In the spotlight

53

Sofia Christensen

"...please fasten your seatbelts." The voice of the lead stewardess woke me up from my shallow sleep. I opened my eyes and adjusted my glasses before stretching out my cramped-up limbs.

I did as the stewardess passing by my seat asked me, and fastened my seatbelt in front of me as we prepared for landing. I checked the time on my phone with groggy eyes. It's been almost 7 hours since I got on the plane in Madrid, and I still have another 7-hour journey before me to Bangkok.

I loved flying, but 14 hours altogether took a toll on me for sure. Luckily, this time I had one very important circumstance that made me excited on the spot whenever I remembered.

The plane touched the concrete ground of the runway as I started packing my stuff away, along with the hoodie I pulled through my head because I doubt I will need it in the middle of the desert.

And my traveling experience did not betray me this time either, feeling the hot, dry air kissing my skin through the tunnel, leading me into the air-conditioned and luxurious airport of Doha, where we are waiting for our connection to Thailand.

The "we" just mentioned did not waste any time either; it did not take long until I could spot the familiar brown haircut in the distance, awkwardly wiggling through the crowd with his 6'5 figure, which also meant that my favorite Colombian is making the way for them through the people.

"Adri!" I exclaimed excitedly once our eyes met across the corridor. I left my suitcase next to the wall while I ran up to her, wrapping my arms around her neck.

"Aaah, I missed you so much!" We squeezed each other tightly, finally reunited at last. Since Paris Fashion Week, we haven't even had the chance to be in the same country, let alone together, and FaceTiming is just not the same.

After a few minutes of what felt like mere seconds passing, we let go of each other, trying to outtalk the other with everything we just didn't have the time to tell before Xavier had drawn our attention to him with a solid sign of clearing his throat.

"Dearest brother." I turned to him with a wide smile on my face. He looked unimpressed at first but couldn't hold up all that "we haven't seen each other for so long we are barely cousins now, let alone siblings" act and laughed out loud.

"Long-lost but never forgotten sister." He hugged me tightly but very politely, paying attention to omit any "inappropriate" behavior in the eyes of the public, considering that now I'm taken and everybody is well aware of it.

"What do you mean, long lost?" I feigned indignation as I put my hand on my chest. "We just talked yesterday." I reminded my dearest friend that we quite literally just checked up on each other yesterday while Matteo was on practice.

"Just next time make sure you end the call before you all plan on doing something that could ruin my innocence." Xavier shuddered jokingly as I felt heat rising on my face and everywhere else in my body.

"What?" Adriana laughed out loud incredulously, snapping her head back and forth between me avoiding her gaze in embarrassment and Xavier trying not to burst out in laughter.

"Bro, oh my god, how many times have I apologized for that since then?" Yeah, I might have been a little slow to end the call before I turned to Matteo, but I certainly wasn't late on writing an apology to Xavier, knowing damn well that he will use it to tease me later anyway.

"Not enough times to give me back my blissful ignorance." He shook his head as I grabbed my suitcase, and we started going out of everybody's way in the middle of the corridor towards the lounge.