In An Aeroplane Over The Sea

Today was an exciting day. As I said goodbye to my parents at the airport, I rolled my eyes as how my mom held back her tears and how my dad kept hugging me, even though I knew it was only to hide the butterflies that circled my stomach. Two months may not sound like much, but for me, it was an eternity. And for my parents, it was like double an eternity.

“You have the tickets?” My dad asked, and I pulled out two slips of paper: one for my flight to England, and the other for the flight from England to Amsterdam. Honestly, the notion of flying to England just to fly another hour to Amsterdam was rather absurd, but the connecting flight apparently saved my parents a good hundred bucks, so I just went with it.

“And your passport?”

“I’ve got it,” I replied holding out my navy blue American passport. Jesus, it’s like you wouldn’t even know I was seventeen years old, the way they were freaking out. Sure, it was the first time in nearly eight years I was visiting my grandparents instead of them flying out to see us, but more importantly it was the first time I, Paisley Anne Thomas, was flying on a plane by myself; especially a six-hour plane ride that would eventually stop in London, where I would be responsible for getting on the connecting hour-long flight to Amsterdam.

“Cell phone? Wallet? Schoolwork?” My mom quickly listed, and I sighed as I pulled my orange backpack around my shoulder and unzipped it. Sure enough, clearly visible inside was my black laptop, a folder, notebooks, phone, and my small dark brown wallet.

“Anything else?” I asked as evenly as possible – I just wanted to go already! My mom sighed and pulled me in for a hug.

“Just… be safe, please,” she said softly, and I nodded into her embrace. I hugged my dad next, and with a small smile I headed towards security, glancing back occasionally to see that my parents continued to stand in the front of the airport until I could no longer see them. For a brief moment I felt lost in the real world: no parents to guide me, to tell me where to go, what to do, how to do it. But then I remembered that I was seventeen years old, and about to spend an entire summer in Europe with my easy-going grandparents. Did I really want to spend the summer with my parents as they celebrated their twentieth anniversary? Fuck no, I didn’t!

I breezed through security easy, adjusting the strap of my bag and wondering if my two other bags that had been checked and were going to be put under the plane were already on their way. I still had another hour and a half, so I figured that I would find my boarding gate and then do what I loved to do at airports: buy candy and trashy magazines.

I slumped down in one of the black plastic chairs at gate 4A and sighed. From my view out the window on the runway, it didn’t look like my plane had landed yet. There were a couple other people sitting and milling around, but no one that looked remotely interesting. Just as I was about to put my bag down and go find some food, I remembered what my mom had said: “Never leave your bags by themselves, Paise. That’s a recipe for disaster.” I sighed and put the bag back over my shoulder, realizing that even though my mother wasn’t here with me, I was still at the mercy of her advice.

About fifteen minutes later I returned to 4A, toting along with me a bag of Swedish fish, skittles, diet coke, Rolling Stone magazine, People magazine, and an US Weekly. Sure, it was insanely expensive, but I reconciled with myself that I just wouldn’t buy anything when I got to England in six hours.

As I entered the section of 4A where I had been sitting before I had gotten up, I saw that my perfect spot had been taken by a group of guys who looked to be only a few years older than me. My shoulders slumped in defeat, but I decided that just because my perfect spot with the perfect view was taken didn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy my Swedish fish. I suppose I had been standing in that same place staring at the group of guys for so long lost in my own thoughts, one of them saw me. He waved cheerily at me, and I blinked a couple of times before waving back with an equally large grin on my face. Oh well, at least it was nice people who had taken my seat.

I pivoted on my heel and took a spot about ten feet away from them, setting my bag down and opening up my bag of Swedish fish. I relished in the sweet, sugary taste of the first two I popped into my mouth, that I was tempted to down the bag right there and then. “Hi,” said a voice suddenly, and I turned quickly with wide eyes to see that the boy I had waved to was sitting right next to me. “I’m Jack. Can I have some?” He pointed to the bag of Swedish fish in my hands. I glanced over his shoulder and saw that the group of boys he was with were all laughing to each other as they watched the scene unfold.

“Sure,” I replied, holding the bag out so he could take some. But instead of taking some, he took nearly the entire bag. “Hey!” I exclaimed, shaking the bag slightly. “Put those back.” He pouted slightly, but dropped the majority of the handful back. I smiled. “Thank you,” I said sweetly.

“So, what’s your name?” He asked as he tossed back the candy I had allowed him to take. I saw that by now, the group of boys he had been traveling with were no longer paying attention, but were back to focusing on their individual electronics.

“Paisley,” I responded, putting the candy into my bag.

“And why were you looking at us like that before?” Jack questioned.

“You took my spot,” I answered.

“I didn’t see your name on it,” he teased lightly.

