Sugarcane Chronicles Volume I: One and Lonely (ryden)

The Plane(s)

The bell rang pretty soon and we went to our classes. I did as I told Mikey I would and went over to his house and slept there (the food was amazing as always (as was the coffee)). In the morning, Mikey woke me and we sat in the floor in the hallway to listen to Gerard whilst drinking coffee.

The rest of the week went on and I packed. Then packed again. Then packed some more. I had never really packed for anything before, so I was kind of panicking.

But then I thought about how I was gonna get my guitar there.

And then I pa(ni)cked further.

I read every article and tip and guide available online, then went to the music shop and asked around. I felt less panicky afterwards.

So on the morning the plane would take off to get us to another plane to ultimately get to another plane, I got up early and called Ryan to make sure he was awake. He was (and sounded super cute when he was sleepy).

The next step was to get my bags and try to have Mom drive us to the airport without crying. We loaded up Sally and went over to where the gang was on the curb. We helped them get their bags in the trunk and they said goodbye to Jon and we were off.

We got to the airport and Mom and I only cried a little (I promised to call between flights) before the gang and I went in.

There was a weirdly complicated thing that had to be done because it was a class trip, so the chaperones took care of that.

We continued to security, that ultimately seemed a lot scarier than it was. Then we went to our gate and waited for a while (I went and got a mini pizza, though, so it was ok).

When we boarded the plane, I was pretty sure I was shaking the whole walk down. Although, most of the nervousness was for my guitar, probably (half of the stuff I read was horror stories of people who had lost $3000 guitars to the underbelly (ie., Untied Breaks Guitars (the song))). I felt a little better when the nice flight attendant winked and told me it was safe with her, implying keeping it in the coat closet.

I scored myself a window seat and Ryan stole the seat next to me. He must've noticed I was fidgety because he asked me what was up.

"Us," I answered. "In a few minutes, at least."

He furrowed his eyebrows at me before a look of realization came over his face. "You've never been on a plane before?" he asked.

"And you have?" I quietly exclaimed.

"Yeah," he said, "when I was a kid, you know, after my parents, uh, yeah, I had to fly to see my aunt. But then she was incapable of caring for me or something, so I flew back here and went to the orphanage."

"Oh," I said. I looked up at him. "Is it scary?"

He chuckled. "No. The worse part is when your ears pop."

"My what?!" I nearly screamed.

"No, no. Your ears pop. As in that thing when you go kinda deaf when you sneeze or blow your nose."

"Oh."

Then the plane started moving and I grabbed the armrests.

"Oh my God," I said. "Ryan, what's happening? An earthquake? What's going on?"

"Brendon, calm down," Ryan said gently. "It's the plane moving. We're taking off."

"What? No. Nooo. Nonononono! They didn't announce anything! OhmyGodohmyGodohmyGodohmyGod!"

The flight attendant that took care of my guitar came up to our isle. She asked Ryan if I was ok.

I told her that I was right here and that I was fine. I just didn't know that the plane would move.