Slugger

36. That's Great To Know

I am cursed with hypersensitive tear ducts.

Here we are, standing before the security line at the LAX. The whole family minus my dad is here and so is Dante. He's currently carrying Jackie and the two of them are sporting matching 'I am a kicked puppy' facial expressions.

Currently, I'm the only one crying but when have things ever been different?

"Shall we start saying goodbyes?" My mom asks. She's coming along with me so I'm not crying over leaving her yet.

"I don't want to." I mumble, wiping the underneath of my eye carefully.

"Kenny, you better say goodbye and get your ass into security, I wanted to start rewatching Gossip Girl tonight." Tyler says.

And suddenly my tears are drying up.

"Be nice." David snaps.

He rolls his eyes. "Okay whatever, goodbye sister. Have fun in the snow and eat a Philly cheese steak or whatever they have in Florida."

"I'm going to – you know what, thank you for your well wishes Ty." I say, realising there's no point in arguing with him. He releases a loud sigh as the two of us stare at each other awkwardly. When it gets unbearable, he opens his arms out wide.

"Come on, let's get this over with." He gestures for me to hug him.

"Gross." I say but of course I comply. What am I gonna do without Tyler and his flip flops up until Thanksgiving? Surprisingly, he hugs me tightly, squeezing me until I almost can't breathe. I don't say anything about it though, clutching him with almost as much force.

We pretend like nothing happened when we let go. I say goodbye to David, who wipes my tears and get an earful from McKinley: she calls me a bunch of names but then tells me she's expecting me to call her as soon as one of my roommates piss me off. And then she starts crying which makes me cry some more and our mom has to coddle us into stopping.

Jackie's already crying a little when I get to him and Dante. Though I really wanna burst into tears too, I'm pretty sure that'll cause problems for their ride home. So I brave a watery smile and take him from Dante's arms, hugging him close to me.

"Hey baby, why are you crying?" I ask quietly.

"Do you have to go?" He buries his head into my shoulder.

"Sadly yes." I shuffle him on my hip so he's forced to raise his head. Jackie looks at me with a definitive frown, making my guilt grow. Maybe choosing college far away really was a mistake.

"I'm going to miss you." He says. "Who's gonna be nice to me now? I have no more sisters."

"I'm standing right here, John!" McKinley hollers from behind us. Tyler laughs.

"I have no more sisters that live with me." Jackie amends. "This isn't fair!"

"I'm sorry." I say. He reaches out and grabs hold of my face. Both of our bottom lips shake at the same time but we hold our tears for our last hug. Well, that is until Jackie begins crying into my shoulder and I am unable to contain my womanly emotions.

My mom breaks us up pretty soon. I'm thankful that she's at least coming with me to move in because I don't know how I'd cope with having to say goodbye to her along with everyone else.

I'm reluctant to move to Dante, mostly because I don't want to be leaving him. Plus, he looks so sad and I want him to be happy. As soon as Jackie and I dry off, I don't even look at his face as I go in for a hug. I just start crying again.