Toscane Days 3

"The flight leaves at noon, make sure you're all packed up by tonight" Lily told us over dinner. Right after dinner I went over to coop's house to say bye and assure him our band will be fine. We agreed that we'll practice individually and we chose four songs to concentrate on in particular. "Right, so I'll see you man" I told Coop. "Have a good time, I heard those Italian chicks are great" Coop winked at me as I left. I got back home at about 23:30 but decided it's too late to pack, and just crushed into bed and fell asleep.

I woke up at about 8:00, and realized it's really a good idea for me to pack before it's too late… I threw some cloths into my duffle bag, a toothbrush and so on… 'don't forget the hair gel…' then I packed a new notebook, in case I'll get inspired during our vacation and of course I put my guitar beside the bag.

After I finished packing I went into the house to grab something to eat. I could feel the excitement in the air, Zoë, Jessie and dad ran all around the house smiling. Lily's probably still packing or something… I wonder where Grace is though.

We all had breakfast together and then everyone grabbed their luggage and we left for the airport. Katie and Zoë's friend, Emily, were supposed to be at the airport by 10:00, Katie's parents were supposed to pick up Emily on their way. The traffic wasn't so bad, since the morning's pressure already decreased and we were at the airport in less than an hour.

As planned, not long after we arrived, Katie and Emily joined us too, and we decided to go check in our tickets and send our luggage away first thing. After all the formalities were finished we were directed to the waiting area, since we've had practically two hours 'till our flight.

There were a few tax free shops on the waiting area, so I decided to take a little walk, maybe it'll calm my nerves, it's my first flight ever, and I was pretty stressed about it. I walked around for a while, strolling along the shelves of a sports shop when I heard my name "Eli, wait up" it was Grace. "Hey, it got very boring over there, so I decided to take a walk, can I join you?"

"Sure"

"So… seen anything interesting yet?"

"Not really, it's like for some odd reason they only have junk in these stores"

"Well, maybe they figured that people will get so bored they're gonna buy anything…" Grace joked. She looked at me and probably noticed I looked a little stressed.

"Eli, have you ever flown before?"

"Actually no, it's my first time"

"Are you worried?"

"I guess a little" I admitted.

"It's not that bad, actually, it's a lot safer than driving a car… You really shouldn't worry about it so much" She comforted.

"You know, I was terrified on my first flight too, but eventually it turned up to be a pretty great experience." "The clouds look amazing from above, and when we flew to Orlando when I was little, I got to see the sunrise from the plane, and it was beautiful."

"You know what" I said and looked at her appreciatively "it doesn't sound that terrible anymore…" "Thank you Grace".

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"Flight IT-703 in now boarding at gate 7b" a voice announced. "That's us guys, c'mon" dad called enthusiastically. We gathered our carry on bags and went to the boarding gate.

We finally boarded the plane after waiting on the long line for about fifteen minutes. I got a window seat. We all had tickets for the same row but the seats were separated into three different sections. On the left column sat Dad and Lily in the middle were four seats, so Jessie and Zoë sat there with their friends, and Grace and I sat on the right ones.

"Good morning ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seat belts we are about to take off in a minute" the captain's voice announced.

I guess I must have been a little shaken, since the next thing I felt was Grace's hand trying to get my attention. "Eli, are you ok?" She sounded concerned. I snapped out of my daze and quickly answered "Yeah, sure". "You should fasten your seat belt, we're about to take off"

"Oh, right" I fastened.

The take off wasn't that bad, and the clouds did look beautiful from above, just like Grace told me. I watched the movie they played for a while, whilst Grace read a book. The movie was pretty boring so I just gazed outside.

All of the sudden the plane started to bump a little. I felt like we are going to die for a moment, until the captain announced it was nothing to worry about.

Grace closed her book and looked at me with an intense gaze "You'll get used to flying eventually, I mean it's not like you'll have a choice when you're all successful and famous, you'll go on tours around the US, heck, around the world even, you won't even think about it then, it'll be as natural as riding a bus, you'll see, trust me" As Grace told me those faith filled words her eyes shone, like she really believed I could do it all, I could be someone someday. I felt special. For the first in a long time now, I felt special for being me. And it happened when she talked about me.

After she finished her monologue, Grace looked a little embarrassed, I must have been staring at her, I was pretty stunned by her words, so she quickly opened her book again and started reading again.

I really don't think I like planes… it's just unnatural, the air is all dry and stuffed, I don't feel so good. 

But although I didn't feel good, somehow I was pretty happy.

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I really appreciate my great reviewers!!! You never cease to make me smile and feel good about the story, thank you!

BTW, Shelly I've never been to Italy, (yet ;D I'd like to visit there someday, it sounds like an amazing place), all the things I am writing are coming from the internet, my imagination and a book I've read about Tuscany a few years ago… so sorry if I'll make some mistakes along the way. ;p

Drop me a line and make me smile ;D

LitJunkie