Metathesiophobia || Billie Eilish

Chapter 5

"Do have everything? Toothbrush?"

"Check."

"Hoodies?"

"Check."

"Wallet?"

"Duh, who travels without a wallet? Chill Avery, everything is packed," I try to reassure her as we stand in my room, ready to zip up the already overflowing suitcase.

"Just making sure," she says before closing the suitcase and sitting on it to make the task before me slightly easier. Once I've managed to zip it up, Avery unexpectedly stands up and tackles me onto the bed in a hug.

"I'm going to miss you so much!" she says into my neck and I squeeze her tighter in response.

"I'll miss you too loser," I joke and she pulls away only to playfully push me.

"How much time do you have left before you have to leave for the airport?" she asks and I look at my watch to see that there's only a few minutes left until my limo arrives to pick me up.

"Five minutes, but that's about how long it'll take to get this monstrosity downstairs," I say laughing, motioning to the stuffed suitcase.

"I'll help you," she offers and I give her a thankful smile in return.

When we get downstairs, into the elevator and walk in the lobby, Henry and my parents are waiting for me by the door. They hear us and their conversation seizes and they turn to me. My mom comes over and gives me a tight hug, my dad following her actions before my eyes eventually land on Henry. I walk to him and he pulls me into his embrace, whispering sweet things in my ear. We pull away and I see my family watching the interaction, making me blush.

"Be safe honey, I love you so much!" My mom says holding my hands in hers.

"If you get into any trouble, we're only one call away," my dad says.

"Thanks dad," I say, giving him a sweet smile.

"Okay enough with the gushing, you're gonna be late," my sister jokes and I laugh.

"Yeah, I better get going," I say taking my suitcase by the handle.

"I'll walk you out," Henry offers and I nod. I give everyone another hug while I let Henry take my suitcase. We walk outside to the waiting limo and the driver puts my baggage in the back. Henry opens the door for me, but stops me by taking my face in his hands and leans in to kiss me. Our lips move in sync as we engage in a heated make out on the streets of the city I adore, not caring about the people walking past us.

"I love you," Henry says after we pulled away, our foreheads touching as we're catching our breaths. My breath hitches, because this is the first time the words have left his lips. I told him once that even if words don't mean anything in the end of our lives, I love you would always be the purest phrase humans have ever invented to express a emotion that is so complicated that we can't even begin to describe it. We somehow managed to sum it up in three simple, yet meaningful, words. I love you. Many songs, poems and books owe their existence to the emotion attached to the word love.

I don't know why I couldn't bring myself to say the words back to Henry, but I simply kiss his cheek softly in response.

"Bye Henry," I say, looking in his eyes before I climb into the car and he closes it for me. He stays there until the limo starts moving smoothly across the road. I look back at him until I can't see his figure anymore and turn my body to face forward before taking a deep breath.

-

The car pulls up to the airport's entrance and I open the door to climb out. Maurice took my luggage out the back before he bid me good luck and I was on my way.

When I walked through the doors of the entrance, I was met with the familiar noise of a busy airport. Every time I'd travel, airports were one of the most interesting sights to see, especially a airport like JFK, where such a mix of different people from all over the world travel to and from. As I was busy sitting and waiting for my flight to board, already through the hustle of baggage drop off and security, I busied myself by looking at the people sitting around me, guessing their stories. I found it way more interesting than sitting on my phone, scrolling mindlessly through instagram.

I was snapped out of my daydreaming when the monotone voice of the lady on the intercom said first class was ready to board. When I asked the company about the tickets, they simply said it was already paid for. I was quite stunned when I opened the e-mail they sent me, only to discover I was flying first class. I would've been fine flying economy (even though I've never experienced it before). Getting there was all I had to do, I didn't care how.

"Thank you for choosing American Airlines, enjoy your flight," the flight assistant said after she had led me to my seat, a smile plastered on her face as she did so.

Although I'm completely comfortable where I'm seated, I don't know if I'm ready for six hours and twenty five minutes of overthinking how the meeting will go with this Billie character.

-
I've never had my heart broken, but I'm curious how it feels. Is it really how it's portrayed in movies or is it uglier? Tf I'm dumb, of course it's not like in the movies. That's just sadly all I have as reverence.
Stay safe (and healthy)
- D