The Airport
April 5, 2030, 8 a.m.
It was 76° in Chatan Town, Okinawa, Japan. The sun was shining, and the birds were singing their daily songs. M.J. was preparing food for her friends and her sister when they arrived to visit them. It’s been a year since they all finished college. One of her close friends, Jazz, whose name is Jasmine, talked about moving to Japan but was scared of living alone. So M.J. moved in with her. They became very close in that one year of living together. Though sometimes they had their differences and would sometimes argue, it was all love.
It was eight o’clock and Jazz was still in bed. M.J. runs up the stairs, skipping them two by two. She stands in front of the door and slowly opens it. “Jazz?” she whispers while poking her head into the Bedroom. Jazz’s room is decorated with posters of her favorite bands and has two bookshelves on each side. Jazz loved to read and would spend most of her time reading books from her favorite authors.
“It’s eight. We need to head to the airport,” M.J. says as she walks towards the bed. She stands in front of the bed for a few seconds. Jazz doesn’t budge. One thing about Jazz is that she is not a morning person. “Jazz!” M.J. shouts while shaking her to wake up.
A groaning noise comes from under the covers. “What?” Jazz groaned.
“What do you mean? We have to go to the airport. Our friends are coming soon.” M.J. explains. “And you take so long to get ready, so get up you brat.” Jazz put the pillow over her head as if she wanted M.J. to shut up.
“Have I ever told you how much I hate you?” Jazz says with a muffled voice. M.J. side-eyes then smirks. She decided not to be friendly and jumped right on top of her. “Bro, get off of me!” Jazz yells, trying to push M.J. off.
“Then get up or we’ll be late,” M.J. says.
“M.J, if you don’t get off of me in the next ten seconds, I will hit you in your face,” Jazz warns. M.J. waited a couple of seconds before she forcefully threw back onto the bed.
“Get up,” M.J. says as she kicks the bed forcefully, then walks out of the room.
Jazz sits on top of the bed, staring out her window, with a hard face on, and lets the sun hit her face. She then slips on her slippers and heads downstairs. She passed by the kitchen where M.J. was and went to the bathroom.
“Look who’s awake,” M.J. says. Jazz rolls her eyes and walks into the bathroom, then slams the door. M.J. chuckles and finishes preparing everything.
Jazz stands in front of the bathroom mirror, brushing her teeth with curls all over her face. Jazz has a light brown complexion, is slim, and has curly brown hair. She scratches an itchy area on top of her head. When she finished, she tied her hair into a bun and put a shower cap on.
M.J. finishes wrapping everything and then heads back upstairs to her room. M.J.’s space was very simple, it had little decoration, the walls were just plain white, and a few pictures of her and her friends. She also has a bookshelf in her room. That’s one thing she and Jazz had in common: they loved to read. Mostly mystery and horror books, reading a good book together was something they loved to do. Out of all the friends, Jazz and M.J. are the closest, though they act like they want to kill each other, they act like sisters.
M.J. grabs her towel from the closet and then heads downstairs to the bathroom. The hot water filled the bathroom with haze. Jazz was still showering. M.J. stands in front of the mirror filled with fog. M.J. wipes the mirror with her hands, causing water droplets to drip off. She then grabs a towel to wipe them.
“Why do you have to shower with such hot water?” M.J. complains.
“Because I can,” Jazz states with an attitude.
M.J. scoffs as she finishes wiping the mirror.
“Well, hurry, you’ve been in there for too long,” M.J. says
“I’ll finish when I’m done,” Jazz replies.
M.J. rolls her eyes and brushes her teeth. She stares at herself in the mirror. She notices a pimple on the left side of her chin.You’ve got to be kidding me, she says in her head. Out of all the days, it had to happen today. M.J. hated it when she would break out, as pimples would leave scars on her face. M.J. had a darker complexion than Jazz. She had dark brown skin, dark brown eyes, was slim, and had short afro hair. M.J. was born in Haiti and moved to the States shortly after she was five for better education. And now this is where she is. Japan.
It’s nine o’clock and both girls are getting ready in their rooms. Jazz was brushing her hair in front of her mirror. She wore grey boot-cut jeans and a white shirt with a grey cardigan to go on top of it. After, she takes a clipper and clips her hair back. She grabs her purse and then heads back downstairs to the living room.
