A long talk and 25 minutes later, Reki walked out, his eyes puffy from crying and a small smile was resting on his face. Joe came out right behind him.
Reki sat down next to Langa, who looked over to him worriedly, "you okay?" Langa asked.
Reki nodded shortly, "I'm okay." You could tell he had been crying, but he was telling the truth. It felt good to share, like a huge weight was lighter on his shoulders, someone was helping carry it.
Joe reached over and squeezed Cherry's hand, "this kid." He mumbled. Cherry looked at him seriously, "is he okay?" He whispered. Joe glanced over at him, "he's got a rough family. I'll explain more later."
Langa and Reki were talking away, deep in conversation, giggling. A hiccup from Reki slipped in every once in a while.
After a few more minutes of quiet chatter and Roblox playing their food was served.
Cherry made a small complaint about the soup trying to spark a friendly argument with Joe, though he seemed to be enjoying it. Joe put his hand on Cherry's shoulder as he took a gulp of the soup, "let's not argue right now." He glanced at Reki quickly, a look of understand flashed onto Cherry's face before they both went to quietly eating their soup.
Reki looked over at them, "weren't they gonna order shark?" He asked while simultaneously giggling. Langa shrugged, laughing at their shenanigans.
After a few more minutes Langa got up, pulling Reki behind him. They ran off laughing. Cherry and Joe looked at eachother, cracking a grin, both of them thinking back to their highschool days. They knew exactly what they were about to do.
Langa pulled Reki behind the restaurant, right onto the beach. They ran down to the shore, kicking water and sand at eachother. Langa pulled him along to a sandy spot tucked in between two buildings.
Reki pushed their faces together and kissed Langa. The stayed there for a while, lips joined passionately with a few breaks for breath.
"You taste like ranch salad dressing." Reki commented. Langa tapped him on the top of the head, laughing, "you're the one who chose to make out with me!" Reki smiled. Langa slumped over, leaning his head on Reki's shoulder, "why are you so much shorter than me" langa whined. Reki kicked him playfully, "oh sorry Mr. Tall over here fell in love with me."
Langa scowled at him jokingly and Reki laughed. Langa could stare at his happy face all day, he pulled him into a deep kiss. Reki's eyes went wide before he closed them again, leaning into Langa.
Langa snaked his hand around Reki's head, running his hands through his greasy hair. Reki smiled in the kiss, grabbing Langa's shirt before pulling away for air.
Reki hugged Langa, keeping him close as the both pulled in deep breaths, "I love you. Thank you for being here." He said quietly. Langa squeezed him from his shoulders, lifting him off the ground a little "of course. I love you too."
Reki smiled and pulled him out of the little crevice, running back into the restaurant through the sand to shovel down the last of their food.
Cherry glanced over at the two boys, who were nearly choking on their food as they tried not to laugh. Both the men could see the relief and comfort that had settled into the redhead's demeanor.
Langa felt his phone buzz in his pocket and pulled it out. It was a message from Miya.
How was your 20 minutes making out with Reki?
The text read. Langa looked over at Shadow and Miya, a small and sarcastic scowl lining his features. The two were waiting for his reaction and immediately started laughing their asses' off when he looked over. Reki looked confused, leaning into Langa's lap to read the text, a deep blush immediately spreading across his face.
Langa just laughed lightly, planting a small kiss on his forhead. Reki looked up and smiled at him, "I'm sleepy." Reki said as he started to yawn. Miya yawned from across the table.
"I guess we should head back to the hotel pretty soon. I have sand in my hair." Cherry said bitterly. Langa agreed, "I have sand in my hair as well." He said as he itched his head a bit, feeling the grains of sand stuck in his nails afterwards.
They paid and left the restaurant. Reki was quiet, but a nice quiet. Langa and his social timers had started to run out, they were both exhausted and enjoyed the comfortable silence; well, mostly silence. Joe and Cherry bickering over the best flavor of salt water taffy lined with the music and soft chatter from the boardwalk was a new comfort for the both of them.
"Yeah, so I could only get us 2 hotel rooms, but they have connecting doors so." Joe said, ending his sentence after the so.
Shadow hopped on a bed, "I call this one."
"Okay adults in one room not adults in the other." Miya said and opened the door to the other room. Reki and Langa shrugged, following behind.
Langa went to shower, Reki turned on the TV, and Miya played a game on Roblox. Probably cat roleplay v3, but you can never be too sure.
By the time Langa came out of the shower, Miya was asleep and Reki was barely half awake, waiting for the shower.
Reki was in and out really quickly, he was exhausted and just wanted to sleep. He stepped out of the bathroom, turning off the light and closing the door behind him before sprinting across the dark room and hopping onto the bed with Langa.
Langa hugged him, before letting him go and burying himself under the covers. Reki did the same, there was space in between them. They hooked hands before falling asleep.
