Mine.

5

SO THIS IS HOW I REMEMBERED MY EARLY TEEN YEARS

Me and Alayna boarded off the plane in Ireland. We walked around the airport, and she got coffee while I got a RockStar energy drink. Me and the man I made contact with on the plane glanced over at each other. I winked. He seemed the blush and abruptly look down back the hall. Alayna saw the whole thing, and she looked at me funny, wrinkling her nose. "You didn't, did you?" She said slowly. "Nah. I teased him." I say casually, dragging my bag against my heels. I clicked my tongue softly against the roof of my mouth, looking through the window. There were thick forests on one side, and a small old town on the other. We would have to get on another plane in...
Fuck,
Ten minutes.
My eyes widened when I stared at my watch, I started sprinting and grabbed Alayna's hand, I had no interest in the mainland of Ireland anymore, I wanted to see Barra.
I realized that Barra was in Scotland, not Ireland. Close, though. I got on the plane with Alayna trying to catch my breath, I was still 5'2 and hadn't grown since middle school. Alayna on the other hand grew three more inches. She kept up with me like she was just walking fast. We came from Belfast, North Ireland. It's a very pretty town, old and beautiful but I was in a rush. Which I shouldn't have been, this trip may be forever. I would like it to be but, I'm not exactly sure yet. I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing, I freaked out and just decided to leave. And now I realized that's a huge habit in the Branum family. Kelea, my damn father, hah, me. Good for Daniel that he didn't get that trait. I would fight if I were in a better position, but instead I decided to flee. Fuck working things out, I've already tried that so many times. I'm glad Alayna came with me, I looked over at her blank blue eyes, she was starring out the window almost lost in a world she may never get out of. I wonder what goes on in her head, she never spoke out in the group drama, or shared her opinion unless someone asked. Very reserved but not too reserved. I scrunched my nose while digging myself a hole of theories. "What didja smell kiddo?" She says with a laugh, her pale skin glowed along with her white teeth. "I smell," I paused. "I smell musk." She shrugged and got what I was saying. The old days when all of us got along, or at least most of the time got along, smelled like musk to me. I remember things in feeling and scent, I don't know why, but it feels like I time travel when that happens. The plane took off and it was only a thirty minute flight, the man I had witnessed in the other plane was in the first row, whilst me and Alayna were in the thirtieth row.

We landed on a beautiful beach, my eyes smiling at the view. Boarding off the plane, the man I had witnessed was behind me. I tensed up and wished I would have never teased him, but I'm so tired of being a virgin and thirty nine. That's like, the ultimate adult loser. But, he seems like a nice guy. He's very buff, tall, and not that bad looking for our ages. So why not. I gripped onto my bag, dragging it like a robot until we stepped off the plane. We went our separate ways and I sighed. "Let's go to the hotel room," I said, tired. It was about a fourteen hour flight and I definitely don't want to carry this bag anymore.

We got a hotel room and we stepped outside for a smoke.

I still look awkward when I hold it, I slump over when I do and suck on the butt of the cigarette. I looked at Alayna and how her silhouette glowed underneath the fluorescent streetlight. Her hair was long and it gained a natural loose curl, she didn't really care for it anymore. Her overall first appearance looks like she loves parties but hates them, that she smokes often but she rarely does it too. She's an unpredictable human being but predictable at the same time. Mysterious she is. We walked to the beach, it was almost midnight but we didn't care. Let the ghost crabs pinch our toes, it won't stop us from loving the black water with small white dots planted into it. I left my beat up shoes outside our hotel room, they reeked of sour milk and coffee, so I doubt anyone would take them. My toes sinked into the silk-like sand, it was nothing like North Carolina's sand. There were small yellow lights from boats and one big one that span down the coastline, I suspect that, that is a lighthouse. "Yo, we should go there." She took one last drag and bent down to place the bud in the sand, sniffing and wiping her nose as she got up. "Yeah, sure why not, fuck it."
We climbed up stone stairs to our destination of the night