M.J. sits on the edge of her bed, putting on her shoes. She’s wearing black dressy pants with a simple white shirt tucked into the pants to give the outfit a better look. She then walks over to her mirror and adds finishing touches to her face. She tied her hair into a slick-back bun. When she feels ready, she grabs her bag and heads downstairs.
She walks into the living room and finds Jazz sitting on the couch, scrolling through social media, with her volume at its max.
“You ready?” M.J. says as she walks towards the door. Let’s go”.
Jazz drags herself off the couch, walks out of the house, and locks the door.
M.J. starts the car and turns on the radio. Music was the way to go, in this rough morning they had. Jazz slouches in the passenger seat and continues scrolling on her phone. There was a bit of traffic on the road, but it cleared up quickly. There were many people outside this morning. People were always walking around in Okinawa. Crowds of people are going into stores or just going out to eat.
It was quiet in the car for some time. M.J. switched up the radio and connected to her playlist on her phone. She turns up some Mary J. Blige. The songBE WITHOUT YOU plays. She then sings along. M.J. was a decent singer but not great. Her voice cracked on some lyrics, which made Jazz giggle. M.J. notices and continues to sing. Jazz gives her a funny look. Jazz just listens to her sing. M.J. shoves her shoulder as if saying she knows she wants to sing along. Jazz shoves her hands away. M.J. continues exaggerating the lyrics while leaning towards Jazz, her voice continues cracking. She then laughs.
“Come on, girl, help me finish the ending,” M.J. yells. “Ready? Ready?“.
Jazz fixes her position and gets ready. Then, in sync, they sing together, ”CALL THE RADIO IF YOU JUST CAN’T BE WITHOUT YOUR BABY!”They then take a deep breath and hold each other’s arms to finish the famous line of the song. In a screaming voice, they yell, “HHHHHEEEEEYYYYYYYY, OOOH OOH OH OH.” People on the sidewalks turn towards their car, giving them weird looks. Some people laugh out of not expecting it.
They were in a red light, and everyone was staring at them. They both slouch down in their seats and laugh it off. Singing while driving was something M.J. and Jazz would sometimes do, and they had fun doing it. Though they sound obnoxious sometimes they didn’t give a care in the world. The light turns green, and M.J. pushes on the gas pedal, escaping people’s stares as soon as she can.
They arrive at Naha International Airport. Naha Airport is Okinawa’s biggest airport, and it is always busy there as there are lots of travelers. M.J. and Jazz walked around to the arrivals section to see if they could see their friends. The place was crowded and people were greeting each other in Japanese.
Their flight landed, Jazz and M.J. got there around 8:50, and their friend’s flight landed at 8:40, so they had to be there. They kept on looking. They move forward a bit more. Jazz went left and M.J. went right.
Jazz stands on her tiptoes as some people block her view. When she was about to turn around, she heard a familiar voice in the crowd. She turns around, but the voice fades. She can’t make out who it is, but it just sounds so familiar. She turns back around one more time as if trying to listen for it again, but it is of no use. She goes back to where they were originally standing and hears familiar voices up ahead.
“Jazz!” M.J. shouts, waving her hands for her to come over. Jazz runs towards them.
Jennifer, Carmen, Merliah, and Mina were there. Everyone was hugging each other, expressing their excitement through laughter.
“Omg, Jazz!” Jennifer yells. It’s been a while″ she adds, giving her a big bear hug. Jazz hugs her tight, too, smelling her sweet scent.
“Yeah, it has been a long time,” Jazz agreed reaching to hug everyone else.
Jennifer, who they also call Jenny, was one of Jazz’s closest friends after M.J. They went to the same college as M.J. and would see each other from time to time. Jazz studied criminal justice, M.J. studied counseling, and Jennifer studied marine biology.
Jennifer was one of the nicest people you could meet. She always had a fun attitude and a welcoming aura. She was the shyest of the group, but she worked on that. Jennifer was Hispanic, she had a brown complexion, dark brown eyes, and long, straight, black hair. She loved to tie her hair with a clip or wear a little headband. It made her look like a child, but her friends thought it was cute. It suited her.
“Omg I missed you guys,” M.J. says
“Why wouldn’t you?” Mina exclaimed with her hands on her hips. Everyone goes into laughter, and M.J. rolls her eyes.
“You’re not funny,” M.J. says in a low voice.
“And you have no humor,” Mina responds, bopping her sister’s nose.
