We Can Sing This On The Way Home
Two.
~*Rachel’s POV*~
To say that the flight to Tampa Bay, Florida from New York, was pleasant, would be a complete understatement, because in actual fact it was beyond amazing; despite waking up at the crack of dawn to head to the airport, both myself and Lottie had somehow managed to get our tickets upgraded from economy to first class due to a couple of cancellations on our flight out. As soon as I sat down in the plush chairs, I knew that I was in paradise; getting a little kick start to a life of luxury straight from the off and what was even better was the fact that there was no screaming children anywhere to be found on this flight.
The only annoying thing that took their place though, was the safety precautions that the stewards and stewardesses conducted as the aircraft started to make its way out of the terminal and towards the runway. Don’t get me wrong, I know that it’s important to show the safety video before every flight, but I’ve been on an aeroplane before, I know how it all works, so I really don’t need to pay attention to it, which I don’t; instead I turn my head and stare out of the window, watching the airport pass as the aircraft picks up enough speed to take off of the runway.
Once the aeroplane was up in the air for approximately fifteen minutes, I decided to keep myself occupied by scrolling through the in-flight movie list to see which ones that they were airing; after a moment’s browsing, I gave up trying to choose which one to watch and instead, I pulled my iPod out of my bag before shoving the earphones into my ear and hitting the play button on the new Sleeping With Sirens album, Feel. As soon as the music and Kellin’s voice hit my eyes, I instantly felt myself relax back in my seat, as a small contented sigh escaped through my lips.
I would love to say that Lottie was enjoying the flight just as much as I was, but when I turned my head to look round at her, I noticed that she had her arms crossed in front of her chest and that her fingernails were starting to dig into her skin, her eyes were closed but I knew that she wasn‘t asleep. It took me a minute to remember that Lottie didn’t like being on aeroplanes, just the fear of being in a confined space for so long with so many other people was starting to play around with her anxiety and the only way that she could keep herself from freaking out was to close her eyes and try to breath in deep, calming breaths. Thankfully, it was only a two and a half hour flight, so we would be off and making our way to the hotel before she could say ‘Pierce The Veil’.
The pilot had barely welcomed us into Florida before Lottie was jumping up from her seat, her left hand shooting down to grab a hold of her bag and rushing towards the exit, where I lost sight of her through the sea of passengers that was making their own way towards the exit. Grabbing up my own bag, I tried my best to push through the crowd to find out where she went, only to breath a sigh of relief when I saw her leaning against the wall of the corridor for support as she takes in a deep breath before turning to me.
“I don‘t care if we have to walk home after this tour is done, I‘m not getting on another plane.”
I couldn’t help but shake my head and chuckle at that response. She’ll get on the plane, she won’t have much of a choice, unless she wants to stay on the tour bus forever, which to be fair, that does seem like a possible option for her. I reach for her wrist to drag her out towards the taxi rank but she pulls it back and instead, fusses with the handle of the suitcase as she takes longer strides towards the exit. I shake my head, pushing her reaction to the back of my mind before running to catch up with her, by the time I caught up, Lottie had already hailed down a cab and was lifting the suitcase up into the trunk before doing the same with mine.
The drive to the hotel didn’t take as long as I thought it would, despite it being quite a distance away, the traffic was actually working in our favour and we pulled up outside the hotel entrance within half an hour of leaving the airport. As soon as the taxi stopped, I yelled a rushed ‘thank you’ to the driver before jumping out; Lottie murmuring something about ‘patience’ under her breath as she shakes her head, grabbing her wallet from her jean pocket and paying the driver what was owed and a sweet little tip to as I stared up at the grand building in front of us. The radio presenter wasn’t kidding when he said that we would be staying in a five star accommodation. Upon hearing the suitcases thud onto the ground and the slam of the trunk closing, I turn towards my best friend, my body and mind eager to get going again.
“Come on, Lottie!” I groaned out impatiently as she rummaged through her bag one last time at the baggage claim, double checking that she had everything that she needed in there for the flight back home so that she didn’t have to worry about it for the duration of the tour, but seriously she has six whole months to worry about it, but no…in typical Lottie-fashion, she has to do it now. “You‘re slower than my grandmother and she‘s in a friggin’ wheelchair!”
“Well, excuse me for not wanting to forget anything that might cause us to become stranded in God knows where, unable to get back home.” She replies in a mock-snappy tone, before she hoists her backpack onto her shoulder. “Look, I know that you‘re excited, Rachel. I am too but you need to calm down; the bands aren‘t going to be leaving anytime soon.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I murmur, rolling my eyes at her before grabbing hold of one of the suitcases and dragging it up the steps to the entrance of the hotel where I was met with a doorman that was around the same age as Lottie who according to his name tag, goes by the name of ‘Matthew’; I gave him a smile in acknowledgement as he smiled warmly at me in greeting.
