Someone Special

It's the day of the wedding, I am in the back room helping Gwen get ready.

“Andre, should I have said no when he asked?”

“Of course not, are you crazy?”

“I don't want to leave dad empty handed with you, he needs to go back to work again.” oh Gwen, I don't want to tell you that you aren't needed anymore, but I'm fifteen now, I can handle myself.

“You look beautiful.”

“Thanks, I'm so glad you agreed to be one of my bridesmaids.”

“Why wouldn't I, it's one of the cool things about being a sister.” She smiled but I could tell she was nervous.

“Married at 21, I thought it would be earlier.”

“I wouldn't have said yes if it was any earlier.” She laughed, she was trying to hide all the emotions she was having. She was sad, happy, nervous, worried, excited, and all the rest.

"You'll be fine. Mrs. Gwendolyn Davis." She made a face then laughed.

"You are the strangest most dangerous and probably the most amazing sister ever."

"Probably." I agreed. She shook her head at me.

Gwen had a small wedding planned, only family and close friends were invited. Dad was a little upset when she “accidentally” didn't send an invite to Natasha, but it's her wedding so she gets to decide who to invite and who not to invite.

I had to sit in the front row while dad walked her up the aisle, she was very beautiful. The white dress shone with little white lilies along the hem, her veil lightly covered her face. It was a short wedding too, Gwen doesn't like to draw attention to herself. Neither do I, if I ever get married, I want to have a short and small wedding like hers.

I had to dig out my Spanish skills when a relative talked to me, but I wasn't as bad as I thought. I hadn't studied or talked to anyone in Spanish all summer.

Dad and I drove home afterward, I was tired because we had to get up really early today, and I couldn't sleep last night. We ate dinner and went to bed. I didn't get up till eleven.

“Andre, I need to talk to you about some things.”

Oh, that's never good news. “What is it?”

“You know I have to go to work in about a month right?”

“Yeah, but I'm trying to forget.”

“Well, I was thinking, since Gwen won't be here and I will be gone for six months or more.”

“Just cut to the chase dad, you always build up before you say something.”

“I'm taking you with me.”

“What?”

“I already have a house and everything planned.”

“How will I go to school?”

“You'll go to one in the city.”

That sounds like a nightmare, changing schools, leaving the country for six months or more. Leaving Owen here by himself. We’re still dating, you can't just put an ocean between two lovers and expect them to be ok.

“Can I object to this idea?”

“It's not exactly an idea, it's the only option.” I need to talk to Owen about this.

“Oh, I'm not sure how I feel about that, all my friends are here, I don't want to disappear for half a year and come back.”

“I'm sorry, I will try to find another way, but I don't think I'll find one.”

“Ok, I'll be right back, I'm going on a walk to think about this for a while.” He nodded.

I went out and ended up in Owens bedroom freaking out.

“Hey, sit down for a minute before you pass out.” I sat down, I wasn't going to pass out. That didn't happen anymore.

“What would you do if you were in my position?” He thought for a long time.

“I don't really know, I might help find another place to stay, or just go to my hideout and cry.”

“I don't cry, you know that.” He laughed.

Mr. Becker came up, “Your dad called, he wants to know if your ok.”

“Yeah I'm fine, totally fine, he just wants to bring me across the ocean to live in a completely different country, in the city, for six whole months, maybe more.” He told him I was crying on Owen's shoulder.

“I am not!” Owen laughed, then Mr. Becker continued talking. They talked a lot lately, hard to believe they wouldn't even look at each other a couple years ago. I didn't really have to tell dad where I was going anymore, if I wasn't in the house then I was probably at the Becker’s house or with Owen somewhere in town.

“I hope I can survive.” Mr. Becker came in after hanging up.

“What do you mean?”

“You're the one who keeps Owen out of trouble most of the time.” That was true.

“I will do my best.” Owen was laughing and smiling, but we could tell he wasn't happy. He always hid his real feelings. I don't know who is going away, me or Owen. Separating us is like trying to pull two magnets apart. The only thing that's good about this is that Linda won't be in my class.

I will have new teachers, new classmates, and new everything. City kids are shity kids, that's what I've heard anyway. I come from a place where everything is quiet and peaceful. How am I supposed to live in a city?

Dad was planning everything so we can get there as fast as possible. This was going to be my first time on an airplane and out of the country, I haven't even been out of the state. We packed most of our things ahead of time. I waited until the last minute to pack my things because I still wasn't ready to go.

Owen would sneak out and come to my room, I would sneak out and go to his room. We continued to do this until it was the night before I had to leave.

Owen came in to watch me pack, he wanted us to spend every minute together before I left. Owen told me about everything good that would happen while I was there, but I couldn't stop thinking of all the bad things.

