Understanding - Repkyle

three

Song: Brooklyn Baby
by Lana Del Rey (slowed)
____________________________

Rogelio's POV

I wake up on the couch with a blanket draped over me. The room is dark, so I must have slept for a while. The note on the table beside my cold cup of hot chocolate is the only thing I can see clearly, so I open it up.

'Gone to get us some food!
Love, Kyle'

Hopefully he left earlier... even after the war the waste is unsafe after dark. He doesn't normally leave alone during the night unless he's trying to distract himself from something.

I get up slowly and trudge over to the window, peering out to the street outside. There's a couple of kids running around together, dodging their parents as they kick a football around. Eventually they go inside.

I watch as people begin to hang up curtains and wedge their doors shut, lighting candles that cast a soft glow out onto the path, their light dancing over the concrete walls and in through the window.

Deciding it's best to do the same, I take up a random towel from the chest of drawers in the corner of the room and tuck it into the window frame. When I turn on the lamp, our tiny flat is transformed into a warm home.

"Hi sleepy head."

Kyle says, slipping inside and shutting the door, sending flakes of paint to the ground just like very other time.

Our place is old and shabby. It was the only flat available in the area and we knew we couldn't spend any longer alone with Lonnie, so we took the first offer we could get. We could be living in worse conditions, though. And as corny as it sounds, as long as I have Kyle I don't mind where we stay. Yeah, forget I said that.

Kyle kicks the wooden wedge that was on the table under the door so that it can't be opened, and I take the bag of food from him. His eyes look tired and worn, but his smile looks happy and full of life.

"You know, I like it here. It's not as bad as you make it out to be."

He says, glancing at me. I pretend that I don't know what he's talking about, even though he obviously saw the way I was looking around.

'It's not the best.'

I say.

"If you said what I think you did, it doesn't have to be the best. Anywhere is better than the Fright Zone, okay?"

I roll my eyes and force myself to nod. I promised Kyle a year or two ago that we would get out of here one day, that I would find the perfect house for us to live in with zero distractions around and zero dangers nearby. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to do it just yet.

I usher for him to sit down and I sort the boiled vegetables from the bag he brought home out onto two plates. When I sit down, he nudges me with his elbow. How eyes still look tired.

"Thanks. You know... I was thinking on the way back,"

I nod for him to continue.

"The whole crystal thing? Even if something bad does happen... I think we'll be ok. We've already been through the worst, right?"

I swallow a mouthful of baby carrots and smile at him. Something's off.

'We'll be okay.'

I think he gets me. He turns to me and sets his plate down on the table so that all of his attention is on me. I do the same.