Overcoming Fears

I sighed in relief as we passed through the sliding doors of the airport. The blast of warm air that greeted us soothed my cheeks, chapped from the cold Chicago wind. We got into the long line for baggage checking and waited. I kept glancing impatiently at the time. We quickly grabbed our tickets as it shot out of the machines and lifted our bags onto the scale. We was already running late for our 11:30 flight, and airport security had become even more strict lately.

Niambh groaned when she was forced to take off her shiny red Converse at the metal detectors, and quickly jammed them back on her feet before rushing off again to our gate, nearly tripping over the laces as she went.

Flight 409 to New York is now boarding.

We got to the gates and handed our tickets to the flight attendant, happliy returning her polite smile as she directed us to our seats. I glanced into the cockpit, interested as always by the panels covered with switches and knobs. This was only my fourth or fifth time flying, but Niambh had never flown in her life.
''It'll be alright Niambh, look, hold my hand." I said to her.
"Thanks Sam." she replied.
The downside to this was that my fear of flying hadn't faded yet either, even though I had flown more times then Niambh had. I was joined by a seatmate, a 30-something man in a pin-stripe suit, with a small bit of facial hair, a patterned tie and a neatly combed back hairstyle. Me and Niambh looked at eachother and smiled slightly, trying not to laugh.

We buckled our seatbelts as the flight attendant demonstrated how to use the breathing masks and indicated the emergency exits. I tried hard to regulate my breathing as the plane ascended, fighting off my anxiety that the plane would crash, or be hijacked, or any number of things that I knew were impossible but still feared. Niambh was sitting next to me, holding my hand tight. She lifted her feet up one by one and slowly laced up her Converse to keep herself distracted. I realized how pathetic I was being, 17 years old, and still afraid to fly! At least Niambh was trying not to think about it. Once the flight attendants began to serve drinks I was finally able to relax. I gave Niambh a smile, showing her that we was alright now, even though I didn't feel too good myself.

And hour and a half later, we stepped off the plane, pulling our bags alongside us. We was desparate for the toilet so badley, we rushed into the nearest bathroom. I reminded myself that it was not a good idea to drink a two cans of Coke before getting on the plane. Whilst Niambh was on the loo, I caught sight of my reflection in the mirror and sighed - I looked terrible. My hair, naturally brown with a redish tint to it, was normally straight and hung to my shoulders, but right now it was bunched up around my chin, tufts sticking out at odd angles and stray hairs hanging in my brown eyes.
" Niambh, I wish you would be quiet with your pissing, i can hear it and it's NOT nice! Hahaha" I said from the other side of the toilet door.
"OH MY GOD, you bombaclart, fuck off, haha!!" she replied.
I laughed and grabbed some tissue, washed my face, clearing make-up and revealing my pale cheeks and the dark bags under my eyes. I quickly re-applied foundation, mascara and eyeliner and soon I looked alright. I ran a brush through my hair and glanced at my phone for the time, annoyed when I noticed that we was supposed to meet our ride in ten minutes.

We walked out of the toilets and headed towards the airport doors. I noticed a sign and stopped Niambh in her tracks. The sign read Warped Tour.
"Niambh, look, over there, that's what we're supposed to be looking out for, right?" I asked.
"Yeah, that's the one, let's hurry!" she answered.
We hurried towards the man standing near it. He had dark, spiky hair and heavily tattooed forearms, and I felt for some reason that I had seen him before.
“You must be Sammie & Niambh, am I right?” he questioned. We both nodded and he started walking, taking mine and Niambh's suitcases. I lifted my shoulder bag higher on my shoulder and followed, linking Niambh's arm as we walked.
“I’m Brian Schecter, the manager of the band you’ll be travelling with.” he told us.

Brian Schecter? It was a familiar name, but before I could place before I had seen it before, but I was face to face with the answer.
The five members of My Chemical Romance were leaning casually against a large silver bus, all wearing sunglasses and trying to look well hidden, though they were attracting glances from passerby.

As Niambh and I approached, they all rushed toward us, speeding both of us onto the bus.
“Hi, I’m Frank. Sorry about that, I thought I spotted a fan.” He was about my height, with black hair. “They’re kinda scary,” He informed us, widening his eyes for effect.

I must have looked freaked out, because Gerard, already flopped onto the couch, said, “Aww, dude, stop. You’re scaring them. That one looks like a goldfish,” Pointing at Niambh. This brought Niambh to her senses.

“Me?!? You look like you got in a fight with a bottle of grease and lost!” There was a moment of silence, and then everyone burst into laughter, and she clamped her hands over her mouth. “Oh my God. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that,”

“It’s okay. Gee’s an ass anyway, it’s about time someone stood up to him,” Mikey grinned at her.

Each of them approached us and shook our hands, Frank bouncing around and introducing himself several times until Brian dragged him away. When Gerard came up, Niambh tried to apologize again. “That’s okay,” he said. “You probably made yourself really popular with the guys because of that.”

“Show them their bunks, Gerard,” Brian called, still restraining Frank in the small hallway.

Gerard picked up my bags and walked towards the back of the bus. Me and Niambh glanced at the bunks and i said “Dude, they’re like shelves, can I have the top one Niambh?!?”

“Err. . . yeah, if you want it .. .” she replied.

“Yay!!” I squealed, immediately climbing up into it and hanging off the edge, staring at all of them. “This is so cool!”

Gerard laughed at me and said “Wow, you’re more enthusiastic then most people are about these things,”

“Yeah, I went to a summer camp in like, secondry school and they had bunk beds and I always wanted the top one, and my roommate and I played truth or dare for it but I suck at truth or dare and so I lost and . . . sorry.” I mumbled.

He laughed. “That’s okay. There’s a little storage place at the end for your stuff, and you can put your suitcase under the bottom bunk, you too Niambh”

“Cool, I didn’t pack much anyway,” Niambh exclaimed, grabbing her shoulder bag and pulling her stuff out.

“Oo... CDs and... Freddie Mercury's autobiography?” Ray asked.

"Oi, that's a really interesting book, okay?” I muttered.

“That’s cool, Frank loves these books too. Can I look at your CDs?” Ray chuckled.

“Knock yourself out,” Niambh muttered, shoving her suitcase under the bunk.

“Smashing Pumpkins, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Queen, hey, you have us in here!” He smiled at Niambh, “You are a fan! I guess that explains your hair being on fire and all that.”

“Guys, shut up now, i'm already getting a headache.” I said, yawning wide. “Why don’t we go to sleep, we’ve only got a couple of hours until we meet up with the other bands anyway,”

“Good idea Sam, I'm bare tired, i've been working so much over the past week. Right, Night all!"

“Good afternoon, more like,” Gerard muttered as he walked away.