Winning Skylinn

4

I watched him board the plane, trying not to burst into tears. But it felt like someone was cutting into my stomach with a knife, and jumbling up my insides.

Sorry. Too much?

The pain was unbearable. If this was how it would be just dropping him off at the airport, I didn't even want to imagine the next few months.

I felt a hand rest on my shoulder, and turned to see Jonny.

"Hey, Leonard," he said.

I laughed, despite the circumstances. Leonard was Jonny's nickname for me. He came up with it in third grade, and it's stuck ever since. He's the only one that calls me that. To everyone else, I'm either Skylinn or Sky.

"Hi, Jonathan." He hated when I called him by his full name. So, of course, I always did.

"You ready to go?"

I looked back at the terminal, wishing Denver would come running through it, ready to pick me up and swing me around in his arms, whispering that he would never leave me. But of course, it didn't happen.

"I'm ready."

He placed his hand on the small of my back and led me safely out of the airport. I always got lost in those things.

~~

In the summer of my freshman year, my parents decided that it would be a good idea to go on vacation with the Cox family. A "welcome to high school" present, they called it.

Since we lived in Orlando, we decided to go someplace cold. So, we went to the coldest possible state in America: North Dakota.

I had never been on an airplane before, and I was scared out of my mind. When we got through security, we had to wait a couple hours for the actual plane ride. My mom had the bright idea to go to the bathroom fifteen minutes before takeoff.

So I followed her, since I kinda had to pee too. But when I got out of the stall, my mom was nowhere in sight. I looked underneath all the stalls, but she wasn't in any of them.

I slipped outside the door and looked around, but I couldn't find her. It was then that I broke down crying. I slid down to the floor, bawling my eyes out.

I don't know why I cried so hard. But it felt like I was losing her, like I'd never see her again.

It was Jonny who came to find me. He sat down by me and let me cry, not touching me. I was grateful for that. I didn't like for people to touch me when I cried, unless I reached out to them.

When I was done crying, Jonny walked me back to the terminal and we reunited with our parents. I'd never been happier to see my mom in my life!

~~

When we got out to the car, I could barely function. Jonny opened the door for me, and I slid down into the seat, wanting to shrivel up and die.

He seemed to sense that I wasn't in the mood for talking. So we drove in silence, except for the breeze coming through his window.

I was surprised when he pulled into the drive thru of Sonic. "What are we doing here?" I asked, my voice low and raspy from crying.

"I thought you could use some cheering up."

~~

I discovered my love of Sonic's blue coconut slushies when I was ten. I was finally tall enough to ride the Mount Everest roller coaster at Animal Kingdom, and my dad decided we should get Sonic afterwards to celebrate.

Jonny's parents had been out of town that day, so we'd taken him to Disney World with us. It was a fun day, but the best part was trying my first ever blue coconut slushie afterwards.

It was amazing. I slurped the blue drink all evening, wanting to savor each sip.

After that, my family would take me to Sonic every time we went to Disney World (which was fairly often, since we lived about ten miles from it). When he was old enough, Jonny would take me, and not just after trips to one of the parks. It was my favorite place. Our place.

~~

"You're getting me a slushie?" I asked in disbelief.

"What, you don't want one?"

"No, I do. Thank you, Jonny."

"You're welcome."

I knew he would say that. Jonny wasn't the kind of person to say 'no problem.' He knew that when you thanked him, you wanted an acceptance of that. You wanted to feel like he was going out of his way to make you feel better. So Jonny always said 'you're welcome.'

He got me the blue coconut slushie and a sweet tea for himself. Jonny never got slushies. It was always tea, with just a hint of sugar. Always watching his weight, even though he didn't need to. He was already perfect in stature and build, and had been since middle school.

I was always jealous of him, because he never went through that awkward middle school phase. He was always good-looking. But it never went to his head. And I think that's what made him so likable.