Joost And me

Sunrise

There I was, neat and tidy on the plane the next day.
I found it exciting because I had never flown without my mother present, even though I am of the age where I could do that now.

Joost had very kindly sent the link to my plane ticket last night, so that I could load it into the airport app.
We had a chat and I immediately felt relieved when I kept seeing his name pop up on my screen.
I was somehow afraid that it was all a dream, because it all happens so quickly.

He had booked a seat for me by the window, he said that I could look outside and think about the beautiful memories I want to make in Rome with him.

But after we took off, all I could think about was the person next to me in the seat... I was so stressed and afraid that the gentleman next to me did not have his phone on airplane mode that I kept looking anxiously at his telephone..
At one point the man noticed and irritably tilted his phone so I couldn't watch.

I decided to put my earphones in and not think about all the Air Crash Investigation episodes I've ever seen.
I quietly closed my eyes once my soothing music reverberated through my earbuds, which I had downloaded from Spotify in advance.

Breath in breath out...
Breathe out... Breathe in...

I followed the gentle pace of the music and absorbed it into my breathing.
Every time I looked at my watch, because I wanted to touch my phone as little as possible because I was somehow afraid that I would accidentally turn off my airplane mode.

Breathe... 1 hour and 30 minutes to go.
Exhale..

After repeating this a few times I apparently fell asleep, which I was very happy about because I had used all night to pack. I went to sleep at half past four last night and my alarm went off at 6 am, the plane left at 8:15 am.

I woke up to heavy turbulence, or so I thought.
Because when I realized that the vibrations could only be felt on my chair, I looked back with a flash of lightning at the person who was kicking my chair behind me.

Or rather person, I think the child was no older than about eight years old.
My music had switched to deep house, instead of the quiet music I used to listen to at the time.

I looked at my silver watch and saw that the landing was about to begin. If all goes well..

I was actually more concerned with thinking about Joost than about flying and landing, because before I knew it we were safely on the ground and I had my hand luggage in my hand.
Everyone was already getting up to walk to the exit of the plane and once I had walked out of the bridge between the plane and the airport so I could pick up my hold luggage.

With my thoughts about what is to come and what I should say when I see Joost, I stared into the distance.
I thought about the moment when he would see me and I dreamed about his beautiful eyes.

Swooning and yet secretly very much in love, I took my big blue suitcase off the baggage carousel.
I couldn't wait to feel his big hands around me and smell his perfume with my nose.

With my suitcase I walked out of the airport looking for a bus outside, towards the address Joost had sent me.

I walked up to a man who was calling,
"Hi do you know which bus takes me to this address?"
I turned my phone towards the man and he read the address with his own phone still to his ear.

"Casella 62, signora."
"Grazie, ciao."
I was finally able to make my basic Italian speech impediments understandable to other people.

I went looking for the bus stop for line 62, when I found the bus and it was just arriving I was tapped on the shoulder.

I turned around and saw a middle-aged man looking at me hopefully.
"Signora, why are you going with the bus? Come i will help you with your suitcase!"

"Oh that's okay, I wanted to go with the bus so I can listen to some music." I dismissed the man with my waving hand and a smile.

"No! No! It's not okay! Mister Klein ordered a taxi for you, I will take you to the hotel."

Before I knew it, the man grabbed my suitcase from my hand and walked towards a black van.
With my hand on my chest, all I could do was smile and feel embarrassed.
I was embarrassed by the idea that Joost is so thoughtful, so sweet and cute at the same time.

I walked behind the man, almost skipping from the happiness that bubbled up inside me.
I didn't know whether it was because of the warm weather or because of the idea that I would see Joost soon.

"Come follow me signora!"
"Yes, yes I am coming!"

The man did not walk to the black Mercedes van, but rather to some kind of mini limousine.

He opened the trunk and placed my blue suitcase inside.
He looked at me and said: "Here you go, this is better than the bus, you can listen to beautiful music in here."

And the only stupid thing I could say back was:
"FOR MEEEE?? THIS IS FOR MEEE??! That is sooo cute!"
Like I was an obsessive fan being picked up by a limousine with all of One Direction in it.