Hours later Reki jerked awake, cought in the midst of a turbulent nightmare. He felt panic rising in his chest as he struggled to keep a steady breath, tears were steadily falling down his cheeks. Langa sat up slowly, "what happened?" He whispered cluelessly, still extremely asleep.
Reki stayed silent, hiccuping as his crying got worse and his breathing spiraled out of control.
"Woah woah shhh, you're okay." Langa said, not sure how to help. Langa wrapped his arms around Reki, who immediately tensed, unaccepting of the hug.
"Can I hug you?" Langa asked, realizing he should have asked before he acted. Reki shook his head, his whole body shaking.
"Can I get Joe and Cherry?" He asked. Reki just shrugged, becoming more unresponsive by the minute, cought in a hurricane of realistic flashbacks and overbearing waves of memories and worries.
A few moments later Joe walked in the room, kneeling next to the red haired boy, Cherry turned a lamp on next to him.
Miya shuffled awake, "huh?" He said quietly, his eyes widening as he saw the situation. He was curious, leaning over to see what was going on, realizing it was serious when he saw Reki hunched over himself, his back rising and falling unevenly.
"Reki. Nod if you can hear me." Joe said softly. Reki nodded slowly.
"Okay good, you're gonna be okay. Can I touch you?" Joe asked; Reki shrugged uncomfortably.
"Okay, I won't touch you. Can you hold out your hand like I am?" Joe said, holding his hand out in front of him, his fingers spread out. Reki liftef his puffy face up slowly, tears dripping onto the white hotel comforter. He copied Joe.
Joe started to trace his hands over his fingers, breathing in while going up his fingers, and out when going down. Reki did the same, and after a few minutes, the situation had de-escalated.
Miya had fallen back asleep and Joe was slowly talking Reki through a grounding technique. Langa was sitting next to him.
"You feelin a bit better now kid?" Joe asked. Reki nodded slowly, "I think so."
But the stress of the situation still remained, he couldn't fall back asleep. He felt a sense of unease in the dimly lit room.
Langa turned to him as the door clicked closed behind Joe. "You doing okay?" Langa asked carefully, compassion flowing with the end of his question.
Reki shrugged uncomfortably, "I dunno." Langa frowned, Reki watched uneasily as the other boy got out of bed and grabbed their boards from across the room, "put on your shoes, let's go."
Reki cracked a grin, the dry skin on his lips pulling as the sides of his mouth perked up. They both pulled their shoes on and slipped out of the hotel room, running down to the elevator and waiting for the bottom floor.
Once the elevator doors started to open they burst out, hopping onto their skateboards and zooming through the automatic opening doors.
Reki pulled ahead of Langa, jumping over a rock on the road. Langa hovered close behind, admiring the way Reki skated. He wanted to be just like him someday.
They skated down to the beach, grabbing their boards and keeping them above the sand, only setting them down so they could kiss with their feet in the water, the high tide slowly lapping at their feet, their toes sinking in the wet sand.
Reki felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He slowly pulled away from the kiss, leaving Langa confused.
He reached in his pocket and stared at his sandy home screen.
Mom and dad are yelling so much
I can't do this by myself
I'm scared
Langa watched as Reki's face turned from relaxed, to pure anxiety as he dialed a number, his phone buzzing until the person on the other line picked up.
He heald the phone up to his ear, Langa could hear yelling stringing from his sandy phone speakers.
"Reki it's --- loud. It's so --oud"
"It's gonna be okay, try and stay calm. Stay calm. The signal is really bad." Reki said hurriedly.
"I can't dad keeps hitting her. He won't stop."
"Okay. You're gonna be okay, everything is going to be okay. Do you know if mom is-" reki paused uneasily, "awake? Or did she pass out."
He could hear a sob on the other line.
"I don't know. --- scared"
"I'm right here, don't be scared. I'm gonna be back tommorow. It's gonna be okay." He said anxiously. He heard a loud noise followed by screams.
"Sis!?" He yelled into the phone, standing up from his spot, "What happened are you guys okay-"
A chill went up his spine as a different voice came over the phone, deep and scruffy.
"Who is this." The voice said threateningly. A chill ran down Reki's spine, "it's Reki! Your son! What are you doing? Are my sister's oka-"
The line went dead and the call ended. Reki's hand found its way over his mouth as he hit the redial button, his call immediatly being declined. He kept hitting it, his hair sticking to his sweaty forhead and hot tears welling up in his eyes.
His breath cought as Langa pulled him into a tight hug, "it's gonna be okay. It's gonna work out fine. We are gonna go back tommorow okay? They are gonna be fine." Langa comforted him, but he wasn't so sure about it.
Reki heald tightly to Langa's t-shirt, tears leaving a dark patch on his shoulder.
