The Way We Learned to Love ✓

42 - lily

june 2019 : 1 year and 3 months ago

"You sure you got everything you need?" Liam asked as they approached the airport security checkpoint. The wheels of her suitcase lightly squeaked on the off-white floors as he rolled it behind him.

It was hard not to giggle at him double and triple-checking all morning that she wasn't forgetting anything she might want while she was away. It was simultaneously very sweet and hilarious—he was acting like she was going off into the wilderness where convenience stores didn't exist rather than to an even nicer city than the one they were in.

"You have your driver's license?"

"Yep."

"Meds?"

"Yep."

"Charger and headphones?"

She grinned and turned to face him as they came to a stop near the entrance to the security line. "Yes, but I could buy those here if I needed to, silly."

His fingers carefully tightened the end of her braid. "I know," he mumbled. "But you don't wanna realize it once you're already stuck on the plane."

Fair point. "Fine, you win this one. But I got them."

He silently nodded and came closer to place a delicate kiss on her forehead. She let her eyes shut for just a few seconds while she breathed in the happy, cozy scent of him one last time before she left – cologne and coffee mingling with that hint of laundry detergent freshness that liked to hang around on his clothes. It was her comfort scent, the one she wished she could bottle up and take with her wherever she went. She couldn't, so she had to settle for sneaking one of his tee shirts into her suitcase and hope he didn't notice its absence.

"Be safe," he murmured. "Let me know when you get there."

"I will," she promised. "I love you."

"Love you, too."

Liam reluctantly slid her suitcase over to her and her hand wrapped over his before he could pull it off the handle. She ran her thumb along the back of his palm for a fleeting moment before making herself let him go, only able to force herself to walk away and get in the TSA line once she had given him a proper goodbye kiss on the lips.

Excited butterflies started clambering around her stomach as she made her way through security. Despite the fact that she obviously didn't like leaving her boyfriend, she was practically counting down the seconds until she could hug Henry. Lily had never traveled on her own before and was a little nervous about that aspect of the trip, but it was actually kind of fun to walk around the airport shops and buy an obscenely large coffee with no one there with her to judge her for it.

The flight wasn't bad by any means, just long, but she had a window seat and had downloaded a bunch of podcasts to occupy herself with, so the time passed by as swiftly as it could. She happily munched away on the free Biscoff cookies and Goldfish—five hours was apparently long enough to warrant two rounds of snacks, which she wasn't complaining about.

The jitters returned when the flight attendants announced that they were about twenty minutes away from landing. Seeing new cities always caused a unique kind of excitement to bloom in her heart and this was the furthest she had ever gone from home. Yet in an odd and unexpected way, it somehow also felt like a homecoming of sorts because she knew that Henry was waiting there for her.

She texted him, Liam, and her parents as soon as the plane was on the ground and tapped her foot in restless anticipation while she waited for the rows of passengers in front of her to exit. Finally standing up and moving around provided blissful relief after being confined to such a tiny space for hours.