Loak's body felt weak from all the traveling him and his family has done, the entire time being filled with either silence or unnecessary arguments. He wish he was home but home was far gone. The moment they set off, leaving their home behind there's been this feeling of empty in his heart. He could tell his brother can feel it, with the slight glances at him here and there but he pretended not to notice.
"I'm tired." Tuk cried to her mom, Neytiri petting her hair and giving her a kiss on the forehead. "We all are. We're almost there." The sun had set and gone up and the scorching sun and humidity wasn't helping anyone's feeling of tiredness. "We're close." Jake said to all of them as miles of bright blue water stretched all around them.
-
As their feet touched the warm white sand after landing at Awa'atlu, laok immediately felt unwelcomed and uncomfortable. They all quickly became surrounded yet one person stood out to him, a tall young Metkayina boy standing watching from afar. They made quick eye contact before the boy left. Then his attention got averred to a beautiful Metkayina girl. "Hey." Loak said awkwardly at her and felt his heart race as she smiled at him and stood next to her father.
He stood back as his father explained as to why they were there, his eyes not leaving the girl he had just met, catching a stray eye brown raise from his brother. He blinked quickly and looked away from her, playing with his fingers nervously. He zoned out most of the conversation and after his dad finished talking, not noticing as the beautiful girl walking up to him as the conversation finished.
"I'm Tsireya." Loak jumped a little bit, not expecting her to come up to him. "Loak.." He introduced himself back. "I hope we get along." She smiled at him and he felt his heart skip a beat. "Yeah.. me too."
-
"I had hoped we would have gotten along for a lot longer than we had, Loak." Tsireya looked at Loak in the eye, heartbreak in it. "What do you mean?" He asked in confusion, him and Tsireya have been together for almost a year now. "You're... changing. I'm changing. We are not meant for one another. I'm sorry Loak." Before he could answer she walked away, leaving him in shock and confusion.
"She's been thinking about doing that for a while, don't tell her I told you though." Loak turned around quickly to find Morris, Tsireyas brother who was more introverted than the other two. "What?" Morris walked up to him and handed laok his sisters diary. "You'll have to hurry with it." Loak sat down and started reading. So many secrets she kept from loak starting months ago. Soon enough the tears started flowing out. He felt a warm hand on his back, running it up and down in a comforting way.
"But why?" He cried out and threw himself at Morris, hugging him tightly. "Why?" His voice broke as he asked once more. Morris wrapped his arms around Loak tighter and they held onto each other tightly. "Im not sure." Morris responded, petting his hair and comforting as much as he could.
Once his cries calmed down he pulled away and wiped his face. "Sorry." Loak apologized weakly, not expecting himself to breakdown into someone he wasn't too familiar with. "It's okay, you don't have to apologize for your feelings." Morris smiled at him and even though it was so similar to Tsireya's it was so different at the same time. As they locked eyes and silence took over them, Loak felt something unexpected. That empty feeling in his heart he's felt for a while now was slowly starting to feel full.
"I'd recommend staying away from her for a little bit, she's a sweet girl but she'll try to get under your skin to get a reaction out of you. Trust me I would know." Morris said in a casual yet serious tone as he walked Loak to his house. "What if we simply run into each other?" Loak asked, defeated. "Don't worry, I'll be next to you." Morris responded and nodded at him. "I think you and I have a lot in common than you'd think." Loak blinked at him and nodded back. "Have a good night." Loak smiled slightly. "Yeah, have a good night." He watched as Morris swiftly jumped into the water and swam away, a beautiful frog like fish following closely after him.