Reki's phone buzzed again, he immediatly grabbed it and picked up the phone.
"R---i come h--- me it hurts so b---d" the line was cutting out, but Reki could make out the words.
"What did he do? You're gonna be okay, is he gone now?" Reki asked, anxiety and anger carefully threaded in his comforting tone.
"He's gone but he kept h---ting me w---th --is ----t" the connection was terrible on both ends, "what did he hit you with?" Reki asked, trying not to let himself sound scared. He was terrified.
"It's ble--ding it stings and b--rns and aches on my back." His older younger sister voiced through sobs. "Did he hit you with his belt?" Reki asked, horrified that they were now having to go through this as well.
"Hello? Are you there?" His sister sounded scared.
"I'm here! Can you hear me?" Reki nearly yelled into the phone.
"Y-u're -b--reak--ng u-p"
"Sis?"
The line went dead with an error: cell signal lost.
He immediatly got up grabbing his board, "we need to go back to the hotel" langa nodded seriously, "should we tell Cherry and Joe?"
"It's the middle of the night. I don't wanna wake them up... Again." Reki said as they started to skate back to their hotel, slower as it was mostly uphill.
The second he got cell reception his phone began to buzz with another call.
He picked it up, gasping for breath as he paused at the top of a hill, "hello?" He asked, anxiety forcing it's way through his words.
"Oh my lord reki. You picked up" his sister said. You could hear the relief in her voice.
"Are you okay?" He asked. The voice on the other side of the line was unsteady, "I'll be okay until you get back.." she replied.
"Are the twins okay?" He asked. "the twins are fine."
"Is.... Is mom okay?" Reki asked. "I-....... I don't know. I'm sorry." His sister answered.
"It's okay. Just stay safe. Did he leave?" He asked. "He left."
"Okay. I love you. Be careful, call me if you need anything or don't want to be alone okay?" Reki said. He heard his sister take a deep, unsteady breath, "okay. I love you too. Come home soon."
She hung up the phone and Reki's arm dropped, his hand falling to his side while he heald his phone, the screen rested on his black dry-wick basketball shorts.
"My god.." Reki said, staring at his feet. Langa pulled him into a tight hug, Reki leaned into him as the blue haired boy heald the back of his head and rubbed his back.
Langa felt the other boy shaking in his arms as he began to sob. They both sank to the pavement Reki collapsed in worried sobbing.
"We gotta get back to the hotel." Langa said quietly. Reki nodded, wiping his nose "yeah. We should."
They took off in silence and made it back to their hotel, taking the elevator up to their room silently. Langa could tell anxiety was dragging Reki by his heels. He could tell how much he wanted to call again, longing to be there for his sister's. He hated himself for leaving them alone.
He could tell he was feeling like shit and he didn't know how to help.
Langa woke up the next morning to the sound of the shower running and an chattering in the room nextdoor. He was the last to wake up, he wasn't entirely sure Reki ever fell asleep.
He sat up in bed, running his hands through his hair. Joe peeked his head in the room and came over after seeing he was awake.
"Langa what happened last night after we went back to sleep, Reki looks terrible. Hes in the shower right now." Joe asked worriedly.
"His sister.." he cleared his throat, "his sister called last night... I think she got hurt." Langa said. Joe nodded slowly, "because of his parents..?"
Langa nodded, "because of his dad.."
Joe nodded, "I think we need to get someone involved, this is getting too far to deal with my ourselves."
Langa looked up, seeing Reki standing outside the bathroom door.
"Reki i-" Langa began, Joe turned around. "bud.." he said. Reki raised his shoulders before dropping them, saying nothing. He continued to gather his things and packed his suitcase.
"Let's just go to breakfast." Reki mumbled, Joe and Langa shared a concerned glance.
Reki didn't eat anything for breakfast. His stomach was upset and he felt sick at the thought of his sister's being hurt. He felt sick at the thought of going home. He felt he couldn't stomach more than little sips of water.
It wasn't long before they left the hotel and got on the cruise back home. Reki stuck close to Langa, trying to ignore Cherry and Joe's worry-filled whispering.
The wandered around the cruise, Langa desperately trying to cheer up Reki, but nothing was working. After a while of trying Langa sat them both down on a bench. Reki leaned his head on Langa's shoulder, dozing off. Langa pulled Reki onto his lap. Reki adjusted himself slightly, still half awake, and rested his head on the blue haired boy's shoulder.
"I ruined the last day. I'm sorry." Reki mumbled. Langa shook his head and pulled him off to look him in the eyes, "you did not ruin the last day. I know you aren't feeling well and you have every right to. I'm glad you are here with me." Langa said.
"She isn't answering my texts." Reki said quietly. Langa tensed, "we'll be home soon. We are gonna figure it out."
Reki just nodded slowly, "I guess."
"I guess so."