High pitched squeals filled the room, mine being the loudest. I wanted to scream, dance, and cry all at the same time. That night I could barely sleep from all the excitement. Three days later I was looking out the plane window as we were preparing for take-off.
Dad and the twins were seated together, and Abuela and I were seated in the aisle seats next to an elderly gentleman slightly over sixty. By chance, Leo and Mateo were seated next to each other, and Nina was seated right behind them. Soon the gentleman and Abuela began to talk to each other and it’s like she forgot that I was there. Tired of listening to their reminiscences of the ‘70s, I decided to plug in my earphones and started to watch five-minute hacks on YouTube.
Thinking of ways to nullify the dullness of the eight–hour flight, I decided to text Nina.
Me: Hey, how is your end of the plane?
Nina: What are you talking about?
I can see your Abuela’s bright red scarf from here.
Me: Ha, how are Leo and Mateo doing?
Nina: Red alert!
There is a pretty boujee girl talking to Leo.
Me: Tell her to get her manicured nails away from him.
Nina: Haha
Me: What’s funny?
Nina: Wait, are you serious?
Me: Of course not
Haha.
I put down my phone to charge and decided to watch a movie on the screen of the chair in front of me. When the seatbelt light went off, dad came to check on me.
“Sierra, are you okay? I know the take-off was a bit rough.”
“Yeah, I am. I’m pretty sure Abuela slept through all of it.”
“The twins thought we were going to die when the plane started moving.”
“Ha, that bad?”
“Yeah, to calm them down we all prayed for the pilot.”
After my dad went back to his seat, I got a text from Mateo as I was checking how many hours of the flight we had left.
Mateo: Hey how r u doing
Me: I’m g u?
Mateo: Same
Me: How far is Pennsylvania from New York?
Mateo: Only a few hours
Me: So you can visit me and Nina almost every weekend.
Mateo: Yeah
Me: Anyway, we have like 4 more hours till the plane lands.
Mateo: I miss you.
Me: We’re on the same plane dummy.
Mateo: I know that
But I wish you were seated next to me.
Me: Ha-ha, boohoo
What, my brother’s too much to handle
Mateo: Your brother is in his world.
Me: Ok, I’m going to sleep for like two hours
Mateo: Oh ok I should probably do the same
Me: I’m so exhausted
Mateo: Good night, luv u
Me: It’s like four in the morning.
Mateo: Wow really you can’t let a guy be just a little romantic
Me: Ha-ha not when you’re wrong, luv u too
Mateo: And good morning to you as well
Me: Just sleep
After I put my phone down I turned to the passenger behind me to ask if I could recline my chair. The young black American lady, probably mid-thirties dressed in a red silk blouse and a dark blue skirt and blazer, looked up from her computer and unplugged her earphones.
“Excuse me, is it okay if I recline my chair a bit?” I asked in the sweetest voice I didn’t even know my mouth could produce.
“Dear, just don’t recline it too far otherwise you will crush my computer.”
“Thank you, most people wouldn’t be as nice as to let me even lean back.”
“Well, I’m not exactly most people.” She said with a beautiful smile.
“I’m Sierra, Sierra Armente,” I said as I stretched out my hand to shake hers.
“Tori, Tori Johnson.” She replied as she shook my hand and then extended a bit behind for me to recline my chair. I put my head down and without any effort, my eyelids slammed shut. In what felt like thirty minutes, Abuela tapped me to wake up.
“Please just ten minutes.”
“We don’t have ten minutes, put on your seatbelt. The light is on.” She said reorganizing the red scarf that sat lopsided on her head. As she removed the red scarf, her beautiful black hair with silver streaks rolled down her blue blouse.
“Wait, why the light is on?” I asked setting my chair straight.
Before Abuela could respond the pilot’s voice drowned hers.
Good morning, this is your pilot speaking. We are beginning our descent into New York. All passengers please fasten your seatbelts and straighten your chairs. Thank you.
“Well, you heard him. Put on your seatbelt before you get flung out of the plane.”
“How can it be that were already landing I only slept for thirty minutes, we should have like an hour left.”
“I think you must have been extremely exhausted because you slept for,” She paused to look at her button phone, “about three and a half hours.”
“What? How?!”
“I don’t know, now put on your seatbelt before you fly out of your seat.” She said.
Soon after I put on my seatbelt the plane began to descend and my eardrums felt like bursting. As soon as we landed the brilliance of the airport struck me. Compared to JFK, our simple airport looked like a toothpick. Soon the air hostess told us to get up and head for the door. After going down the stairs we had to wait for a bus to come and pick us up to take us to the main entrance. “Ooh look at him,” Nina said as she turned from the conveyer belt. We were in baggage claim waiting for our suitcases, Nina and I, because everyone else had gotten theirs.
“We’re supposed to be looking for my suitcase, not at boys.”
“Oh sorry, but damn he is fine.”
“Will you stop it, that’s not funny?” I said turning around to see who she was looking at.
“Who? Him?” I asked pointing to a man, in his early fifties, dressed in an army green pair of pants and a black shirt.
“Are you mad, that guy is old enough to be my grandpa, yuck?” She said with a look of disgust on her face. “Turn to the left a bit.”
To be continued…
princejez 