World Traveler

Marsha drove us to the airport. On the way I called my parents and she spoke to them, telling them I was going home and Alex agreed to travel with me and attend school with my brother and I. Alex had his headphones on, they were large and cupped his ears, effectively blocking him from the world. He was writing a note to Jesse, the only one not aware that he was potentially going overseas. I tried not to stare, but I could tell he was close to crying.

I myself was bawling. I was happy, sad, scared, terrified, worried. Nothing made sense to me at the moment. My parents lied to me, but it was okay, because now I was getting to go home. However they basically had no faith that I could accomplish my dream on my own, but now I could share it with Liam, and maybe even Alex, who was becoming like a brother to me.

When Marsha hung up with my parents, the car was silent. “Mom?” My head shot over to Alex who had his headphones off and was passing a folded letter to the front of the car. “That’s for Jesse. Call her a turd for me, will ya?” He smiled once before yawning widely. “I’m just gonna sleep on this... comfy shoulder.” He leaned onto me and rested his head on my bony shoulder. He was snoring within minutes.

“Mom? Am I doing the right thing? Giving up my dream?” She sighed.

“Don’t think of it like that baby. Think that you’re going to live your dream with your brother. If he is as talented as you say, he might just win and travel the world. You can be right there with him. As for doing the right thing, that’s for you to decide.” After that, we were silent. Alex’s snores lulled me into a half-asleep state.

About forty-five minutes later, we arrived at the airport. Marsha shook me awake before shaking Alex, and once again my emotions waged a war within me. Said war lasted through the walk to the airport from parking, through the ticket counter, through security (at which point Alex completely broke down and hugged his beloved mother before she left), during the hour wait for our plane to be called to board, boarding our plane, and finally ceased as we were in the air.

Alex and I were seated together on the left side of the plane. His lack of flying experience made him give me the window seat. He gripped my hand during take off, and tried to calm wish breathing until we reached altitude. It would have been funny if I wasn’t like that my first time flying.

When the seat belt light went off, he rushed to the toilet and I took the liberty of raising the arm bar between our seats and grabbing a large blanket for us to share. I had myself almost asleep when he stumbled back, mumbling something about the difficulties to relieve himself on a packed plane, 35,000 feet in the air.

“Alex, love, shut up and sit down. We are going to be on this plane for about eight hours, so get comfy and take a nap. God knows we both need one.”

Without argument, he climbed under the blanket with me. “Sam, I just want you to know, I think of you like a sister, though you are very beautiful. I don’t have any feelings for you.” I agreed with him, and only then did he relax and pull me to him, letting me rest my head against him. The contact reminded me of Liam and I silently cried myself to sleep.