Flight 78B

Kind of Awkward

"Now boarding first-class passengers for Flight 78B to Los Angeles, California.” The petite woman behind the counter beamed with happiness as she put the intercom back down on the table.

I grabbed my small Kitson bag and held on to my Starbucks as I went to board the flight. After handing the overly-happy woman my boarding pass, I took a sip of my Caramel Macchiato and started walking down the small hallways towards the aircraft. I said a quick, “Hello” and “Thank you” to the flight attendants as they greeted me at the door of the plane.

I found my seat and slumped down in it, thankful that I could sit down again. I was still feeling incredibly groggy and still a tad drunk, but mostly in immense pain from my hangover. I quickly typed in the passcode on my phone and clicked the ‘Photos’ button, yearning to find some evidence of what happened last night. “Oh God.” I saw myself in nothing by my Victoria’s Secret bra, grinding on a twenty-some guy who was clearly having too much fun. I flipped through the pictures a little more and chuckled at a failed attempt at taking a picture of myself. My eyes were completely blood-shot and my false eyelashes were hanging on to barely anything. I scrolled through a little bit more and found my headache getting worse at the sight. I don’t remember anything last night besides getting in a cab to go to a bar. I wanted to spend my last night in Italy with a party, even though I swore to myself that the minute I left California that I would stop partying.

Towards the end of Senior Year, I could feel more and more people slowly hating me. I drank too much, ended up hooking up with people’s boyfriends, and stopped caring about obligations. I didn’t realize how messed up I was becoming until I ended up in the hospital from alcohol poisoning a couple days after graduation. As soon as I was admitted out of the hospital I packed a couple bags, kissed my baby sister Alihannah goodbye without a word to my parents, and headed towards the airport with no set destination. It was until I saw a map of the world that I decided I wanted to go to Italy because I felt that it had to be somewhat of a holy city, considering that Vatican City was engrossed in the country.

I continued going through the photos on the screen, smiling at the better memories of what happened while I was away. I clicked on a picture of myself in front of the Leaning Tower of Pisa and laughed a little at the people in the back of the picture, trying to copy the many recreations of tourists ‘holding up’ the Tower. My reminiscing was interrupted when a boy that seemed to be around my age lingered at the seat next to me. He stood there and looked as if he was debating whether to put his small carryon bag in front of him, or in the overhead compartment. I studied his appearance, he was wearing a white v-neck shirt that was clung somewhat tight to his very long torso with a black zip-up ontop. He paired that with dark washed skinny jeans and he possessed plain white converse on his feet. I looked back down at my phone while he pondered his decision, and I texted my best friend.

“Heading home, can we see each other when I get back?” I got an almost immediate response from Alexia saying, “Yes please! You have SO much to explain! How’s one day of rest sound? We can meet up on Wednesday.” I smiled to myself as I started to type.

I felt the boy sit next to me and I heard him buckle his seat belt as he started to settle in. “Um, hi.” His voice had a beautiful English accent laced into it and it was sweet sounding. I looked over at him and my mouth almost dropped. He was incredibly tan, his eyes were a piercing emerald green, and small curls draped around his forehead. When I didn’t reply at first, he gave a little smile and showed small indents on his cheeks, showcasing his dimples. “Hi,” was all I could mutter out. “I know it’s kind of awkward introducing yourself to the person you sit next to on a plane, but I figured we would be sitting here for about thirteen hours or so.” I smiled in agreement, “Yeah, totally.” He smiled again, this time a little bigger. “I mean we don’t have to talk or anything if you don’t want to, I just wanted to introduce myself to you.” He held his hand out at me, “I’m Harry.” I extended my hand out and tried not to shake from nervousness as I gripped his hand with my own. “I’m Cassidy.”