Disco Balls and Plane Tickets
Chapter 3
Melissa: For the rest of the flight, I sat with Heather drilling me on my relationship with Taylor. She quizzed me, asking questions such as, “So is he a good kisser…How did ya’ll meet…How many dates has it been,” and her most favorite, “give me all the details, beginning to present.” I would roll my eyes and tell her the story again until she finally fell asleep and I went back to staring out the window watching clouds and the flashing light on the tip of the plane’s wing. My mind kept shifting from thoughts about the trip to Taylor and back again. Sick of hearing nothing but the sound of my own voice and snoring from various occupants on the plane, I reached for my CD player and put in my Sarah Mclachlan CD. I looked out the window and out into the distance where the sky seemed to be a never-ending field of cotton. I shut my eyes and let the music take over and slowly put me to sleep.
“You take me in
No questions asked
You strip away the ugliness
That surrounds me
Are you an angel
Am I already that gone
I only hope
That I won’t disappoint you….”
I felt something warm on my cheek, I tried to roll over and escape the light seeping into my closed eyelids, but I soon found there was no use. I opened my eyes to reveal a beautiful sunrise outside my window. I could see the point where ocean meet land and turned around to see if my partners in crime were enjoying the same view. Lillie was rubbing her eyes and Heather still snored. I looked behind me. Only a forth of the people on board were still asleep as others pressed their noses against the glass to catch a glimpse of a once in a lifetime view. I shoved the CD player back in my bag and leaned my head on the window. Minutes later, breakfast was served and before long, we were fastening our seatbelts for landing. I elbowed Heather and she quickly shot up, rubbing her eyes and mumbling some incoherent words. “We’re landing,” I told her. “Oh,” she fastened her seatbelt and closed her eyes again trying to cram as much sleep in as possible. Our stay in Amsterdam was short. A quick tour of the city, then back on the plane to Marseille, France. Most of the chorus slept on the way to France, I resorted to reading, too excited to sleep. Upon our arrival in Marseille, we went through the torture called customs, picked up our baggage and were transported to the hotel. I shared a room with Heather, while Lillie and Rachel remained in the adjoining room, but the door was always open making it like a big slumber party. We quickly put our stuff away and were given the day off to “sleep.” I, on the other hand, had different intensions. I was in a place I had only dreamed of visiting. There was no way I was staying in. I persistently bugged the others, “Come on guys, we’ve got maybe 2 days here. Lets do something.” “Tired…must…sleep,” Lillie mumbled from the corner of her mouth. I looked around the room. Rachel already lie on top of the bed asleep. Heather was curled up in a chair by the window. “I’m too tired to go out.” No matter how much I begged, they could not be moved and my patience was depleting. I just couldn’t stay in the room all day; it was bad enough on the plane. I was here and I was gonna have fun and see things I could never see back home. With or without them, I was going. Snatching up my backpack, I shoved the room key in my pocket. “You can’t go by yourself,” Heather mentioned with squinting eyes. “Well, who am I gonna go with?” There was no answer. I picked up a travel book on the table and opened the door. “Fine, ya’ll are missing out and you’ve got no one to blame but yourselves. I’m gone.” I took a step and the door shut behind me as I entered the empty hall.
Chapter 4