Before I Met You

21: "Assume?"

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚃𝚠𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚢 𝙾𝚗𝚎

"𝙰𝚜𝚜𝚞𝚖𝚎?"

WE ARRIVE IN New York around three in the afternoon after a horrible flight. Elena ended up sitting in front of a little kid that kept kicking her seat, and despite our countless efforts for him to stop it was no use. I felt bad for her and offered to switch seats but she refused to. Now as we're waiting for our luggage to come onto the belt I see her clutch her back ever so often.

    "You alright?" I ask.

    "Yeah, I'm fine. That kid was just a little shit."

    I see her pink suitcase and before she can grab it I pull it off for her, earning a grateful smile in return. My mom should be waiting for us outside to pick us up and I couldn't be more nervous. She knows that Elena came with me and, like I predicted, was totally fine with it, but I'm just hoping she didn't bring my dad along too. I'd rather push that off as long as possible.

    "Oh, there's yours!" She points to my black suitcase with the silver handle and once it's off the belt I let out a sigh and look around the airport.

    "Hey." She nudges me with her elbow and gives me a look of reassurance. "You got this, alright?"

Somehow she has this ability to calm me down in the matter of seconds. I don't know how she does it, but I'm thankful for it.

It's not hard to spot my mom outside of the terminal. She's the only one running towards us, arms flailing and tears running down her cheeks already.

"Oh, my baby!" She pulls me close and her familiar scent of lavender comes into my nose. I didn't think I'd miss it, but right now as I hug her I realize I may have been more homesick than I thought.

"Hey, mom." I pull her closer for a second before she glances over at Elena. I can tell Elena is nervous because she's doing that thing where she fumbles with her fingers. It's a habit I've learned.

"You must be Elena." She pulls her in for a hug without permission, catching her completely off guard. "I've heard so much about you."

I see Elena look at her and then look at me. If you were to see my mom and I on the street together it would seem like I'm adopted. I look nothing like my mother. She's got bright blue eyes compared to my brown ones. Her hair is thick, curly brown ringlets while mine is black and straight if it weren't for the gel I put in it. The only thing I got from my mother is my skin tone, which is a slight olive. I'm not surprised that Elena is confused.

"It's nice to meet you too Mrs.Quan! Thank you so much for paying for these flights for us both to come here. I've never been to New York before!"

"Honey, you can call me Sharon. If you're what influenced him to come here then I'll pay for ten more flights. I'm so happy the both of you are here."

I bring our luggage to the white sedan and load both suitcases into the trunk. I'm thankful that my father is nowhere to be found at the moment.

"It's so cold here!" Elena giggles and wraps her coat tighter around her. I have a strong urge to pull her close to me, but then again my mom doesn't exactly know how close the two of us are. I told her we were friends, but I see the way she's looking between the two of us. She knows there's more to it.

"Have you ever been up North?" My mom asks her.

"No, Mam. The only place I've been aside from Florida is South Carolina. That was only for a week though. I went with some friends for spring break during my senior year of high school."