Chapter Text
Growing up the youngest of three isn’t easy. Some would say that three was a very typical number of children, certainly there was no way any of them could be ignored. It didn’t help that there was a justifiable gap between Lola and each of her brothers.
The first was twenty-one, just starting his senior year of college at USC. Cameron was a business major, just like their father had been. He was nice enough, or at least he had been until he started watching these male podcasters that really screwed up his mind. Lola really wished he wouldn’t have gotten into those things.
Then there was Derek, fifteen and starting his sophomore year of high school. He already has his career picked out for him from the moment their mother handed him a baseball bat and told him to knock balls off the tee. It was no secret that he had scouts looking at him, even if he denied the fact completely whenever anyone asked. He tried to be “humble”. That didn’t prevent him from bragging to their entire family that he was going to get a full ride at a D1 school. As if it were just that easy.
Stuck between her two brothers, Lola tended to blend into the background. It wasn’t that she was overly quiet, wasn’t introverted. In fact, she was a people person through and through. She tried out drama club for awhile back in high school and enjoyed it quite a bit, but the transition was difficult when she made it into college. Being seventeen, traveling abroad, little support or recognition from her parents – it was hard.
Lola didn’t blame them though. Like their children, Lola’s parents were dedicated to each of their careers. Her father was a corporate lawyer while her mother was an anesthesiologist. They both had wonderful jobs that they worked through the ranks of. However, having demanding jobs and two sons that needed their absolute attention – or at least that was how her parents described it – meant that Lola was often looked over.
They didn’t come to her freshman year play even though she’d gotten the lead role. They were too busy with Derek’s baseball tournament. They didn’t come dress shopping with her for her first homecoming because Cameron was having troubles at USC and really needed a parent, or two, by his side. They didn’t come to the induction ceremony for NHS or SHH or NSHSS – Lola would have thought the more acronyms she threw at her parents the more interested they would have gotten. It appeared that it didn’t work the way she intended.
Sure, her resume got boosted, her application looked stellar, but the looks she got from her teachers didn’t match the kind she so desperately craved from her parents.
Paris should have been a sign that nothing she did would ever grab their attention.
She planned for months: how she would move, what she would move, what kind of things she’d need to buy once she was there, and more importantly how she was going to cope with truly being alone for the first time in her life.
In reality, it shouldn't have been that much different from her normal everyday life. Lola was already alone for all intents and purposes, but at least when she was in the States she could pretend like she could walk down the hall and ask her mom for some advice. As if her mom would actually tell her anything.
Lola got an Uber to the airport. Her parents couldn’t even take off work to see her off. She dragged her suitcases across the uneven floor. It wasn’t her first time flying, but it was the first time as a solo traveler. She had no idea what the first steps were. Dozens of lines crisscrossed through the entranceway. Employees yelled out words she couldn’t keep track of. Lola couldn’t remember the rules about TSA. Were hoodies allowed? Was she supposed to take off her shoes? Did backpacks go into bins or did they stay on the table?
She was jostled through the crowd, hands shaking, but she powered on. Lola did hard things, she powered through when it looked like the better option was to just give up. She wasn’t about to let a stupid airport stop her from achieving her goal.
Bags were lugged onto rollers and metal detectors were passed through. A beep went off as Lola stepped through which caused her heart to stop. Oh god.
“Step aside, ma’am.” One of the TSA agents beckoned her forward and had her step away from the rest of the line.
Lola swallowed, hard. She wasn’t even out of the airport and things were already going wrong.
“Hold out your hands.”
She did as she was asked, sticking out her arms like two popsicle sticks.
The TSA agent scanned over her body with a handheld metal detector. Lola kept her body as still as possible, her breathing shallow.
She was far from dumb. She knew why she got pulled aside while the white couple in front of her were allowed to pass even though there had been troubles with their bags. Lola kept her mouth shut though. The sooner she got away from TSA the better. She would find whatever gate she was flying out of, hunker down, and watch some video on her phone until boarding was called. There was a several hour trip ahead, and she wanted to be as tired as possible for it. Sleeping during a plane ride was far more enjoyable than being awake for the entire thing.
The hum of the scanner stopped. “All good.”
Lola let out her breath. “Thank you.” She didn’t truly mean it. The agent clearly hadn’t found anything about her that was actually of interest. They just wanted a reason to pull someone to the side to scan and Lola happened to fit their bill to a tea. She gave the agents a smile as she passed though – there was no use in breeding anymore ill will between them.
Waiting near the gate made her head spin, so Lola walked around the airport trying to fill her time as well as her thoughts. She didn’t know a single other person at her school, even though she sucked it up and joined some of those first-year group chats and other online portals even though it was a really dumb idea. There were no friendships made there, just a bunch of people either stirring up drama or gloating.
Lola popped into one of the markets and picked up some snacks.
Everything would be different in Paris – the people, the culture, the language. She was lucky enough to have studied some French, but her high school didn’t have the best program so that ended quicker than it began. It would be fine though. Paris was a huge tourist destination so she was sure that she’d be able to get away with English most of the time – even at the expense of her self-worth as Lola heard Parisians could be a bit rude about that sort of thing.
She kindly thanked the check-out lady as she departed the market.
There were wonderful things in Paris like the Notre-Dame, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre. Lola wasn’t huge into art but as she was planning on studying sociological anthropology she loved the stories behind the paintings and the sculptures.
It would be fine. She’d meet people in her programme, make friends, mix life between tourist activities and school. This was good.
Lola walked around the airport and rubbed the strap of her backpack.
This was a fresh start. She wouldn’t worry about her parents, or rather the lack of them. She didn’t need to always see her brothers succeeding, making her feel less then. She could just be Lola. The rest of her family wouldn’t even need to be mentioned if she didn’t want them to.
A new life sprung up before her eyes. It wasn’t like anyone would know if she was lying. She could tell them all about the people she wished her parents were – how they attended every one of Lola’s ceremonies and fairs. She’d bring up her brothers, talk about all the fun and borderline questionable things they got up to as kids. That would be her new life. A better one.
A voice spoke through the overhead speakers. “Flight AA307, service to Paris, France will begin boarding shortly.”
Lola’s heart fluttered for a moment. This was becoming reality. When she first applied, she honestly wasn’t all that sure that she’d get in. But now the admission had been granted, her living space all picked out, and now the final part: the flight.
She hurried back to her gate. The last thing she wanted was to miss her flight, not when she was so close. Lola shuffled through her cards until she found her boarding pass and held it close to her chest.
A breath filled her lungs and then she let it out with a sigh. University was going to be life changing.