Part 31: Covid Test: 3 Becca: 0

 What could the "elephant in the room" mean to him? I mean if you were to ask me, it would be that we obviously have feelings for each other. But for him, it could be that obviously we need to stop being so friendly with each other. He could be waiting to enter the Vancouver airport and tell me that he won't be ready for a relationship for a long time and that I needed to back off. This wouldn't be anything I hadn't heard before. I mean men seemed to run from me as fast as they could, for reasons I didn't understand. But if that were the case, I don't know why he would wait another month and a half to tell me that. He and I had gotten friendly but everything was extremely appropriate, with him being a missionary and all. One night, he told me that the highlight of his day was when he got to see me, which I thought was nice and could be interpreted as a dead giveaway that he liked me more than as a friend, but I still had a massive guard up and knew that he would probably end up hurting me. 

Aside from all of the internal drama about my potential future husband, I had booked two trips! I was supposed to go to Utah to see Manda back in 2020, but obviously that didn't happen. So I made it up to myself by booking a trip to Idaho to see my cousin Kya, and a friend of mine who was attending BYUI. A few weeks after that trip, I was booked to go to Calgary to see my friend Kaitlyn. Since I had become obsessed with Brody, I had officially decided that I would move to Calgary. Because I had wanted to move out for awhile, it seemed like a good place to live and let's be real, I wanted to be around him even more than I already was. He was scheduled to leave to Trinidad between the two trips that I had scheduled. He was really excited that I was going to visit Calgary and he had the great idea that I should go meet his family when I was there. I wasn't opposed to this idea, but it did kind of feel like overstepping a little bit to go meet his mom when he and I were just friends at this point. He had made a lot of friends in BC, they weren't all going to meet his parents. Had he told them about me? Was this a screening for my future Mother in Law?

I was going to Idaho in early March. Kya was living in Rexburg and I kind of sprang this trip on her, after my other friend (we can call her Diva) ditched me. I had already had the trip booked when Diva completely ghosted me. I was supposed to be staying at her dorm, meeting her boyfriend, spending time with her, and she just decided she didn't like me anymore. I had said something to someone about her having a thing for another one of the Elders and she found out and wasn't very happy about it. I shouldn't have said anything, but I did feel like completely cutting me off was a bit of an overreaction, because we were twenty-one and nobody had blocked me on social media since the tenth grade. But anyways, Kya was going to take me in and show me a good time! 

This would be my first ever solo flight. My family didn't fly often when I was growing up. We were always a road trip family because there were seven of us and flights weren't cheap. The trip to Idaho required me to take a Covid test before boarding the plane (this is important for later) but I didn't have Covid so I had nothing to worry about. I got on the plane, had a layover in Utah and arrived in Rexburg safely. Kya and I definitely had a good time. At times, we were laughing so hard we were either going to pee or stop breathing. You had to be there for most of it, but let's just say that her roommate's pants were too low and her undies were sticking out and it was the funniest thing that had ever happened to us. We got to talk and laugh a lot and I cherish those memories with her, especially now that we don't see each other too often anymore. 

Diva decided to forgive me once I had arrived in Rexburg, so I carved out some time while Kya was in class to go see her. We had lunch and she told me she had a surprise for me. A few minutes later, a familiar face appeared. It was Jake. You know Jake, the one who ghosted me once he got home from his mission. The guy who drove me to have my last ever drink. The same guy who led me to meltdown on the temple grounds the night I ran into Elder Jensen. I knew he was at BYUI, but wasn't expecting him to be here now. He came over and gave me a huge hug, which was also weird because I had never touched him before, other than a handshake. The three of us got to chatting and Diva spilled the beans about something potentially happening with Elder Jensen. I think she was probably trying to get back at me for telling Jake that she liked that other Elder. But I was actually proud to have some sort of thing happening with Elder Jensen, so I didn't really care that she told him. If anything, it would show Jake that he lost his chance to be with a really awesome girl, and she got someone better. 

What I wasn't expecting, was for Jake and my friend to hold an intervention about "ruining his mission" and how it'll "never work out." At one point, she actually asked Jake if he thought that Elder Jensen was the one for me, to which he said "absolutely not." This did hit me like a train a little bit, until I realized that Jake was a bit dumb and I probably shouldn't be taking any advice from him, especially on who to marry. 

