Disconnected | Luke Hemmings

chapter thirty one

As predicted, it wasn't hard to convince Amy to join me on the surprise trip to London, and it was even easier to have her on board once I told her that it would be a surprise for Michael, too. I told her to come over after I finished work the next day, and I ran everything by her that Michael and I had figured out on the phone.

"This...this is the best idea, Danielle," Amy sighed happily. "I can't believe we're going to London to see them. They're going to be so surprised!"

"That's the idea," I answered.

"So what are we waiting for?" she asked anxiously. "Buy the tickets, girl! We've got a flight to book!"

I bit my lip nervously, hesitating. I looked at my laptop screen, which displayed the website all programmed for a purchase of two round trip plane tickets from Sydney to London and back. It was expensive, but we were both in a position where we could spend the money on the trip as long as we were careful with expenses in the coming months.

"It's just...my mom..." I said quietly. I chewed on the inside of my cheek sheepishly. On the one hand, I felt like I shouldn't have to ask for my mom's permission to go visit my boyfriend of three years. On the other hand, I wasn't exactly going to take a short little trip to visit him, either. I was caught in the awkward in-between phase of being an adult and still needing to ask permission for things that I felt old enough to do.

Amy looked like she was fighting the urge to roll her eyes, but instead she opted for the gentler approach to my dilemma. "Look. You already know what your mom is going to say. And you've already made up your mind. She's hardly ever home these days, anyway. Can she really blame you for wanting to do something a little...crazy?"

I nodded slowly, considering her words. "I know. You're right. It doesn't matter. I need to see Luke, and I need to do this. Plus, I already told Michael, and I'm not about to deal with his puppy-dog eyes if I back out of this." I huffed out a sigh and looked at my computer determinedly. "Okay. Screw it. We're doing this."

So we spent the next half an hour reading through the flight details, entering our information into the site, and finally purchasing the tickets. As soon as the screen on my computer redirected us to see the receipt for the purchase, Amy wrapped her arms around me in a gigantic hug, almost knocking me over from where we sat on my bed.

"We're going to London!" she squealed.

***

Also as predicted, the nerve-wracking part was explaining all of this to my mom. I was anxious about it from the moment that Amy and I bought the tickets, but I also knew that it was the right thing to do. I felt good about my decision to fly to London for Luke, and even if my mom thought it was crazy, it wasn't like we could back out of it now. Our flight would arrive in London on Friday, April 8 just in time to rush to the O2 Arena and surprise the boys before they had to go onstage. If everything went according to plan, then we would get there while the opening acts were still performing. And I had no choice but to explain it all to my mother now, because the trip was now less than a week away.

I was all jitters the next day. Since it was Saturday, Mom and I were both home from work, and I made sure to keep myself busy for the entire day, though not quite so busy and secluded that I arose suspicion. I cleaned my room, went for a walk around the neighborhood, read for a while, and then declared that I would make dinner tonight, and that Mom should take the evening off from responsibilities for a little while. It was the most cliché way of sucking up in the book, but I didn't have time to get creative, and I didn't want her to think that anything was weird before I actually got the chance to talk to her.