All Because We Missed The Flight

The Chapter at The Airport

     Humming to a song well known to my heart, I sat here at an airport cafe, awaiting the moment I'd been seeking my whole life. An escape from West Linn, Oregon. A small, suburban city filled with old friends and a loss for new ideas. High school had always been fun I guess, I always had a variety of friends and did as I was told by my elders. I was never the type of kid to go out and party knowing that I would "Rebel" against my parents. I did however have those Friday nights when I asked my dad to have the girls over for some wine or a beer. Yes, we were pretty young and yeah absolutely it was illegal, but my dad never let us leave the house when we did. So overall, it was perfectly ok.

     The reason as to why I'm at the airport is solely because I'm heading out on my own adventure for my senior trip. Of course I know I should be studying and preparing for college, however I'm not a person known to sit around and wait for that letter to come. When I get back in three months, I'll know then. For right now I'm stuck in a cloud of wonders ready to finally explore everything the world has to offer me.

     As I sit here at the table in the little cafe, sipping a small chai latte, listening to Robbers by The 1975, I looked at all of the business people in rushes to get to the plane leading a meeting in another city, or the family on their way to a long awaited vacation. I saw the anxious, pregnant wife waiting for her husband to walk through the terminal in his camo army uniform. I saw the outcast teenage angst of a young girl, about 15 years old, standing next to a very formally dressed father that's informing her of her need for a change in her behavior. Then, a boy around my age, say 18, was slowly making his way over to my table. His hair was a disheveled blonde as it swept to one side of his face in a messy pattern. His jawline was very prominent from the distance he was at, and he was clad in a grey athletic school hoodie, dark washed semi-skinny jeans that were rolled up a couple times at the bottom, exposing his ankles. He wore a pair of worn out white converse and paired the outfit with a few suitcases and pair of thin framed Ray Ban reading glasses.

     As he placed his bags to one side of the table, he took off his glasses and placed them in the smallest carry-on he had with him. He straightened out his back before pulling out the chair in front of him and taking a seat.

     "Hello there," he smiled charmingly. "I'm Zakk, Zakk Mars." He said, extending a hand my way. I shook it and smiled,

     "Hi, um.. I'm Lillie, Lillie Anderson" I responded, shaking his hand and bringing my own back to my ear plugs taking them out, starting a conversation with the boy in front of me.

     The conversation began simple, him asking me why I was at the airport and me responding and asking him the same thing. Funny enough, we were escaping from the old and interested in the new.

     "So," he said "You've got to be shitting me that we're sitting next each other on a plane to New York City?" He looked directly at my boarding pass and smiled, his eyes traveling upwards to meet mine. Our gaze held for several seconds before I broke away blushing.

     "Well Mars, I would rather sit by you than some weird ass that falls asleep on my shoulder," I giggled standing up and grabbing my maroon "PINK" duffel bag from the seat next to me. "We should probably head to our terminal," I smiled, he returned my smile with a wide grin, as he hurried to get his bags and randomly took hold of my hand.

     "You ok there Anderson?" He says stopping when he noticed the awkward face I expressed. I quickly changed my mood when I felt him gently squeeze my hand and looked at me worriedly. "Nothing! I'm absolutely fine thank you, " I smiled reassuringly pulling my hand away from his.

     We found a spot open right on the window sill, exactly where my uncle Marc and I used to sit and watch all of the planes go by before we'd have to board a plane to Chicago or LA to go see my mom.

     So here's another thing a lot of people don't know about me. My parents have been divorced since the day I turned 8 years old. Yep, my 8th birthday was hell for me. And that's why I never ever celebrate it anymore. Too many bad memories. But enough about her.. She's probably enjoying her honeymoon in Hawaii with her new 25 year-old hubby. ugh.

     I sat down on the window sill, pulling my left leg up to my chest and extending my right one, placing it on the other side of Zakk's hip. I looked over to him and smiled. There was a little bit of pastry left on his mouth from just a little bit ago.

     "What.." he giggled when he caught my gaze, "What! What's on my face Anderson?," his infectious smiled made my small one grow into this large and expressive happy smile. I laughed at this strangers adorable nature, I patted the space next to me and he moved from where he was sitting, over to me.

     I reached over to him and took the little flake of pastry off the corner of his lips. He smiled and saw that it was still on my finger. So he did the weirdest thing ever. The idiot licked the croissant off of my finger. With an accomplished look on his face, he proudly put a little space between us and moved closer to the window.

      "It's really pretty out today huh?" As he said that, I finally took a little glance outside admiring the beautiful skyline and grey sky that surrounded the airport. By now it was probably 6:30 am, and the sun was slowly starting to rise even though it was hidden behind the clouds. "Yeah it's beautiful.." I whispered in admiration.

      "You wanna know something about me Mars? Something no one knows about me?" I asked turning to look at him. He broke his eyes away from the window look directly at me, "And what's that Anderson?"

     I smiled, looking at ground, then the wall, and finally meeting his eyes. "The clouds that always hover above Portland... Or any place in Oregon, any place in the world really.. they are my favorite part of living here. And when it rains, that's the best," I laughed a little and continued, "My uncle used to take me to the park when I was Little and we'd take off our rain coats or sweatshirts.. and we'd just run around in the rain until it stopped.. and until the sun ruined the fun.. My uncle was the best.." I grinned happily remembering my amazing uncle Marc.

     I turned to Zakk and watched as his face slowly faltered. 

     He took my hand, and gave it a soft squeeze. He set my hand down gently at my side and looked me in the eyes for the fortieth time today, "I'm absolutely sorry that happened to you Lil.. But, I can say that I've been in that same situation just with my grandma and here in Portland. As soon as I got to her house after school every Friday, I begged her for a bowl of the tomato basil soup with a grilled cheese that she'd make me. And i'm pretty sure both of our most loved ones are looking at us with a lot of pride and achievement." As he finished that sentence both of us were stupidly grinning at one another, listening to the rain hit the window sill.

      Since we were about two hours early to the terminal I decided that it would be a wonderful idea to catch back up on the four or five hours of sleep I missed because I had to get my ass up early to get down here. I placed my jacket under my head and, facing the pouring rain outside, I fell asleep to the soft melody of the water drips on the window pane.