Meant to Be

Chapter 3

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Ugh. Why do mornings hate me? I rolled over and smacked my alarm clock lightly to stop the ear-piercing sound that was blasting into my ears. Sitting up straight and stretching my back and arms, I looked over to see what time it was.

7:30

I had just over an hour before I had to be fully dressed and ready to go. My parents were planning on leaving at 8:45 to catch their flight at 10. I was their designated chauffer.

Why? you might ask. Because my parents weren't willing to pay the fifty-dollar parking fee to leave their car at the airport. So instead, I got to miss several hours of precious sleep. And not only that day. Nope. A week from then upon their return, I was designated to pick them up at the airport at 5:30! Yes, in the morning. Why anyone would schedule a flight at that hour is a mystery to me.

I rolled off my bed and dragged my stiff body into the shower. The warm water helped to wake me up and loosen my tense muscles.  I was able to finish dressing and getting ready without any further lagging. At 8:30 I was ready to go.

I skipped down the stairs feeling proud that I was ahead of schedule instead of behind like usual. Turning the corner, I entered my kitchen and met my mother who just happened to be at the table eating toast and drinking coffee.

"Good morning" I chirped, opening the refrigerator and pulling out a bowl of fresh fruit. I had always been a bit of a health-freak, much unlike my parents.  

"Morning sweetie" she smiled back at me "will you be ready to go in 10 minutes?"

"Yep. all set" I said through bites of the delicious fruit. Once I finished, I quickly headed back upstairs to gather my things and brush my teeth.

After brushing my teeth, I ran down the stairs and towards the back door for my final task before being ready to leave. I rounded the corner of my house and came to the large metal kennel set up for my 3 year old collie, Sophie. She was so wild and crazy we all ended up calling her 'Silly". I grabbed her leash and opened the kennel.

"Hi Silly!" I cooed as she excitedly licked my hand. Her tail was wagging a million miles an hour as I led her around in the direction of the car. We were dropping her off at a friends house for the week.

"Are we ready to go?" My dad asked while dragging his and my mom's luggage out the front door.  We nodded our heads and proceeded behind my dad towards the car, he stayed to lock the door securely behind us.

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The drive to the airport took almost an hour so we walked into the airport in somewhat of a rush. The friend we had left Sophie with was in a very chatty mood this morning and it was hard to get away from her.

 We entered the huge glass front doors and scurried over to one of the long check-in lines. I looked around the busy airport with interest as my parents did all the grown-up stuff that had to do with paying and checking in and all that good stuff. Yeah.

The airport was quite congested for this time of day. People scurried all around eager to get checked in and find their flights. Men, women, children. everywhere.

Once they were checked in and ready to go through security, it was time for us to go our separate ways. I Gave them each a massive hug and said all that mushy, good-bye stuff you say when you won't see someone for a while. Then finished with promises to be good and call them and all that. Giving them one last good bye hug each, we separated and I headed back towards the doors I came in through.