“That‘s a nice name.” I hear a British accent announce from behind me, I look over my shoulder and smile at Lottie as she glances quickly up at Matthew before down at the steps, her suitcase trailing behind her.
“Thank you very much, m’am. I’ve had it my entire life, and my mother picked it out specially.” He replies with a grin, as I let out a laugh at his witty comeback while Lottie just shakes her head with a slight smirk crossing her features; I can tell that we’re going to get along just fine with him for the duration of our stay here.
“Come on, Lottie. We need to go check-in, drop our stuff into the room and head out to meet up with the guys!” I demand excitedly, gripping the handle of the suitcase that I was holding onto tighter as I lugged it up the last couple of steps.
“Ladies, may I take your bags for you?” Matthew asks us politely with a smile as he opens the door next to him; I have to give him credit, even though he gets paid to be polite, he has such a genuine personality about him.
Lottie smiled and whispered a small ‘thank you’ as he reached out to take the suitcase from her, while she shifted her backpack from one shoulder to another. He flashed her a wide, tooth-filled smile before taking my own suitcase from me and carrying through the hotel doors, I was just about to follow him when I heard a couple of familiar male voices behind me, causing me to turn round and grab hold of Lottie’s arm, she flinched under the touch but turned round nonetheless.
“Lottie…” I whispered, my heart beating at a dangerously fast pace as my eyes fell on the source of the voices.
I quickly glance in her direction and notice that she was rubbing nervously at her left arm, a small smile playing across her features as she shoots a curious, excited yet anxious glance at the approaching figures.
“It-It‘s…” I couldn’t form the right words, I was absolutely speechless which for me, is a first as I‘m sure Lottie would tell you.
“I know!” She responds, her voice shaking.
Before I can even register what I was doing, my free hand was flying up to cover my mouth in an attempt to stop the excited scream from escaping through my lips. This seriously can’t be happening.
To say that the flight to Tampa Bay, Florida from New York, was pleasant, would be a complete understatement, because in actual fact it was beyond amazing; despite waking up at the crack of dawn to head to the airport, both myself and Lottie had somehow managed to get our tickets upgraded from economy to first class due to a couple of cancellations on our flight out. As soon as I sat down in the plush chairs, I knew that I was in paradise; getting a little kick start to a life of luxury straight from the off and what was even better was the fact that there was no screaming children anywhere to be found on this flight.
The only annoying thing that took their place though, was the safety precautions that the stewards and stewardesses conducted as the aircraft started to make its way out of the terminal and towards the runway. Don’t get me wrong, I know that it’s important to show the safety video before every flight, but I’ve been on an aeroplane before, I know how it all works, so I really don’t need to pay attention to it, which I don’t; instead I turn my head and stare out of the window, watching the airport pass as the aircraft picks up enough speed to take off of the runway.
Once the aeroplane was up in the air for approximately fifteen minutes, I decided to keep myself occupied by scrolling through the in-flight movie list to see which ones that they were airing; after a moment’s browsing, I gave up trying to choose which one to watch and instead, I pulled my iPod out of my bag before shoving the earphones into my ear and hitting the play button on the new Sleeping With Sirens album, Feel. As soon as the music and Kellin’s voice hit my eyes, I instantly felt myself relax back in my seat, as a small contented sigh escaped through my lips.
I would love to say that Lottie was enjoying the flight just as much as I was, but when I turned my head to look round at her, I noticed that she had her arms crossed in front of her chest and that her fingernails were starting to dig into her skin, her eyes were closed but I knew that she wasn‘t asleep. It took me a minute to remember that Lottie didn’t like being on aeroplanes, just the fear of being in a confined space for so long with so many other people was starting to play around with her anxiety and the only way that she could keep herself from freaking out was to close her eyes and try to breath in deep, calming breaths. Thankfully, it was only a two and a half hour flight, so we would be off and making our way to the hotel before she could say ‘Pierce The Veil’.
The pilot had barely welcomed us into Florida before Lottie was jumping up from her seat, her left hand shooting down to grab a hold of her bag and rushing towards the exit, where I lost sight of her through the sea of passengers that was making their own way towards the exit. Grabbing up my own bag, I tried my best to push through the crowd to find out where she went, only to breath a sigh of relief when I saw her leaning against the wall of the corridor for support as she takes in a deep breath before turning to me.
