MFTTOU

This was 10 years ago. School was up, I was about to get into my senior year and by the way, I’m a big fan of boy bands. Punk rock, indie, alternative—you name it, I love it. I had a long list of all the boy band concerts I wanted to attend and that day was my first ever concert. My number one favorite band, Mayday Parade on their “A Lesson In Romantics” tour was happening in a city in my country, still, I had to book a flight—that’s the thing about this country, you can’t just travel to any city by train, but I still love it in all ways. That day, I decided, was going to be the best day of my life. I wore my Valdosta shirt and headed to kitchen to say good bye to my mom. She told me to call when I get there; I kissed her and said she didn’t have to worry about me, and that I’ll miss her.

I was late for the flight due to heavy traffic so I hurriedly boarded. I got the row five seat A—second to the front seat, which was unusual because the early boarders are the ones to occupy that seat. As I entered the door, there was my row and as expected someone’s already there. I had to pass through his seat in order to be seated so I said “excuse me” but he didn’t seem to hear. I noticed he had his earphones on so I tapped his shoulder and he looked up. His face lit up and kind of paused for a while. He was just my type of handsome. Black smart-style hair, beard freshly shaved, and thick eyebrows which made him look so manly. He was wearing nerdy eye glasses which I didn’t know if he had an eyesight problem or just fashion accessory but sure thing it matched his black sweatshirt. He had a nice smile. He tried to stand, he may have forgotten he had his seat belt on, so he unbuckled it. He helped me with my luggage, placed it on the overhead compartment, and I slid to my seat. Once I sat down and started going through my bag for my phone to listen to my playlist, he said hello.

I had never talked to a stranger on a plane before because I am basically an anti-social person, and because I had always been seated next to my mother, or someone I know, or some business men who smelled cigarettes; never anyone my own age, traveling alone; never anyone who was my type of handsome. I said hello back with an enthusiastic smile, he became silent so I unlocked my phone and scanned through my “Black Lines” album and decided to play “One Of Us”. All of a sudden he uttered, “You'll find your love where it's always been” and I found myself staring at him for a moment. At first I did not understand what he meant, not until the chorus of the song ended with the exact words he spoke. Maybe he was a fan, too. I haven’t said a word yet when he asked, “you like Mayday Parade too?” and by ‘too’, I proved that he is. I nodded, then he opened his phone and showed his albums of the band, all seven. Wow. I only had five for some reasons. I praised his fondness by saying “priceless!” (which was another song by Mayday Parade) and he smirked like a child who had just been complimented, proud in a good way. I told him I was actually going to their concert and the moment he said “A-actually, I am too”, I knew right then that we are going to get along.

His name is Andrew. I introduced myself as Andrea. He’s from the city that’s an hour away from where I live. He was also in his junior year. We were both Art majors but neither of us had an exhibit yet. His favorite band was The Neighborhood—my second favorite, and he loved any genre of music.

He listened intently as I spoke and our thoughts and words just correlate with each other. I was being myself because I wasn’t bothered to think about what to say next or who I should be. It was like I was talking in a dream. I always dreamt of meeting someone who has exactly the same interest as mine. And right in that moment I swear, ugh okay… we were infinite. He shared his other albums to me and I let him check my albums. He liked my acoustic version of “Creep” by Radiohead and we ended up sharing with his earphones and listened to his playlist. We began to see signs everywhere—in the fact that he also had a Valdosta shirt, in the fact that we believe that the best cover ever sang is Skinny Love that is of Birdy’s, in the fact that we both love David Levithan’s books, in the fact that we both ordered black coffee with no sugar to gain energy for the concert later, even in the fact that we both had cousins named Alex who were our favorites.

We talked through the in-flight movie. We talked in such a way that the flight attendants assumed we knew each other. We talked so much that we started to feel like we did know each other, as if every shared story could create an actual shared past.

Then the turbulence hit. I am not an easy flier. Even riding in buses, I get dizzy. From the moment the seat-belt light came back on, Andrew was just calm. He was an easy flier, I suppose. I clutched my armrest, changed my breathing, and I apologized to him for my paranoia. I told him that my mother advised me to go for a check-up so I could take drugs, but I hate them. Andrew covered my head with a blanket and said “just pretend you’re not on a plane”. That was very helpful. He also joined my head under the blanket so we could still listen in his earphones and as he was closing his eyes while lip-syncing, I grabbed his hands, and he let me without mentioning it, he just smiled without opening his eyes. He also had the song “One of Us” in his travel playlist, and when it played, I had an urge to lean on to his shoulder… so I did, with my eyes closed and a half smile. Gently, I found the right angle, the comfortable inclination. We let the music play. We both slept. Two strangers under a blanket, in between two versions of home.

That is how we met. Within few hours, we were sharing a cab to go to the concert venue. Within a week, we were planning to meet up in Starbucks in my town every chance we got. Within two months, I was sure I was in love. We dated all of senior year; we went to art museums, national library, and attended concerts and music festivals together. We shared an exhibit and when we graduated, we got offered a job with the same company in a big city so we moved there and built our family. We were married 9 years to the day we met. We have become—although I’d never say this out loud—something like an ideal couple. The key? We like and understand each other like we were best friends since childhood. We know when to keep our space and when to share it.

We always loved to say “If Mayday Parade did not have a concert tour, I never would have met you” or “If you did not play “One of Us”, none of this would have happened”. We didn’t believe in fate, but we believed in serendipity. Sweet serendipity.

On the tenth anniversary from the day we met, we attended another concert tour of Mayday Parade but that time, we didn’t have to book a flight because we are in the city where they always have their concert. We didn’t even have to purchase their album because the band members themselves gave it to us for free, and it was actually dedicated for us. There were 12 songs in the album and not the usual sad songs anymore but our favorite song from the band is still “One of Us”, which was the song that connected us. By the way, the album’s title was “Made For The Two Of Us”

Author's note: this story is based on a story written by David Levithan "the number of people who meet on airplanes". im sorry I suck at fiction.