When Sasha gets back from her semester abroad, Kathy & I have to get her up to speed on what she's missed. Picks up after the line: "The next morning, we awoke with butterflies in our stomachs," in "Kathy & I: Pt 2."Enjoy!
Sasha was coming home that night, and Kathy & I were more excited than ever. Over breakfast, we discussed how we'd greet Sasha at the airport. "Should we wait with newspapers in our faces until she comes by to surprise her?" Kathy asked.
"Maybe!" I said. "Do you think we'll see her first or vice versa?"
"I think we'll see her first, depending on how many people leave the plane with her," I said. The rest of our day saw us have lunch & go for a jog before heading to the mall to pick up a last-minute Christmas gift for Sasha: a pendant with all three of our names arranged in a heart that we had designed and put a down payment on at the beginning of December. I paid the rest of the amount owed, and the clerk at the jewelry store bagged it up in a nice little gift box. With the pendant in hand, Kathy and I drove to the airport. We made better time than I thought, and we were sitting in the arrivals area by 7:15 PM, where we saw Sasha's flight scheduled to arrive at 8:55 as we bought our newspapers.
When the first passengers walked through, Kathy & I waited and waited. And then, as a change of pace, we stayed longer. Kathy was checking her watch every 5 to 10 seconds, and by 9:15, I could tell she was getting worried. "Do you think Sasha missed the flight, honey?" she asked as she took my hand.
"I don't think so, Kathy," I replied, "you know Sasha is more punctual than anyone else we know." While that seemed to set Kathy at ease, I had also begun to worry about Sasha deep down. We not only hadn't seen her, we hadn't heard from her either; I knew Sasha would've texted or called one of us if she was experiencing some kind of trouble. More people came & went as time passed, still no sign of Sasha. Around 9:30, Kathy said:
"I gotta pee, honey; keep your eyes peeled for Sasha. And let her know I'm in the loo if she shows up." I told Kathy I would, and she got up & made a B-line for the ladies' room. I kept my eyes glued to the arrivals hall while she was in there, but I still didn't see Sasha. And soon, the last of the London passengers had walked through the arrival section. I somberly told Kathy I didn't see Sasha when she got back; the look of dismay on her face brought my spirit down. Kathy then remembered her bedwetting accident from the night before and told me: "Let's not tell Sasha about my little accident, honey." When I asked Kathy why not, she told me it would be too embarrassing: "Sasha might make fun of me," she said.
"Oh, c'mon, Kathy. We're all mature young adults, for the most part," I said, "just because you wet the bed doesn't mean Sasha will think less of you." Kathy thanked & kissed me as we went back to waiting, with Kathy resting her head on my shoulder. About five minutes after we resumed waiting, I felt something "soft and fluffy" against my right cheek. I looked over just in time to see Sasha press the mouth of the teddy bear we got her as a going-away present against Kathy's cheek. Once we saw who it was, Kathy & I jumped up from our seats and threw ourselves onto Sasha. A huge weight was off our shoulders; our girl was back in our arms. Sasha then kissed each of us for the first time in four months.
The euphoria of that kiss was immense, as Kathy & I missed Sasha's kisses so much. I then asked Sasha why we hadn't seen her amongst the other arriving passengers.
"You guys are gonna love this," she started. "My bags went to the wrong gate, so I had to identify them when they here. They double-checked the bags for some reason, I guess, to make sure nothing was added to them on their way back to me. Luckily, they cleared them in the end!" Kathy & I laughed as Sasha yawned and asked us if we were hungry. Kathy & I were, and we wondered what Sasha had in mind. "Let's just go to McDonald's," she said, "keep it easy; we can just eat in the car too." Kathy & I were down for that, so each of us grabbed one of Sasha's bags, and we headed out to the car. When the cold air hit us, I told Sasha:
"Now, I see why you say we should eat in the car, Sasha." We laughed, and Kathy then asked how England was.
"Amazing," Sasha replied as we walked to the car. "I'm taking you two there for vacation next summer; I don't have to study abroad next semester, by the way." I was just as excited as Sasha was about a trip to England, but both of us could tell Kathy would need some convincing. Sasha would convince Kathy as Christmas break went on, but let's not get ahead of ourselves; it'll come up gradually as this story unfolds. I loaded Sasha's bags into the trunk as Kathy seat-belted Sasha in the back seat. We all kissed again and left the airport. We got to see an Emirates A380 landing as we drove away; it's always amazing to see one of those leviathans in person.
By the time we got to McDonald's, the drive-thru was about six cars deep, and I could see a line inside, where every table was taken, so eating in the car was the best option. I got in line, Sasha & Kathy gave me their orders, and I placed them with mine when I pulled up. We got our food shortly after, and I parked in a spot so we could dig in. Sasha told stories about her time overseas - hijinks she and her classmates got into, the endless nights of studying, etc. - as we ate, eventually asking what we had been up to in her absence. She already knew the big topics - the death of Kathy's grandfather in September and my sickness in November - so Kathy & I told her we had been getting closer & closer to each other over the past four months.
"We've gotten to know more about each other over the past four months, Sash," Kathy said, "and Boo cannot wait to get to know more about you. Next time I'm out of town, he'll get that chance." Sasha laughed at that and told us the story of her first U.K. pub crawl.
