Page 1 of Meet Me at the Metro

1

RED-EYE GOODBYES

E L L I E

Today, the weight of an entire ocean lies ahead of me, but somehow, saying goodbye feels like the heaviest part.

“Where’s your passport, Ellie? Also, I made sure to pack you extra copies of your birth certificate… and social security card in case you lose the originals, which I might just have to legally disown you for. Literally and figuratively.”

“Mom,” I laugh, rolling my eyes at her nervous rambling. “I’m not gonna lose them. Andyes, I’ve got my passport. It’s in my carry-on.”

“Show me,” she orders, but with a kind sternness in her voice.

My mom is the softest woman I know. She’d do whatever it took to ensure the ones she loved were taken care of…

Including annoying the piss out of her daughter right before she’s about to board an international flight.

I fetch out my travel documents without any further argument, waving them high and proud in the air.“Happy?”

“No.” Her eyes immediately glaze over with tears. “My baby is leaving me.”

“Oh, momma,” I sigh, wrapping my arms around her. “Stop crying. You’re going to make me cry.”

“I can’t help it,” her voice wavers. “I was hoping you’d forget it so you wouldn’t be able to board your flight.”

“I was kinda hoping the same thing,” Dad admits, shrugging.

“That’s sorude!”

They both share a laugh as their arms embrace me with a tight squeeze. I soak in their familiar scent and try to memorize the smell of home, breathing it in as if it’s the last time I’ll ever get to. Maybe I’m being dramatic, but the thought of leaving and being a whole ocean away from them for the next year makes my chest heavy because it’s always been this way—the three of us.

The three bees.A close-knit hive.

Just us against the world since the moment they adopted me. Today, that all changes.

I’m going to miss them so terribly.

“Did you pack your raincoat?” My mom asks as I gather my luggage together. “You’ll need that. I heard it rains a lot over there.”

“Dad, come get your wife.”

“She’s right,” he agrees just to pester and pick on my ass, “it does rain a lot in England.”

“Do not encourage her!”

He throws his arms up defensively. “I am doing no such thing!”

“You are!”

“Excuse me for caring,” Mom sighs dramatically. “One more hug,please.”

I happily answer her request, letting myself melt in the familiarity of her embrace one last, final time.

“I love you, sweetie,” she whispers into my ear. I do the best I can manage to hold back the tears threatening my eyes. “I love you so much.”

“I love you more,” I promise her. I give Dad a shove. “And you, old man.”

“Promise me you’ll stay safe,” he pleads, but I know it’s really more of an order.

---