I pulled a hand through my blonde hair as I glanced out through the airplane window. I sure looked like the Swede I was. Blonde hair and blue eyes, just like everyone thought that everyone looked like here.
The sun was rising. We had to take the earliest flight as we were going to Brussels and then to New York. It was huge, considering we were just two small town girls from Sweden now taking on the United States.
I leaned back in the chair and closed my eyes for a second before I opened them and turned to watch my sister, only to find her asleep. I sighed in disappointment as I studied her. She wore the so typical her KENT t-shirt and her long, brown hair was pulled into a messy pony tail that rested on her left shoulder.
It was insane I was to experience something like this with her. During the years we'd gotten even closer and today I considered her to be one of my best friends. We'd been through so much together after all. She knew every last part of my personality and I knew hers.
We were pretty much opposites to one another. We were both happy and open people but while I was someone who took things as they came and acted as if everyone were friends I hadn't met, yet she was more into planning and choosing her friends carefully.
She hated things as hetero-normativity and sexism. She would put you in your place if you said something that she was against. She never meant anything bad though. She just wanted equality no matter which gender, color or sex they were. I agreed with her on that one. To me it was obvious that a person shouldn't be judged by something she was born with but by the choices she made.
I remembered that time I had waited for her last class to finish and I was seated by her table as her teacher said something she reacted to. She never put him down, but she did put him in his place by showing him how wrong he was and that made me really proud of her though I was worried it'd affect her grades later on. It never did though.
She really was an amazing woman, my sister. She wasn't much older than me, barely an adult, although everything about her was so adult. She was so secure and sometimes I felt as safe with her as I felt with our mother. Then again, she knew things about me that my mother would never find out, and that for a reason.
She had this way of lighting up a room. Everyone just knew she'd entered the room when she had. She always drew attention to herself.
I'm not putting myself in a bad light here. In fact, people turned their heads when I entered the room as well. Perhaps not because of the same presence as she had, but I knew I was open and happy and that was what people wanted to be around.
I glanced out through the window again before I leaned my head back to the headrest, closing my eyes with a smile.
* * *
After finally arriving to the airport, our next mission was to find our management. It turned out to be a lot trickier than we thought; the airport in NYC was a lot bigger than the tiny one we had in Stockholm.
I raised an eyebrow as I was watching my sister wave her arm. “What are you doing Dani?” I asked bewildered.
“I think they’re the guys from the band” Daniella smiled and pointed me to the direction where four guys were standing by their bags. One of them caught my eye wearing some weird goggles on the top of his bright yellow hat. “Yeah probably” I nodded in agreement.
An older man walked ahead of the others gesturing for the guys to follow him.
I felt a nervousness rush through my body. I wasn’t shy at all and in fact I liked to meet new people, but to actually stand here and wait for them those seconds before they actually approached was a bit nerve-racking. We would after all be touring with them, being around them 24/7, and I did appreciate their music but mostly I was amazed at how fast they’d reached where they were right now. It was inspiring and I hoped that’d happen to me and Dani. I didn’t want to be a one hit wonder after all.
The first one to greet us was a tall guy with black hair brown eyes. His funny looking goggles slid down his forehead as he rushed forward to shake our hands. “You guys are the Swedes right?” Before he gave us the chance to reply to his eager question he opened his mouth to say something else. “I mean that’s so cool! I don’t think I’ve ever met a Swede before!”
I glanced awkwardly at my sister before I smiled amused by his ways.
“Calum, let’s not scare the girls” A guy with dyed hair that made him look like he wore a skunk on his head grinned. “I’m not!” he objected.
“He’s right Calum, now introduce yourselves properly” The older man dressed in a proper suit said, having a strict look in his eyes. “I’m Brian by the way; the boys’ tour manager and therefore I’ll be at your service as well”.
Wow, next to the four younger lads, he looked extremely mature. I could tell that Calum wasn’t the only one with eyes glowing in excitement. “And my name’s Ashton, Ashton Irwin, you don’t need say it all, just Ashton… or Ash” he rambled, shaking our hands with a boyish smile.
“Or Smash, his superhero name” Calum filled in quickly. “And I’m Cal-Pal…” I watched him receive a glare from the tour manager. “Or you could call me by my real name Calum”
“Figured” Daniella said grinning back. I was bewildered by the fact that she actually thought they were hilarious. She usually surrounded herself with an older, more mature crowd.
“Michael, pleasure to meet you” Michael winked at us.
Busy by the presence of the three guys who had just greeted us, the fourth that had stayed silent all the time suddenly approached us. His hair was blonde and his smile could get any teen heart racing. I figured he might be the front man in this band. “I’m Luke, nice to finally meet you.”
“And I’m Thea, and this my sister Daniella” I introduced us both.
“Terrific. Now while I’m going to find out why the rest of our crew is sitting on a delayed flight why don’t you guys sit at the lounge and get to know each other?” it wasn’t as much of a question as it was a command to us when Brian directed us. We all nodded in agreement as we followed the signs to our lounge.
I wondered what type of people I had actually met, but I couldn’t wait until I got to know them better. They all seemed really nice and energetic.
