Pieces of Love

Chapter 9

A small group was escorting us to the airport as we left for London. Lily, Sophie, Isaac and two of Jacob's friends by the name of Dylan and Nicholas were there at the departure gate. Of course, our parents were there too.

"Bye guys!" Lily was waving cheerfully, being the bubbly, cheerful self that she is. Sophie however, was just busy talking to Jacob's friends until Lily nudged her in the elbow and nodded her head towards us, which earned her a glare. Despite so, Sophie walked forward and pulled me over to one side, raising questions from me.

"Let me get this straight, you are going to stay with Jacob alone for a week?" she asked. I raised my eyebrows, "Yeah...wait actually his cousin is also going to be staying with us. It's her house after all." She wriggled her eyebrows suggestively and I punched her in the shoulder, making her giggle nonetheless. I rolled her eyes at her childish act and went back to Jacob, who was watching over my one-piece luggage and violin when Sophie pulled me away.

"Bye mum! Bye dad!" I yelled, blowing both of them a kiss. Jacob just settled for a hug from his parents. "Be careful!" my mum exclaimed and I nodded my head before following Jacob into the departure gate.

I always had a fear of aeroplanes. Or to be more exact I always had a fear of being in a gigantic metal cabin thousands of metres up in the air and falling to my death. But somehow, in a weird way, I love long plane flights. Firstly, there is always entertainment provided. Secondly, I can read a book which I might not have time for. Thirdly, I can listen to music that I have downloaded on my phone for as long as I want. Call me weird or whatever, but I guess my love for books and music is stronger than my fear of dying.

"If I stay?" Jacob's eyebrows scrunched in confusion when he read the title of the book I was reading, "Isn't that a movie?" I sighed and pinched my nose. I swear, bookworms like me won't be able to tolerate this anymore and will die of annoyance.

"It's a book, turned into a movie, Jake," I said, staring at him pointedly. "In my opinion, the book outshines the movie. Although now that I think about it, the movies never seem to meet the expectations of the book," I added, scratching my chin thoughtfully.

"Even Harry Potter?" he asked, a mischievous grin plastered across his face. "Oh shut up, Lynch. You know that Harry Potter is an exception. Don't judge my bias thinking," I made a face and turned away from him. Oh, how mature of me. Hint the sarcasm.

We were already in our seats in the aeroplane, waiting for the last few stragglers to get to their seats. A blank screen was staring at me waiting for me to explore the wonders it contained. My hands itched to bring the screen to life, showing off its wide selection of movies. Well, I guess now I'll just have to settle for a book then.

Our plan was for Rosa to fetch us at the airport and bring us to her apartment. It was currently eleven at night and I estimated that we would be arriving in London around ten in the morning the next day. Before I knew it, the plane was slowly backing out into the runway and the lights dimmed, which I clicked my tongue to, now unable to read. Jacob chuckled at that and I ignored him. The plane rose into the air soon after that, making me gape in wonder at the night lights of Sans Francisco. Over to my right, Jacob was already taking out the headphones from the wrappings and I mimicked his actions, settling myself more comfortably in my seat and grinned at the movie selections before me.

Two hours later, I sighed tiredly as I removed the headphones from my ears. The cabin lights were off and the passengers were sleeping, if not, watching movies. I turned sideways to glance at Jacob, who was sleeping peacefully, snoring slightly. He looked vulnerable in his sleep, different from the athletic boy that I knew. His face was inclined towards me and I found myself subconsciously studying his features. Shaking my head, I turned off the screen, cutting off the end credits midway. With a grunt I heaved my legs up on my seat and fluttered my eyelids shut, leaning my head onto what I guessed was Jacob's shoulder.

***

My eyelids flickered open to the bright glaring sunlight. Groaning, my removed my head from Jacob's shoulder, blinking my eyes to the surroundings. "Wake up, sleeping beauty," I heard Jacob's voice like from a distance, far away. I mumbled something incoherent, before realising I had a bit of drool on the corner on my mouth. Embarrassed, I tried to wipe it away discreetly but Jacob saw it in the corner of his eye.

"Drool looks good on you," he said, making my jaw drop. Should I be happy that he complimented me or embarrassed that he saw? Jacob acted like he didn't say anything and continued, "We'll be reaching there in roughly two hours. Any plans on what you are going to do there?"

"Well... today is Friday and the concert is on Saturday. We should just rest for today and probably just walk around in the afternoon or something. On Saturday, we would need to meet with the person organising this event in the morning to show us around the venue and rehearse the pieces that Mrs Schmidt chose for us. Then, on Sunday, I'm planning on going to the Harry Potter Warner Bros studios ... don't look at me like that, Jake. I'm still surprised you are so chill about it even though you read the books. Literally every person I know that read the books has become a big fan of it. For the rest of the days, we can go anywhere we want to sightsee. And then, we will go back to Sans Francisco on Saturday," I reviewed the plan that I had thought through in my mind, being the organised freak that I am.

"That's okay. And hey, just because I don't flaunt my love for Harry Potter like you do, doesn't mean that I don't love it. By the way, when you were sleeping, I read a bit of If I stay. I didn't know you like reading romance books," Jacob replied, smirking at me. I was thoroughly embarrassed after this statement. A boy, reading my romance stories. How embarrassing.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone," he added, his smirk widening. I made a mental note to myself to never aggravate Jacob or he might use this against me. That was one of the many things I learnt about him. Oh, such a great friend I have here with me.