I take my boarding pass back from the attendant, thanking him as I make my way down the ramp until I'm outside by all the planes.
I make my way up the stairs that were attached to the plane, wiping the tears that managed to escape at the thought of leaving Alex as well as everything else before reaching the flight attendant.
"Welcome to LA airlines, you're in seat 14A, it's the window seat on your right." I thank the flight attendant softly, watching as she nods gently in return before I make my way down the aisle and towards the seat she pointed to.
Hopefully I will be able to fall asleep on this flight otherwise I'm going to have to try find something to keep my mind off of him.
I sigh reading all the seat numbers until I reach my seat. I take my overnight bag off my shoulder before placing it on the empty chair in front of me.
After taking out my earphones and grabbing my neck cushion, I reach up, standing on the balls of my feet to open the overhead bin on top of me to place my bag inside.
I duck my head quickly as I see something immediately fall out, trying to avoid someone's bag that wasn't placed inside properly.
"Woah, you might wanna be careful with that." I lift my head up slowly, seeing someone's hands around the bag as they push it back up into the overhead bin. "That could have ended badly."
"Thank you." At this moment, I wish I was a bit taller as I struggled to haul my bag up into the overhead bin.
"Here, let me help you with that." The bag was taken out of my hands and I watched it being slid into the bin before a hand closed it.
"Once again, thank you." I smile, turning to face the person for the first time, my eyes widening slightly. "Jesse?"
"Hey Tan, was starting to think you were avoiding my gaze for some reason." A smile crosses his face as I shake my head quickly.
"No sorry, just have a lot on my mind I guess."
"Was just teasing, it's been a while hasn't it?"
"Excuse me, You're blocking the pathway." A voice comes out from behind Jesse, making me realize that we had just been standing in the middle of the aisle.
"So sorry ma'am. Will be out of the way in a second." I shake my head, snapping myself out of my thoughts as I climb into the window seat, opening my earphone case when I see Jesse move in next to me. "Guess you're stuck with me for the next eleven hours or so."
I feel a smile creep across my face as I giggle softly, unraveling the earphones before hooking one into my ear.
"Already trying to get away from my talking to me, I see how it is."
"Oh no, no-"
"Teasing again." He flashes a captivating smirk, his words relieve my nerves as I sink back into the seat.
"It's been a while yeah?"
"I'd say so, six years is a really long time, I'm surprised you even recognized me. Thirteen year old me must have been quite a site."
"Come on, you don't look that different." I say making him chuckle as he nods. I have to say, that wasn't honest at all, but there's no ways I was about to tell him he grew up to be extremely attractive.
"Maybe, but I must admit, you look even prettier than the last time I saw you." I let out a soft laugh as I shake my head in denial and turn my head towards the window.
"What brings you back to London?" The words spark up another conversation and when he replies, I smile in success after avoiding his previous comment.
"Well, my family still lives in London. After living in LA throughout high school you know, with the sports scholarship, it felt like home so I decided to move out there permanently."
"Really? That's incredible Jess. Are you still playing soccer?"
"Definitely, couldn't ever give it up." I smile genuinely at his words before nodding. "What about you Tan? Still friends with Mercer?"
"I actually live with him now, in LA.
I don't even know what I would do without him, he's everything to me."
"You two were always inseparable." He says chuckling, making me smile with a nod. "I haven't spoken to him in a few years either."
"You should reach out. I'm sure he'd be really happy to reconnect with his really close friend."
"I don't think he likes me that much, he wasn't very happy when he left London and I was here with you when he couldn't be."
"That was like six years ago Jess." I say giggling before taking my phone into my hands and unlocking it before opening Snapchat. "Smile yeah?"
"Could you send that to me by any chance?"
"Definitely, but I don't really have your number anymore. You know, new phone and a few years later." He chuckles as I wave my phone in the air before taking his number and sending him the photo.
"I saw Mercer's in a really popular band. It popped up while I was on Instagram the other day. They're pretty impressive." My breath hitched in my throat but I try to hide it from him.
"Alex is insanely talented. They all are." The last part comes out much softer and I can see he picks up the change in my mood.
"Sensitive topic, got it." He says in complete understanding without me even having to explain. "Who needs to talk about sunset swerve for eleven hours anyways? Got a lot to catch up on right?"
I can't help but laugh at his mispronunciation of the band, whether it was on purpose or not.
"Heading home for the holidays?"
"Yeah. I guess you could say that, I just finished another term in my course." I explained, hoping he wouldn't question me on the first part of my answer.
"College yeah? What course are you majoring in?"
"Photography. Always wanted to, I'm really lucky to have gotten the opportunity to do that."
"Ahh yes, I do recall you being glued to that one camera."
Jesse, Alex and I used to be close friends, in the last year before Alex left. Not as close as Alex and I were but he used to hang out with the two of us quite a lot.
I guess it's my fault we lost contact because after Alex left, it just didn't feel the same without him so I just pulled away from Jesse as well.
The two of us fall into a conversation for the rest of the flight and I was kind of grateful to have him occupy my mind when I know sleep wouldn't have.
"At least we know your memory recall is okay."