And Then He Cried (MxM) (Unedited/Editing) [first draft]

Blue House on the Rocks

     Erica sighs once more. "We didn't go over this? Well, I gave the keys to the new owners, and they should be here tomorrow to start moving in. I do have a spare set of keys, I don't know why, I guess in case we forgot anything, but, I'll mail it here once we get settled in."

     Jasper nods. "Okay, cool." He examines the ground.

     "Hon? It's going to be okay, trust me?" Erica rubs the back of his neck, the same way Phillip used to when he was sad. "Trust me, this will be good. Too many bad memories live here in this town and house." She examines the sky. "It's just too much."

     He smiles at her reassuringly. "I know. I know." He turns away from her and walks to the taxi. "Come on, we're gonna be late." He grins mischievously.

     "You asshole!" She marches forward as she laughs. "Get your suitcases in the trunk if you can, and then come sit in the back with me."

     Jasper stops putting the cases in the trunk. "Did Meli steal the front seat again?"

     Meliza pokes her head out of the shotgun window. "You bet I did! Now hurry up! I wanna arrive before too many icky people get there." She plops back in her seat.

     Jasper finishes, and takes his seat beside Erica. "Icky?" He faces Erica.

     "Little miss "germaphobe" over there, hates being near a lot of people, especially on days as hot as this." She waves her hand in front of her face, signaling the driver to turn on the AC.

     Jasper nods. "Duly noted." He removes his mini suitcase from his back.

     "What's in there?" Jasper looks up to see Meliza peering at the bag curiously. Her soft brown eyes, appearing in that moment, so much like Phillip's.

     "My journals, three cases of pens, two cases of mechanical pencils, a coloring book, two packages of assorted colored pencils, one package of sixty-four crayons, a few photos of us, some granola bars, and three bottles of water."

     Meliza gives him an odd look, and blinks twice. "Forget that I asked." She returns to the proper position as the taxi drives away.

     "How did our stuff get there again?" Meli picks at her peeling purple nail polish.

     "Well, sweetie, we had it flown there, and then your cousin, and his mother, who is also my best friend, helped sign for the items, and got it all moved in. I let them borrow a key to the house, so they could do this. They mailed the key back to me, and it arrived yesterday." Erica removes the spare keys from her pocket. "Now I'm going to send the new owners of our house, the spare keys I kept, when we arrive."

     Meli sighs. "So many words! But alright. Sounds like an interesting setup. How did you know to trust the cousin and his mom?"

     Erica huffs in a light manor. "Well, little miss "I don't trust anybody but myself", we don't have anything she, nor her son want. Besides, they have plenty of money to get stuff of their own."

    Meliza hums to herself. "Are they rich like us?"

     Jasper attempts to ignore the way the taxi driver perks at the word "rich."