I stood at the terminal in John F. Kennedy International Airport, waiting for Connor to finish saying goodbye to his family. We'd done the first show of the tour last night and the two of us had gone back to our shared hotel room straight after. I couldn't help but smile at the memory.
~Flashback~
Walking back to our room, Connor and I could barely keep our hands off each other. We had to be cautious about it in the streets but as soon as we got inside, all bets were off and he had me up against the wall as we waited for the elevator. His hands explored the skin on my back, creeping under my shirt as I dipped my hands down the back of his neck.
As the elevator arrived, he started kissing along my jaw and we stumbled inside, much to the surprise of the elderly couple who had come down. I leaned my head back against the wall, giving him better access to kiss my neck. When the elevator doors slid open on our floor, we broke apart just slightly to find our door. Connor fumbled with the key card for a moment, pushing me against the door so I stumbled backwards when it finally opened.
I kicked it closed the minute we were clear, pulling him with me across the room towards the bed. Pausing for a moment, I looked into his eyes.
"Are you sure?" I whispered, searching his deep green eyes for any hesitation. I found none.
"I'm sure." He captured my lips again and we fell back onto the bed in a tangle of limbs and laughter.
~End Flashback~
Looking at Connor now, I wondered if his family could see the difference in him from last night. He had a definite aura of happiness around him and, to me, it showed in his smile and the way he walked. He caught me looking at him as he hugged his mom and winked at me. I smiled back and looked down at my phone. We had five minutes until we had to board our plane.
"Con, five minutes." I called over.
"Okay." He said his final goodbyes and then walked towards me, dragging his carry-on suitcase behind him. I saw his mom wipe a tear from her eye that she obviously didn't want Connor to see so I smiled at her, hoping it passed on the message that I'd look after him.
"Are you ready?" I asked him, taking his hand.
"If I'm not, I don't know that I'll ever be." Together we walked through the terminal doors, taking a moment to wave back at Connor's family. My family and our friends had said goodbye at the concert the night before to make today run a little smoother. "Is every concert like last night?"
"Well, after the concert was a little different."
"Of course. But I meant the actual show." He laughed.
"I know." I winked at him. "But, yeah, they are all pretty much the same."
"Wow." I could hear the sense of wonder in his voice. I'd been the same after my first concert.
"Don't get too excited. It gets a little tiring after a while and they all blur into one."
"One amazing trip with my boyfriend." I rolled my eyes as we handed over our passports and tickets to the air hostess. She checked them and guided us into the first class area. "And this makes it even better."
"First class?"
"Yeah. I've only ever flown coach."
"It's something else." I advised. "You'll never want to fly coach again."
We settled into our seats, ready for the six hour flight to London. We both had private cubicles but since they were right next to each other, we could have the dividing partition up or down to our liking. Of course, we wanted it down at the moment so we could talk.
Thanks to my manager, who was travelling in business, we were the only ones in the section so we could pretty much do what we wanted. Once we were up in the air, I turned to Connor who had gone white.
"You okay?"
"Yeah. I just don't like take-off and landing."
"You should have said."
"And what? Missed out on going on tour? No way."
"No, but I could have held your hand. Comforted you."
"It's okay. I don't tell anyone unless I have to. Even my siblings don't know."
"Well, every time we take-off or land, I'll hold your hand from now on, okay?"
"Thanks." The colour had come back to his face now and he seemed more comfortable. "What do you want to do?"
"I actually wouldn't mind watching a movie. I just want to relax after last night. I'm a little tired." He grinned smugly at me and I playfully swatted his arm.
"Ow! That was mean."
"You started it."
"Did not."
"You did, with that look you gave me."
"I can't help it if I like the memories from last night." We were both laughing by now.
"You know, I was thinking about last night when you were saying goodbye."
"And?"
"It was amazing. I can't wait to do it again."
"Me either. But not right now. Maybe at the hotel tonight." He reached across the divider to rest his hand on my thigh, the touch sending tingles through my body.
"Definitely."
--------------------
By the time we began to descend into Heathrow airport, we had finished watching the Wizard of Oz and were half-way through Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol. We'd slept a little in between, preparing ourselves for the show that night.
Emma came up into first class just before the 'Fasten Seat-belt' sign came on, sitting on the edge of the seat opposite us.
"So we'll be going straight from the airport to the venue. Your bags will be taken to your rooms while you're performing. If there's anything you need or want with you, bring it with you but leave your carry on bags with Jenny when we get off and she'll make sure they get to the hotel."
"What time are we landing?" Connor wanted to know.
"About two thirty, London time. And the concert starts at seven thirty. So we'll have five hours for sound-check and last minute stuff." Emma replied.
"What are we doing for dinner?" I asked.
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
"Ma'am, you need to return to your seat now. We're about to begin descent." The air hostess came up to us and Emma nodded.
"Sure. See you in a bit, boys." She waved to us as she went back to her seat.
"Are you excited? We're almost in London." I asked Connor. He'd told me a few months back that he'd never actually been out of the United States. I reached over to take his hand, keeping the promise I'd made at the start of the flight.
"Mm-hm." He was staring at the now blank TV screen in front of him and he squeezed my hand. Hard. I hoped he didn't see the wince of pain on my face but I kept silent, not wanting to upset him.
"It's okay. We'll be down soon."
"Troye?"
"Yeah?"
"Shut up. Please."
"Oh." I pressed my lips together to keep from saying anything else and also to hold in the bubble of laughter that was trying to escape from me. We hit a little turbulence coming down to the runway and I heard Connor's frightened gasp so I gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.
Finally, the plane rolled to a stop and Connor sighed in relief. His face was pale again but the colour was slowly coming back as we grabbed our bags and headed off the plane to meet Jenny.
"How was the flight?" Jenny asked when we got to where she was waiting.
"Pretty good, actually. Not much turbulence at all." I replied, handing over my bag. I kept my phone and wallet with me, as did Connor. Everything else would go straight to the hotel. We waited with Jenny until Emma and the rest of the tour team arrived. Then came the task of navigating our way through the crowds of fans that had accumulated outside the terminal, waiting for me.
"This is crazy." Connor said to me when we finally got into a waiting car. Every window had girls tapping on it, shouting my name, sometimes Connor's too.
"I know. This is worse than the last tour." The car started to drive off slowly and security guards surrounded the car, holding the screaming girls back so they didn't get hit.
It only took about fifteen minutes to get to the concert venue once we hit the road and we were immediately dragged into sound check rehearsals. Both of us were looking forward to tonight's show, it being the first real concert of the tour.
As I was onstage, going through some lighting checks, I looked down into what would later on become the mosh pit to see Connor, camera at the ready. I pulled a face and held up my hands in a 'peace' sign as I saw the little flash go off and he started to laugh.
"I'm going to get a photo of you before every show. And keep them all in a scrapbook." He called up to me.
"Only if you let me get some pictures of you to add to it." I called back.
I could already tell that life on tour was going to be amazing. And even better with Connor by my side.