“Oh, here we go,” Merliah says, grabbing her suitcase, ready to go. Carmen laughs, slapping her hands against her legs, as she knows M.J. and Mina would sometimes go at it.
M.J. and Mina are twins. They have a lot of differences between them and would have many disagreements. Their friends wouldn’t be surprised if one of them ended up killing the other, since they were always jumping down each other’s throats. Most of the time, their friends would find it hilarious about the things they say. And sometimes it would just come out very diabolical. It was mostly diabolical.
“I’m ready to get out of this airport,” Merliah says. “And I’m also pretty hungry after that flight,” she adds.
“Good thing that I prepared some food before we picked y’all up,” M.J. says. Merliah throws on a smile squeezing her lips together, squinting her eyes to make a cute face. M.J. laughs and tells them to follow her.
Merliah, who they also call Lia, was the sweetest of the group. She was the peacemaker of the group. She was always there to break things up, but she would also add a little humor to it. She was funny, and she would always say things that would make you confused, but that was the point and you would have to follow along. Lia was Brazilian. But all her friends would sometimes tease her because of her whiteness. She looked Brazilian because of her features, but could pass for being Caucasian. She was the tallest of the group; she had a slim figure, short, light brown hair, and brown eyes. She used to wear glasses, but not much anymore; she mostly wears contacts. One unique thing about Lia was her eyes. It was how cute and big they were. M.J. would always point it out, and Lia would just laugh.
“So girls, what’s it like in Okinawa?” Carmen says, walking towards Jazz and M.J. Jazz turns her face towards M.J., signaling her to answer the question.
“Oh, it’s great,” M.J. says. “There’s so much to do and see. Also, the people are nice here.”
“Oh really, that’s good!” Carmen says. “I’m glad y’all like it”.
“How’s everything at home?” Jazz asks.
Carmen laughs and shrugs her shoulders. “Everything’s going well, everyone’s okay,” Carmen explained.
“Still don’t get that boyfriend”. M.J. adds smiling. Carmen laughs awkwardly, throwing her hands up and shaking her palms.
“Girl, don’t even ask,” she says, laughing. “It’s in God’s hands, cause if it’s meant to happen then...Yeah”.
They all start laughing.
Carmen was one of M.J.’s closest friends, and they grew up together when they were ten years old. They are now twenty-four. So are most of the girls, except Lia and Jennifer, twenty-three. Carmen’s mom and her mother were best friends, and they also became friends. Carmen and M.J. were like sisters. They would gossip about everything together. Even about their mother’s friendship, they believed it was toxic. Not to mention, the crazy things that would happen at M.J.’s house when their parents would fight. Carmen was one of the kindest people. She was nice to everyone she met and was also the biggest supporter. She would always cheer for her friends and was genuinely happy. Never negative and would always spread positivity. She was the group’s cheerleader and pillar of strength.
“What about you guys? Y’all seeing anyone?” Carmen says, crossing her arms as if expecting them to say yes.
Jazz gives a side eye before answering, “Girl you know how I am. No boyfriend, only talking to multiple people,” she says, giving Carmen a devilish smirk. “And you know I like keeping my options open,” she adds, winking.
M.J. shakes her head while laughing, “Well, I was, but not anymore,” M.J. says
Carmen stares at her, surprisingly, putting her hands on her chest as if betrayed by her not telling her about it. Jazz swings her head at M.J. as if catching her in a lie. Because technically she was lying but not entirely. M.J. stares at Jazz weirdly, then smiles.
“I was!” M.J. says
Lia and Jenny run up behind them.
“Did we just hear M.J. was in a relationship and didn’t tell us!” Jennifer states.
“Yeah!” Lia adds
Mina hesitates to answer and stumbles along with her words.
“It was and wasn’t like that”, M.J. says slowly.
Jazz scoffs. “It was not like that,” she says. The others look at her, confused. “She literally met the guy, and they talked for two weeks and went out twice, and that was it. They were basically in a situation-ship, not a relationship,” Jazz explained.
M.J. side eyes Jazz.
“Besides, he wasn’t even that good for her, really,” Jazz stated while putting her arm over M.J. ’s shoulder, “He was a total weirdo. Major stalker vibes.”
“He was not!” M.J. protested, “He just had a tough childhood...That’s why he was so awkward. Especially with all the questioning you did.” Elbowing Jazz by her side.
“Well, ladies, let’s go have some fun before we all kill each other,” Lia says, separating Jazz and M.J.
