"And on the news tonight a-"
Flip.
"Another theory has been developed on subject of-"
Flip.
"In the latest update on-"
Apparently there was nothing good to watch on television at three in the morning, so I quickly shut the television off. Gathering the dark blue blanket I was cuddling in my arms, I walked the short distance to my room and sat on my bed. I released a short huff of air. I didn't have much to do besides work at the veterinarian office, and that got boring after two years. My thoughts quickly went negative; 25 years old and still living in Florida. Helping animals is great and all, but it adds so much stress onto my life. I plugged my phone in and turned the light off. Sleep never came to me, sighing as I picked up my phone to check the time; 4:16 am. Opening my phone with my thumbprint, I went to Twitter and started scrolling and reading until a familiar face appeared in a tweet. I knew him from somewhere, but my mind was blanking on the subject of remembering people, so I tapped on his profile and began sifting through the tweets. Dan Howell. I knew that name from somewhere.
Then it hit me, like and unexpected punch to the face, he was one of my childhood friends from middle school. In fact, he was my best friend until I was dragged by my parents to the States for high school. I quickly calculated what time it would be in London, nine am was my result. I smiled and quickly inboxed him on Twitter; "Hey, it's Sydney from middle school. You might not remember me but it's worth a shot."
After I hit send, I went back to scrolling through my feed. A few minutes later a loud ding signified that Dan had inboxed me back. "Oh my god! Hi! I remember you, we were like the closest of friends. How are you?" I smiled at the reply and began typing back. After a few replies of small talk, I sent a reply with my phone number attached.
Maybe ten minutes later I received a phone call, from who I presumed was Dan. "Hello?"
"Hi!" A cheerful voice said back. "This is Dan, is this Sydney the dork?" He laughed while using the old nickname.
"Yes, I am!" I laughed, "I haven't heard your voice in ages, I've missed London so much."
"I can't believe we didn't stay in touch! You sound so American. How was high school and Florida?" Dan asked.
"Pfft! As if!" I countered by using a British accent, "High school was okay, but the people I met weren't as welcoming as I expected them to be. Florida is extremely hot in the summer and perfect in the winter. Although it's not where I plan to stay forever."
"Well if that's the case, you can always come visit my flatmate and I for a week or two." He offered without hesitation.
"Are you serious? Can I be there like tomorrow?" I asked completely shocked that he'd offer to do that for me.
"Yeah! Absolutely! I'll give you the address and if you want, I can accommodate for the flight fees." I could hear the smile in his voice.
I quickly jumped up, turned on a light and sat at my desk. "So what's the address and what airport should I fly to? You don't have to worry about the flight fees, I'll pay." I asked while grabbing a pen, paper, and my MacBook Air.
After scheduling a flight and letting my boss know I was taking a vacation, which she gladly let me do because according to her I work too much. The flight would leave at 5:30 pm today, so I began packing immediately. I grabbed my suitcase and my Jansport backpack. I packed the necessities like clothing, shoes, undergarments, and toiletries in my suitcase. In my backpack, I packed my MacBook Air, phone, earbuds, chargers, makeup, money, and my flight ticket.
The time was 3:47 pm by the time I was done packing, I tend to get distracted rather frequently, I called my friend, Maddy, and we scheduled for us to get coffee together at 4:00 pm. I got a taxi to take me to the Starbucks we agreed to meet at.
When I got out of the taxi, I grabbed my backpack and luggage, then ran to hug her. I could tell from the face she made, she was wondering what the suitcase was for."I found one of my friends from middle school on Twitter and I'm taking a trip to London to see him again." I explained.
"That's great!" She smiled. "I'm flying over to California to see Brendon soon, I haven't seen him in what seems like forever."
"You guys are the cutest long-distance relationship I've ever seen!" I really was happy for her and Brendon, to put it simply; I ship it.
It was around 4:25 by the time we said our goodbyes. I got a taxi to drive me to the airport. Stepping out of the car, I felt a rush of adrenaline course through me; I was seeing my closest friend for the first time in what seemed like forever. I went through security with no issues. As I was sitting and putting my shoes back on I caught my reflection in a nearby mirror. I was wearing a form-fitting maroon shirt, light wash skinny jeans, and maroon low top converse. I quickly fixed my brown, curly flyaway hairs and checked my mascara for smudges. Grabbing my luggage, I made my way towards gate F7 and waited in a nearby chair to board. My hand instinctively reached for my back pocket where my phone usually is, but remembered it's in my backpack. I reached in my backpack and grabbed my phone, I texted Dan to let him know I'm boarding the plane soon.
He texted back within the minute, "I'll be waiting for you when you get off the plane! Can't wait!" A smile formed on my face. Today was probably the most I've smiled in a few months. As soon as I opened the Instagram app, the announcer started speaking over the radio, "Flight 64 will be now boarding at Gate F7."
I shut my phone down, grabbed my luggage, and handed my ticket to the flight attendant. "Enjoy the flight." He said cheerfully.
"Thank you." I quietly replied then boarded the plane. My seat turned out to be a window seat, plus there was a girl relatively my age sitting in the other seat. I sighed, glad I didn't have to deal with gross or sick people. As I walked towards my seat, which was towards the back of the plane, I noticed she had purplish-greyish hair and dark brown eyes.
"Hi." I greeted as I stood in front of the row. I put my suitcase up top.
"Oh hi." She shifted her legs so I could get past to my seat. I put my backpack under my seat and looked out the window at the runway. My thoughts shifted to the thought of London. God I missed it. I sighed, releasing my physical emotions. Dan said he had a flatmate, I wonder who it could be. The flight attendants going over the safety procedures snapped me from my train of thought. Slowly, my mind drifted from the procedures to the window again. Over the intercom the pilot told us the flight would be leaving in five minutes. I hated lifting off, it was my most hated part about flight. My ears began to ring as we gained altitude. To avoid thinking about the echoing pain, I stared out the window trying to focus on the almost clear sky. Small puffs of white dotted the blue atmosphere forming shapes of all kinds. Then my eyes began to droop and I slowly started to fall into a sleep.
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I hope you liked the first chapter of my new book!
_Stay Safe_
-dandpfallatthedisco
