Her face was the first thing I saw, as I entered the airport baggage claim, luggage in tow. She was beaming at and running towards me, arms outstretched for a hug, and I dropped my bags to embrace her. Instantly, all the months we’d been apart melted away.
Stepping out of our hug, she looked me up and down and said, “I’m so excited you’re here!”
“Me too,” I agreed, still keeping a firm hand on her; as if it was still hard to comprehend she was really there.
I glanced over her shoulder at the group of people all splayed out on the benches and floor, suitcases everywhere, waiting for the last arrivals before we got in the vans. The vans that would take us home.
“Have you seen Gabe?” Hayley asked me, still beaming. I shook my head and hefted my backpack strap further onto my shoulder.
“I haven’t seen him at all. Did he already arrive?”
“Yeah,” She replied, looking past me. “But no ones seen him yet.”
“Huh…”
She helped me grab my bags and drag them over to the already enormous pile that was next to the group. I recognized some other friends and quickly ran around to give hugs and catch up a bit. Hayley followed me quietly, still intently trying to get a hold of Gabe on her phone. Once I’d finished my rounds, we gathered back over by my things and stood waiting.
“Where could he be?” She asked desperately, blond hair falling into her face. I smirked to myself and said, “He probably got lost, Hayley. He always does.”
She looked at me. “You think so?”
“I know so,” I replied. “I haven’t been best friends with him for this long and not learned something.”
“You want to take a look?”
I shrugged and the two of us plodded off down the long hallway, leading towards the main concourse where the food court and security check point was. After checking the television screen to see what gate his flight had landed at, we headed towards the direction of it, strides in sync, smiles plastered on our faces.
It wasn’t long however, until we saw him poking through the crowd headed in the opposite direction, guitar case slung across his back. Hayley and I burst into a sprint and collided with him, making him stumble a couple paces back. We were all laughing and smiling, thrilled that at last we were all reunited.
“Hi,” Gabe said, after he’d caught his breath. Hayley and I laughed louder.
“Where were you?” She asked.
“You got lost didn’t you?” I teased. Gabe just smirked at me knowingly and said, “What are you talking about? Me? Lost?”
I just smiled back and grabbed some of his luggage from him, Hayley leading the two of us back through the airport toward baggage claim 19.
The smell of food and coffee hit all our noses at once and we decided that the minute we’d dropped off Gabe’s stuff, we were headed for the nearest Starbucks, or whichever coffee shop was making that delicious smell.

“Here we are,” Hayley said, pulling the small bag off her shoulder and plopping it down beside mine. Gabe and I quickly unloaded his stuff on the ground, relieved of our burdens, and he sat up and stretched.
“Whew,” He remarked, making a couple people around us smile.
“So what do you say? Coffee?” I asked.
“Yeah,” He replied, grabbing for his wallet. “Just give me a second to say hi to everyone.”
Hayley and I watched him thread his way through the crowd, giving hellos to everyone he knew, and those he didn’t. That was the way Gabe was though, super friendly all the time.
I watched as he passed another young man, sitting on the bench with his computer open on his lap, earphones in. He seemed pretty engaged with what he was doing and I didn’t recognize him from past years of camp.
As if on cue, Hayley leaned in close to whisper to me and say, “That’s my ex-boyfriend. Kevin.”
Instantly, my memory flashed back to when she had been telling me about him, and how he was going to be working with us this summer. I glanced over at her and nodded, “Oh yeah, I remember.”
“Yeah…” She gave me that look that I knew too well and smiled weakly.
“It’ll be fine,” I said, poking her and laughing.
Gabe came back right then and the three of us headed off for the coffee shop; I only looked back once.