Crownless

ⅩⅨ

Aurora

I feel someone shaking me awake before I jolt up, remembering I'm in a plane.

"I'm awake, I'm awak- Hmph" I get cut off by Ella hitting my face with her small pillow. I put on my glasses and narrow my eyes at her. She smiles sheepishly as she mutters an apology and explaining that she was looking for her earbuds.

Shaking my head and letting out a big yawn, I feel a weird and light feeling on my tongue. Poking out my tongue and grabbing whatever is on there I realize it's a small hair, probably from Ella's pillow. 

"Blegh"

I slowly stand up and stretch a little while Ella makes her way to the aisle, grabbing both our carry-on's as we make our way out the plane, with my sisters and friends following behind us.

Going through everything a person does in an airport -I don't care what they are because I can barely keep my eyes open- we finally get to the gate where people are waiting for someone they care about to walk the clear polished marble floor to them.

Pulling my hair out of the ponytail it was in, I straighten it out with my hands a little and massage my head because I had tied it a bit too tight. My newly purple ombre hair falls over my shoulders, slightly covering my eyes, and probably getting my glasses dirty -but then again it was already stained because glasses can't seem to go a full day without embracing the stains the world offers-. I made sure to leave the top of my hair in it's natural color just like Chris said, and I'm honestly happy with the outcome.

Dragging my feet behind my sisters along with my suitcase, I think about how just two days ago I was walking gracefully with a tiara on my head. 

I hear Amelia exclaim her friend's name as she runs to hug her. I smile softly at them and rub my eyes once more until I see the person whom I longed for these past couple of days.

"Chris!"

I run to him, now wide awake, and jump into his open arms as he spins me around making me squeal and laugh. He finally puts me down before hugging me tightly and I return the favor.

"I missed you, princess." He mutters and I can feel the smile in his tone.

"I missed you too, cap." I giggle.

We let go after a moment and I see Ella wink at me before returning to her conversation with Seema. We then begin to walk to Chris and Lydia's cars so we go back to our apartments, but before we do, Lydia pulled me aside and asked to talk to me.

"I see you and Chris are inseparable." She smiles at me and I smile back chuckling, giving her a silent nod.

"I just wanted to thank you."

I furrow my eyebrows in confusion, looking at her.

"For what?"

She shook her head with a grin before explaining. 

"Chris has severe anxiety, he's gotten much better as he grew up, but he still has his moment where he has an anxiety attack. But ever since you came into his life, he hasn't had one. His anxiety is barely showing, especially when you're around."

I'm shocked to hear this. I've noticed moments where he'd stutter or have second thoughts about something, but everyone does that every once in a while. 

"Why does he have anxiety? if you don't mind me asking!" I say quickly, not wanting to interfere "Maybe I should wait for him to say it himself-"

"It's okay!" She laughs at my rambling. "When we were kids, our parents didn't have the best relationship. We constantly heard them yelling and fighting. It started when I was 15, Chris was 10 at the time. I was able to handle it, but he wasn't. And he was always afraid to get close to people, he said that I was the only one he had. But now he has you too, and I'm so glad he found you. Aurora, you mean a lot to him, please take care of him. I can't lose him too." She looked down with sad eyes.

"Hey," I put my hand on her shoulder, smiling at her. "I'll do my best to keep him happy at all times. He means a lot to me as well. And I know how to handle anxiety attacks in case he had one." I reassure her. "And thank you for trusting me with this." I hug her.

"Oh, this question has been on my mind a lot," I begin and she waits for me to continue "How come you're a first year college student if you're 5 years older than Chris?"

She laughed. "Well, as I said, my parents weren't the best. So Chris and I worked a lot of jobs to save up for a college abroad, and here we are now."

I got to know Lydia a bit more and I was happy to, because she's a huge part of Chris' life, and as his best friend, I'd like to be close to his sister just as much.

Finally arriving to the parking lot, I say goodbye to Lydia and meet up again with Chris and Ella so we go back to our apartment.

Getting into the passenger seat, I close the door and we're on our way at last.

I'm fumbling with the cassettes when I hear him ask me what his sister wanted to talk about.

"stuff." I reply sheepishly and he rolls his eyes at my response. I find a cassette with a cool pattern on it and put it in the player.

My eyes widen as I hear the first song and I gape at Chris, he blushes from embarrassment before turning it off.

"Sorry I-"

"What do you mean sorry? Dude I love Skillet!" I exclaim.

"As if you weren't perfect to her already.." I hear Ella chuckle.

I turn the music back on and we sing through the whole ride.

"I am never coming with you two again."