We Can See STARS

Chapter 18: Road Trips and Goodbyes, April 2021

By the next month, I was taking Ana to the airport for her month long sojourn with Benn. She was incredibly wound up for it and I couldn't tell if it was due to our Dunkin Donuts stop or the anticipation of seeing her guy again.

"I still can't believe you'll be with Benn and the team for a whole month. You're going to be sick to death of hockey by the end of it."

"Probably, but I'm excited about the travel and being with a different team for a while. I've gotten a little bit used to it working for the Dbacks."

"Yeah, I guess that's true. But now you'll be shacking up with your boo in all those hotels."

When we got to the airport, I helped her with her bags and said goodbyes before giving her a hug and an extra one to give to Jamie. "Be good gumman!"

She bent down to look at me through the window, "never!" Before walking off and into the airport's open doors.

As the month went on, her Instagram page filled with pictures of ice rinks, fancy drinks, palm trees, sun and selfies with Benn. There was one I especially loved where it was clear JO was photobombing them with his cheesiest, widest smile with eyes shut.

At some point while they were in SoCal, Benn took Ana to DisneyLand and got her the most adorable Boston Red Sox Mickey Mouse ears ever! In the foreground it was the two of them; him grabbing her while kissing her on the cheek while she giggled and smiled widely. In the background, Cinderella's castle. It was the cutest picture I had ever seen of them and I made sure to spam her comment section saying so.

After her second week with them, she called me to talk about how it went with her parents. "Well, it sounds like Benn was his usual charming self. Was he nervous?"

"I didn't think so at first. It wasn't until we left that he told me he absolutely was. Thinking back through the night and remembering his weird dances, jokes and laughing, I realized that's what that was from." She imitated his weird laugh and we doubled over in laughter.

"I'm so happy to hear you're doing well hoodsie. I hope it just keeps getting better and Benn keeps taking care of you. Tell JO that I miss him for me. Can't wait to see you again!"

"See ya hoodsie! How's ya BURGAAAAAH??"

"BURGAAAAAH!!!!!!" And with that strange little sign off, my screen went back to normal.

A couple of days after my call with Ana, a package came in the mail for me. A joint one from Ana and JO. That alone slapped a smile on my face. All gifts from their trip to Disneyland. From Ana, a beautiful set of Disney Princess pens that included my two favorites, Mulan and Pocahontas, a magnet from Pixar Pier, and a Disney themed card she had written a long message in. From Jamie, a set of LEGO mini figurines that looked vaguely like us with a piece of paper that just said "Love ya, kid" and a small drawing of Mickey ears.

Ana's letter went into some of her favorite sights at the park, how Benn surprised her with the trip and brought JO along, and a description of what Jamie looked like at the LEGO store trying to find the parts for the figurines. 'He must have been at it for at least 45 minutes. We were there for a while before Benn and I left to go to a different store and came back to find 6'7" JO sitting in a kiddie chair, intensely focused on a tiny couple. It was adorable.' I giggled at the mental image of that and with the knowledge that he was thinking of me and decided this was amazing and very him. I immediately set the two of them up to sit next to each other and little block hands next to each other as if they were holding hands.

My new princess pens glided smoothly across the paper. Though she ceaselessly made fun of my horrible handwriting, it was sweet of her for getting them for me. Or possibly as a joke. I used them to write letters back to them as a thanks but also as an excuse to break the pens in. For the remainder of Ana's month away, I would occasionally get game updates from her during games. I continued following her instagram and we would FaceTime here and there.