Page 53 of March

“Don’t get drunk,” Megan added again. “And remember, with the altitude, you get drunk faster.”

“Have a glass of wine or something to help with your nerves, but drink a whole bottle of water, too,” Kelsey suggested.

“Why are you two acting like my moms?” Bryce asked as she laughed.

“Because your actual mother doesn’t know you’re flying to New Orleans to meet your maybe soulmate.” Kelsey glared playfully.

“I don’t want to tell her until I know,” she said.

“Makes sense,” Kelsey replied. “But that means you get us.”

“And you need to go because we’re about to be kicked out of this spot,” Megan told her, noticing the police officer pointing at Kelsey’s car to get them to move along. “Get out so that I can climb up front.”

“Kels, you’re rubbing off on her. I don’t like it,” Bryce said with a lifted eyebrow at her friend.

“Shut up.” Kelsey laughed. “Go get your girl.”

Bryce opened the passenger side front door and stood outside on the airport sidewalk. When she heard Kelsey’s trunk click and open, she headed back to it and pulled out her bag. She shifted her backpack onto her shoulders and looked inside the car, where Megan now sat next to Kelsey. At least, they would have a few minutes alone together on the drive, which had been Bryce’s plan in asking them both to drop her off at the airport for moral support. She waved at them and took a deep breath as she made her way inside the airport.

She stalled by going to the check-in counter to get a paper ticket, which she didn’t need because there was an app for everything these days. She was early and nervous, though, so it gave her something to do. When she saw the ‘first class’ label on her ticket, she again felt very grateful to Kelsey because the more relaxed she could be on the flight, the better. She made her way through the much shorter priority line for security and sat at her gate. She probably had enough time to go to the lounge, but by the time she got in there, sat down, and maybe got some free food, it would be time to board, so it wasn’t worth it. Instead, she walked the terminal and went in and out of the shops there, thinking about buying a book from the small bookstore, but she changed her mind because she knew she’d never be able to focus on a book long enough to enjoy it.

By the time they were calling for first class to board, she was tapping her foot and probably bouncing around the gate, looking like a nervous flyer when, in reality, she didn’t mind flying. She just both wanted to be there already and not be going at all because this was it. This was the whole damn thing. They’d said goodnight last night, and Sophie had messaged her good morning. Bryce wanted that again and again, but not in amessage. She wanted to say good morning to Sophie from right next to her in bed. To get there, though, she had to get through this flight and make it until she could see Sophie, to finally hold her in her arms and find out what this could be.

She got into her seat a few minutes later and sat there, still tapping that same foot, when the flight attendant offered her either champagne or orange juice. She’d never flown first class before, so she wanted to take both or at least one of them, but she shook her head and told the attendant that she was okay. She didn’t want to have to pee before they took off, and she was so nervous, she knew she shouldn’t have alcohol, especially before they even left the ground. When they started going over the safety procedures, she listened attentively because she needed to focus on something. As the female flight attendant motioned to the exits, Bryce followed her hands, but that was a mistake because she started picturing Sophie’s hands when they’d been sitting on that sofa and their fingers had been intertwined. She looked away then, and they took off minutes later. Soon after that, a tray of food was dropped off in front of her, with fruits and cheeses and some nuts, along with a drink of her choice. Bryce opted for water to be safe and snacked a bit but didn’t eat much because her stomach was already in knots.

They landed in what felt like minutes because, of course, it would feel like that when she flew first class, but all economy flights felt like they lasted a lifetime. By this point, her nerves were very much on display. The tapping of the foot had been observed by her seatmate and the flight attendant. Neither had commented, but Bryce had watched their eyes follow said foot, so she knew that they knew that she was nervous. Little did they know that she was nervous because she was about to get off this plane and see the woman she’d been dreaming about for over a year.

She didn’t have a checked bag, so the moment she was off the plane, she walked quickly – in a near jog, really – until she was outside and in the muggy heat that greeted everyone when they got to New Orleans. Thirty minutes later, Bryce was checking into her hotel and texting Sophie that she was here. This was real now.Shewas here.Sophiewas here. They were going to meet soon.

Sophie Santiago: I can’t believe it.

Bryce smiled down at her phone as she checked herself in the mirror. She’d worn the exact same ensemble she had that night they’d met. There was just something about them agreeing to meet in that bar again that made her want to wear the same thing. She wondered if Sophie would go home after work first and change into what she’d worn that night, too. Bryce didn’t care. She just wanted Sophie to be here already, to be at that bar on the sofa, where she could see her and hold her.

After the drive from the airport, where the Uber driver had let the windows offer them air instead of the air conditioning, Bryce had needed a shower. Never one for makeup, she hadn’t put any on after she’d dried off and dressed, but she’d still made sure her hair looked how it had a year prior because she wanted Sophie’s hand to run through it. She gave herself a once-over, took a very deep breath, and headed down to the hotel lobby.

“You’re there?” Megan asked.

“Yes, I’m in the lobby. I’m walking out now,” she replied into her phone. “When I texted you all, letting you know I was here, that wasn’t an indication for you to call.”

“Well, we wanted to know.”

“Who’swe?”

“Kels is with me,” Megan revealed. “We’ve been waiting for hours to hear how it’s going.”

“It’s not yet. I just got here,” she said with a laugh.

“What are you wearing?!” Bryce heard Kelsey yell. “Put it on speaker, Megs.”

“Fine. Hold on,” Megan replied.

“I’m wearing what I wore last year.”

“Worried she’s forgotten what you look like?” Kelsey teased.

“No. I thought it was poetic, I guess.”

“It is,” Megan said. “Really poetic.”

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