We Came Alone but Left Together

So half of Tuesday had passed before I needed to leave for J.F.K. Airport. It was bothering me that I was only a few hours away from meeting and getting to be with one of my favorite bands, and I couldn’t just leave already. My plane left at 8:30 P.M. and landed in Texas 3 hours later than that... I was counting down the hours, Twittering my friend out of the country every hour so she could count down with me. 12:00... 1:00... 2:00... 3:00... 4:00... 5:00... Finally, the clock struck 6:00 P.M., the time I was due to start loading up the car and head over to the airport. Knowing me, if I left too late I’d miss my plane or wouldn’t be able to eat at the airport, something dumb like that. Plus, there was the whole airport process that took the longest time.

The large, overly-stuffed black duffel bag of mine had found it’s way into the back seats of my mom’s simple black car, along with toiletry bags, electronic essentials, and all the rest that I’d need.

My brother was joining me to the airport to bring my car home afterwards, and he wanted to spend some time for me. Something about feeling guilty that he hadn’t spent any time with me over the summer yet, and now he wouldn’t be able to see me until August.

“Throw this sucker in,” I instructed at Ant, nodding my head at a compiled C.D. I’d burned from my iTunes library. Anthony just nodded, doing as I said to before leaning back into his chair a bit as some Teddy Geiger songs played.

“Is all this going to be Teddy?” Anthony ended up asking, once we’d gone through three Teddy Geiger songs already.

“Maybe... There might be some others thrown in, but the majority is in fact Teddy.” I smiled sheepishly, hearing a chuckle come from Anthony.

“So how’d you win this thing anyway?”

I answered simply by saying, “Forever the Sickest Kids obviously understand my sense of humor and decided that they just must have me with them.” Ant chuckled a bit, being like the boys of F.T.S.K. and liking my humor.

“Well, it’s good you’re going, but I’m going to miss you Lyss,” Ant admitted. I glanced at him to see him pouting slightly.

“Awh, come on. I’ve got my phone on me, which aside from texting and calling also has Twitter and M.S.N. My laptops also with me. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to call my favorite brother at least three times a day. I’ll also stay up late chatting with you, because I run better on less sleep anyways.”

He laughed, I laughed. I was enjoying this little heart to heart.

“Oh get me some autographs by the way,” Anthony said. Oh well, it was sweet while it lasted.

“You’re just using me for connections!” I laughed, showing I wasn’t being serious. “I’ll remember to. We share a music taste, remember? When I meet these people, I’ll freak out for the both of us.”

Anthony nodded, thanking me greatly. “The night air breathes, it’s not so easy as before. Did you notice, did you take the time to listen to my breath or to my words?” Ant was singing along to Night Air, my (probably) favorite Teddy Geiger song.

“When I spoke, explained my feelings and my reasons for the way I loved you! We’re getting to the point...” I sang back at him, seeing that we were finally nearing the airport terminals. We needed our last minutes together to be full of brother-sister bonding.

In unison, we sang the chorus. “And I feel like I do, even more now that I’m leaving you. And I feel just like I do, when I’m with you.” We finished off the song just as I pulled up to where I was going to drop myself off and let Anthony drive my car back home. It is odd that the two of us were singing along to a lovey-dovey song, but that’s just how we roll.

“I’m gonna miss you baby bro!” I exclaimed, giving him a huge hug as we stood outside of mom’s car.

“I’ll miss you, too. You know that! Just remember to buy some shirts for me and get autographs, pictures, videos, anything.” I rolled my eyes, but knew this was as sincere as he’d be. I squeezed tight for a few more seconds, before pulling away to retrieve my bags from the inside of mother’s car.

Duffel bag slung over my shoulder, with my electronics, toiletry, and et cetera bags held firm in both hands. Giving a small wave with my head (something I had done many times before, so it wasn’t as odd as it might sound, at least not to Ant). Anthony nodded, before getting back in the car and driving off.

I walked into the airport, blowing right past suitcase check-in (all I had was a duffel bag and a few other tote bags, I’d get away with the carry-ons) and towards the escalator that would lead me to where I could get checked to see if I was a threat or not.

I had ended up flashing my ticket and I.D. multiple times throughout all of this, feeling very relieved once I was in the food court area. I wasn’t hungry, but did think I might need some water and fruit for the trip. Once purchased, my snack items found their way into one of my tote bags, as I walked over to where I would wait for my plane to let us load.

Reading a book I had brought along, Stargirl by Jerri Spinelli, occupied me during this time. I’d also texted Austin to confirm how I was going to get to where the boys stayed. Kyle was going to meet me at the airport, so that’d be easy; just look out for the bright blonde head! And then it was time to get on the plane...

Plane rides were always slightly boring, but I preferred them hugely over car rides. They were shorter at least, and I could read on them (in cars I’d get sick). That was what I did for the ride, listening to my new iPod when I was able to, causing the time to just race by. In no time, we got the memo of landing in Dallas, Texas.

Stretching once I was out of my seat, I grabbed my duffel from the overhead carrier and my totes from underneath the seat in front of me (somehow, they’d all fit). Getting off the plane took some time, but I wasn’t complaining. My iPod was playing music again for me, now that we were aloud to have electronics on again.

