When I'm About to Give Up

Leaving Home

I'm doing it. I'm going to my dream college. New York University, better known as NYU. I've worked so hard for this and it's just a bit unbelievable. Leaving my tiny town in Illinois has practically been my goal since moving there in second grade. It's not that it's a bad town, but my family isn't the type to travel every holiday, so I got tired of it a while ago.

I'm actually driving to the airport now with my parents and big brother, who are being a little exaggerated about my leaving, if you ask me. It's almost like they didn't think I would get this far. They probably didn't actually, they were the type of people who didn't think anyone with a GPA below 4.0 was going anywhere. Considering my brother averaged a 4.5 and made me seem like a failure everytime it was brought up, it was expected.

We finally arrived at the airport, and my mom and brother were coming with me to New York for a bit to help me get settled in.

"You're in charge from here on. It's time you got used to the independence." That was my mom, she was excited and wanted to see how I was going to do on my own without having to get a call from the school. I was anything but a bad kid. If anything I was the angel in high school, who kept quiet and did what she was told. My friends were geniuses or people who volunteered in their freetime, or both in some cases. She had nothing to worry about and knew it too. She was saying this so I felt okay about being on my own.

"Okay guys, uh, I think the terminal we're supposed to board at is somewhere over there." As you can see, I have no idea what I'm doing. It's a good thing we came an hour before the flight leaves.

I don't know if it's just me or if airport security making me nervous is a normal thing. I shouldn't have anything to worry about, right? It's just a new college student going to her college... not a terrorist! Either way, I couldn't help but feel a little on edge.

Once my brother helped me figure out the maze that was the airport, we were just in time for boarding. I know I wasn't the only one who noticed the beau that was in line. He was about 6'2", strong, and apparently going on my flight.

My brother and mom were sitting somewhere up in front and I was seated in the middle of the plane. This didn't go well with me. Stranger danger has been my motto since birth and if someone doesn't switch seats with me I will die!

I was getting up to ask someone to switch after a sick middle-aged man took the partner seat when the mysterious guy from line asked the man to switch so that he could be closer to his sister. The man said yes! What was going on? I didn't see him in line with anyone. Either way, I was still keeping him from being with his family.

"I can switch seats with your sister if that's easier for you?" I hated getting in the way and I'm sure she would be sitting next to someone that's not sick.

"No, don't worry, I didn't bring my sister. I just needed an excuse to sit next to the cutest girl on the plane for the flight." And he winked afterwards. Well... That was forward.

I turned an obvious shade of red after he said this and I didn't have a clue how to respond. He seemed to enjoy that because I caught him smirking.

I decided to check my phone for lack of something better to do and saw a text from my brother. I'm watching u.

Great. So he saw what just went down. I swear I will die alone because of him. The flight attendant made an  announcement and I turned off my phone. I decided to listen to the radio provided by the plane and get some sleep but my neighbor here didn't have the same idea.

"So what's your name?" Here we go. I'm obviously tired and any other time I would gladly talk but I didn't sleep an ounce last night because I was going over my checklist. That, and I'll probably never see this guy again so why waste my time trying.

"I'm Sam. You?" Don't blame me! What kind of person would I be if I just said Sam?

"My name happens to be Brian. What brings you to New York?" Okay... So he doesn't feel like stopping. Peachy.

"I'm actually going to start college there." It's not like he needed to know more right?

"Really? I go to college there too. NYU. I'm coming back from visiting a friend for the summer." He smiled to himself when he said it. That "friend" was probably a girlfriend. But he's going to NYU??

This trip just got interesting. "I'm going there too! What year are you in?" I couldn't believe it! If all the guys there looked like this I wouldn't be able to focus.

"I'm a sophomore and doing undergrad dentistry. It's a great school, you made a good choice." When he was saying this he took out a laptop and started to turn it on. I guess he's done talking.

"Congrats, and I hope I did. I better catch up on some sleep though." As fun as he was to talk to, I could barely keep my eyes open and it looked like he needed to get some stuff done too.

"O... Alright. Maybe I'll see you around then?" He sounded almost hopeful, but what would I know, I've never had a boyfriend in my life.

"Maybe." And with that I drifted off.