Dragging the last bag to the bottom of my stairs and into the car we were taking to the airport felt like a hassle. Maybe it was because it was so early in the morning, or the fact that that was my 3rd bag, but I was exhausted. I sat against the bump of the car and breathed. Yuzuru had walked in front of me, crossing his arms.
"How are you tired? We work out more than this." I glare at him the best I could, and sigh.
"It is 4am in the morning, we don't have practice until 7. Also, our flight is at 9am. Why did you wake me up so early?" He sits down next to me, watching our parents talk.
"To be honest it was my mom that woke me up to wake you up. She said we couldn't be late because being late is the worst thing." I slump, slouching my back.
"Makes sense... the last time we traveled anywhere we left three days before the actual competition." He nods, and we continue to watch our parents talk, before my mom walks over, hugging me really tight.
"I'm going to miss you my daughter. Don't do anything stupid in Canada." I snicker and just lay my head on my moms chest.
"I won't, I won't even go out of the apartment." She bends her neck to look at me.
"Ok you can get out of the apartment. You still need to go to school." I give out a tiny laugh and my mom finally lets me go.
"Continue reaching your dreams my daughter." She squeezes me one more time, and Kei walks over to me.
He stares at me, and I raise my eyebrow. "what?" he finally snaps out of it and breathes roughly.
He hugs me and I can feel my shirt dampen... is this man crying? I let him hug me for awhile, and he finally let go, his eyes a faint red. He smiles at me, and just pulls me back in.
He whispers in my ear, "dad would be so proud of our ice fairy." I stiffen with the words I hear. Our dad left a few years back... when I had just started skating.
lets go sad stories
I started skating at the age of 7, my dad bringing me to the rink. It was our little secret. I liked seeing Fumie Suguri skate, and when my dad heard me he took me to lessons right away. This is where I met Yuzuru. I personally don't know where things went wrong, but when mom found out she was a little pissed. I think she was pissed becasue we didn't tell her.
Our parents had a fight that night. I was 9, but Kei had brought me to the rink that day. I was talking to Yuzuru when Kei had barged into the rink dragging me out. Fortunately I didn't have my skates on, so it was easy.
"Why are you dragging me?" He stopped and caught his breathe.
"dad is missing." I raised my eyebrows in confusion.
"he was in the house this morning." He huffs, still walking towards the house.
"well he isn't anymore." WE continue our way to our house.
The memory isn't so vivid anymore. I got used to living without my dad, I barely remember what he looks like at times. Mom was mentally unstable, but never made me quit skating. I guess skating was my coping mechanism...
I can feel my eyes begin to swell, and Kei lets me go. "I still like Yuzuru more than you." My tears fall out while laughing and I hit Kei in the stomach.
"Bye little sister." "Bye older brother." I get off the hood of the car and slid into the car with Yuzu's parents. I wave a final goodbye to my mom and brother, and we are on the road to the airport...
We slowly unload the bags while Yuzu's mom check us into the airport.
"Are you excited?" I turn to Yuzuru who had asked the question.
"Mhmmm... yeah, going to another country is always fun. It's just a new experience staying away from my brother and mom." He nods, taking the last bag out of the car. His dad had stayed in the car, patiently waiting for us to finish. I watch as Yuzuru says bye to his dad one last time, and we walk into the airport to his mom.
We has passed through security and I had gotten some coffee from... starbucks. We sat by our gate waiting for our airplane to start sitting. Yuzuru had fallen asleep on my shoulder, and his mom was in the restroom.
Deciding to be funny, I held up my phone to take a picture of him.
I snicker and stare at the photo, I feel Yuzu shift and wake up. He stares at my phone for a bit, before realizing that it was a photo of him.
He sighs and snuggles back into my shoulder, "you could've at least made me look better..."
