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SKYE
When the plane landed in Switzerland, I was giddy with excitement. Not only because I was about to have two incredible weeks with my family, but also because I had reconnected with an old friend. It was like no time had passed. We fell back into our old rhythm with ease. Although, we’re both a bit more mature than we were twenty years ago, thankfully.
Growing up, Owen had never really been someone the girls chased after. He was cute and a nice guy, but not much more than that. Clearly, time and wisdom had been good to him. Every time he smiled, the lines around his eyes deepened, indicating a lifetime of laughter and happy memories. When he spoke about the things he was passionate about, his eyes lit up, and his smile encompassed his whole face.
“Skye?” came a voice from the distance, “Skye?”
I realized I had been staring into space. Well, not into space, exactly. I was staring directly at Owen, probably with a silly grin on my face.
“You okay?” he asked.
I brought myself back to reality and blinked away the thoughts that had just been running though my mind.
“What? Oh, yeah, I’m fine.”
I reached to the floor and grabbed my backpack, and started gathering my belongings. I had books, headphones, magazines, snacks, and who knows what else strewn all over my seat, and I felt a bit embarrassed by the fact that I probably looked like a toddler with all of my stuff everywhere.
As I packed up,my parents appeared from business class, ready to get off the plane as quickly as possible. They were the type of people to stand up the moment the seatbelt sign was turned off, much to my dismay.
“What are you guys doing up here?”
“What does it look like we’re doing? We’re getting off the plane,” my dad grunted.
Clearly, someone had not gotten much sleep.
“Generally, you’re supposed to let the people in front of you get off first,” I mentioned.
“So, what? You want us to go back to our seats?”
“Well, no, as long as you’re up here, you might as well stay. But they haven’t even opened the door yet.”
I heard stifled laughter coming from behind where my parents were standing, and I just knew Owen was getting a kick out of the whole exchange.
“Mom, Dad, do you remember Owen Anderson?”
My mom tapped her chin, and my dad stared off into the distance.
“He lived next door to us,” I reminded them.
“Oh, yes!” my mother finally exclaimed, her voice much louder than it needed to be. “He was that darling boy you used to run around with all the time. Of course I remember him.”
“Well, turn around. He’s right behind you.”
She turned and squealed like a little girl. Before he could even stand from his seat, my mom wrapped him in a hug, squeezing him until I knew he couldn’t breathe anymore. My dad just looked at him with a vague sense of recognition, but it wasn’t like him to be very excitable, anyway.
“So nice to see you, Mr. and Mrs. Harris,” Owen said, still wrapped in my mom’s embrace.
“How many times have I told you, young man? You are to call us Annie and Brent. You were family then, and you’re still family now.”
“I appreciate that,” he said with a kind smile, and I knew he was being completely genuine.
He glanced at me from between my parents, and met my eyes with a subtle wink. I never expected Owen Anderson, of all people, to make me swoon, but there I was, melting into a puddle on the floor.
Eventually,we got off the plane, and the entire family was reunited. After hugs and kisses and plenty of complaints about the other people on the plane, we all headed to baggage claim where we gathered our excessive number of suitcases and waited for our transportation to the resort.
I kept catching myself looking over my shoulder for Owen and his family, but I didn’t see him after we got off the plane. They seemed to have disappeared into thin air, but I was certain they had luggage with them to collect, didn’t they?
Although, with Owen’s massive success, perhaps he hired someone to handle all of that for them, and they just went straight to the resort. We were taking the provided shuttle, but they probably had a hired car or limousine or something.
