My fears are safe here
Holding your hand
When I'm broken,
You put me back together again
All that I once was,
All I could be,
When I've forgotten,
Baby you remind me,
When I get the feeling,
That my prayers have hit the ceiling,
On those darker days,
When my faith has lost all meaning,
You keep me believing
- Lennon Stella, Charles Esten, "Believing"
j o h n n y
Kenzie throws her head back and laughs, a joyful sound that warms the atmosphere.
"Did you really dance in the street in an Eyore onesie?"
I roll my eyes. "Yes."
"Recreate it for me." Her eyes sparkle in a way I've never seen before.
"Well, I don't have an onesie," I say, laughing. "I guess I can't do it. ToO bad."
"Then buy one!" Kenzie insists. "We're not at Disneyland for NOTHING."
"What? See, that's what we're not gonna do." I pull against Kenzie, who's tugging my arm towards a Disney shop.
"Pleaseeee," Kenzie begs, giving me puppy dog eyes.
I laugh. "Why do you want to see me humiliate myself so badly?"
"I just do, okay. Do it." She smirks. "I'll even BUY it for you."
"Okay, but on one condition."
"What." Kenzie puts her hands on her hips, making a face at me.
"You have to buy a matching piglet one and we'll dance in the street together."
"No! Do you know how much hate I'm gonna get for that?" Kenzie frowns, but her eyes are still laughing.
I sigh. "Today is about forgetting and not caring about what anyone thinks."
"Okay, then let's do it!" Kenzie giggles and I inwardly breathe a sigh of relief. Thank God this is going well.
We go into the Disney store, and Kenzie immediately finds the onesies.
"Here's one." She holds up a Pluto onesie, complete with long floppy ears. I laugh and hold up a grey Bugs Bunny one.
"That's so big," Kenzie laughs. "It wouldn't even fit you."
"Excuse me?"
Kenzie collapses into a giggling fit. "I'm kidding."
"Here's the Winnie the Pooh ones," I say, tossing her an obnoxiously pink striped piglet onesie. "It's time for you to hold up your end of the bargain."
"YOU TOO." Kenzie finds the Eyore onesies on the rack and motions magnanimously to them.
We find ones our size and Kenzie pays for them. Then we find bathrooms to put them on in. I can't believe I agreed to this, but if it helps Kenzie have fun today, I'll do it.
Kenzie laughs out loud when I come out of the bathroom, and I feel my face turn red.
"Hey, you don't look too smart yourself," I counter, laughing.
"Oh yes I do," Kenzie giggles. "I look like a beautiful pink...um, PIG. A cute pig."
"I don't think that's a thing." I roll my eyes, but quickly correct myself. "I mean, I guess you look pretty cute."
"See? Now go out into the street and dance."
I cross my arms. "Not unless you do it too."
"This is silly. I don't know why I agreed to do this." Kenzie grumbles, as I pull her out onto the main path, crowded with people.
I nod profusely. "Exactly my thought, Ms. Mackenzie Ziegler. Waddaya say if we go return these onesies right now?"
"Nooo," Kenzie whines. "We can't turn back now. Okay, you first."
I jump into a goofy dance, trying not to think about what other people are thinking of me. I hear Kenzie's laughter, and some people around me shoot me odd looks.
"Okay, that's it. Your turn."
As if on cue, the loudspeakers around the park start playing one of Mackenzie's songs, Teamwork.
"Ew, why are they playing this song?" I hear someone grumble as they walk past me.
"Hey." I gently tug the girl's arm. "That's not nice."
She gives me a weird look and shrugs my hand off of her arm before walking away.
"What happened?" Kenzie asks, as I turn back to her.
"Oh, nothing. Do your Teamwork dance now."
She reluctantly obliges, and I can't help but smile at the energy in her dancing.
"You're such a good dancer." I comment, grinning as she finishes the dance.
Kenzie scoffs, but blushes. "I think-"
"Hey, Mackenzie, does doing that dance mean you're going back on tour?" Someone cuts in, pushing over to us. Everyone around us turns around and begins staring at Kenzie.
Kenzie pales immediately, and my heart sinks.
"Oh my gosh, it's Mackenzie Ziegler."
"HAHA. What is she doing here?"
Before I know what's going on, a ton of phones are aimed at us, surrounding us, and a bunch of people start shouting different things.
I grab Kenzie's hand and try to pull her out from the crowd. If you've seen the "10 Times Fans Were Rude to Celebrities" videos on Youtube, you can make this the 11th.
"Mackenzie, what do you have to say about those videos?" Someone shouts in our face as I try to shove our way out of the crowd.
Someone tries to throw something at Kenzie, and I catch it mid air and chuck it back at them.
"Hey! Stop that!" I yell, my face heating up. "Move over and respect Mackenzie's privacy!"
"Who even are you?"
"Oh, Mackenzie, is this your new fling?"
"What happened to Hayden?"
"It's okay, she never deserved him anyways."
"Who's this new boy though?"
I have to push someone roughly to get Kenzie out of the crowd. Grasping her hand tightly, I whisper loudly, "Now run!" We break into a run, and I lead her away from the crowd as quickly as we can.
When we finally get far enough away, we stop to catch our breaths. Kenzie puts her hands on her knees, breathing hard. Without warning, she collapses onto her knees, shaking. My heart stops.
"Kenz!" I fall next to her, grabbing her shoulders. "Hey, hey, look at me."
She lifts her head slowly so I can see her face, and it's contorted with laugher. She shakes with silent laugher, until she can't contain it anymore.
"Kenzie! You scared me! What is going on?" I demand indignantly, but I'm so relieved I can't really be mad at her.
"Can you imagine-" she attempts, in between laughs, "-the crowd-"
"...yes..." I prod her on.
"Seeing us-seeing us run in our onesies-" she stops to take a long breath before going on. "And you getting so mad? I bet they couldn't take you seriously with your long blue tail hanging down and me in my pink piglet outfit." She collapses into a laughing fit again.
"What?" I feel my cheeks turning red. "I made myself look like a fool."
"Yes, Johnny, that's the point." Kenzie laughs and hugs me tightly. "Thanks."
"For what?" I pull away, tilting my head to look her in the eyes.
"That was the best laugh I've had in a really long time."
I smile. "I'm glad."
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