Beside You - Ashton Irwin

3

JFK airport was busy, grey, cold and musty as usual. I hadn't been here for over 10 months since my last holiday. I wasn't sure how long I had to be in Australia, a few months at most probably. I had forwarded my flight information to Eddie. I remembered what she had looked like when we were 13, but that was 4 years ago. I knew she had definitely changed in the past few years, so I decided to find her on Instagram. After a couple of minutes of... stalking? I found her account. I requested @eddie.clarke1 and switched my phone off. I looked out the window of the international terminal and watched a plane take off. 

When I was younger, I always liked to make up stories of where the planes were going. I also liked to make up stories about the people who walked past me. Like that middle-aged lady with the red shirt and purple luggage. Her name is now Susan and she and her husband are going to Barbados to celebrate their anniversary. And the family near gate 12 are going on their first family trip on a plane to Adelaide. My phone dinged with a notification from Instagram. @eddie.clarke1 is requesting @andypents.

I accepted her request and looked up to the screen with the flights on it. It said my flight would be boarding in 12 minutes. Thankfully my dad travels a lot so I upgraded my ticket to first class with his Airmiles points. I know I could have gone to the lounge using my dad's name to get in, how I usually got into places he was a member of, but since the election and FBI scandal, it would be best to keep a low profile until I reached Australia. The lady at the boarding pass scanning desk tapped the microphone for everyone in gate 14's attention. "Attention all passengers on flight AA-87902 to Sydney, Australia. Boarding will commence in 5 minutes, starting with First-class, Business class then priority and gold glass passengers. Passengers with children will follow next, please progress in an orderly fashion so we all get on the plane with no issues. Thank you for flying with American Airlines, enjoy your flight." 

I swiftly grabbed my carry on bag and my handbag and walked past the grumbling people complaining about not getting priority boarding. "Hey you, don't push in. Wait your turn. Priority first." the man shakes his head at me. "Sorry sir, I'm actually in first class. Enjoy your flight!" I walk past him while I can tell he's rolling his eyes at me. I show my pass to the flight attendant. She scans it and smiles at me. "Enjoy Miss Pentworth." She gave me a sickly smile and I gave her a fake smile back and walked down the walkway to the plane. The flight attendants at the door smiled at me and led me to my seat. Thankfully the flight wasn't full as there was no one next to me. The flight attendants did the routine safety instructions and I tried to focus and listen but all the information went in one ear and out the other. All the chaos that had happened in the last few days had finally caught up to me and was making us extremely exhausted. I fell into a deep sleep right after takeoff.

                                                  **Flashback - 7 years ago**

                                                Pentworth Family Christmas

"Eddieeeeee come on. We need to get the routine perfect for Gramma and Grandpa!" Andrea yells at Edina. The two girls were sitting on the ground outside the Northwest, Washington estate. The sky was getting dark while they created a dance routine to the ABBA song, 'Voulez-Vous'. "Andy, you need to swirl over to me, then do that high kick from ballet." Both girls had taken up ballet classes in their respective states. They had both decided to take classes when they were 6 years old, and since they were basically sisters, every time they caught up at Christmas and Thanksgiving, they would put on a show for their families. It was only about 6 pm, but the sun set early in DC. 

Their other cousins who were either many years older or many years younger than both of them ran around the garden while the adults drank red wine in the kitchen. "Kiddies, time for dinner!" Anthony, Adrea's 15-year-old brother yelled out to the other kids. He was the oldest cousin and had taken it upon himself to baby everyone else. Emilia, another cousin, who was 14, was very unhappy because of how Anthony was treating her. "Ant? I'm not a baby like Landon? Why are you so annoying?" Landon, Edina's younger brother, stood behind Anthony, but since Anthony was almost 6 feet, Landon only reached his lower back. Edina and Andrea finished up their routine and walked inside. All the kids, there were 6 in total, walked into the kitchen to where a buffet type line was, Gramma serving out turkey and potatoes, while the other mums passed out plates and beans. "Landon doesn't like turkey, Margerie, can you just give him some extra mash?" 

Laura, Edina's mum questioned. The line kept moving along and once Edina and Andrea had all their food, they moved to the dining room where everyone was sitting already. Grandpa was at the head of the table while everyone took their seats in their respective sections. The men sat up at the head of the table with Grandpa. Anthony was also deemed old enough to sit with them, he boasted about this to Emily who scoffed at him as she walked towards her mom. "Mom, why can't I sit with dad and Grandpa? I'm only a year younger than Ant?" The women looked at each other, a silent conversation going through their minds. "Em... just sit with the ladies at this end. You're a girl. We have lots of things to discuss! You don't want to sit with the men. They're going to be talking purely about sports, darling." Her mother says. 

Emilia goes to open her mouth when Melissa, Andrea's mum speaks up. "Just leave it, sweetheart. It's a tradition. It's just going to be this way. Okay?" Emilia nods and sits down next to Andrea, muttering something about equality, feminism and family bullshit. At that time, Andrea didn't know what any of those words meant. "Mom, what does bullshit mean?" Everyone went silent and snapped their heads towards Andrea. "ANDREA, WHAT WAS THAT VULGAR LANGUAGE THAT CAME OUT OF YOUR MOUTH?" Grandpa shouted across the table. "I-I heard Emy saying it." Andrea was on the verge of tears. Everyone glared at Emilia. "Emilia Jane Pentworth. Get outside now." 

 The rest of dinner continued without any issues, it was filled with small talk about upcoming events, the stock market and Islamic terrorism. Although Laura, Melissa, and a few others didn't agree with some of the Islamophobic, racist and sexist things coming out of Grandpa's mouth, no one said anything in fear of being exiled from the conservative Christian family. By the end of dinner, everyone was full. Edina and Andrea stood up to make an announcement. "We want to show you all our dance!" Gramma switched on the ABBA song as the rest of the adults made room for the 10-year-olds to dance. Although they were 10, ballerinas and had never taken hip-hop or contemporary dance classes in their life, their routine was pretty good. Rounds of applause could be heard from all around the house. "Ma'am.... Ma'am, the plane is landing, could you put your seat up?"

I snapped out of my dream as I saw the flight attendant leaning over me. Did I sleep for 22 hours straight? I guess that's what planes and minimal sleep over the past few days does to you. I peered out of the window by my seat. We were flying over the city of Sydney. I tried to spot different landmarks, but my tired and blurry eyes did me no good. I took out my phone connecting it to the inflight wifi, then checking the time in Australia, it was almost 4 pm. I logged onto my socials again, checked my group chat with my 'friends' to see what they had been talking about. I wasn't even sure if they knew I was in Australia, so I sent them a text then shut off my phone again. The plane started its descent. As soon as we would touch the Australian ground, I would start my new journey in Australia.