Wish I Knew You Sooner

chapter thirty six

A/N:  Play this song when it says to!!

Oakland's POV

I feel like people never talk about the lighting of airports.

The contrast of the warm orange tinged lights outside in the unloading area to the bright white, almost blinding lighting in the building. The dark sky projects an ominous feeling, since I couldn't spot a single star tonight.

We all took out luggage from the trunk of the car, and as my father took the rental to the returning zone, the Pierce girls went in and began checking in.

We dropped our checked bags off, leaving us only with our carry-ons and my backpack. I had tucked away all of the things that would keep me occupied on the long trip into my small greenish-blue bag.

My mother got our tickets, and my father just got back into the building. We made our way over to baggage check, and for being here late rather than the usual early trips, there were plenty of people in line before us.

"We somehow scored a direct flight home." Father informed us while we waited.

I fixated my eyes, and mind, on the things around me. The flood lights keep the room a stale shade of white, reflecting the color of the walls around. It felt almost sterile here. You could do surgery on the linoleum flooring, but as I shifted my gaze downwards to watch my shoes shuffle to keep up with the slow pace of the moving line, I noticed how dingy the place was.

Sterile but dingy.

"Next." the worker said, her sharp tone piercing my ears. "Hello? Next."

I looked up, seeing she was speaking to me, and I instantly felt my cheeks get red as I met eyes with my family who were standing on the other side of the carry-on checking point. I quickly handed the feisty woman my identification and ticket, and I heard her let out a loud huff before rolling her eyes and waving for me to walk through the machine.

I was taken back by her snappy attitude, but brushed it off and just did as she indicated. I have always had this irrational fear that, even though I don't, I will somehow have some sort of contraband on me, and will get caught.

I made it through clear, letting out a sigh of relief that I wasn't tapped with anything.

Once we made it through all of the checkpoints, we pulled our tired selves to the gate. We made our way down the corridor, looking and watching each sign pass by, indicating that it wasn't the gate we were looking for.

"Keep up, Oak." Byerly called out without looking back from in front of me.

My feet dragged against the tiles leading us down the walkway, and I hadn't even noticed I was lagging behind the rest of the family until I looked up and they were already approaching our gate, while I was still a ways back.

I picked up my pace, reaching up to them, and adjusting the straps of my backpack so that it would sit more comfortably on my shoulders.

I heard my sister sigh in relief once we saw our sign lit up. It was supposed to read 'A12', and I found myself letting out a huff of a laugh at the simplest thing, since one of the numbers seemed to have burned out, only leaving 'A2'.

There weren't many people already occupying the space, and I am glad that the later flight was chosen. I found myself hoping that I will have a seat alone, considering there is only a maximum of twelve people including us sitting in the gate so far.

I perched myself alone in the corner seat, and reached into my bag to grab my phone charger. While in the car, my phone died right before I could hit send on a message to Harry, and I haven't found time to be able to plug it in until now.