The day before I was supposed to leave, I needed a COVID test to get on my flight home. We searched all over the BYUI campus trying to find a place to get tested, and for some reason I don’t even remember, I ended up paying $200 for it. I didn’t have much of a choice, so I did it. That night, my results were emailed to me. We were about to go country swing dancing, which might be the most Idaho thing I’ve ever heard, so we opened the results before heading out. To our surprise, in big bright red letters it read, “RESULTS: POSITIVE.” 

That complicated everything. I couldn’t board my flight without proof of a negative test, and my flight was in less than 24 hours. It was then that we realized if you’ve had COVID within the past ninety days, it could still show up as positive unless it was a rapid test. So I had just paid $200 for a test that wasn’t even going to get me on my plane.

I started to panic. I needed to get home. Elder Jensen was leaving in a week, and I had to say goodbye. I had school and work waiting for me. Missing my flight wasn’t an option. So we made a plan. We would go to a drugstore and get a rapid test. I would have to rebook my flight, but at least I would still be able to get home not too much later than planned. So Kya and I said our goodbyes and I was dropped off at the airport, forty-five minutes away. 

 I had to wait for my new Covid test results to come back negative and then race the results to the desk and check in for my new flight that my Grandpa had booked for me. So I sat in the airport in Idaho Falls, messaging back and forth with Elder Jensen, telling him about the mishap and laughing about it. Unfortunately, we weren't laughing for long. My test results came back and I had tested negative for Covid, just like we had anticipated. I ran over to the gate to check in for my flight, with only thirty minutes to spare before boarding. I go to present the gate agent with my new test results and tell them which flight I'm on, but they just stared blankly at me. "There aren't any flights to Salt Lake for today..." Um, yes there is. I'm on it. Only there was a slight error with the booking and the flight had been booked for a week later, instead of a day later. Which meant that I didn't have a flight home and I was stuck in the Idaho Falls airport. 

Luckily, my family came to the rescue by booking me another flight for the next day, but I would have to spend the night in the airport. Sleeping in the airport could potentially be fun, I started to think of where I could lay comfortably and what to eat. Oh, I forgot to mention that this airport didn't have a cafeteria. They had a small cafe with sandwiches and coffee. So I had a dry turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread for dinner (my first meal in hours) and called Jill. Jill manages to make any stressful situation fun, so I was talking to her when I realized that the airport was getting increasingly more quiet. No more flights were coming in and none were leaving. The janitors were cleaning the floors, and I was the only passenger in the building. The janitor approached me and I got a really bad feeling. "This isn't a hotel, you can't sleep here." she says. That's when I realized that this was not a twenty-four hour airport. No more flights were coming or going, they were about to close, and I had nowhere to stay. 

I started to panic again. I mean, who wouldn't? This was the first time that I cried throughout the whole mess. This janitor quite literally walked me back out past security and to the door while I cried. I gave her the short version of the situation and explained that I really was in a bind. She decided to show me mercy and let me call my parents by the baggage claim while she finished cleaning. My mom went to BYUI, and somehow, by the grace of God, she found a friend of a friend who had a guest room in Idaho falls who was willing to take me in for the night. They were the kindest people. They took me to McDonalds, gave me a bed for the night and took me for another Covid test in the morning so I would be able to get on my flight the next day. 

So the next day, I got back to the airport, tested negative for Covid and got on the plane and finally left Idaho. When I landed in Vancouver, I ducked under some caution tape (I don't remember why) and the TSA agent yelled at me, told me that I can't be hopping over lines at the airport and said that I would have to take another Covid test and wait 24 hours for the results. Because I guess getting a Covid test was just punishment for stepping out of line at this point? Anyways, I threw a bit of a fit, the cops came over and I explained to them that I lived in Vancouver and my family was on the other side of the door to get me. We compromised, they de escalated the situation and I just had to go take a rapid test, wait 30 minutes for the results and then I could go. 

So that's what I did. I burst through the doors in an angry rage and muttered "I'm never flying again" to my parents as they welcomed me back home.