U Smile... I Smile

The next morning I awoke to the annoyingly beeping loudness of my alarm clock. Seeing that it was only three o’ clock in the morning just about killed me. I have never, ever, woke up this early for anything in my life. I lay in bed for about ten minutes, not wanting to leave the suitably warm, comfortable bed and blankets and Justin’s embrace. But once I remembered why on earth I woke up this early, I got up gently from the bed, trying not to wake up Justin.

It didn’t take me long to get ready, I showered and straightened my hair last night so that I was able to pack some of my bathroom necessities. I just touched up my hair with my old straightener and did a quick make-up job and then packed my make-up in my suitcase. I also had my clothes picked out, so I wouldn’t have to search through my closet for the perfect outfit with the little time I had this morning. I wore a pair of light jeans, a tank top with a cardigan over it, and some flip-flops. To dress the outfit up a bit, I wore a little bit of jewelry.

I went over to the bed and started to shake Justin awake. He wasn’t easy to get up because he definitely wasn’t a morning person just like I was. But I managed to get him out of bed. He didn’t take long to get ready at all. He just got dressed into a pair of jeans and T-shirt with a hoodie, shook his hair out, and put a baseball cap on and he was good to go.

Everyone else in the house was still asleep. I mean, I couldn’t blame them; it was only about four in the morning now. Justin quietly carried our suitcases down the stairs to the garage and put them in the car. As he was doing that, I went into the kitchen to write a note for Aaliyah and my mom.

Morning!

We didn’t want to wake you, but we’re now leaving for the airport for our two week vacation to Hawaii. Once we land, I’ll give you a call, promise. Love and miss you guys already!

~Sienna and Justin <3

While I was signing our names at the bottom of the note, Justin came in and wrapped his arms from behind me and set his head on the back of my shoulders. I turned around in his arms and found his head droop with sleep. I kissed him deeply which woke him up a little bit. He gave the impression of being a zombie because of the lack of sleep. I probably looked like that too, but not as bad as him.

I ended up driving to Anchorage to the airport for different reasons. One, if Justin drove he probably would’ve fallen asleep at the wheel. Two, Justin drove into Anchorage and back home yesterday and now it was my turn. And thirdly, he didn’t know the way to the airport by himself and if I wasn’t driving I would probably fall asleep in the passenger seat being unable to give directions to Justin. So I drove, but I was fine with it. Justin kept nodding in and out of sleep throughout the whole ride into Anchorage.

Eventually we got to the airports parking garage, where we would keep the car while we were gone. It was surprisingly easy finding a close parking spot; I thought it would be more trouble than it truly turned out to be.

Checking bags in, retrieving our tickets, going through security, and finding our gate ended up not taking a lot of time. We had about an hour and a half until our plane boarded, so we gathered up our carry-on bags and found a quaint restaurant to eat breakfast at. I was surprised that a nice restaurant was inside an airport; usually you only see fast food restaurants. We had a very nice quiet breakfast together though and that made me happy.

When we finished breakfast we started to walk back to our gate, but before we got there I walked into Hudson News to get a few things for the flight. I purchased two magazines, Seventeen and People- my favorites at the time. I also got a bottle of water and a couple packs of gum.

Justin and I found some seats at our gate and waiting for the last twenty minutes until they would start boarding. I leaned my head on his shoulder while his head was resting on top of mine. I closed my eyes and was almost asleep until Justin shook me gently, stood up, and held out a hand to help me up. I slung my bag over my shoulder and walked hand-in-hand with Justin up to the counter. Justin handed the attendant our tickets.

Justin led me through the bridge to get to the plane and found our first-class seats and let me have the window seat. This was my first time out of coach and in first-class and I was rapturous.

Soon enough, we heard the flight attendant’s voice over the intercom informing us about safety on the plane. That ended quickly and then the seatbelt light lit up. Throughout the whole plane you could hear the echo of seatbelts buckling. I felt the plane start to pull out of its gate and get on the runway for takeoff. The plane stopped for a moment to prepare for takeoff and right before it started to speed for flight, I snatched Justin’s hand and squeezed it tightly in between both of mine. I clenched my teeth and tightly closed my eyes. I was deathly afraid of takeoffs, landings, and turbulence in planes, every time I just felt as if something was going to go wrong and then we would crash or something like that. It’s the same for flying over open oceans, which is pretty much what the whole flight is going to be since we were going to an archipelago group of islands. Once I felt that we were up in the air, I opened up my eyes slowly and looked down at my lap where I was still holding Justin’s hand and I was about cutting off the circulation in his hand. I immediately let go of my grip and blushed and avoided his eye contact by looking out of the window. That didn’t last long however because Justin reached over and turned my head so that I was looking at him right in the eyes.

“You okay, Sienna?” he asked sympathetically.

“Um, um, um, y-y yeah. S-s-sorry.” I managed to get out while stuttering and nodding my head.

“Sure?” Justin raised his eyebrows studying me.

“Yeah. It’s fine. I just have a fear of takeoffs, landings, and turbulence in planes. Sorry about that.”

“Sienna, don’t apologize. Everyone has fears. I’m highly claustrophobic. Having fears is what makes us human.” He assured.

“I guess.” I took a swig of my water to help calm me down. Justin reached in between us and pushed up the armrest that was separating our seats and pulled me over and wrapped a protective arm around me. I cuddled into his chest breathing in his scent which also helped me calm down and get my heartbeat back to normal.

I was so peaceful, that I fell asleep in Justin’s embrace. I didn’t wake up until the flight attendant’s voice was on the intercom telling that we were preparing for landing. I felt nice and refreshed after almost six hours of sleep.

I was so excited to smell the warm tropical air, feel the soft breeze against my skin, taste the delectable tropical fruits, hear the waves crashing against rocks at the beaches, and see all the beautiful sights Maui had to offer. This would be my first time coming here, but I’ve heard great stories from all my friends who’ve been here before.

When the seatbelt light went off, again you could hear everyone’s buckle in the plane, disconnecting. First class was able to get off, so Justin and I gathered our belongings from under the seat in front of us or in the compartments that were above us.

We departed the plane and as soon as you got out of the gate and into the airport you could smell the musky air that was filled with humidity. My naturally really wavy hair started to form little waves instead of staying straight because of the great amount of humidity in the air. We were making our way to the bag terminal to retrieve our bags.

Maui’s airport was an outside airport. At some parts there would be windows and ceilings, but most of it didn’t. When there were no windows or ceilings, you could see the immense palm trees fanning out their leaves, tropical flowers, and bright-colored birds flying.

When Justin and I were waiting down at the bag terminal for them to start showing the bags, I decided that this was a good time to call back home. As I was on the phone with my mom, the bags started coming and Justin went up to the conveyor belt to grab ours when they passed. My mom was surprisingly not freaking out about this vacation, but instead told me that I was going to have fun and that she was jealous she wasn’t with me. The phone call ended up being brief.

Justin came back with our bags, one in each hand. While he had those, I picked up his backpack and my bag to help carry things. I didn’t know where we were going, but I just followed Justin who seemed to know where he was going at least.

I followed Justin to Avis to retrieve our rental car which turned out to be a cherry red Mustang convertible. Since both of us were going to be driving, we had to sign a whole bunch of papers and show them our licenses. After all that was done, the employee went to go get the car from the back parking lot. When he parked it on the curb for us, he helped load our luggage in the back. I got into the passenger seat and Justin got into the driver’s seat. The car started with a big ‘Roar!’ noise and Justin pulled out onto the main highway picking up speed as he went and my hair flew out behind me letting my neck feel the hot rays of the sun and the cool, refreshing breeze.