Chapter Two: Flying High
"Don't puke"
"I'll try 😂"
"Nobody wants to see that"
I slide my phone into my back left pocket. My ear buds go into the back right.
"Bye Scales," I stick my fingers through the door of the carrier as I tell my cat goodbye.
"Bye Bell, bye Jamie, bye Scales, bye Daisy," Becca goes to each animals carrier to say goodbye, Kelly right behind her, petting them through the wires.
Jamie and Bell are the twin's kittens, Bell is Becca's kitten and Jamie is Kellys Kitten. Daisy is the family dog.
We watch them get taken away, I know they'll be safe but I'm still worried, Scales is eight years old and Daisy is nine. Bell and Jamie are only a little over a year old.
"Come on girls, we've got to go get in line," my father says, putting his hand on my shoulder.
I turn to Becca and Kelly, "take my hands, we don't want to get lost all alone."
They take my hands and we walk behind our parents to the line.
"Well, we've got a several hour flight ahead of us, get comfortable," my father settles into his seat, my mother in the seat beside him.
I sit in my seat, put my pillow around my neck and try to get comfortable. I put in my ear buds and start up my music again. Dean Lewis Be Alright. Over, and over, and over.
He pulls her close and they stand there, tears swelling in her eyes.
"Don't forget me," he says.
"I could never," she leans her head closer to his.
I wake up from the dream. I wish I could stay there, with him, in the dream for just one more moment but I can't, I'm awake now.
I look to Becca in the seat beside me and Kelly next to her.
After a bit, my mother yawns and starts blinking herself awake.
"We should be there in about an hour," my mother says, closing her eyes tightly for a moment.
My Father squeezes her hand, "I can't wait to see the new house in person."
That's the one thing I'm excited about, we'll finally get out of the small apartment we've been living in for the past year. We had been saving up for the possibility of moving to a new house before my mother got this big promotion.
"Me too," I say.
"See, there are good things that come with this move," mother says.
"I guess," I sigh.
"I'm sorry it had to be like this, I wish we could've stayed home too, but I've dreamed of this for so long, it feels good to be so close," Mother says, "I'll miss home too, I'll miss my parents, I'll miss Shrek and Persia, I'll miss my brothers and my sister, there's a lot of things I'll miss just like there's a lot of things you'll miss."
I think about my two slightly older siblings who we're leaving behind with their mother. I hadn't even thought about them as much- I keep expecting then to be sitting on this plane with us.
"I miss Stella," Becca says, looking up from her book.
"And Kiara," Kelly looks out the window.
"Let's focus on the positives, what's something you're excited about?" Father prompts.
"Momma said we'll have a pool in the backyard," Kelly smiles.
"We'll have a bigger house," Becca says, "maybe I can get more books."
"Of course you can have more books," Mother laughs.
"Yay!" Becca squeals.
Father shooshes her, "there's other people here."
Becca turns red and nods.
"What about you?" I look to my father, "what do you find most exciting about the move?"
"I'm excited for a garden," father nodded, he looked wistfully into the distance, "maybe some chickens too."
"That sounds nice," I say.
"What about you Lana?" Kelly asks, "what are you excited for?"
"Mostly just having a bigger house," I think, "I guess I like the idea of having a bigger yard too."
We keep talking until we're cut off by the piolet asking everyone to put seatbelts on before we land.
I click my seatbelt and sit tight, waiting for the plane to land and for us to finally get off the plane.
Getting off the plane the air was warm, a sleepy warm. The kind of warm that makes you want to take a nap and when you wake up you're foggy and confused so you just go back to sleep. It was the kind of warm you want during a cold winter night. Standing there I can picture sheep laying in a green field snoozing in the heat. The heat made me feel sticky after a few steps.
"Scales, Daisy, Jamie, Bell!" I say their names when we're finally reunited with them.
"Let's get going," mother says.
She seems anxious, she must be pretty excited to be so close to reaching her dream. Now if only I could reach mine; going back home to my friends.
We head outside of the Airport and walk down the street to get a rental car.
"Can I put Daisy on her leash?" I ask, "this Carrier is heavy."
My mother groans, "fine, but keep her under control and keep her close."
I set the carrier down and I set my bags down right beside it. I kneel down and open the latch to Daisy's carrier, her leash in my hand before I fully open the door.
As soon as the door is open Daisy bowls me over, licking my face excitedly.
"Daisy!" I laugh.
I push her off of me and hook her leash to her collar. My father takes her empty carrier away.
I pick up my bags and keep walking, Daisy's leash in one hand, my two bags in the other.
I look around at the people here, all dressed lightly and all at least slightly tan from all the sun. I look at myself, my blue jeans with paint on them, black high heel boots, and a gray sweatshirt from a science camp I went to when I was younger. I feel so over dressed. Everyone around us was wearing light clothes and sun glasses.
"I feel so over dressed here," I say, "can someone hold Daisy's leash while I take off my sweatshirt?"
Kelly volunteers and so I have a moment to take off my sweatshirt before Daisy trys to drag Kelly around.
I peek at my phone while my father is getting a rental car, Daisy had calmed down and sat down. I have several messages and two missed calls that I'll have to respond to when we're settled into the car.
"Hop in," father says, tapping his arm on the side of the car.
We load into the car and I open my phone. Ash sent me three messages; a link to a music playlist, the playlists name, and a small description of it. The other messages are a group chat I made with some of my friends, including Ash, Zack, and Jake along with some of our other friends and a few of my cousins.
Katy: Lanaaaaaaa
Katy: Lanaaaaaaaa
Ash: what're you doing
Katy: I want to talk to her and she didn't respond to my calls!
Zack: she should be getting off the plane soon
Katy: oh
Katy: woops
Kayla: She'll message when she can
Jake: Yeah
Ash: mhm
I begin typing a response: sorry, I'm bac- I stop typing and try again.
Me: Zack was right, got off the plane a bit ago and just got into the rental car
Katy: hiiiii!!!
Me: hey
Zack: How was your flight?
I being typing "Alright"- no.
Me: good, wyd?
Zack: Listening to some music
Me: What're you listening to?
Zack: Who do you love
My heart flutters for a moment until I realize it's the name of the song.
Me: Cool
I hit the search bar on YouTube music.
I keep texting for the half hour until we finally arrive at the house I had heard so much about.
I say goodbye to my friends before stepping out of the car for a better view.
"This is it," my mother says wistfully.
My father puts his arm around her.
"Come on! Let's go!" Kelly squeals excitedly.
I look at the white face of the house, comparing it in my mind to the ugly green of our old apartment. I don't think the owner of the complex had any sense of style; he still wore bell bottoms and usually sported some form of tight shirt. I shuddered at the thought. One person I'm happy to be rid of.
"Well, let's go in," Father says.
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