I had never rushed the summer days away before. I had always loved summer and wanted it to last forever, but I wanted to skip the next week and be on a plane to New York. I packed my bags with the help of mum and listened to dads many lectures about how when I got to New York I was to go straight to my aunt Rose's house (she's actually my mother's aunt who lives in the suburbs of Manhattan) . That's where I would be staying (apart from maybe a few nights in the plaza hotel hopefully). I agreed but knew I would be dropping my bags at aunt Rose's and going straight to Niall's hotel. I couldn't wait to see him.
Leanne, Mum and Dad came to the airport with me on the Tuesday morning. It was early, like 6 am and I knew Mum had worked the night shift at work but still wanted to be up to see me off. She was too good. They walked me to Departures and we hugged and kissed and said our goodbyes.
"It's only 2 weeks Dad" I laughed but I hugged my tightly anyways. I hugged Leanne and reminded her how thankful I was and she just blushed as she does and shook her head. Then I gave one last wave and I was on my way.
The plane, I thought, was going to be stuffy crowded and uncomfterable. But actually, I had a window seat and I put my earphones in and slept for most of the six hours. It was great and probably the best sleep I had in ages. I woke to the sound of the airhostess telling us that we would be landing in a few minutes. I packed away my fluffy blanket and magazines and iPod. The plane landed easily and I walked off and collected my baggage with no trouble at all. Uncle Tim was standing in the airport waiting for me. He wasn't much of a hugger but he shook my hand smiling. "Nice to see you Ciara. Wow you've gotten tall" he said, which was pretty likely seeing the last time he and Rose had seen me, I was eight.
We drove to their house on the suburbs of Manhattan. Aunt Rose was waiting out on the front porch, all of her nosey neighbours also on their porch's, waiting for me to get out of the car. "Now I know how Niall feels" I thought.
"Ciara honey!" Rose opened her chubby arms and wrapped them around me. (she was a hugger). "Hi aunt Rose" I said and we went inside. "Now I know you're rushing off to see this boyfriend of yours" she said and saw my face looking mortified. "Don't worry sweetie, your mother had told me everything. Well I made some cookies but Tim will drive you whenever you're ready". I hugged her again. She was so nice. I sat politely with her for half an hour and ate some cookies and drank lemonade and gave her all the tacky little Irish gifts, mum had made me bring over for her. After a while Tim came into the kitchen and asked if I would like to leave. "Sure! Bye aunt Rose" I said and we left.
My stomach was in knots on the way to the hotel. I had talked to Liam and he assured me that they would be in rehearsal in Radio City Music Hall. Uncle Tim drove me there at a painfully slow pace and made conversation only when we were stuck in traffic. It took about 40 minutes but honestly, I needed that time to prepare myself. I really hoped everything would work out. I wanted the surprise to go perfectly. I wanted to see the look on his face when he saw me for the first time in 4 months. I was still thinking about it when the car came to a total stop and Tim looked at me and nodded towards the big building in front of me. "Well, there you go Ciara" he said. I nodded and swallowed. "Thank you" I said in a tiny nervous voice. "I'll be back tonight to pick you up, just call Rose whenever", and he pulled away leaving me standing alone on the streets of New York.
I walked to the entrance and saw a side door. Liam had told me to go through the side door and walk down the hall to the left hand side of the stage. The security had been informed that I was coming so they wouldn't think I was just some crazy fan. I felt like a crazy fan as I walked alone through the long hallway, past dressing rooms and make-up areas. My heart was in my mouth. I saw a sign for "Left entrance to stage" and I stopped abruptly. There was no going back now. I took a deep breath.
Here we go.