I couldn't sleep at all, I rolled over and moved around, I couldn't get comfortable. We were going to leave at six, it was already one. I sat in the dark. What if Owen starts dating someone else while I'm gone? What if everyone in the school hates me? They're all going to come from the city except me, I'll be starting new again. I thought my first year was hard, now I have to go through it again.

I got up and went to the kitchen, I realized I was still dressed. I have been stressing over this so much that I forgot to change. I started the coffee maker and went to get dressed. Ash was texting me, she was wondering if I was asleep.

“Cant sleep.” I sent.

“Oh, are you excited? You get to ride in an airplane!”

“Not really.”

“Come on Andre, it will be amazing. You'll go to the most famous coffee shops. All the bookstores too.” She was either trying to make me feel better or she wanted to go. Dad came up from his room, I must have made noise.

“Andre, you should try to sleep.”

“Can't.” I poured a cup of coffee.

“Because of the coffee or something else?” I was making coffee at two in the morning, it must be something else.

“Neither or both.” I didn't know which one was keeping me up now. He went back down to his room, I sat down in the living room and tried to read.

Soon it was time to leave, I skipped breakfast, I wasn't hungry. How could anyone eat if this was happening. Dad put everything in the truck, we drove to the airport. Why couldn't he get a job in town, or leave me home? It's only six months, I’m fifteen years old. Owens dad left him home alone when he was twelve. Yeah, they had problems but it worked out in the end, somewhat.

We waited for a while before we could actually get on the plane. Dad was checking his phone and making sure everything was still in order. I leaned back in the chair with one leg on the arm rest. I watched a little kid take a marker out on a box and draw on the wall, that were probably about four years old.

The parent or whoever it was who was with the kid went to the bathroom and left the little boy alone. I got up and went over to him, I sat on the floor and put the caps on the markers.

“You should draw on the paper, not the wall.” The little boy smiled like he was doing it on purpose. “Look.” I moved his hand from the wall to the paper. “The color is prettier on paper.” The wall makes the colors dark, but if you draw on the white, then the color is bright.” He started drawing on the paper, I watched. I looked around to see if the people were coming back yet, I looked at dad, he smiled.

“This is a wall.” The little boy held up the brightly colored piece of paper.

“Yeah, they should look like that.” The walls were brown, that had to choose the darker colors for this room. “Who is with you?” He looked up, then turned and looked around the room. He pointed to a lady coming out of the bathroom with another younger kid. “Where are you going?”

“Were going to see daddy.”

“Oh, that's my daddy.” I pointed to dad. The little boy smiled.

“What's your name?” He asked.

“Andre, what's yours?” He repeated my name.

“I'm Jack.” He was really cute. “See, it's a car.” He pointed to the paper again, I nodded.

“That's a pretty cool car.” He smiled and continued to color. The lady came over, I stood up and stepped away from Jack.

She smiled, “Hello, sorry if he was any trouble.”

“Don't worry, he was fine.” Dad motioned for me to come.

“Looks like you have to go, but thank you.”

“Your welcome.”

Jack waved at me, I waved back.

We walked down the hallway and got into our seats. “Maybe this trip won't be as bad as you think.”

“We're still here, maybe this trip will go down hill and end up being a disaster.” I sat down in the window seat, dad sat down next to me.

“I sure hope not.” I took out my phone to text Owen, he wasn't going to be up yet but I could anyway. I told him about my encounter with Jack and that I was on the plane now. I looked out the window, we left the ground and our flight had started. Dad showed me pictures of the house we'll be staying at, it was small and I liked it, but I didn't want to show that I was excited to see it.

I flipped through all the images about twenty times, then set his phone down. The sun was rising above the clouds and it was kind of pretty. The white clouds were fluffy and looked warm, the orange and gold color flowed across the tops.

“What are we doing again?” Dad smiled, he had already explained the whole trip to me about four times.

“We're going to get a taxi to take us to the car rental to pick up a car, then we're going to go to the house.” That sounded boring as heck, I layed back and fell asleep. I only slept for three hours, dad had fallen asleep also. Our flight was really long, twelve hours and twenty-seven minutes to be exact. That didn't include getting our stuff and waiting for a taxi. I read another one of my mystery books, unfortunately that only took me two hours, and I only brought one on the plane with me. You can't read mystery books twice, it just doesn't work. You already know the ending so it gets boring right away.

7 hours and 15 minutes, 7 hours and 14 minutes, 7 hours and 13 minutes, and so on. I watched the clock on my phone. Dad continued to sleep, time is going by much faster for him. I got up on my knees and peaked over the top of the seat, lots of people were sleeping. Some were reading, some were on their phones. I stood up and climbed around dad, I had to step over his legs and hold on to the seat in front of us to keep from falling.