"So, it was my first Friday night there," she started, "and the weather was miserable; it had rained on & off all day. I just wanted to eat something light and go to sleep. But some of my classmates were insisting I join them. One of them, Suzie, even threatened to come to get me if I didn't come out: 'Come on out, Sasha, or I'll have to go football hooligan on your arse!' is what she told me." After Kathy asked what "go football hooligan on your arse" meant, Sasha said she'd get to it and continued her story. "So I grudgingly got myself up and met them outside in the campus courtyard. Suzie's boyfriend, Harry, picked us all up and drove us to the first pub."
"There, we had some pints of lager and played some darts before going to the next pubs. By the time we got to the third pub, it had started raining again, and I was looking for an excuse to go home. Harry was about three beers deep, and Suzie was closing that gap when another girl stumbled and fell into our booth, spilling her beer on me." After expressions of shock from me & Kathy, Sasha's story took another turn. "The girl then gave me attitude for making her fall, and Suzie told her 'Oi bitch, she didn't move a muscle. You bashed into her!" Sash explained that after Suzie & the girl exchanged a few more words, the girl's boyfriend came up and got into everyone's face.
"That was when Harry knew he had to do something," she continued, "so he got up, got in the guy's face, and clocked him in the face. The fight then spilled onto the street, where the guy and his girl eventually left. When they did, Suzie turned to me and said: 'That's what 'go football hooligan on your arse' means, Sasha."
"Oh, so beat someone up," I said, to which Sasha elaborated:
"In extreme cases, yes, but Suzie then explained she'd only give me a fireman's carry down to the pub; that's the lighter version of it." We all laughed before Kathy asked Sasha what happened after the troublemakers left. "By now, the rain was starting again," Sasha started, "we decided to call it a night, so Harry & Suzie drove me back to campus. I had to pee extra bad when I got back, so I made a B-line upstairs, clutching my pussy all the while. When I got to my room, though, I realized I couldn't hold it long enough to dig my keys out of my purse. There was a plant beside my door, so I did what I had to do."
Kathy was about to ask if Sasha peed on the plant, but after she got: "You mean," out, Sasha stopped her and confirmed: "Yup, I peed on that plant because I was about to wet my pants. But as it was outside my door, I thought of it as marking my territory, like a dog." The three of us laughed at that, but then, Sasha's narrative got deep. She said that she thought about us every free minute she had over the past four months. "You guys remember the brave facade I put on when I left?" she asked. Kathy & I said we had, and Sasha continued: "Well, I gotta be honest: I wasn't as brave as I led you both to believe."
Taking each of our hands, she kept going: "I was sniffling in the lounge before my outbound flight, and I began tearing up about an hour into the flight. I leaned over and pulled my blanket over myself, so my seatmate would think I was asleep. I was crying softly under my blanket over a picture of us together from Spring Break this past March. I kept saying: 'I miss my babes,' to myself." Sasha's revelation touched Kathy & me, and we started getting the sniffles, but what Sasha had to say next really lifted our spirits. "I then remembered I had the bear from you two," she said, "so I took him out of my carryon and held him to my heart. I began feeling better about not seeing you two for a while and stopped crying."
"Aw, that's so sweet, Sasha," Kathy said, "We're glad Little Bear helped you feel better."
I added: "Just like how Care Bear helped us through the past four months." Sasha then took her bear out of her purse and kissed us with it again. "I slept with him every night I was there," she said, "and kissed him more than once. I say we all sleep with him tonight." Kathy & I loved that idea just as much as Sasha. That's when it hit me: our trio was back together and would be sleeping together for the first time in months; to say I was excited would be an understatement. After we ate, I collected everyone's garbage in one of the McDonald's bags and began driving home. Sasha's Big Mac, fries, and McNuggets were what she needed after a long flight, but as is typical with fast food, she said it all felt like a massive sandbag in her stomach.
About halfway home, Kathy, who was riding shotgun, noticed Sasha had fallen asleep in the backseat: "She's such an angel when she's asleep," Kathy said.
"Not just an angel, Kathy," I replied, "our angel! We'll be in Heaven with her in bed tonight." Smiling, Kathy said:
"Absolutely! What do you think we let her sleep in between us tonight? So she's got us by her sides on her first night home." I loved that idea, so Kathy & I agreed on it. We got home around 10:30 PM, and Kathy brought Sasha's bags inside while I carried Sasha herself in from the car; the flight and our McDonald's feast sure took its toll on her. Sasha did wake up when we stepped inside, where she thanked me for carrying her in from the car.
"Let me get my PJs out of my suitcase, babe," Sasha said, "I'll unpack everything else tomorrow." She got her PJs out, changed in front of us, and with a final yawn, told us: "Let's hit the hey, last one upstairs is a rotten egg!" Sasha beat me & Kathy up and face-planted on the bed after seeing it for the first time since she left. "Oh, how I've missed this bed," Sasha said, rolling onto her back, "come on in, guys!" Kathy & I changed into our PJs and, seeing Sasha was in her usual spot, I told her we had the idea of her taking the middle tonight.
