The Unexpected • Pedro Pascal

1.1

'Bye mum, I love you.' Mira whispered as she held her mother in a tight embrace. It'd been years since she hugged her mum like that and Mira felt a swell of regret at the pool of her stomach as a tear made its way down her cheek.

'I love you.' She whispered back in certainty, rubbing her back as tears freely streamed down her face. Mira was the firstborn and letting her go was hard. University was different, even though she'd moved out, she was still in London albeit on a different end. But this was different. This time there was the Atlantic Ocean and a 5 hour time difference between them. Mira's mother placed a kiss on her cheek as she finally released her daughter from her embrace. The girl smiled sadly at her mother before wiping her tears and turning to her step father.

Mira wasn't particularly close to the man but she was tolerant of him, he was the father of her two half brothers. She gave him a brief hug and quickly moved on to her two younger brothers.

'Bye, honey.' Mira whispered as she squeezed into the youngest, who reluctantly lifted his arms to return the hug. 'Will you call me in New York?' She asked in an attempt to stop her tears from falling again. 'No.' He replied, causing her to laugh and ruffle his hair.

Lastly was her other little brother. At 5 years old he was incredibly intelligent, emotionally and academically. 'Bye Mira, I'll miss you.' He said as Mira leant down to hug him. 'I'll miss you too sweetheart but I'll be back soon, okay?' He nodded and let her go as Mira quickly checked her suitcases were still there.

She moved to bring them next to her and brought her handbag to her shoulder. 'Bye guys.' Mira said as she looked up from her bags, she couldn't believe this day had finally come.

'Text me when you land, okay?' Her mother reminded as she began to wheel her suitcases up the ramp. 'I will. Bye!' The family waved as Mira set off into the terminal where she'd meet her friend who was flying out to help her set off.

'Sophie! Hey, sorry I'm late.' She said as she engulfed her friend in a hug.

'No don't worry, my uncle had to leave but I haven't been here too long.' Liar, Mira thought, you've been sharing your location with me I know you've been here 30 minutes at least.

The two smiled as they headed towards the check in queue. 'Are you excited?' Sophie asked her friend who was frantically trying to download the JetBlue app to show her boarding pass to check in.

'Hello, where are you travelling to today?' The airline worker asked.

'New York.' Sophie answered as she noticed her friend hadn't even heard the man.

'That desk over there for you ladies, enjoy your trip.' Sophie wordlessly took hold of one of Mira's suitcases as she followed the man's directions to the check in desk. Unable to check in on the app she showed the lady at the desk who huffed and waived the desk check in fee for her. She hauled her first suitcase onto the belt and prayed it fell under 21 kilograms.

19.2 kg flashed on the scale and she exhaled as the tag was placed on the handle and it was sent off to be loaded into the plane. A small panic filled Mira as she realised she hasn't wheeled over her other suitcase and a quick look over her left shoulder meant she didn't see the bright teal suitcase anywhere. Sophie moved the suitcase into view and Mira sighed again. She was never usually this stressed with travelling.

'Thanks girl.' She smiled to her friend and loaded up her next suitcase. 17.3 kg. She smiled as the lady gave her a printed copy of her boarding pass. 'Are you checking anything in?' Mira asked her friend who'd been so helpful she wouldn't have been able to do this without her. Sophie shook her head no and the two thanked the desk assistant and began walking upstairs towards security.

'How are you?' Mira asked her friend, finally able to partake in conversation without her mind racing about what else she'd forgotten.

'I'm good, glad to be taking a vacation to be honest.' Sophie shared as they began removing the liquids and placing them into the clear bag they'd been allocated.

'Yeah, I'm sure. How is working with your dad?'

Sophie had deferred a year for a combination of reasons and was spending time at home working alongside her father, a local potter.

'It's good, I'm surprisingly really enjoying it. And the money is really nice too.' She giggled as they scanned their passports to head through to the queues.

'I bet, I was meant to buy a mug for Christmas for one of my friends but it just got so busy and I forgot to message you.'

'Oh don't worry, I know what you mean. I can't believe it's February already!' Sophie smiled at her friend.

The pair began peeling off their bags, jackets, and scarves and dumping their electronics into the large trays. They both quickly made it through and began dressing themselves again.

'Oh I'm so excited, I can't believe we're actually going to New York!' Sophie nudged her friend as they walked through the many shops open in the terminal. 'Are you hungry?' She asked her friend

'I could eat, I feel like now the check in anxiety is over I could definitely eat actually.' Mira replied as they headed towards Starbucks.

'Oh shit, they've called our gate,' Mira noticed the red FINAL CALL beside their flight number.

The girls quickly scrambled to put on their coats and haphazardly threw their scarves around their necks. Mira did a final check and they began dashing through the terminal. Of course it was one of the furthest gates away.

Arriving at the gate Sophie noticed that people were very much still queueing to get on the airplane and it was very much not 'final call'. Annoyed, they checked in and struggled to find space to sit.

'That's so annoying, I literally threw some of my coffee away because I knew it'd spill if we ran.' Mira complained.

After around 20 minutes of waiting boarding finally began and the two girls were chatting animatedly as the others around them found their seats.

The lights turned off as the plane reached its cruising altitude and the two girls passed out from exhaustion.

'Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Welcome to New York.'