How to Lose your Best Friend

♤XXXIII♤

Antonio

Fernweh. The ache to get away and travel to a distant place. Somewhere far away from all the problems that lie within our town. I wanted to get PJ away from all of his problems and I thought that taking him on my family trip to Puerto Rico was the perfect opportunity. After my brother graduated law school him and his girlfriend bought a condo across from the beach and it had to be the highlight of every summer.

At first, PJ refused to come with us because "he'd be intruding on our family vacation" but my mom reminded him that he's part of the family now and he had no choice but to come. It wasn't until I showed him a few pictures of the view from my brother's apartment that he gave in.

While the beach is great I have to admit that the plane ride HAS to be my favorite part of the whole trip. I LOVE the turbulence and taking off makes my adrenaline race faster than when I snowboard. Too bad PJ didn't seem to be having as much fun on the plane as I was. The moment the plane began to move he nearly jumped out of his seat. I laughed as his embarrassment before I realized that he was legitimately scared.

"Hey dude, are you okay?" I asked noticing his shaking legs underneath our seats.

"Um yeah," he replied unsure of himself. He pretended to be calm for about one more minute before the plane burst off the ground. While my eyes were glimmering his were struck with straight fear.

"Hey, It's going to be okay. Planes are fun!" I yelled to him as the plane began to rise higher and higher. I could notice his body still trembling as I grabbed his hand locking our fingers together hoping to calm him down.

Neither of us said a word until he excused himself to go to the bathroom. I took this moment to stuff the bags of airline food that I'd been saving up into my mouth while he was gone. The turbulence began to kick in and damn, I was having the time of my life.

"Hey PJ! This is the best part!" I shouted to the empty seat next to me. Oh yeah. I forgot that he was still in the bathroom. I began to eat one of the sugar glazed donuts that my mom had bought me at the airport when the plane began to shake uncontrollably as someone flew right into me. I blinked a few times adjusting back to my surroundings to find PJ sitting on my lap.

"You good bro?" I asked worried that he hit his head or something.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied getting off of my lap and moving back to his seat.

The rest of the plane ride remained silent and neither of us said a word until we made it to my brother's condo.

"Nino!" I could hear my brother shouting the moment I began to open the door.

"Ew Mateo stop calling me that," I replied rolling my eyes at him. This man was in his late twenties and was still calling me the name he gave me as a child.

"Nahhh, you know you love it," he replied smirking.

"No, gross!" I shouted back.

"You're such a little brat Nino now introduce me to your boyfriend," he said smiling. Boyfriend? Did he mean PJ?

"I'm PJ," he answered before I could think of a good comeback for my brother.

"Coolio! Nice to meetcha. I'll show you around since it's your first time," he replied being surprisingly polite.

"You guys will be sharing a room. I don't have another bed though so if you two don't mind shar-" my brother began before my mom cut him off.

"That's no problem! They share a bed back at home!" she smiled as they all slowly turned around and left. Jeez, what's up with everyone lately?

I looked over to PJ to find his face already bright red. I knew he was pale but did he really get a sunburn from walking from our car to the apartment?

"So do you want to go check out the area?" I asked PJ before turning around to realize that he was already knocked out on the bed. That plane ride must've taken all the energy out of him.

I decided to head into the great room where I assumed the rest of the family would be. That's when I heard them already talking about me. I was only gone for a minute and they already started. That has to be a new record.

"So what's the deal with Nino and his friend? Are they a thing?" I heard my brother ask our parents.

"I'm actually not sure. I never asked," my mom answered a bit confused by his question.

"Really? Why not?" Mateo replied being way too curious. Since when has he ever cared about my life? I thought he only cared about his girlfriend and his law books.

"You know how Antonio gets. He may become upset if we bring it up," my dad said laughing. What does he mean "how I get?" why would I get upset if that asked me a stupid question like that?

I began to walk toward the group as they immediately ended the conversation. Everyone's eyes were on me giving fake smiles as if they didn't just finish talking about my private life.

"Where's PJ?" my mom asked concerned.

"Sleeping," I replied.

"And you just left him?" my dad added. That's when I realized what I'd just done. I ran back as fast as I could nearly knocking every wall decoration over before reaching our room.

I swung the door open to find PJ curled underneath the covers thrashing as he mumbled in his sleep. How could I leave him alone? What has gotten to me? It must've been my brother's words getting to me. No, that couldn't be it. That was no excuse for leaving PJ like this.

I lifted the covers up before crawling underneath them and wrapping PJ into an embrace.

"PJ I'm so sorry. I'll never leave you again," I whispered as tears began to stream down my face.