Page 327 of Keeping 13

“I’m cold.” Shivering, I sidled closer to his big body that resembled a furnace 24/7.

“It’s like thirty degrees outside,” he noted, lifting himself up on his elbows to look at me. “You can’t be cold.”

“I am,” I argued, shivering. “I’m perished.”

Rolling onto his side, Johnny gave my body a slow appraisal from head to toe. “Ah, shite,” he grumbled, throwing a thigh over mine and dropping his head on my chest. “That’s my plan for the day gone out the window.”

“What?” I whispered, greedily welcoming his warmth by wrapping my arms around him and holding him close. “What’s wrong?”

He clamped a hand on my hip and exhaled a contented sigh. “I can’t be getting notions of dying when you’re looking like that.”

77

Goodbye for Now

Johnny

“I’ll call you every day,” I vowed as I stood in the middle of Dublin airport with my flight number being called over the intercom. “And I’ll send you a million texts.”

“But it won’t be the same.”

“I know, but we’ll make it work,” I promised.

“How?”

“We’ll figure it out, okay? But I need you to stop crying,” I begged. “Please.”

“I can’t help it. My heart is breaking here.”

“I’ll be home soon,” I coaxed. “It won’t be forever.”

“No—no! Just no. You can’t leave me, Johnny!”

“I have to go,” I groaned. “Come on, don’t make this harder than it has to be.”

“You promise this isn’t a forever goodbye?”

“I promise,” I urged, patting his back. “Now, come on, Gibs. You’re cutting off my air supply here.”

“Fine.” Sniffling, he released the death grip he had on my neck and took a step back, tears streaming down his cheeks.

“I can’t believe you’re actually crying.” I laughed, and then quickly sobered my features when that only made him cry harder. “It’s six weeks, lad.”

“They’re going to snap you up,” he sniffled, wiping his eyes. “And I’ll lose my best friend.”

“You couldn’t lose me if you wanted to, ya big eejit,” I grumbled, pulling him back in for a hug. “Now, pull yourself together,” I ordered, slapping his back. “Sean’s watching you.”

“Uh, yeah.” Clearing his throat, he took a step back and puffed his chest out. “It’s all good,” he choked out, forcing a smile that looked like he was in physical pain. “I’ll be fine,” he added, voice breaking on the last note. “Ah, fuck it, this is too hard. I’m going out to the car.” Sobbing, he high-fived me and mumbled, “Best of luck, buddy,” before striding off through the airport, wailing like a banshee.

“Jesus,” I muttered, rubbing my jaw, staring after my best friend. “The rest of you better not pull that shite on me.” I turned to stare at my family and gave my weeping mother a wary look. “I’ll be back before the end of summer.”

“See ya on the telly,” Tadhg said, fist-bumping me. “I don’t like rugby, but I figure since it’s you I’ll watch your games.”

“Wow.” I smirked. “How generous of you.”

He shrugged. “Meh, we’ll see how it goes. I might switch it off if I get bored.”

“Bye, Johnny,” Ollie said then, pushing Tadhg aside to hug my legs. “Don’t let the airplane crash and explode with you in it, okay?”

---