Shreya Rao, a 25-year-old Kindergarten Teacher from Mumbai, India is a passionate lovatic. A kindergarten teacher by the day and a passionate singer and musician by the night, her voice and music skills are confined within the four walls of her stud...
When I stepped out from the airplane and into the LAX Airport after 26 hours of journey, it was a bright, sunny afternoon. The sun rays cast a warm glow all over the busy place. I walked up to the designated conveyor belt to pick up my suitcase. The belt was yet to move.
As I waited, I felt someone's presence beside me. I turned my head to look at the person standing beside me and my eyes met with a familiar pair of hazel green eyes.
Instantly I froze.
(Olivia's P.O.V.)
As I walked towards the conveyor belt, I noticed Shreya standing beside it, eyes fixed on the strip of metal. I was awe struck. I had never imagined she'd be this beautiful in person. Seeing her online through a screen was something I was accustomed to; even that had stopped happening after some time I tried to confess my feelings six months ago. We rarely spoke after that night and then she vanished from the online realm altogether.
I sighed and walked towards her. As I took my place beside her, she turned to face me and a look of shock passed across her face. But she shook it off and flashed me a small smile.
"Long journey, huh?"
"Pretty much" I chuckled, "Waiting for your luggage, I see."
"Aren't you waiting for the same thing?"
"Just my guitar." I motioned towards my backpack, "I like to travel light, you know."
"Geez, lucky, you could bring your guitar. I couldn't even think about packing mine." Shreya chuckled nervously.
"Well, you can use mine if you want to." I said softly.
We fell into a rather awkward silence as Shreya averted her gaze and moved her focus back to the belt. She casually tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and I noticed a tiny silver earring, shaped like a rose in full bloom. I smiled, even though Shreya couldn't see it.
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(Shreya's P.O.V.)
Oh God, this is awkward, I thought. I couldn't find any words to say, so I shifted my gaze back to the conveyor belt. Some moments passed. The silence hung heavy and you could cut the tension with a knife.
Suddenly a cheeky voice startled both of us.
"Well, well, who do we have here?"
I turned around to find Anastasia waving her hands at us and running towards us. I secretly heaved a sigh of relief.
"Hi Ana," I said, "Long time no see."
"You're the one who vanished." Anastasia poked my cheek with her index finger, "My, my, you have become more beautiful, Shreya."
"Haha, you're not so bad yourself, hunny," I laughed as I wrapped my arms around her. The feeling of finding the long-lost friends was back, stronger then ever. As we pulled apart, I wiped a tear away from my cheek and so did Anastasia.
"It's been so long," she sniffled.
"I know, I'm sorry."
"Hey, hey, don't forget me!" Olivia said from behind me. I moved aside to let the two best friends talk. As they caught up on their journey and stuff, I noticed that Eliza was standing at the conveyor belt, trying to look for her suitcase. I quickly walked to stand beside her.
"Miss me?" I gently tapped on her shoulder.
She squealed and jumped. Once she turned around and saw it was me, she engulfed me in a bear hug. "I missed you." She kept repeating. Tears blurred my vision again. Guilt clawed at my insides as I wiped them away. I really made a mistake in detaching myself from my friends. But I had no other choice.
As these thoughts rushed into my mind, the whirrrrr sound of the conveyor belt coming to life caught my attention and I quickly pulled myself apart from Eliza to focus on the belt. The first thing that came into view was a guitar case. I quickly glanced back and shouted at Olivia, "Liv, your guitar's here."
Olivia came rushing towards the conveyor belt and gently picked up the guitar. "How did you know it was mine?" she asked.
"Erm, the charms kinda gave it away." I pointed at the lovatic heart charm and the star charm hanging from the case.
Anastasia came running too. "Whew, finally we are gonna find our luggage."
And surely, we did. A couple of suitcases later all of our suitcases started to pop up. We picked them up and walked towards our way to the exit gate.