Once on actual land again, more like the floor of the airport, I looked around for the bright blonde head I would have to find. It’d be my beacon of light, to help me get to where I needed to be. Yes, I’ve realized I’m excruciatingly odd. It’s not a surprise to me.

Basically, I didn’t need to look because this beacon had attacked me in a hug. I didn’t even know how Kyle knew it was me, but he did. “Hey there! I’ve seen pictures of you, but those don’t do you justice.” Cue slight blush. I didn’t blush too much to be honest, and when I did it was minimal. I was blessed.

“Thanks,” I said, brushing my slight embarrassment off with a chuckle. “You’re pretty great in person yourself.”

“Why thanks Lyssinator!” He was still doing that? Really? I laughed quietly, because it was pretty funny to me. “Now let’s go to baggage claim.”

“No need, this is it.” I shrugged my shoulders, showing off the various bags that were on me.

“Really? Well if you run out of clothes over the two months, you can borrow from any of us, feel free.” That wouldn’t be needed, as I’d packed enough for more than three months, if I used my way of dressing.

“Thanks for the offer, but I don’t know if I’ll need to borrow anything. I’ve stuffed about my whole closet in here. Don’t underestimate the bag,” I said meaningfully. I laughed, Kyle laughed. He then moved to take a bag from me and I eagerly gave him my duffel. There were also some shoes in that thing, so it’d gotten mighty heavy for me.

“I can feel about a full closet in here,” Kyle teased, flicking his head in the direction that would take us to the exits. I followed him, feeling much better now that some weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. Literally.

“I love your car!” I exclaimed instantly, seeing one of those classic ones right before Kyle.

“Thanks! I love it, too. It’s my baby,” Kyle explained, unlocking the doors manually using a key. I’d said it was classic. I don’t lie. “I even learned stick-shift to drive it, so y’know, that shows my devotion for this.”

“I’m impressed.” That’s all I said before getting in the passenger seat, placing my bags right at my feet. Kyle had thrown the duffel in the back right after I’d settled in.

“So, let’s roll,” Kyle exclaimed, starting his car. Throughout the beginning of the ride, we chatted a bit just to get to know each other. I had to say, his driving was pretty good, seeing as he was driving stick-shift.

“Are we there yet?” I had eventually started up this little game, asking him about every minute if we had arrived at the place he lived at with his band mates.

“No, we aren’t,” he answered each time, not showing any signs of annoyance. Well that was good, he didn’t find me annoying. It would be awfully terrible if he did, as I’d be with him and his band for the rest of the summer.

A final time I asked, “Are we there yet?” I was growing tired of being a car, starting to fidget excessively. My legs were bouncing, the fingers of one hand tapping the leather of the seat while the other played with my hair.

“Yes we are!” That was the answer I’d been waiting for for practically the whole car ride. Finally! Kyle pulled up to a nice, but still modest looking home.

“We stay here for just tonight, right?” I asked, my hands on the car door handle. I was this close to just jumping out while the car was in motion. There was no need to though, for Kyle had parked right before the urge had gotten the better of me.

“Yes, and tomorrow we leave early morning. You might want to go to sleep at a normal time.”

I scoffed. “Psh, you’ll find I’m better with no sleep.” Kyle just looked at me oddly, probably one of those people who damn well enjoyed their sleep. I did, too, don’t get me wrong, but if I slept too much, I was impossible to awaken.

The blonde helped me take my things inside, shouting out that he’d arrived back when we walked inside the doors. “We’re here!” The time was a little past 1:30 A.M.

“Kyle! Have you brought the female with you?” A very curly haired individual ran into the room. Marc!

“Dude! It’s Marc!” I exclaimed. I also reacted this way when Jonathan and Kent ran into the room to greet us. “Okay, my fan-girling is officially done. Now, I’ll introduce myself and try to pretend I’m cool.” I laughed a bit, before telling everybody that I was the infamous Lyssinator, otherwise known as plain old Alyssa, Lyss, or Lyssie.

“Awesome to meet you,” Marc told me, giving me a hug. Okay, so was I living the dream or what? Johnathan and Kent did this, too. So my life rocked. I’d gotten hugs today (plus yesterday when I’d met Kyle) from 4 of the 6 Forever the Sickest Kids.

We hung out like cool people for a while, playing some video games and eating late-night snacks. I tried hard to not pig out too hard, for I wasn’t really supposed to (my mom was a health nut, who liked me to eat in moderation and try to watch what I ate). Sometime after I’d arrived (I didn’t know exactly what time) and we started hanging out, the door opened once more.

I looked over to see a familiar looking ginger and a familiar looking brunette, plus two girls who I didn’t know... One of them must’ve been a contest winner while the other may have just been a friend tagging along for the ride or something. Okay, I was finally meeting the last two Sickest Kids and the other contest winner. Try to be cool...

“Dude!” I exclaimed, forgetting the whole ‘be cool’ thing. I did that, exclaiming ‘dude’ randomly, when I was excited or nervous or something. Great... Now they'd think I was some breed of psycho or something.