“I don‘t care if we have to walk home after this tour is done, I‘m not getting on another plane.”
I couldn’t help but shake my head and chuckle at that response. She’ll get on the plane, she won’t have much of a choice, unless she wants to stay on the tour bus forever, which to be fair, that does seem like a possible option for her. I reach for her wrist to drag her out towards the taxi rank but she pulls it back and instead, fusses with the handle of the suitcase as she takes longer strides towards the exit. I shake my head, pushing her reaction to the back of my mind before running to catch up with her, by the time I caught up, Lottie had already hailed down a cab and was lifting the suitcase up into the trunk before doing the same with mine.
The drive to the hotel didn’t take as long as I thought it would, despite it being quite a distance away, the traffic was actually working in our favour and we pulled up outside the hotel entrance within half an hour of leaving the airport. As soon as the taxi stopped, I yelled a rushed ‘thank you’ to the driver before jumping out; Lottie murmuring something about ‘patience’ under her breath as she shakes her head, grabbing her wallet from her jean pocket and paying the driver what was owed and a sweet little tip to as I stared up at the grand building in front of us. The radio presenter wasn’t kidding when he said that we would be staying in a five star accommodation. Upon hearing the suitcases thud onto the ground and the slam of the trunk closing, I turn towards my best friend, my body and mind eager to get going again.
“Come on, Lottie!” I groaned out impatiently as she rummaged through her bag one last time at the baggage claim, double checking that she had everything that she needed in there for the flight back home so that she didn’t have to worry about it for the duration of the tour, but seriously she has six whole months to worry about it, but no…in typical Lottie-fashion, she has to do it now. “You‘re slower than my grandmother and she‘s in a friggin’ wheelchair!”
“Well, excuse me for not wanting to forget anything that might cause us to become stranded in God knows where, unable to get back home.” She replies in a mock-snappy tone, before she hoists her backpack onto her shoulder. “Look, I know that you‘re excited, Rachel. I am too but you need to calm down; the bands aren‘t going to be leaving anytime soon.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I murmur, rolling my eyes at her before grabbing hold of one of the suitcases and dragging it up the steps to the entrance of the hotel where I was met with a doorman that was around the same age as Lottie who according to his name tag, goes by the name of ‘Matthew’; I gave him a smile in acknowledgement as he smiled warmly at me in greeting.
“That‘s a nice name.” I hear a British accent announce from behind me, I look over my shoulder and smile at Lottie as she glances quickly up at Matthew before down at the steps, her suitcase trailing behind her.
“Thank you very much, m’am. I’ve had it my entire life, and my mother picked it out specially.” He replies with a grin, as I let out a laugh at his witty comeback while Lottie just shakes her head with a slight smirk crossing her features; I can tell that we’re going to get along just fine with him for the duration of our stay here.
“Come on, Lottie. We need to go check-in, drop our stuff into the room and head out to meet up with the guys!” I demand excitedly, gripping the handle of the suitcase that I was holding onto tighter as I lugged it up the last couple of steps.
“Ladies, may I take your bags for you?” Matthew asks us politely with a smile as he opens the door next to him; I have to give him credit, even though he gets paid to be polite, he has such a genuine personality about him.
Lottie smiled and whispered a small ‘thank you’ as he reached out to take the suitcase from her, while she shifted her backpack from one shoulder to another. He flashed her a wide, tooth-filled smile before taking my own suitcase from me and carrying through the hotel doors, I was just about to follow him when I heard a couple of familiar male voices behind me, causing me to turn round and grab hold of Lottie’s arm, she flinched under the touch but turned round nonetheless.
“Lottie…” I whispered, my heart beating at a dangerously fast pace as my eyes fell on the source of the voices.
I quickly glance in her direction and notice that she was rubbing nervously at her left arm, a small smile playing across her features as she shoots a curious, excited yet anxious glance at the approaching figures.
“It-It‘s…” I couldn’t form the right words, I was absolutely speechless which for me, is a first as I‘m sure Lottie would tell you.
“I know!” She responds, her voice shaking.
Before I can even register what I was doing, my free hand was flying up to cover my mouth in an attempt to stop the excited scream from escaping through my lips. This seriously can’t be happening.
Notes
So...what do you all think of the main two characters so far?Before you all panic, don't worry you're going to get a detailed introduction to one of the main band members in the next chapter, I promise. I was going to put it in this update but I didn't want to make it too long.
Anyway, I hope that you enjoy it!
- SoWrongItsLottie
Another update will be up the day after tomorrow as I'm seeing Green Day tomorrow so I won't be able to update until Thursday :)
8/20/13