Winning Skylinn

57

We were about to leave Culver's, when Denver excused himself to go to the bathroom. "Okay, but hurry," I said.

"Hey now. Pee is like love. Once you start, you can't stop," he replied, quoting Paper Towns. It wasn't the exact phrasing, but I still laughed.

"Fine, take your time."

He left and I went to the counter, where Jonny was waiting for customers. It was almost closing time by now.

"Hey, wanna come over later?" I asked.

"Well it's already 9:00. What time were you thinking?"

"Whenever you get home. I'll wait up for you."

"Okay," he said with a half-smile.

Denver came out of the bathroom just then. "Hey, you ready to go?" he asked me.

"Aye-aye, ca'tain," I replied, saluting.

He laughed and put his arm around me as we walked towards the door. "Bye, Jonny," he called over his shoulder.

Jonny waved and went to clean off the counters.

"Tonight was fun," Denver said as we got in his car.

"Yeah, it was. It's been so long."

"I know." He leaned over and gave me a quick kiss. "But we've got another thirteen days. Plenty of time for dates, right?"

"Right."

- - -

I didn't know exactly why I'd invited Jonny over. I guess I just needed to talk to him. There was a lot to discuss, considering we'd barely talked all day.

I changed into a maroon cotton shirt and black pajama shorts while I waited for him to get home from work. Then I put on my monkey slippers and went downstairs. I poured myself a cup of apple juice and sat down on the couch. Mistletoe was waiting for me there, and she started purring as soon as I began to pet her.

"Today was a good day," I told her.

"Skylinn, is that you down there?" Mom called from upstairs.

"Yeah, sorry. Am I being too loud?"

"No, you're fine. Just wanted to say goodnight. I'll talk to you in the morning, okay?"

"Okay. Goodnight!"

Jonny arrived soon after, opening the door as quietly as possible. "Hey," he whispered. "Anybody home?"

"Hi." I waved from my spot on the couch. "Come, child."

He walked over and moved Mistletoe aside so he could sit down. The cat curled up in my lap, and I continued to pet her.

"How was your date tonight?" Jonny asked quietly.

"Good. It was really nice to catch up, ya know?"

"Yeah. Did he say anything about the boot camp stuff?"

"Yeah, actually. He told me all about it." I explained to him some of the things Denver had told me earlier.

"Sounds like he's been busy down there."

"He has. But now he's back...if only for a little while."

"Is everything okay?" he asked when I sighed.

"Yeah. Well...yeah, it is. I just don't want him to leave again, ya know? But he has to."

I was expecting him to say something like "just focus on the good stuff," but he didn't. Instead he said, "I'm sorry."