Enjoy! 

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Thank fucking god for air conditioning, because I swear I was about to die. Watching as all those rich ass kids left in their fancy sports cars where it was basically snowing inside, driving off to a tropical paradise neighborhood with mansions right in front of the beautiful water, just to lock themselves up in their chilled bedrooms, slightly hurt my lower-middle-class ass. 

Because here I was, throwing gasp-worthy insults at the key I had been hopelessly shoving into the door for about five minutes now, rethinking my life decisions. It was only after the third "fucking useless piece of shit," that I realized I'd been using the wrong key. Well great, now I was guilty of destroying that poor key's self-confidence and there was no way I could afford to get it therapy. 

Finally, after using the right key this time, I practically threw myself into the apartment that had yet to start feeling like home, groaning as loud as I could. I tossed my bag to some random corner in the hopes I wouldn't have to see it again, and then rested my sweaty face against the cold, laminate countertop of the kitchen island. 

It didn't take long before I heard Aleksia's muffled footsteps— either that, or I was about to get murdered. The sound only got louder until I heard the door of the fridge open as someone smacked my ass. "You look like shit. Want me to make you a smoothie?"

Definitely my sister. I unstuck my face from the counter before using my super-strength to lift myself up so I could sit on the counter and kick Aleksia in her back as she went out of her way to do something nice for me. The barstools right behind me were probably shaking their imaginary heads in disappointment. I felt a smile crawl up my face as I watched the blender demolish all the frozen blueberries and banana to delicious purple oblivion. "Who would've thought rich kids could be so damn exhausting," I sighed, unconsciously tapping along with the rhythm of the blender. "You'd think they could use all that money to buy a decent personality, but nooooo, rather spent it on another fucking McLaren, y'feel me?"

Alekisa laughed, showing off her perfectly pearly teeth and dimples. "Sounds like you've met some fun people already, hm?" She smacked my knee when I shot her a glare before grabbing a glass to pour the smoothie in. "Welcome to Palm Coast, cheers!"

"Lucky me," I gurgled, my mouth filled with smoothie and my hatred for living slowly disappearing as the cold blueberry magic slid down my throat. "Oh yeah, I was definitely just severely overheated and hungry. Rich kids are fine, they seemed to like me."

"Of course they do! You're a likable person, Rob," Aleskia said with a smile, leaning over to ruffle my hair. Before I could come up with something to dismiss her, she added, "Oh, have you called dad yet?"

I swallowed, mentally begging my eyes not to do the thing. But of course, they did do the thing anyway. The stupid thing where you forget what eye contact is and every single object within a ten-foot radius has to be thoroughly inspected or the world will end. You don't wanna know how many times I've saved the world before. I should get a medal for it, to be honest. I also did the thing where my simple silver necklace had magically turned into a life buoy and I had to hold on to it. 

"Robbie? You're doing the thing."

Oh why thank you, I wasn't aware yet. "Sorry," I mumbled, and then realized that I —according to the law of socialization— still had to answer Aleksia's question. "I haven't... Yet."

Aleksia sighed, and I felt a bucket of guilt explode in my chest for no fucking reason but I felt it and it sucked. She put on one of those therapist smiles. "You should call him. He misses you."

The guilt injected its sharp nails into my ribcage and suddenly I wanted to cry. But I didn't want to cry, I just wanted a reason to excuse my shitty behavior. Inevitably, I had no other way to control these explosive feelings than to mask them with anger. I scoffed. "You're one to talk. If you guys would pass each other on the street he wouldn't even recognize you 'cause the last time he's seen your face you were a fucking child." I immediately regretted my words the moment I released them into the universe, but it was too late to take them back. 

A look of hurt took over Aleksia's face as she pursed her lips. "You know that's not true, Robbie. I had no choice, and you out of all people should understand that."

"Don't give me that bullshit!" I lashed out in a sudden fucking explosion of whatever the fuck was going on in my head, tears jumping into my eyes despite the strong resistance in my system. I jumped off the counter for the mere sake of doing something with my trembling body and stormed off to the door, turning around only to finish what I started. "You always had a choice, and you know damn well that I didn't." 

Aleksia followed after me, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. "Ro—

I slammed the door shut before she could finish her sentence. I grabbed my phone and dialed my dad's number, sunk down the wall of the stairwell, and fucking sobbed my eyes out. 

