The Wings Of Love

“Venus, you’re going to be late!” I heard my mother shout. The sun was so bright, I thought about putting the pillow over my head and going back to sleep, but today was the day. The day that I finally find myself, as I had been told so many times in the past few weeks. I could hear giggling coming from downstairs, and it took me a minute to realise that ‘perfect’ Veronica had arrived, which just made me want to go back to sleep even more. I love my sister, but could not deal with her this early in the morning. The thought of staying home all summer hearing about Veronica’s perfect life as a doctor made going to University thousands of miles away seem so much more appealing. If I had been given a choice I would be working at dad’s record store this summer, but mum insisted that I spend the summer at the University pre-course program. I get up, look in the mirror, my eyes seem so much more blue today, I decide it must be the lack of sleep, I throw my long raven hair into a high bun and get in the shower. The hot water feels so good as it runs over my skin, and the scent of my eucalyptus shower gel instantly calms me, I close my eyes and begin to relax. “VENUS!!” my mother calls again, “Coming mum!” I call back. I get out of the shower, dry myself off, throw on a pair of tight black leggings and an oversized t shirt, grab my converse and run downstairs. “It’s about time! You’ll miss your flight!” my mum tells me with a stern look on her face. “I know mum, I’m 19 years old, I’m perfectly capable catching a plane on time” I tell her. Just then, bubbly perfect Veronica runs over and squeezes the life out of me “I’ve missed you sis!! Are you excited for your first day at Moonshade?”. “Sure, I guess” I tell her with a smile, then she goes on and on about how going her time at Moonshade academy were the best years of her life and it’s where she truly found herself. I don’t know why my mum and sister keep saying that, I’ve questioned it before but they just tell me that I will find out soon enough. After a quick bite to eat we get in the car and make our way to the airport, we live in a small town just outside of England, and I’m about to spend the next 3 years in California, I should be excited, I don’t really have any friends and it’s not like anyone will miss me, but there’s just something about being at home that I will really miss. The car stops outside dad’s record store and I see him wave through the window, I wave back and he gets into the back seat of the car next to me. “Hey kiddo” he says with a smile and wraps his arms around me, I love dad’s hugs, they always feel like home. We chat about mum and Veronica’s experiences at Moonshade on our drive and when the car stops again I get out of the car at the airport. After an emotional goodbye with my family I make my way through security and after what seems like a lifetime, I board the plane. I get to my seat, which I’m happy to find is a window seat, and get settled in. After a few minutes a tall man opens the overhead compartment and lifts his luggage in, he has muscular arms and tanned skin, as he stretches up to lift his luggage I catch a glimpse of a perfectly toned torso before he pulls his t shirt back down. He sits in the aisle seat and he smells like coconuts, he doesn’t look at me but I can see his strong jaw line and thick framed glasses that make him look so serious. I quickly realised that I had been staring at this gorgeous man for a little too long, and turned my head towards the window, I close my eyes and hear him ask the flight attendant for a bottle of water with a thick American accent, I slowly drop off into a deep sleep and wake up to the sound of the captain announcing that we will be landing shortly. The smell of coconuts fills my nose and I feel like I could lie here all day, and then it hits me, I’m LYING down, I open my eyes and my head is in the lap of the gorgeous man, I swiftly sit up and clear my throat. I apologise, but he just looks at me with a smile and hands me a bottle of water.