european // ONEYNG

two

"We are now pulling into beautiful Los Angeles International. The weather is a dry 81° Fahrenheit, and it is 8:32 AM. Thank you for flying with Spirit Airlines."

The pilot was saying some other dumb shit, but I couldn't be fucked to listen after the horrible turbulence I had just endured. I felt like Michael J Fox was holding the shit up with all the shaking the plane did.

It was all made worse when a bunch of virgin fliers decided to clap after the plane landed. I rolled my eyes and exhaled as I turned my phone back on.

I told Arin I had just landed, he promptly told me he was coming through security with a few friends. Hoping it was Ross and Holly, I stood up and stretched. I was hungry, though I was energised from sleeping on the plane. I figured I'd find somewhere to get a sandwich before Arin and his friends got through security.

I grabbed my carry on, my personal, and my headphones as I disembarked the plane. I could only assume I looked like garbage. I was covered in pretzel crumbs from those shitty packets the stewardesses give you with soda. I had a stain from this kid throwing his hot dog around during a before take off on the plane. Plus, I wasn't wearing any makeup and my hair was up in a ponytail, in hopes I could get to my hotel and shower.

A stewardess thanked me for flying Spirit, and I internally laughed. I thought about how they must be on their last leg with all the bad reviews and that was their plea to get people to come back. A bit of a stupid thing to laugh at, but it held me from complaining further about the airline.

I found a bagel kiosk and ordered some food before I got hungry-sick. After a few bites, I got a text from Arin. He was out of security, and was looking for me.

I explained where I was, he understood, and I patiently, but nervously waited. I couldn't even remember what I looked like when he last saw me, if he would recognise me was still up in the air.

I saw him first. It hit me then, how he used to be one of my best friends back in the day, and he hadn't entirely forgotten me. I walked toward him, it was him, Suzy, Holly, Ross, and what I believed to be Oney.

I had never talked to Chris, though I had intended to a multitude of times. He was one of the very few animators I looked up to on Newgrounds, being only 2 years older than me, but halfway across the world.

"Have you ever been on a flight with a bunch of virgin fliers and they all start applauding during landing like a bunch of simpletons?" I asked Arin, who had been searching high and low for me. He looked at me in shock, and pulled me into a hug. "I can only hope those same people started booing when that one flight landed in the Hudson River."

They all laughed, reminding me why I loved them so much. Ross and Holly hugged me as Suzy started tearing up. Arin held it in better, appearing to not be as phased.

"Where have you been, dude?" Ross asked, keeping his wife on his shoulder. "Could've sworn you were animating one second and bailed the next."

"Ah, you know me," I started walking with them to baggage claim, "I can't stay in one place for too long. I was in France for a while, Philly, then New York."

"Talk to Jon?" Arin asked, attempting to carry one of my bags, yet I refused to let him. "In New York."

"Yeah," I admitted with a chuckle, "he was upset when I left. We had the same apartment building, actually. He's the one who convinced me to move there."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Chris following the group of us on his phone. He clearly didn't know why he was brought along. He didn't know who I was, nor did he seem to care.

"Oh, by the way," I turned to face Chris, "I'm Chloe. I used to animate on Newgrounds back when it was cool."

He got off his phone and smiled, "Chris," he said matter-of-factly, "Oney, I don't know if you even know who I am."

"Oh no," I chuckled, "I know who you are, I meant to talk to you after that animation panel at MAGfest. But it was such a clusterfuck that I had to leave early."

"Oh god, that was fucking shit," Chris shook his head, "I lost my mind. I needed to piss the whole time."

"I saw the video where you lost it at one of the autistic kids," I huffed out a laugh, "I don't know how you didn't laugh earlier."

Suzy butted in, "are we going back to the office, or the house?"

"The office, then house," Arin explained, "you'll see the rest of the gang. I can't think of anyone you don't already know, though."

"Matt and Ryan," Ross piped up, "Ding Dong and Julian, too. They're a quartet of retarded."

"I'm willing to bet money on all of us having some degree of retardation." I corrected, to have Holly laugh and agree the loudest. "I can't say I missed California." I changed the subject.

"Where is your favourite place to travel? I assume it's changed," Holly asked, and she was right, it had changed.

I thought for a second, trying to recollect on everywhere I had been in the past seven years. "I think it's a tie between Spain and Wales."

"Wales fucking sucks," Chris argued, "what the fuck do people do there?"

"Their best," I looked back to him, and saw him laugh a bit at my joke, "but in all actuality, it's good for art. Not tourism, really."

"Wales sucks," Chris repeated, "fuck Wales."

"Fuck you," I joked, "that was actually the only place I went in the UK."

"Step your game up, bitch." Chris rebutted, and I knew from that moment on that we would get along just fine.