Last Call to London

“Boarding to London will end in 1 minute, we still have several passengers missing” the desk attendant announces over the intercom.

“Let’s go”, Dom says, signaling me to get up.

I hesitate, looking at him with weary eyes.

“Mari”

“Mari, do you want to miss our flight?” he asks.

“You know I don’t.”

He gestures toward the boarding gate, looking at the passengers around us running to the gate, “then what are you waiting for?”

He’s frustrated with me, our fight on the way here did not make the travel day a smooth one. We’ve been planning this trip for months, our first trip out of the United States together. They tell you that if you travel abroad with someone, you really get to test your relationship with them. Maybe everything will go smoothly from start to finish and the trip will be a breath of fresh air, nothing will go wrong. All that meticulous itinerary planning, budgeting, and shopping for vacation wear will pay off. On the other hand, chaos happens, and everything goes wrong, and whether you like it or not the worst comes out of you. Your personalities crash and you wish the vacation could suddenly come to a quick end.

So far, we are off to a lousy start, and I find myself wishing the trip was suddenly cancelled. Our argument earlier was over something so small, but I was really looking forward to it. All the places we wanted to see were booked, I even found a cute castle like Bed and Breakfast for us to stay in one evening. We had some free spaces in our itinerary for when we just wanted to wing it and take our time, but it also included a photoshoot I booked specifically for a red dress I found that would be perfect for the London scene.

Dom was big on knowing what we were going to do. He didn’t want us to end up just sitting and doing nothing one day, if that was something we could just do at home. The one thing that fell through was the photoshoot I booked. Our main goal for the trip was to live in the moment, take it all in. Not be stuck behind our cellphone screens taking pictures the whole time. So I booked something, but the dress I bought never arrived. I was devastated because I thought it’d be the perfect outfit for the trip.

“Are you going to be mad at me the whole trip?” I ask, still sitting in the seat not moving.

Dom comes closer to me to grab my hand.

“We have to board; do we need to do this now?”

I look at him, tears coming to my eyes, “I don’t want to be miserable the whole trip”.

His eyes soften, “I don’t want to be miserable either, but we don’t have time for this”.

Shaking my head, I cover my eyes. “I didn’t mean to make us late; I was just really upset the dress didn’t arrive”.

Dom slowly moves my hands away from my eyes and moves my chin so that I’m looking into his eyes.

“Mari, I’m sure it was an amazing dress, but right now that’s not important, we need to make our flight. We can still have a good trip”.

To him it was just a dress, to me it was magical. The ruby red color of the lace would be perfect to pop in the London city scene. I could see it complimenting my tan skin. A contrast to the typically wet, dreary weather we were going to be in the middle of. I was inspired by the red telephone booths, that I’ve known to be iconic. The pop of color here and there along the streets.

It has a bustier-style top with a sweetheart neckline that was going to compliment the necklace Dom got me on our first anniversary. The thin flirty straps hanging off my shoulders, a signal to all the fun we were about to have. The skirt is long and flowing, perfect for twirling around, with a high slit that goes up the thigh. It made me feel alluring and I thought Dom would be excited to see me in it.

After the photoshoot, I thought we could go dancing. The perfect dress for a fun moment like that.

“I didn’t mean to make us late, I was just really upset.” I reply.

“I’m sure that London has 1000 stores in it, where we can find an even better dress,” he pleads.

“You don’t even like shopping!”

“I don’t Mari, but I love you.”

Warmth fills my body, as I repeat the words in my head. Together two years, but every time I hear it, it still feels like the first time.

The intercom goes off again: “To the couple having a lover’s quarrel-”

we look at her “your flight is going to leave you, please come to the gate now, the door is about to close”

Time is about to be up.

I laugh, embarrassed by the announcement. Dom pulls me up from out of the seat and grabs my bag. He starts guiding me towards the door.

“And I do mean come now”, she announces again, sharp tone to her voice.

“I get, I get it, we are not missing this flight.”

We make our way to the gate attendant and give her our boarding passes to scan.

She rolls her eyes when she sees us, shaking her head.

“It’s about time”

“Sorry” we say in unison.

“Safe travels and have a good time”. We grab our boarding passes and head onto the plane, Dom leading the way.

As we are about to get on the plane, I tap Dom to get him to look at me.

“What, we’ve got hurry we’re about to get left behind”.

“I know”

“But…” he says.

“I love you” giving him a squeeze.

He smiles and we make our way onto the flight, in the just in time.