Call It What You Want To

Chapter 25: Taya

ONE MONTH LATER

I've been on planes plenty of times before. Between flying to premieres for the movies my dad has written, traveling around the country for gymnastics meets and camps, and just regular family vacations; I was no stranger to flying all around for this or that. However, this weekend was different. Tonight I was flying into Atlanta for my first, and final, High School Powerlifting Nationals event. The whole weekend was packed and we'd be hitting the ground running the minute we were in Atlanta.

Chicago's Midway airport was crowded with "The Greyhaven Crew" as we'd be continuously referred to by our coaches and families. Spencer, Hallie, Andre and TJ had their whole families in tow as we gathered by our gate waiting for the 8:45 flight. Kyler and I were taking turns holding Mila and bouncing her to sleep while my mom and dad tried to figure out how to set up Mila's baby seat for the plane. Our whole crew had gathered for the occasion too, because this was an extra special weekend. One that Mila wouldn't be staying with uncle Jack and uncle Cole for.

The energy that buzzed around us made it feel like I hadn't put in a whole school day before we left for the airport, and I was alive as ever. Thankfully, Mila wasn't feeling the same way and she was slowly starting to fall asleep while Ky swayed back and forth with her.

It had been around 2 months since Kyler came to live with me and my family, and every single day I fell in love with her a little bit more if that was even possible. Dylynn and my mom had asked (and possibly even been worried) about if Kyler and I thought we'd get sick of each other, and my mom even asked if Kyler would want to move into the guest room, but I think that we had only gotten closer in the last two months. Kyler technically did move into the guest room simply because we were running out of closet space and sometimes we needed more "thinking space" when we were doing homework, but we still spent almost every night together. Maverick was starting to get confused though why we were sometimes in Kyler's room and sometimes we were in mine.

In my head, I could compare it to when I first met Dylynn. I had been through such a shitshow in life, and when I met Dylynn it was like the days were weeks and the weeks were years. We got closer because of a really shit circumstance and became each other's rock and best friend. Kyler and I were sort of the same. We knew each other and had a previously built relationship before the real storm rolled through, but every storm runs out of rain eventually. We got lucky enough that there was a pretty spectacular rainbow at the end of it all.

"She's out," Kyler whispered as she adjusted Mila on her hip, turning slightly back and forth so she wouldn't wake up from the sudden lack of movement. After a few more minutes of struggle, my mom and dad had figured out the seat and whispered a "thank you" to Kyler as they took their baby back.

Ever since my mom and I had our hallway heart-to-heart about how I felt kind of forgotten since Mila came into the picture, she got kinda hesitant to ask for me or Kyler's help, and she started to slip back into her "always stressed" mode. This started another conversation about how Ky and I still wanted to, and would, help with Mila. I mean, she's my sister, I love the kid! I also love my parents and they've done so much, especially in the last few months. The least I could do in return was watch my cute sister from time to time or brown some ground beef.

Kyler and I shared some responsibilities around the house, which I think made things more like "home". There was never a point after Kyler came to stay with us that she was treated like a guest, my mom and dad just made her part of our family and she was treated as such. Dylynn said that was a weird way to put it at first, because it was like "I was kissing my sister" and that got a really good laugh out of everyone at the lunch table. But all I felt like it was was just us being a couple staying at my parent's house, which we were to some extent.