Violet
—
10:30 A.M. — 8 hours until landing.
IT IS COLD, MY HEAD HURTS, AND I AM TIRED. Though, this is somehow not the worst situation I have ever been in— New York, 2018, let's not talk about it.
I am currently sitting on an eleven hour flight to London, England with Louis Partridge to my right, and a hormone-filled preteen to my left.
This hormone-filled preteen has apparently watched a show called "Medici" and supposedly Louis had a huge role in it. They have been talking for three straight hours—including squeals (not only from the girl, but also Louis), weird fist bumps (mind you, I am sitting in the middle of them), and asking to touch his hair. I would laugh about their stupid banter and the heart eyes that this twelve year old is throwing at him, but my head is literally pounding.
I tried to sleep off the pain, but with the turbulence and the "squealing Louis" sitting beside me, my luck has faltered. Gladly, a flight attendant came around bearing refreshments and snacks that eased off their talking and put the girl to sleep.
So now, I am resting my head on the headrest, trying my best not to look out at Louis' window, where we are flying high above the freaking clouds— how is that physically possible? I placed my hand over my forehead and shut my eyes, thinking that maybe, just maybe, it would stop a fraction of the pain— spoiler alert: it did not.
Tap, tap, tap — Oh my God.
Tap, tap, tap — I am going to murder him.
Tap, tap, tap — I opened my eyes, furrowing my eyebrows as I turned my head towards Louis. He quickly pulled back his hand from where he was tapping— the top of my right thigh.
"What do you want?" I quickly asked, my head pounding from my raised voice.
"I was um, I was just wondering if you were okay? You don't... seem well." he said, his voice slightly above a whisper.
"Well, it's cold, my head hurts, and I'm tired. So no, Louis, I'm not okay."
"Oh, wait. Your head hurts? I brought Advil. It's just in my backpack." he said, reaching below his seat to fish for his backpack.
How does this boy keep having everything I need? From chargers, to transportation, to medicine.
British boys just do it better, I guess.
Every single boy at my high school is either the type of boy to laugh at a gross sex joke or is too scared to even talk— never in between.
Louis' backpack now sat on top of his lap, opening zipper after zipper for the Advil. After scouring through his whole entire backpack, he finally found the Advil, placing it on top of my open tray table that held my cup of water.
"Thanks." I awkwardly smiled at him as I opened the child lock and plopped it into my mouth, following a sip of water and an easy gulp of both contents. I downed the rest of my water as I placed the cup in a random bag and closed my tray table.
"Mhm." he grinned before placing his headphones over his ears and closing his eyes. He looked peaceful— like a little baby that finally got its first sleep in five months. He just looked so comfortable.
I hesitantly rested my head on his shoulder, watching from my peripheral vision if he was about to push me off of him. Thankfully, he didn't as I snuggled up to his shoulder, closing my eyes and finally feeling some type of contentment.
After a few seconds, I felt like I could practically hear his racing heart and hoarse breathing. I popped my head up from his shoulder, his eyes already meeting mine.
"You okay?" I asked, trying my best not to laugh at his nervousness. It seems like touch makes his vain self subside.
"Yeah- Yeah, I'm good. You?" his voice raised a little as I felt my lips curl into a smirk.
I squinted, "You sure?"
"Yup, absolutely fine. Proceed um, sleeping." he fiddled with his fingers as I placed my head back on his shoulder, slowly wrapping my arms around his.
"Wow, okay." he happily whispered. I can already picture the stupid smile on his red face.
God, I know that I'm probably never going to see him again after we land, but why does he have to be so gosh darn cute?
—
2:30 P.M. — 4 hours before landing.
MY EYES FLUTTERED OPEN as I woke up to the bright sun in my face and a dark brown Carhartt crewneck laid over me. I was no longer sleeping on Louis' shoulder— no, his arms were wrapped around me as his head rested on top of mine. For some reason, my stomach felt weird and I don't think it was a stomach flu or cramps. It was like butterflies? That sounds stupid, but it felt like it nonetheless.
I moved my head a bit, just to see the rest of the passengers on the plane. Most were sleeping, some were reading, and the girl sitting beside me was doing none of the above— she was actually glaring at me as I bit my bottom lip and brought my head back to the same position as before, trying my best not to wake Louis.
He only had on a white short sleeve
T-shirt, his gold necklace dangling from his neck. I slowly raised my head, Louis' slipping off of mine as his eyes started to open.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." I said as he yawned.
"It's okay, I was probably going to end up waking up soon anyways." his tired smile shining through.
"I also don't know how I had your sweater. I don't remember ever being a klepto and—"
"Oh, I put it on you. You were shivering, so." he huffed out a small laugh.
"You can have it back, sorry" I said, slipping the piece of fabric that was laid on me over to Louis.
"It's fine," he smiled, placing it back on my lap. "You look good with it." I could feel my stomach bubble and my heart shoot through my body.
"Okay then," I slipped the crewneck over my head, immediately feeling warmer than when it was just sitting on me. It was large, but snug— I never want to take it off. "Um, what time is it?" I asked as he checked his phone.
"2:30, we have... four hours left." he frowned.
