Another Hospital Stay

Chapter 8

"So, remember to call us as soon as you get there, okay, mija," was what my grandfather said as soon as I got into the car. I quickly promised that I would and didn't say anything else after that, realizing that if I said anything more to him, I would more than likely burst into tears. So, instead, I settled back in the seat and closed my eyes, only to end up getting a certain someone stuck in my head. I sigh and decide to just look out the window, which helped a bit but somehow, my mind kept on bringing flashes of that someone once again.

"Mija, we're here. Do you need any help whatsoever," my grandfather asks when he pulls into the airport parking lot.

I shake my head and open the door, still not getting out. "No, I can handle it. I'll see you soon, okay, abuelo? And thanks for everything. I'll call as soon as I get there. Bye, abuelo," I say, leaning over and giving him a quick hug. He hugs me back and I give him a kiss on the cheek.

"Bye, mija. Have fun and be careful," he says. I finally pull away and get out of the car, pulling my messenger bag over my shoulder and walking to the back to pull out my suitcase.

"I will, don't worry," I say, sticking my head back in the car and blowing him a kiss before closing the door. I grab my suitcase and carry it over to checkout, placing it on the conveyor belt and walking through that metal detector thingy before proceeding towards the huge board that displayed all the departure times. Luckily for me, my plane was on schedule. I headed over to the gate it was boarding at and presented my ticket.

"We'll be boarding in a moment, miss," the woman at the counter says, smiling. "If you could just sit in that area and we'll be calling the rows that will be boarding soon. Thank you." I nod and go sit down at a empty chair. A few minutes later, a girl, somewhere near my age or younger sits down next to me, wearing a T-shirt that said in blood red letters, My Chemical Romance. Above the letters, there was a cartoon drawn couple.

"Nice shirt. Is that band any good," I ask, remembering that that was the name of the band Gerard had said they were in before they left.

"Thanks. And they're fucking amazing," the girl replies, grinning. "I'm going home and I'm also going to go see them over in Trenton tonight. It's their second to last show before the end of this tour that they're on," she adds, pulling out an iPod and a set of headphones.

"You taking the plane from here to Trenton," I ask.

"Yeah. You," she replies, looking at me.

"Yeah, I'm gonna go visit my mom in a few days. Who knows, I might even go to that concert tonight, too. A friend invited me. Although I have never heard any of their music," I say, feeling myself starting to blush.

"You've never heard them before?! Oh. My. God, you so have to listen to them. Here," she says, handing me her headphones. "I'm Leena, by the way. Just call me Leena," she adds, holding out her hand.

"I'm Alexia…you can call me…Lexi, if you want," I reply, shaking her hand. I take the headphones and put them on. A few seconds later, I hear a guitar intro start and then someone singing. I listen to the whole song and by the time I take off the headphones, I'm in awe.

"Wow, they're really good. The singer's voice is amazing," I say, breathless.

"That song you just heard is called Thank You For The Venom. And the singer's name is Gerard. And he's like…gorgeous. I know all their names. Let's see, there are two guitarists, Frank Iero and Ray Toro
, one bass player, who's Gerard's younger brother, Mikey and the drummer, Bob Bryar. I worship them," she says, a distant, dreamy look in her eyes.

"Now boarding rows one through twelve to Trenton, New Jersey," a woman's voice says over the loudspeaker.

"That's me," we both say at the same time. We both stand up and grab our stuff, heading towards the gate.

"What row are you in," Leena asks, pulling out her ticket. "I'm 6A."

"6B," I reply, pulling mine out as well and looking at it.

"Sweet, we're gonna be sitting next to each other. Come on," she says, going ahead of me. She hands her ticket to the woman at the counter who looks at it and nods, letting her go through. I hand her mine and she does the same.

I get on the plane and find my seat, which wasn't that hard, since Leena was already there. I head over there and open the overhead compartment, putting in my suitcase and messenger bag.

"So, you said you're probably going to be going to the My Chem concert, right," she asks as soon as I sit down.

"Yeah, why," I ask, looking over at her curiously.

"Here. Listen to it and memorize as many as you can. Both their albums are on there," she says, handing me her iPod. "I'll just read my book."

I take her iPod and just sit there looking at it. "Umm…are you sure? Is the flight long," I ask, looking at her questionably.

"Positive. Besides, it's a pretty short flight. It's only a few hours," she says, pulling out a book.

"Thanks," I say, turning it on and starting to listen to it. By the end of the flight, I already had almost the entire first album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, semi-memorized. As well as a few of the second album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. So far, my favorite song was definitely Early Sunsets Over Monroeville.