1.2 | Je T'aime Encore ✓

02 | packing

02

p a c k i n g

Anita hummed to herself as she submitted the form online to the France trip. 

A soft smile spread across her face, as she turned around in her chair to face her suitcase, which was half-packed. Anita still couldn't believe that she'd been chosen for this and that it was in a few days. The plane trip was tomorrow, but the gallery presentation was a week away, in case they got inspiration for a piece while there. 

Ms. Laurent wanted them to present something that she didn't see yet, so Anita had to do new paintings. So far, all the had was the New York skyline she did, and she needed two more for her presentation. Since they needed a theme, Anita was going to do a skyline portfolio, which she thought would be really nice.

She was planning to do two in Paris, one of a carnival with the Eiffel Tower in the background, and one in the Louvre area. When she asked her friend, Olivia, what she thought, Olivia said it was good, and once she saw the single painting Anita had right now, she fell in love with the whole idea. Anita really hoped that everyone that saw the portfolio would like it too.

While she was packing, Anita realized she couldn't find her favorite scarf anywhere and dug around in the back of her closet for it. As she spotted the silvery, shimmery material, she grabbed it, cutting herself on something metal in the process. 

As she stared at the red pinprick on her index finger, it started to grow, and she started sucking on it, while carefully rummaging around her closet for what had cut her. Her finger hit a metal frame, and curiously, she pulled the picture out of her closet. 

It was a picture of her and Leon when they were still dating. In the picture, they were at Disney World, and Anita was laughing, with her mickey mouse ears on, as Leon just grinned at her. They looked so happy in that picture. It was almost ironic what had happened to them now. 

Leon now lived in France and went to college there, and Anita remained in New York, going to the same college in New York. Anita smiled sadly at the photograph, remembering how much they had enjoyed talking about what they were going to do with their futures. They were such lofty goals. Both of them wanted to go on this trip ever since they started their art classes. But, she was done with Leon, and she didn't want to ever see him again.

Except, this trip was in France. And, Leon lived in France. Her mind wandered to what she would do if she were to ever see him there. All of a sudden, she realized she was doing the one thing she tried not to do for the last year; she didn't want to think about Leon.

Right after she thought that her phone buzzed with an email, and she curiously picked it up to see another email from Josh, addressed to both her and Ms. Laurent. 

The email said that he couldn't come. 

"Oh," Anita thought. "Okay." 

She dismissed it for a second before she really processed what it meant. "Wait, he's not coming?" Anita asked herself. "But, we need two people so we can do this effectively!"

Almost immediately, Ms. Laurent had responded. 

"Dear Josh,

It's okay, don't worry and continue on with your business. There's always next year, and I do have backups planned for this."

Anita exhaled, her shoulder sinking in relief, as she realized she would still be able to do this. Everything was going to be fine, and she shouldn't stress herself out anymore.

She could do that. 

She turned back to her suitcase, then faced her closet. 

Maybe this wasn't going to be as easy as she thought.

━━━━━━━━━━━━

The next day, Anita got up extra early so she could get to the airport on time. 

She got up at 6:30, showered, had a bagel, then hurried outside to meet the Uber driver, carrying her giant suitcase, stuffed with clothes and all her painting materials. 

Nervousness and excitement were bubbling up in her stomach, making her foot bounce up and down rhythmically, and making the Uber driver glare at her every few seconds in the mirror.

When they finally reached the airport, Anita paid the guy $20, then added in another $10 as a tip, to make up for her nervous attitude that obviously annoyed the guy. "Thank you!" she called out, as the guy drove away. Anita frowned after the car, then turned to face the airport in front of her. 

She walked inside, carrying her suitcase behind her, then checked in her luggage, before going to meet with Ms. Laurent at the gates. She still had 15 minutes before the plane would come, so she hurried to reach the gate that would lead her to her life's dream. 

After she got there, the plane just landed and the gates just opened, and she met with Ms. Laurent. 

"Good, Anita, you're here!" Ms. Laurent exclaimed. "Your new partner is already in France, so, we're just going to meet him there, and he's going to join us for lunch tomorrow." 

"Oh, okay." Anita said, smiling at Ms. Laurent. 

"Great, let's go!" Ms. Laurent said, then walked to the line and boarded the plane. Anita followed her after a second and got into her seat.

About 15 minutes later, the plane started liftoff, and Anita glanced out the window, before returning to her book, smiling at what would come next.