Always Second Best// m.c

Chapter 19.

It was four in the morning and I was standing at the Sydney airport waiting to board a plane to Melbourne, then from Melbourne to England. Ashton was bouncing off the walls, and I could only imagine how our flight would be. Luke and Calum were basically sleeping on each other. And Michael had his arms around my waist leaning into me, probably so he wouldn't fall.

Mine and Ashton's mom was crying, and saying how much she would miss us and giving us kisses and hugs as much as she could before we could be seated on the plane. I was beyond nervous to be flying, since it was going to be my first time on a plane and leaving Australia. The boys had all been on planes before, flying around Australia for shows, they were used to this.

A man announced we could start boarding, and our mum grabbed Ashton and I into a bone crushing hug. I felt tears start to form in my eyes, but I bit them back for her sake. I felt bad leaving her alone, but she insisted she was fine and she would be okay without us for a month, it would prepare her for when we were old enough to really leave the house.

"I love you both, so much. Have a great time in England, and call me whenever you can. I love you, be safe." She sobbed, I squeezed her tighter until she let go. "Go on, you'll miss your flight if I keep you any longer." She wiped her tears, and kissed us both on our foreheads.

"I love you, mum." Ash and I both said at the same time. She finally cracked a smile and folded her arms across her chest.

"Take care of each other." She called while we were walking away.

After Ashton gave our tickets to a short man, with a very large curly mustache, we were on our way to board the plane. I spotted Michael, who had saved the window seat for me, and smiled. 

"Since it's your first time, I'll be nice and let you have the window seat." He laughed.

"What a gentleman." I teased while shuffling by him to get my seat, he poked at my sides the whole time making it more than difficult to get passed him. 

When I was finally able to get to my seat, I tried buckling my seat belt but my fingers were shaking so badly I was struggling a bit. Michael noticed and kissed my cheek and buckled me in. I gave him a small smile to thank him and looked out the window. We hadn't even started moving yet and I was terrified. 

"Hey, it's going to be alright. It's actually pretty cool when we start flying." Michael said, taking one of my hands and rubbing my knuckles with his thumb. I nodded in response, which earned a chuckle from him. "Seriously, I was scared the first time I got on a plane too. You'll get used to it after a while." 

After Michael had stopped talking, the flight attendant started her safety speech. She showed us how to use the oxygen bags, and how to take the cushion of the seat off to use it as a flotation device. Soon enough we were moving down the runway, and I was on the verge of hyperventilating. 

"Please hold my hand." I squeaked at Michael, who immediately laced our fingers together. I screwed my eyes shut, we were picking up speed and so was my heart beat.

"Kels," Michael whispered. "Open your eyes, babe."

I peeked out the window from one eye, we were already up so high. "This isn't that bad." I mumbled. Michael laughed and rested his head on my shoulder and eventually fell asleep.

---

After about a day of being in the air, we were finally in London. Ashton had run out of energy and finally joined the dark side. We all sat in the back of some type of bulky SUV with tinted windows, in silence. I was assuming everyone was too tired to speak. I was extremely excited to be in London, but the exhaustion I was feeling was the only thing I could focus on. We drove through the streets of London, the sun was starting to set but if I went to sleep now I would wake up too early in the morning. I grunted and leaned into Michael, who was struggling to keep his eyes open. He gave me a sleepy smile, and kissed my hair.