“I – uh,” I opened my mouth, but realized he was right. Had I left my bag there, I may have had some claim to the window view, but since I chose to follow my mom’s instructions and took my bag with me, they had every right to those seats. “I guess you’re right,” I mumbled. Jack just laughed.

“But that’s it then?” He asked when he had finally finished laughing. “You were only looking at us because we took your spot?”

“Well it wasn’t just any spot,” I retorted quickly. “It was the window spot. You guys are going to be able to see the plane come in and all the other planes take off. It’s the best spot in the gate.” I paused for a second, wondering why he had a look on his face like it wasn’t the answer he was expecting. “Should I know you, or something?”

“No, no!” He said quickly, and I raised my eyebrow in confusion. “Just… come sit with us?” Jack asked, and I weighed my options.

Option one: listen to my mother and not talk to strangers.

Option two: meet new friends.

The choice was obvious. I smiled and grabbed my bag, and Jack led me over to where four other guys were sitting. “This is Alex, Rian, Zack, and Matt,” Jack introduced, pointing out one guy wearing tight jeans, one with a buzz cut, one who looked like he worked out often, and one who looked like he was in charge of them all. “This is Paisley – we took her spot.” All of the guys said hi in individual ways, and I took a seat next to Jack. “So why are you going to England?” He asked.

“I’m actually going to Amsterdam,” I replied, glancing out the window and seeing that our plane was rolling up to the gate. “I’m just taking a connecting flight to England first.”

“We’re going on a European tour,” Rian added.

“Like… a tour of all the cities?” I asked, assuming that meant what it sounded like: literally, a tour of Europe. How lovely!

“No, we’re a band,” Alex said, laughing at my error. I tried to laugh, too, but it sounded faked.

“Ever heard of All Time Low?” Zack asked.

I opened my mouth to respond, and then closed it quickly. Where had I heard that name before? “Coffee Shop Soundtrack?” I said slowly, though it came out like more of a question.

“Exactly,” Zack responded with a grin, and I grinned, too.

“So how old are you?” Asked Alex with a sly smirk on his face.

“Seventeen.” Alex just laughed.

“Jailbait. We’re all twenty-one. So how’s high school?” Honestly, I really liked high school. The people were nice – albeit, hormonal – and I did well in all my classes. Sure, I was getting ready for college, but at least high school was free, right? I didn’t need a scholarship to go to high school like I would to get into any respectable college. Still, I assumed it wasn’t the answer Alex was looking for.

“It’s alright,” I replied evenly.

“That place was the death of me,” he scoffed, and I chuckled in return.

“I wouldn’t call it that bad.”

“Are you taking any advanced classes?” Zack asked.

I nodded, “AP English, AP chemistry, AP American history and AP statistics.” I counted off of my fingers.

“I took AP English, too,” Zack responded, beaming with pride.

“Yeah, and you’ll never let us forget it…” muttered Rian.

“So that’s why your bag is so heavy?” Alex asked, lifting up my bag by the strap.

“Yeah, I had to bring all my AP reading along, along with all the stuff for college and my computer.” I responded, internally cringing at the thought of college.

“College,” Rian scoffed, and Zack chuckled. “None of us were ever into that crap.”

“Yeah, I’m sick of it already, and I haven’t even applied anywhere yet.”

“Any idea where you’re going to go?” Asked Zack.

I shook my head. “Wherever’s the cheapest, or wherever I get the best scholarship from. All the programs I’ve looked at have been really expensive.”

“Ouch,” muttered Alex, and I shrugged. For the next hour and forty-five minutes or so, the All Time Low boys told me story after story of the kinds of things they did in high school. In reality, their experience wasn’t much different than mine. They laughed when I told them how my friend had given me non-alcoholic beer and told me it was alcoholic, and how after drinking nearly two bottles I was in a ‘drunken state.’ I tried to teach Jack how to balance a chemical equation for chemistry, and Alex braided my hair. He was better at it than I’m sure he’d ever admit.

“Anyone in group 2, please prepare to board. Anyone in group 2, please prepare to board.” The intercom buzzed, and I took out my ticket.

“That’s you,” Jack said, peering over my shoulder at my ticket.

“Yeah,” I responded, beginning to gather up my things. Jack pouted and grabbed my bag, hugging it tightly to his chest. “C’mon, Jack. We’re on the same plane.” He pouted some more. “I’ll come and sit with you for a bit, I promise.” I added, and he sighed before handing over my bag.

I got on the line to have my boarding pass checked, occasionally glancing back at the boys. Alex waved at me a couple of times, and Zack smiled, but Jack looked terribly sad. I chuckled to myself as I handed the woman my ticket to be scanned.

It wasn’t like he was never going to see me again.