My dad picked up after the third ring. "Robbie! I was hoping you'd call. Today was your first day, right? Please tell me all abo—"

"I f-fucked up, dad. God— I fu— fucked up s-so bad.." Everything was spinning and pounding in my head. The weight of the world lay on my chest, pressing down into my lungs until I couldn't breathe. 

"Hey," the line crackled, "take a breath, son. Tell me what happened."

It amazes me how the simple action of taking a breath can be so goddamn difficult until someone tells you to do so. I took a breath. But the tears didn't stop. I took another, shaky, breath. "I... I yelled at Lex. I feel s-so fucking shitty, d-dad I— I should've never left."

I could hear my dad sigh, and I imagined him running a hand through his graying hair. "We've been over this, Robbie. I need you to stop feeling guilty, okay? Go out there, meet people. Don't let this stuff get in your head, yeah?"

I sniffed and nodded, even if he couldn't see me. My face felt all gross and sticky, dried-up tears pulling at my skin. "Y-yeah, okay.." Even if it wasn't really okay, for now I could just pretend it was until I'd find another reason for it not to be okay. 

"Do me a favor and go take a walk outside, clear your head," he grumbled, waiting a few seconds before adding, "...I love you."

I smiled, the overwhelming amount of everything I felt slowly sinking down. "I will. Love you, too." I hung up and glanced at the ceiling as I took a deep breath. 

-

The sun burned into my neck, and I slowly began to regret not wearing a hat. Or sunscreen. But those thoughts were only in the back of my head because I was way too occupied taking all my surroundings in. My nose filled with salty air as I calculated the various bright tones of the mesmerizing sea, a color you could only replicate with the finest brands of blues and greens. And even then, there would be no way I could do those gorgeous waves justice. 

What I could do —because believe it or not I'm not entirely incompetent— was to sit my ass down on the little concrete edge that separated the walkway from the sand and sketch out the architecture of the infinite little shops and restaurants, hidden behind an occasional palm tree. Lucky for me, there weren't many people around, and the seagulls didn't seem to be too interested in me. Little bastards, screeching all over me but only because they want my food. I didn't even have any food!

And of course, not even like, fifteen minutes later, my attention span said 'fuck you' and 'you're gonna die of heatstroke.' Okay maybe that last part was just my brain sending me a final warning, but still. I decided to accept my sad defeat and turned around to watch the sea instead. It was so fucking pretty. The tourist juice in my veins told me I should take a picture, just in case, even though I could literally go here every day. Of course, like any sane person, I once again complied with the voices in my head and clambered into a standing position on the little wall, stretching my arms above my head to take a picture with my phone. 

What I didn't expect was for a seagull to come soaring towards my face at a dangerous speed, screaming at me as if this whole thing was my fault. Before I could think rationally (like I ever did that), I felt my sense of balance —as well as my soul— leave my body and I went tumbling over the edge. 

Everything spun around me for like a split-second before I heard a very familiar wheel-screeching sound and my body collided with another as the world came to a stop. In a way, dying might not be so bad... For the sake of social construct, I decided to open my eyes and jesus fucking christ— it was skater boy. 

"You alright?" he asked, glancing at me right as the sun hit his face, opening up some sort of angel portal to escort him back into Heaven or whatever the fuck. I mean, are you kidding me?! I'd never seen someone with hair this gorgeous, that was including Nyx. It had at least twenty different shades of blonde, and even little strokes of dirty brown if I looked close enough. It fell to his shoulders so effortlessly, only a few strands straying away towards his eyes. No infinite, smooth locks like in Disney films. Instead, as a result of what I assumed was the salty sea water, they looked rough, stringing together purposely imperfect and I hated how much I liked it. 

My consciousness smacked back into me when Seth waved a hand in my face, chuckling slightly when I fucking flinched. I want to die. I had been staring at him for at least a full minute like a goddamn pervert, and he was still being friendly. Fucking hell. I forced my eyes to blink back to focus and attempted an awkward smile. "Yeah, I'm uhm— I'm good. Thanks. Sorry, I tend to zone out a lot, haha.." Well hey, that was sort of the truth.

Seth laughed, and goddamn, even his laugh sounded nice. Natural, easy. He ran a hand through his perfect hair just for it to fall back into his eyes, but something about that action told me it was more of a habit than anything else. "You go to H.H.A, right? I saw you with Amberly this morning."

For some reason, the idea that he had actually seen me and I wasn't just delusional did wonders for my ego. "Ah, yeah, I remember that." Of course you do, you dumb fuck. That wasn't even ten hours ago. "That was quite the éntree. I mean, I could almost hear Green Day playing in the background."

