One. || h.s.

One.

...

As soon as I step off the plane my stomach starts to churn.  The airport I left from three years ago still looks the same, even smells the same, and only reminds me more of why I left in the first place.

It feels strange being back here and I still can't fathom why I made the decision to return.  I'm sure I could have found an internship somewhere else, maybe even back in Los Angeles, but I know deep down that I wouldn't have been happy with that.  There's only one place I wanted an internship and it just happened to be back here, back home.  So here I am, back where I never wanted to be all because I want my future to be brighter than my past. 

I walk absent mindedly through the air port to claim my luggage, trying my best to push back the uneasy feeling rising in my throat.  I get my luggage after at least forty minutes of waiting and being pushed and shoved, and head to the pickup area to meet my sister.  The air is chilly so I pull my jacket tighter around me as I look around for her car.

"Sky!" I hear a familiar voice screech, louder than all the cars passing by and sounds of loved ones reuniting.  I turn in the direction of her voice, my eyes falling on my sister standing next to her little red Honda Civic.

She rushes over to me, her smile wide and her arms outstretched.  I put my bag down and allow my arms to wrap around her tightly as hers wrap around me.

"It's so good to see you, Lala," she mumbles into my hair.

"You too Jess," I reply, smiling into her shoulder. The smell of her sweater reminds me of home and I feel a warmth spread through me, the good memories blocking out the bad for the first time since I stepped on the plane back in Los Angeles.

"Do you really have to call me that?" I giggle at the childhood name I she has adopted for me.

"Of course I do, it's your name," she smiles, a hint of teasing in her voice.  She detaches herself from me, picks up my bag and tosses it in her trunk once we reach her car. I roll my eyes and climb inside the car with her, happy to be shielded from the wind at last.

"It's not really my name," I argue, a small smile still present on my face. 

"It is to me Skyla," she giggles, pronouncing my name as she used to when we were younger.

The only good thing about being home is seeing Jessica.  We were oddly close growing up and never fought like normal siblings did.  The only happy memories I have about this place are the ones we made together, my older sister and I.  We may as well be twins and not three years apart.

"You look much older, y'know," she remarks, her eyes on the road.

"It's been three years since I've seen you last," I point out, looking out the window at the traffic.  New York traffic is another thing I didn't miss about home.

"I know it has been, but I didn't expect you to have changed so much.  You grew boobs!"

Our laughter echoes together in the car, a sound I missed. 

"Well, you look older too."

"Do I?"

"Yeah, you're starting to get a few wrinkles," I tease, poking her cheek playfully with my index finger.

"What?" She gasps, glancing at me briefly.  She reaches over the seat to hit me gently in the arm.  "I'm only twenty three, I do not have wrinkles."

"Okay fine, but you do look different." I hold back my chuckles, pressing my lips together and turning to look out my window once again.