Limerence • Auli'i Cravalho (gxg)

in new york • requested

You haven't seen Auli'i in exactly two months and that was driving you insane. You missed her so much. Like, actually spending time with her in person. She lives in L.A. and you've visited her there once for a week last summer. But you, you were all the way across the world. Long distance is difficult- certainly not for the weak. You were determined to see her again, and soon. Luck was finally on your side this time, with you being done with your studies for the year, you had some time on your hands to work a part-time job again in order to earn some money. After some time spent scouring job sites, you took a break and scrolled through Instagram for a bit and see that Auli'i had just posted a screenshot of an article headline to announce that she would be in New York City for one night only, to sing some of the most notable songs throughout her career. That meant Disney, honestly. The bulk of the musical stuff came from there. You loved that and of course, she knew that you did. She'd always send you voice messages where she would sing you bits of songs- but you particularly liked it when she sends you one just before you get ready for bed.

Okay, anyway- back to what you were doing. After sending in applications for a good number of part-time positions that would suit you, you took this chance to take a look at the prices of flights to New York around that particular date that she'd be in town for. It was a long flight, but you needed it. You wanted to see her, you wanted to surprise her and spend time with her again. Utilising the airline's student discount, it came down to a pretty achievable price. Now you could just hope that one of those places would hire you. So that you could save up for that part of the money you still didn't have yet.

You applied to a few more jobs over the next week or so and tonight, you finally started to hear back from them. And one of those jobs was working as a library assistant at the living in your neighbourhood. You decide to go ahead with the interview and they promptly hired you. Given the hourly rate you'd be earning, you figured that you would be able to book your flight within the next month or two.

— • —

It wasn't easy keeping it a secret from her. You were so excited, and nearly let the cat out of the bag so many times. But now, the day has arrived- you were finally flying to New York tonight. You were flying in a couple days before the show to give yourself a chance to explore the city first. Anyway, it was your first time flying alone and you were a little nervous. But thinking about how surprised she would be to see you, made everything better.

The flight was long. Over seventeen hours, and you weren't sure what to expect. You have never been on a flight this long. Shit, now you were nervous again. Inching forward in the queue to board, you clutch onto your passport and boarding pass as your eyes were glued to them in order to make sure that you don't lose them.

"Boarding pass in your passport, photo page open." A staff member repeated periodically as the line moved along. The voice slowly becomes warped and muffled suddenly and your eyes lose their focus. "Miss?" You hear from a distance.

"Excuse me, miss?" Then, a tap on your shoulder makes you jump and let out a gasp.

"Oh! Hey, yeah?" You exhaled, holding a hand on your chest.

"Are you okay?" The staff asked you.

"Just- nervous about my first long-haul flight alone." You chuckle awkwardly, "Sorry, I didn't- I didn't mean to hold up the line."

"No, you're good." The staff member takes your passport and boarding pass to check your information before letting you get on the plane, "You're all set. Have a great flight, I'll sure the crew will assist you if you need anything, okay? Bye, now."

"Thank you." You brisk-walked down the passage and finally got onto the plane where an air-stewardess directed you to your seat swiftly. You place your carryon bag underneath the seat in front of you then just say back and relaxed for a second in order to allow yourself to calm down while other passengers strolled on board. And then came take off which you hated. It was loud and made you feel extremely uneasy. Anyway on the plus side, you got the aisle seat so if you wanted to get out to stretch, you could do so whenever you wished to. Soon enough, and much to your relief, the seatbelt sign was turned off and everything felt more stable so you allowed yourself to doze off to catch up on some sleep. It wasn't a long sleep, since someone woke you up for meal time. Just a little bit over an hour's passed, and before your meal got there, you stood up to use the restroom.