Winning Skylinn

51

I didn't get any sleep that night. Why? Because the next morning, I would be going to the airport. Remembering how awkward it was last time, I'd told Jonny I wanted to go alone.

"What if someone tries to kidnap you?" he'd said, and I waved him off. "I'll be fine." But now I wasn't so sure. I'd probably be okay physically, but emotionally? I was a wreck.

There were lots of dark circles under my eyes when I got up around six. I literally hadn't slept all night, and I was more tired than ever before. But my body refused to sleep.

Before, I'd wanted to dress up, since this was kind of a special occasion. But now I just wanted to wear sweatpants and ignore everyone. Except Denver, obviously. I couldn't wait to see him. But I was still so tired that I could hardly function.

His plane was supposed to land at nine. I had about three hours left to wake up.

Even though I hated coffee, I made a pot in the kitchen and forced myself to drink it. Then I ate some stale chocolate donuts, which did nothing for my energy. Or health, to be honest.

My parents were still sleeping, and I was the only one up. It was chilly for May, but I had a feeling it would warm up later. Nevertheless, I grabbed a blanket out of the closet and curled up on the couch.

- - -

"Skylinn? Skylinn, wake up!"

I heard my mom saying my name and felt her shaking me, but I struggled to regain consciousness. "Hm?"

"It's 8:30! You have to go," she urged me.

I bolted upright. "WHAT?!"

I didn't even remember falling asleep, and now I'd overslept. The airport was at least an hour away, and Denver's plane landed in thirty minutes! I was going to be extremely late.

"Honey, you have to go. He'll be expecting you."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," I replied hurriedly as I got up off the couch and ran to my room. I hadn't even gotten dressed!

I put on a light pink hoodie that said 'Bye Felicia,' and gray sweatpants. Then I threw my hair into a messy bun and bolted out the door. There was no time for makeup or toothpaste; I had to hurry.

The speed limit on the highway was 65, but I'll admit, I got up to 80. I knew in my head I was already going to be late, but I wanted to minimize that as much as possible.

Unfortunately, there was a cop on the highway, and he saw me speeding. The red and blue lights flashed as the siren went off, and I mentally cursed as I pulled over onto the shoulder. I should've just driven the speed limit, instead of worrying about getting to the airport in time.

The officer took his sweet time writing out my ticket, and when he finally let me go, it was already 9:20. I drove the speed limit the rest of the way, feeling safe but pretty sorry for myself, and for Denver. What a great start to his welcome-home return. Hopefully he wouldn't be too mad at me.

- - -
A/N: As you can probably guess, the above picture is of Denver. And I wanted to thank you guys for getting this book to 1000 views! I can't believe it has so many. Thank you, thank you, thank you!