You would think that four hours left on a plane, you would be sad that there's so much time before landing, but I'm not. I get to see Louis for four more hours (and a little after for him to drop me off), then I just- I never see him again, I guess? I don't know why it's making me... sad? I don't like him like that, so I don't understand. I just- I kind of grew to like his company. I don't want him to go, that's all.
"Well, before we boarded I downloaded Paddington 2." I smirked, wiggling my eyebrows at his embarrassed expression.
"Please don't." he begged, his hands coming together as I laughed him off. I pulled my phone off of my lap, grabbing my AirPods and inserting one into my left ear. I held the right out to Louis as he groaned and slipped it in.
—
4:14 P.M. — 2 hours and 16 minutes before landing.
"WOW, YOU REALLY ONLY HAD A SECOND OF SCREEN TIME." I chuckled as Louis rolled his dark brown eyes.
"You know, I did have a bigger role until they cut it."
"Ah, because being known your whole life for being in Paddington 2 is what you wanted, right?" I smirked.
"Hey, don't hate. G-man had his perks," he put his hands up defensively, his laugh slowly stirring the girl beside me awake.
I scoffed, "How do you even know his perks from the 0.1 second he was in the movie?"
"Fine, you can make fun of me all you want about this, but I know you were dreaming about me while you were sleeping." he smirked. My breath picked up quickly.
"What?"
"Yeah, you were all 'Louis, you're so cute and handsome and G-man is literally to die for.'" he dramatically said, mocking my American accent.
"You're such an idiot." I laughed, smacking the back of his head.
"Only facts," he shrugged. I rested my head on his shoulder again, his hand moving to my leg as I felt my heartbeat spike and the girl beside me shoot daggers at us. He's doing it like it's nothing. A smile never leaving his face as he lowered his head onto mine. "You are my pillow now, deal with it." he huffed out a chuckle as my stomach began to churn.
My headphones were still placed in our ears as "Heaven is You" by Joshua Bassett played through.
I'm not one to fall fast
Oh, but something tells me this one's gonna last...
His fingers were assorted with multiple rings as I began to fiddle with them. His eyes were faced down at our touching hands and I could practically hear his heart beat.
I always knew there was a heaven
I never knew if it was true
But darlin', ever since I met you
I know that heaven is you...
His shoe touched mine, inching closer and closer as we began to play footsies below. He quietly chuckled as he managed to get his foot over mine, stopping it from moving. I slipped my fingers into his, nervous to see if he would pull back— but he didn't. His head on mine, our shoes laid on top of each other, our hands intertwined.
Heaven is you...
—
6:20 P.M. — 10 minutes before landing...
THE PLANE HAS BEEN DESCENDING for the last twenty minutes, but I could especially feel it now. My stomach twisted— a different feeling than when Louis would talk to me. I fiddled with Louis' rings again, my breathing picked up, and I could see the ground slowly appear from the outside. My leg began to bounce as I tried to shut my eyes.
Louis' fingers slowly wrapped around mine, giving my hand a little squeeze in reassurance. The plane began to shake from turbulence as I felt my stomach in my throat.
"I got you. It's okay, we're okay." he whispered. His thumb ran circles around my hand.
Ever since I was little, planes have been the worst thing in the world for me. It's not really the height that scared me, but falling. I would usually be hugging my dad tight the whole flight, wishing I never came, thinking it was a mistake. My anxiety would spike, knowing that I can't just jump out and leave the small crowded space. I used to be fine with planes when it was me, mom, and dad. We would take up a whole row, and I knew I was going to be okay. But then it became just me and dad— a random person sitting next to us, snoring or smelling terribly awful. It used to be perfect.
And I don't want to say that having a boy that I just met literally today, changed every single aspect of my life— but he definitely made it better. Throughout the flight, we talked and talked and talked about stupid things. Like our favorite color, and our favorite animal. It's crazy how many different tangents you can go on about while trying to say that your favorite animal is an otter. If it was anyone else, I know that they would be tired of me, but Louis never seemed to be. He liked my dumb rants, and diverting into completely different subjects, and rambling about life. It's hard to think that I won't ever see him again after today.
Before I knew it, we landed and everyone was grabbing their luggage from the overhead bins. Louis grabbed the little girl's for her as she shot her tongue out at me. Why is this twelve year old trying to beef with me? I awkwardly smiled at her as I grabbed my suitcase and followed Louis off of the plane.
His family was somewhere near the gate as we heard voices yell his name out. They ran to each other as I stood to the side. They all looked so happy. Meanwhile, my family couldn't even find the time to pick me up.
"Guys, this is Violet. I met her at the airport in LA." he smiled brightly as his sisters approached me.
"Oh my God. You are gorgeous." the smaller girl exclaimed.
"Can we keep her? Please." the taller one with cute bangs pleaded.
"Stop, you're going to scare her," Louis shoved them away as I giggled at their antics. "This is Millie," he said the shorter girl smiled at me. "and this is Issie." the taller girl with the green-ish eyes saluted with her pointer and middle fingers.
"Louis texted us about your mom. I hope you're okay with us dropping you off?" his mother asked.
