Adore [H.S.]

23

Black And Gold - Sam Sparro

ISABELLA

The air was dry. The passengers that were surrounding me in this awfully cramped airplane seemed to be unaware of their rising volumes. My skin felt dry and my hair a frizzy mess. All I wanted to do was to step off of this plane and see my sister. To touch the ground and kiss it... 

A five hour flight turned into a seven hour one due to a two hour pre-flight delay. The airplane handlers seemed to had forget how to do their job and were unable to fix the flat tires on the plane. An hour and a half later, they had finally managed to do their job. This left me thinking that we would finally be able to take off. However, luck was not on my side. The incompetent bag handlers lost half the luggage that was supposed to be on our plane and the pilot (bless his soul), refused to fly the aircraft until every single luggage was on board. 

The travelers were restless. Jet leg hit like a full fledge jackhammer. I was exhausted. Also, if the woman sitting beside me spits into another juice box I will lose my mind. 

"Come on, come on," I say to myself as I watch the snail-like flight attendants open up the overhead bins. I felt restless. My fingers anxiously twiddled with the strings of my oversized sweater. "Let's go!" My hand quickly covers my mouth once I realized how loud my voice had gone. 

The juice-box-spitter turned her head and fixed me with an annoyed glare, in which I returned. 

What felt like ages, the air hostess finally nodded towards us, signaling that we were finally able to depart. Picking up my carry-on luggage and purse, I followed the line out the aircraft. An overly perky air hostess gave me an extremely giddy "Thank you for choosing Virgin Airlines". I gave her the best fake smile that I was able to muster up and walked off the plane. Never in my twenty-two years of life have I been more excited to be on solid ground. 

Outside, the air was frigid. The ice cold winter air nipped at my cheeks. I had forgotten how cold New York got during the Christmas season. I pulled my heavy jacket closer towards my body, thankful that Nat had brought it with her. I looked over my shoulder to see Nat trailing behind me. She was grinning at me, her eyes shining with the remaining tears that she had shed only minutes before.

"I can't believe you're home," she gushed while wrapping her arm around me. She reached up to place a chaste kiss on my cheek. I wrapped my arm around her small frame, bringing her close to me. 

"I miss you too, kid." I smiled back, my teeth chattering slightly by the cold winds. 

"Ty is just over there," she said nodding her head towards the black Jeep that was parked only meters away. 

Standing outside the jeep was my best friend. His lips were pulled back into a large grin. His hazel eyes twinkling in the sunlight. "Look who the cat dragged in. Welcome home world traveler." He smirked whilst bringing me into his arms in a bone crushing hug. 

"Hello to you too," I laughed as my arms wrapped around him. He smelt like home. The  musk of his cologne invaded my senses. God, I missed these people. 

Ty grabs my suitcase and shoves it into the back of his jeep. Nat has already managed to jump into the back seat leaving the front read for the taking. "Coming in or what?" Ty chuckles as he jumps into the front seat. It takes me a moment to realize that the right side of the jeep is in fact where I sit and it's not the drivers seat. After living in London for the past six months, I had seemingly forgotten what an American vehicle looked like. I shake my drowsy head of unruly curls and jump into the seat. 

-

The black jeep pulls up in front of the tall, overly priced, brick mansion. Nothing about this home has changed: from the bricks that lined the walls, to the overly priced art that filled the walls. Nothing about this place that I had claimed to call home for twenty-one years of my life has changed. It was still the cold and dreary place that my parents tried so hard to make home. Yet all of their attempts fell short, with their constant maids and  shiny chandeliers. Nothing about this place was homely, the one thing I craved since childhood.