What was the point of coming out here, did I have a plan? I don't even remember, that's how bored I am, I can't even think things through. I walked up toward the front, I looked back at dad to make sure he was still asleep. I hit someone, they grabbed my arm before I hit the floor.

“I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention.” At first I thought it was a boy, until she talked.

“I wasn't either.” She looked around and whispered. “Keep quiet, come in here.” I followed her into the front of the plane, the autopilot was on and we were the only ones there. She closed the door then sat in one of the pilots seats. I liked her style, ripped jeans, converse, and a black leather jacket. Her hair was cut short and pushed back like she was running her hand through it, she was wearing gold stud earrings with a cross necklace.

“We can talk in here, my brothers having a smoke in the back.”

“Are we allowed in here?” She smiled.

“I am, but I gave you permission, so whatever. Plus, my bro doesn't care as long as there isn't more than three people in here, it gets crowded. Sit down.” She pointed to the other seat next to her. I sat down in my usual position, with one leg over the armrest. “No way, you sit the same way I do, nice shoes by the way.”

“Well it's a comfortable position.”

“Yes it is, by the way I'm Nick, or Nicky, or Nicole.” She laughed.

“I'm Andre, or Alejandra.” She smiled.

“Nice to meet ya.” She shook my hand, it was the first time I've shaken hands with a girl. “Are you single?” That was odd for her to ask.

“No, why?”

“Just, uh, someone who looks like you coming into the city, girl they are going to be all over you. Are they with you? Like on the plane?”

“No, it's just me and my dad.” Her eyes widened.

“Better be careful then, getting to parties and sneaking guys into your room will be hard.”

“I've never been to a party before, and I don't do that.”

“What? Never? You have to. So you're still a virgin.”

“I'm only fifteen.” She moved her eyebrows up and down before looking extremely suspicious.

“I see, do you do anything fun?” Yes, I do, but I don't really know you well enough to tell anything.

“Of course I do.” A guy walked through the door, I stopped. I stood up, he looked confused.

“Why is she in here?” He looked at Nicky.

“I was bored and needed to talk to someone, she was the only one awake.” She forgot the part were we crashed and almost woke everyone up.

“Move.” He pushed her off the chair and sat down. “Who are you?” He said in a tired grumpy voice, I replied in the same mean tone.

“Andre, who are you?” He smiled.

“I'm David, are you enjoying your fight?” Nicky smacked him, she smiled and looked towards me like it didn't happen, he glared at her.

“No, it's quite boring.” I leaned against the wall and looked at the nothingness in front of us.

“Not a great view, want me to make it interesting?” She smacked him again harder. “Would you stop that? I didn't mean that shit. I was going to turn off auto pilot.” She rolled her eyes.

“You better not.” I turned, a man talked in a low voice. Nicky slid into the corner of the small room, she waved for me to leave. He smacked David upside the head. “Don't talk to her like that.” Nicky smiled. I slid out the door and went back to my seat, it looked boring. I grabbed the front seat and stepped over dad's legs again.

He grabbed me and moves me to my seat. “I was going this direction anyway.”

“Why were you out of your seat?” It's not a crime to want to stretch and walk around.

“I had to use the restroom.” My immediate response, was there a restroom on the plane? There had to be, who can go through a twelve hour flight without having to go.

“Mmmm, just wake me up. You shouldn't be by yourself, there are some people who aren't very good.” Him and his bad people quote.

“I'm pretty sure there are bad people everywhere dad.”

“Don't sass me young lady.” I forgive you for being tired, but only because you just woke up.

I looked over the seat and motioned for the flight attendant to come over. “What are you doing?”

She came up, “Yes ma'am?”

“Can he get a coffee please?”

“Of course, I'll be right back.”

He sighed, “Really?” I smiled and took out my phone. The lady came back and handed him a coffee. “Thank you.” She nodded and went to the back of the plane.

He looked down at me, I turned and leaned on the wall. I pulled my feet up, I was facing towards him. I smiled and texted Owen again.

“Hey, how's it going down there?”

“Uh, pretty good, sorry I didn't reply. Just got my phone back, don't ask how that happened.”

“Ok, I won't. It's boring, you wouldn't believe how much you can see from the window.”

“Really? I wouldn't have guessed that.”

“Me either, I'll call you as soon as we get to the house.”

“Sounds great, I have to go, dad needs me again. Talk to ya later.”

“Bye.” He was always busy with something, his dad kept him moving.

