“I’m going to X3’s concert in Greece, aren’t I?” Emotion is thick in my voice as my eyes water over with tears. My hands shake with excitement.
“Better pack because we’re leaving in exactly four hours,” she taunts with a smirk. “Surprise!”
I can’t help but jump up and throw my arms around her waist. I bury my face in her neck as she laughs.
“You deserve to see him, and Athena has been telling me about his mood swings. It will be good for both of you.”
My body shakes as I squeeze her tight. This is the best gift I could have ever received. At this moment, I feel excitement run through my veins. I’ve never been this eager to hop on a plane, but slight nervousness fills the pit of my stomach. I’ve never left home before. Going on a plane will be a whole unique experience for me. Knowing I’ll be in Leonidas’s arms will be worth it. Not to mention, I’ll visit Greece! That’s somewhere I’ve wanted to go for a while.
“Can we surprise him?” I ask, pulling away with a giant smile.
“Yes, Athena and I planned out the entire thing. You’ll surprise him before he goes onstage.”
I watch as she walks to my bedroom door.
“We should be out of the house in two hours. Pack like your life depends on it!” she shouts over her shoulder.
Slamming my bedroom door shut, I lean on it before doing a stupid happy dance.
To Leonidas I go.
* * *
I feel like I’m in a zoo.
With my suitcase beside me, I wait in customs as I watch people run around to their gates. I almost laugh when grown people rush around. They all remind me of chickens with their heads cut off.
Mom and I left the house two hours ago. She said we needed enough time to get through customs and the endless lines. I thought she was being silly until I saw the lines … and I immediately started to sweat when I saw all the people.
My anxiety tells me we are going to miss our flight, that I will lose the one chance of seeing Leonidas. Yet I hear his rough voice in my head.“Fight them ten times harder with a smirk on your face.”
So, as I stand in line, my foot tapping on the tiles, I watch the line get smaller and smaller, and I fight my thoughts until they were a dim whisper.
Getting to the front of the line feels like I just won a marathon. I don’t break down in tears and start shaking like I usually would. I beat my thoughts exactly how Leonidas told me.
I’m so proud of myself. Facing my struggles feels like I’ve won gold.
Before, my life resembled more of a withered flower, just a thin stem that hardly stood up. With a little water and sunlight, petals and color formed. The green of the stem got richer and more vibrant. I feel like that’s the story of my life. Once you get stomped on, you can always get back up with a little help and love.
Now, here I sit in a sitting area, waiting to board the plane with a book in my hand. Out of the thousand books Leonidas gave me, I only gravitated to one.
MyTwilightbook.
It holds a very special place in my heart. I feel like a piece of him is with me as I travel to him. I wear his bracelet on my wrist. I never take it off. I sleep with it on, shower, basically everything. No matter how far away he feels, knowing he has the same book and bracelet against his skin brings me comfort.
“I never see that book leave your hand.” Mom laughs from where she sits beside me.
Shifting around in the hard airport seat, I eye the book resting in my lap. “I love it.”
“You must have finished it by now,” she muses while fiddling with a magazine she bought at a local shop.
“I’m rereading it,” I state with a proud smile.
She hums and smiles. “Maybe I should pick that up sometime and try it. I heard it’s amazing.”
I nod and agree with her before staring at a little girl ahead of me. Her tiny legs can’t reach the floor as she sits between her parents. They look down at her with love. I miss the feeling of seeing my parents happy together. A smile lifts my face as her big chocolate-brown eyes find mine. Her eyes roam across my body before she smiles at me. Her little hand waves, and I do the same. I laugh as she looks down with shyness.
“I love kids,” I mumble lowly to Mom when I catch her smiling at our interaction.
