I’m standing at the baggage claim in by myself for the first time. I have stood here every year with my mom and brother for the past ten years in early June. This year my mom was waiting in the car and my brother was away at basketball camp. I was waiting for My Aunt Anne and her kids Harry and Gemma. I watched as the luggage conveyor belt went around and around. The sign said flight 12 from Heathrow airport in London to Chicago was running 10 minutes late due to storm clouds over the Atlantic. I swayed back and forth impatiently. I craved a hug from each one of my aunt and cousins. It had been a long year without them and I was ready to selfishly use them for all of their time and love they were going to give me over the next three months.
When my parents got married my mom wanted kids right away. She begged my dad for a baby every night and prayed for them before bed. My dad had different ideas. He promised my mom that they would start trying if they went to Europe for two weeks with no interruptions (like baby talk). My mother agreed and they were on an airplane to London the next month. While my parents were there they met Anne and Des Styles in a café. My father being the tourist that he is asked Des for directions to some landmark and the Styles family decided to walk them there. They had their two year old daughter Gemma with them and Anne was expecting a baby boy due in February. The two families ended up doing everything together for the rest of the trip. Anne and my mom haven’t lost touch since. They have been there for each other for everything even over a whole body of water. Anne and Des divorced several years ago and my dad left us for a new wife in Indiana right after my brother was born. They needed each other, so my mom opened our house to Anne and her kids for the summer. I was five when I met seven year old Harry and ten year old Gemma. We met at this very airport about ten feet away by the bathrooms. After the first summer we all spent together we were extremely close. But, Harry and I were always inseparable.
My head snapped up when I heard screaming coming from down the corridor. Girls of all ages were pushing and grabbing at one another just to catch a glimpse of the boy I grew up with, the boy who was my protector and the boy who happened to be my best friend. I hated how others knew who he was when we went out in public for the last three years. Hell, we haven’t been able to do anything because of the “cum hungry sluts” as Gemma calls them. Harry just smiled as he ran through the crowd straight to me. He picked me up off of my feet and spun me around. He kissed both of my cheeks and my nose. We then engaged in our top secret handshake that we made up that first summer together and he gave me another hug. Gemma was right behind him. She gave me a big hug and complimented my clothing choice as usual. Lastly was my Aunt Anne. She held out her arms to me to fall into. I melted in her comforting hug. I really missed my far away family. They were here, finally and everything was going be ok.
The crowd died down once they saw Harry was with “family”. We walked out of the sliding doors and across the street to the car where my mother was resting. She had vertigo, a disease caused by a tumor in her left ear. It made her feel dizzy and caused her to fall to the ground. It had developed three years ago but was getting worse as time went on and the tumor grew further into her head. No one would come out and say it, but it was the real reason all three styles were visiting. Gemma had a job and Harry had a week off before he had to go back on tour. Even Anne had just gotten back from her honeymoon and was leaving her new husband at home alone. All to see the last of my mother, all were there to say a possible goodbye.
I tracked the illness by what point harry was at in his fame. She fell ill when he went on the x factor, she was hospitalized when the first CD came out and was operated on when the boys won their first brit. The tumor ended up being inoperable, my mother has been living and dying with it ever since. I had encouraged my mom to stay home and rest but she still didn’t approve of me driving on highways by myself.
Aunt Anne opened my mom Scarlett’s car door. “Anne!” my mother cried tears of joy when she saw her old friend. She cried even harder when Gemma told her that she died her hair blonde to look like my mom’s. Harry gave my mom a warm hug. She was half his size! We all piled into the van. Anne took over driving so she could talk to my mom who was in the passenger seat. Gemma reclined her chair to nap on the way to my house, so harry and I took the back as we always did. Taking my hand after we buckled in he looked at me and smiled. “How are you love?” he asked. I looked at him with tired, happy eyes. “Peachy keen babe and you?” he laughed and said “I am so tired but I am so glad I am here with you.” With that I leaned my head on his shoulder. We all rode the rest of the way in silence. We all knew where each other was coming from, each one of us holding on the same amount of stress but for different reasons. It was an understood vibe the car shared.