“Five hours left.” Dad said after looking at his watch, he opened a newspaper. I looked through the magazine's for something. I wasn't interested in anything, then I saw one about origami. I took it out and looked at it, I took out a random newspaper and tore a few squares out of it. I mad a few different kinds, I made a few swans and placed them by the window, in the sky. I made other animals and shapes with the directions in the magazine. I tore out another square and started folding it, dad looked at me.

“Don't watch me, it's weird.” He laughed and went back to his paper. I went back to making things. “Crap, I'm out of paper.” Dad looked over, I had about ten swans up by the window in different sizes, about twenty cubes stacked on the arm rests, and a bunch of random shapes all over my lap.

“That's a lot.”

“I'm bored again.” I leaned back and looked at the pile of shapes in my lap. It's only been an hour, ugh. I groaned and looked up at the roof of the plane. Dad was also out of ideas, he set down his paper and looked around. He sighed then looked at me.

“Four hours. Mmm…”

“Yep.” I looked at the seat in front of me. Dad got up and went to the back of the plane. Great, now I'm bored and by myself. I sat in the same position for five minutes, then dad came back with an empty tray. Wow, that looked interesting. Sarcasm added for emphasizing boredom. He set it down and started putting all the origami onto it, I didn't know what he was doing but I put them onto the tray too. Just because it was something. He sat down and handed me the tray, now what? I set it on my armrests and straightened all the pieces. I stacked the cubes together and places the swans in order from biggest to smallest on the windowsill.

“Scary what boredom does to a person.” I said balancing the shapes on top of each other. Dad smiled.

“Yeah, sometimes.” He took out his drawing pad and some pencils. I laid my head on his shoulder as he started drawing something. I watched, I couldn't figure out what it was at first. Then I started saying each thing he drew.

“Line...dashed line...curved line...circles...another line...more curved lines...a really straight line...more tiny circles.” He laughed a couple times as I continued watching and said more. “Thick line...dark line...oh, a tiny heart, that's a cool thing to add...more circles…and the circles continue...” He smiled as he continued to make tiny circles and more lines. The thing started to take shape, usually I get too bored to watch him continue his art, but with nothing else to do, it was fine.

I fell asleep as soon as he finished, I woke up to the sound of the pilot telling everyone we were landing in ten minutes. “Thank the lord.” I sat up and brushed my hair back with my hands.

“It wasn't that bad.” I looked at him like he was crazy. “I'm kidding, that was the longest trip I've ever had.” He has gone through this two times every time he goes to work, he has been working for six months each time for two years now. Everyone got off at the same time, dad was a pro at getting through crowds. I had a hard time even moving, people were pushing their way through and touching me, hitting me and grabbing their kids. Have I mentioned that I'm claustrophobic, because I'm really feeling it right now. I pulled my arms in and kept my feet close together. I slowly slid to the wall, too many people in one spot at the same time.

I stopped and watched dad weave through the people, I'll just wait, thank you very much. I stood as flat as I could against the wall with my arms pressed against my stomach. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

“Andre?” I opened my eyes, Nicky ran up to me.

“Oh hey, lovely evening isn't it?”

“Yes, lovely. I saw you and came over as fast as I could.”

“Why?” I turned to her, she stood by the wall to let everyone pass her.

“David abandoned me once again. He knows I'm claustrophobic and still thinks it's funny to leave me in the middle of the crowd.” She sounded irritated.

“I share your pain, I'm waiting for everyone to go by first.”

“You're claustrophobic too?”

“Oh, yes.” I flattened myself against the wall, she stood next to me.

“Wow, ha, we are alike.” She looked sick, I felt sick too. When there were less people in the hall, I stepped away from the wall.

“Come on, we can probably make it now.” She nodded and walked with me. I saw dad on the phone, she broke off and ran to David who was sitting on a bench. The man was standing next to him on the phone. Nicky walked up to David and punched him, and started yelling at him. The man hung up and started talking to them both, she smacked him again. The man grabbed her hand and said something, she pulled away. The man looked like a dad, it was interesting to watch. It looked like my family except there was a brother instead of a sister.

“Andre!” I turned around. “Don't you have your phone on you?” I felt my pockets, I grabbed my phone and looked at the couple missed calls.

“Yes I do, but I didn't notice it was ringing.”

“Oh, sorry, I thought you were following me till I got put and saw you weren't.”

“Yeah, I stopped and waited till less people were going through the hall.”

“Only took you ten minutes to get down a small hallway.” He was teasing.

“Is the taxi here yet.” He looked out, it was coming down the road and stopped in front of the doors. He had already gotten our stuff and called the taxi, geez, he has every minute planned. For him anyway, I have no idea what I'm doing. We went out and put our stuff in the back. We got in, it was dark and cold outside. I didn't realize how cold it was till we got out of the taxi again.