Internet Friends | Luke Hemmings

Chapter 25

Lily was always one for peer pressure, but less antisocial stuff, more girly stuff. And many times during the formidable 'girls nights', which I secretly kinda enjoyed, I'd been forced to watch Love Actually, so many times in fact I could re site the entire script. For those who have yet to see the rom com, it starts with a voice over talking about how love actually is all around, for example at the arrivals gate at Heathrow airport.
It shows heartwarming scenes of families hugging and couples reuniting with the classic running into each other's arms.

And all this was very true, I thought as I watched the exact scenarios play out around me. And if it wasn't for all these joyous spectacles I would probably be having a full on mental brake down.

That morning I awoke at around six, the sun was yet to be seen and the birds had not yet awoken. To be honest, I was surprised to have even got any sleep. My mind was awake all night, thinking over the bad things that could happen in this day.
But there was also feelings of excitement that I could hardly contain. And I even did the crazy thing of plan an outfit. Around half 11 when I officially decided staring at the ceiling was getting tedious, I instead, sat in front of my wardrobe and stared at my cloth friends.

A few times I debated calling Sammy, asking for her opinion but I knew she'd have me wear something well put together and highly fashionable, which wasn't me at all.
In the end, around 12, I finally found a loose fitting jumper with wide blue and white stripes, I thought it might be cold so I put out a white vest top to go underneath. The jumper went with some basic black jeans that were ripped at the knee. And converse were the obvious shoe choice.

After that I laid in bed for a another hour and I drifted to sleep during the early hours of the morning out of pure exhaustion.
We'd been waiting for this day since I first started messaging him, though I doubted it to ever happen, here I was waiting at an airport, my hands resting on my knees that were uncontrollably tapping against the floor as I sat in the seat waiting to see my best friend ,after 2 years of endless conversations and strange private jokes.

The bus journey here was long and tedious

I noticed a few girls, some looked to be around my age, milling around the gate. A few held signs with Welcome to England 5Sos. At first I was surprised they already had such a dedicated fanbase in the uk after only a year of them coming together, but I then thought to about how incredibly talented they are and how the Internet can tell the entire world of such a small band. Not to mention, Louis Tomlinson of that One Direction group band thing, gave them a shout out on Twitter a couple months back about his interest in them. Luke messaged me as soon as it happened, having a complete fangirl moment and was probably shaking and crying seeing as though his typos were particularly awful.

The ding of the tannoy echoed through the building, standing out from the all the other sounds. The monotone voice read out a list of flights and numbers that made no sense, until one place stood out. They had landed, he was here.

The girls knew this too and had come into life, getting up and stood closer to the gate opening, phones at the ready.
I checked my own phone. No messages. I slipped it into my brown satchel. My hands pushed into the seats and I got up. It felt as if my legs were to buckle beneath me as soon as they were to come into view.

I turned and walked to where the fans were near the gate. No this was too close. I wasn't a fan. Well in some respects I was, but they were my friends. I turned and walked back to my original seat before any of them noticed an awkward girl had stood beside them.
I wouldn't want him to see me first, and I'd get in the fans way. They had waited here to see a band they liked. To passer by I might have looked crazy, pacing back and forth, I steadily walked round the corner slightly, so he wouldn't see me until after he'd seen the fans.
That way I could greet him properly,for the first time ever. The first time I would meet my best friend. The person I was most comfortable with, and yet I was nervous to see his face and be able to hug him. Was I crazy? Should I be this nervous?

My paranoid thoughts were interrupted by the group of girl erupting into a mixture of sobs, screams and speech.

They were here. I pulled on the sleeves of my jumper and started to panic more. I looked around a bit pretending not to notice the arrival. But I couldn't help look away.
I turned back to the crowd.

And there he was, staring right at me.