"Yeah, thank you so much actually. I didn't want to be a burden and—"
"Nonsense. We're always happy to welcome a newcomer! I hope the eleven hour flight next to this one wasn't so bad." she giggled as she gently pinched Louis' arm.
"No, it was great! I'm usually terrified of flights and... this one wasn't that bad." I awkwardly smiled, glancing at Louis' blush stained face as we approached the car.
Issie sat in the front with their mom as Millie, Louis, and I sat in the back row. Their dad was away at work, giving us enough space for everyone to fit. Louis sat in the middle as we talked about the flight and how amazing London is. It really is a beautiful sight to see. The weather was nice, for it was only about seventy degrees— a nice change from the 100 degree weather in Los Angeles. The sky shined bright for it already being 6:30 P.M. and British accents filled the air. I've only been here for a bit, but I already can't imagine leaving.
After twenty minutes of Millie being my official London tour guide— along with Louis' weirdly funny jokes and Issie scolding Louis for his jokes, we made it to my mom's house.
The moment I have been dreading is happening right now. Leaving Louis, seeing my mom, the start of spending two weeks with her new family. I opened the car door, taking in the London air and watched as Louis grabbed my suitcase from the trunk. I hugged Issie, Millie, and his mom, saying my "thank you's" as Louis walked me up to the front door.
We stood by the door, not wanting to say goodbye. Goodbye to each other, goodbye to the last eighteen hours spent together— the best eighteen hours of my life, goodbye to the best person I've ever met.
I wrapped him into a tight hug. My arms around his neck as he quickly let go of the handles of my suitcase and engulfed me into his arms. My head rested on his shoulder, not wanting to ever let go. We stood there for what felt like seconds, but was most likely a straight minute of melancholic silence.
I slowly let go, looking at his perfect face— a face that I've grown to like, maybe as more than a friend.
"I- I got you something." I looked at him, confused as to what he could've gotten me. I was with him the whole time, right?
He held something behind his back, gently bringing it to his front, revealing the sentimental item— the grizzly bear from the gift shop. My eyes were wide and a bit misty as I wrapped him into another hug. He stepped back from the force as I almost tackled him.
"Thank you, but," I pulled away, looking at the sappy gift, trying my hardest not to shed a tear. "how- how did you get that? I was with you the whole time?"
"When you were mocking that old lady at the cash register, I slipped it into my hands, and paid for it when you were looking for gum." he smiled, his hands still on my waist as I gripped his arms.
"Thank you, for- for everything. Really, I don't think I could've gone through this without you." I gulped, noticing my suddenly nervous stature.
"Me neither. We were here for each other," he smiled, that perfect smile. "and to be honest, when I told that girl at Starbucks that we were complicated," I huffed out a laugh, thinking back to how jealous I was. "I didn't do it because I didn't want to start anything with anyone. It's because I already had my heart set out on someone."
My hands moved the front of his chest, his hand swept the hair from my face to behind my ear as I felt chills from his touch. His gaze flicked from my eyes to my lips. My heart was racing as my chest raised up and down. My stomach felt like it was doing somersaults and both of our cheeks were a deep crimson red.
His face moved closer to mine. Our lips hesitantly brushing a few times, our breaths wavering across each other's faces. His nose tickled mine. He was less than centimeters away, his voice just above a whisper, "Can I kiss you?"
I nodded my head, our lips still brushing each other, waiting for the moment where they can finally connect. "Yes." I breathed out.
His lips caught mine in a soft, yet eager kiss— us both knowing that this will be our last interaction ever. He cupped his hands against my cheeks so gently as if I was going to crack and disappear. My whole life, I wondered what it felt like to feel whole. To feel beautiful, and complete. But with him, I have my answer.
I didn't believe in love, but I think he was right. You don't prove it, you feel it. I don't think you realize you love someone until you do. And I think I do.
In this kiss, in this moment, in this period of time in space. I feel complete.
Our lips released from each other, our chests rising up and down. Our foreheads pressed together, a slow tear falling down my blush stained cheek. My eyes were closed, afraid to open them as if this was all a dream.
Our foreheads moved apart from each other as I looked at his sad smile, knowing that it's almost time to go.
"Oh, I should give this back to you." I said, lifting the bottom of his dark brown Carhartt sweater.
"Keep it for now, maybe it'll give you a reason to find me."
He towered over me, his hands holding my waist as I felt a tear fall onto the ground.
"You ready?" his mom shouted from the car. We chuckled, our hands still holding each other tightly.
"Are you?" he asked.
"Yeah. I'm ready."
"Okay." he pulled me into one more hug, holding me tighter than ever before. He laid his chin on my head, placing a soft kiss on my hair.
"we're gonna see each other again. You know that? I still have to return your sweater." I smirked, both of us pulling away.
"I'll hold you to that." his fingers lacing with mine, placing a kiss onto my knuckles.
"Goodbye, Lou." I whispered.
"Goodbye, Vi."
—
Ugh, grab the tissues because I think I'm crying!!! I really hope you loved this chapter, and I'm so excited for the next. Get ready ;)
I love you, always and forever! <3
- x, Sofia