the greatest- drew starkey

chapter 1

I get off the plane with my carry on my back and my purse hanging on in the crook of my elbow. I don't rush through the airport to get to luggage claim. Instead I just take my time making my way over to the escalator that's below the sign pointing to the baggage claim area. The airport isn't too crowded, but somehow my flight was full. I keep walking until I get to the luggage pick up carousel and the red light starts flashing along with the buzzing of the alarm to notify the passengers that their bags are coming out.

Immediately I spot my purple twin suitcases from Marshall's turning the corner, on the conveyor belt coming my way. The only thing standing between me and my belongings is a decently familiar tall man- boy wearing a backwards baseball hat. His shaggy locks of brown highlighted hair concealed by the navy cap.

"excuse me, can I just sneak behind you?" I ask softly, trying to get to my things and the dude scoots over for me "yeah no problem" the voice sounding very familiar but I brush it off. I pick up one of the purple suitcases, the other being too hard to pull off the belt.

"let me help you" none other than chase stokes says and he yanks it off with a groan. "thanks dude. I really appreciate it" There's a huge height difference between the two of us, making him literally look down at me. "oh hey dude, I'm so tired I didn't even recognize it was you" he says messing my hair up "don't worry about it" he smiles "do you need help getting these to your car or something?" he asks me. "I'm sure I'll be fine. Thanks. I just need to find my driver first"

"Oh cool, I'm getting picked up too so I can walk with you over there so we can find your car" the boy says pulling his black suitcase behind him, stacked with a camo green duffle on top.

the two of us walk over to the pick up area where presumably drivers hold up white signs with names scribbled on them in black marker.

"how was your flight?" Chase looks away from his phone and over in my direction "decent. how about you?"

"not too bad, not too bad" he says looking around "are you excited to start filming?"

"so fricken hyped you have no idea" my eyes shift around and I finally find my driver with a board that says Taylor "oh my person thingy's here" I say "I feel bad for just ditching you. want me to wait?" Chase looks at me and smirks "I've just been waiting for you, my driver's over there" he points towards the door "whoops" I laugh and cringe at the same time " he smiles at me "see you" I wave as I take my things and pull them in the direction of the driver.

"Ms. Taylor?" the driver asks and I nod "that's me" I smile. The man takes my suitcases and backpack, leaving me with just my purse. "you can hop in if you'd like" the man says as he leads me to the black SUV. The car makes me feel like some sort of political figure who needs to be driven around by secret service agents all dressed in black suits.

"I'm taking you to the-" the driver says as he steps into the vehicle just to see me sitting in the passenger seat which is apparently shocking. "t-the landing apartments right?" I just nod with the driver as he merges onto the road.

as we drive through the highway, I can't help but take out my phone to document the beautiful waterfronts surrounded by palm trees. The sun shining down on everything makes things look extra tropical.

I send a few pictures of the palm trees -being adorned by the sun and furnished with the tropical blue waters in the background- to my dad. After I text him for a few minutes, I put my phone in my purse and just take in Charleston until I get to the complex where I'll be spending the next six months.

The car pulls up to the complex and the driver helps me unload my luggage from the vehicle. "thank you for the ride" I say to the man "anytime" he smiles before he climbs back into the car and taking off.