. She smiled.

"Sure, I'd love to" She said with a smile. Ben almost melted at the sight of her smile and was thrilled she said yes.

"Great! That's fantastic! It'll be a lot of fun, or at least interesting" Ben said with a smirk. "So, I'll pick you up about sixish? Where do you live?" She gave him her address and they left with a quick kiss in the airport terminal and Ben feeling like he was walking on air.