With a snort, Seth shook his head lightly. "Throwing out the stereotypes already, huh?"

I narrowed my eyes at him, a grin stuck on my face. "I dare you to look up the last artist you listened to, then." This could end in two ways, one of them leaving me painfully embarrassed. The other option would make me look like a psychic. I should really not be entrusted in social settings.

Without a word, Seth scoffed and pulled out his phone. He squinted his eyes at the screen, momentarily blinded by the vicious sun. After a few long seconds, he lifted his eyes back to me, an expression on his face I couldn't quite read. "I don't think I like you. Apparently I've been listening to Green Day for the past two days."

I fucking knew it. I laughed at his faux annoyance, the smile stuck on my face when he grinned at me. "See? I'm a stereotype expert."

"And does the stereotype expert have a name?" 

My thoughts halted to a chaotic stop at the revelation I had never even introduced myself. Socializing my ass. "Oh, right!" Yes, right. TELL HIM YOUR NAME. "Uh, it's Robbie. Robbie Blue." I, as the idiot I am, stuck my hand out like it was a fucking business meeting. 

Seth, as the nice person he is, gladly shook my hand. "Nice to meet ya. I figure Jackson's already told you all about me? I was honestly expecting you to spit in my face or something," he rambled on with a somewhat forced chuckle, reaching for the back of his neck. His left wrist was hidden underneath a stack of cool bracelets, leathery and beady. I liked it. 

I felt a smile creep up my face. "That'd be an incredible dickmove. I mean, you did just save my life." I had decided to ignore the first part of his words, as Jackson had in fact, not at all told me about Seth. And then, because mentioning his hair would be incredibly weird, I decided to compliment something else. "I like your bracelets by the way, they look cool."

"Thanks," Seth said with a somewhat hesitant smile, subconsciously touching the bracelets with his other hand. Glancing around the promenade, he seemed to zone out for a second before focusing his eyes on me again. "So, tell me. How's Palm Coast?"

"Not too bad," I admitted, motioning at the promenade around us. "Still feel like an alien, though." Why the fuck did I say that?! Oh god, Seth must be so confused right now. "Uhm, I mean like, you know, an outsider. 'Cause I'm like, new, and—

"I get it," he chuckled, smiling at a passer-by before turning back to me. "I used to feel that way too, ya know. And I mean, people at Harmony seem to like you. I don't blame 'em."

The fuck was that supposed to mean?! "Aha, yeah, well, I'm not sure if I like them."

Seth barked out a laugh at that, one that gained a few side glances from the by-passers. "Touché. Well, I'm sure you'll meet some cool people. Just gotta.. look for the right ones."

I smiled. "Yeah.. Or almost fall to your death at the promenade, that seems to work too."

With the most genuine grin, Seth dropped his board to the ground, setting one foot on it. His checkered Vans peeked out from underneath his baggy jeans. "Glad to be of service," he said with a wink, bending down into what I assumed was a starting position, or something like that. "See ya around, Blue!" He soared off into the crowd before I could do or say anything. 

And there I stood, staring at the now-empty spot in front of me with my heart throbbing in my chest. Oh fuck no. The thing is, if this had been some cheesy rom-com, this would be the moment where everyone knows the main character is in love. But thank fuck this was real life, and those types of cliches only happen in books and cringy movies. This had nothing to do with any of that sort. This, my dear friends, was simply just the aftermath of raging anxiety. 

Raging anxiety I hadn't experienced in a while.

-

I felt like some sort of sad puppy with its tail between its legs as I shuffled toward the couch where Aleksia was seated, curled up in a blanket with the AC on blast and only the blue light of the TV illuminating the place. She glanced up at me, her dark brown hair tied up in a disastrous messy bun, clear-framed glasses balancing on her nose. "Sit," she instructed, patting the space beside her. 

Without a word, I obligated and sat down. Lilo and Stitch ran across the screen, laughing and stirring up childhood memories. A bittersweet feeling stringed around my chest. Aleksia lifted the blanket with her arm and scooched closer to pull me in it too. I took a shaky breath, blinking away the moisture in my eyes. "I'm sorry," I managed to croak out before burying my face in her shoulder, feeling the tears slide down my cheeks. 

Aleksia used her free hand to play with my hair, tracing the shapes of my curls. "You know, I never got the chance to finish my sentence, earlier today. I was going to tell you I got you that paint set you've been rambling about, the one with the pastel colors. It's in your room."

I jerked my head up, staring at her with wide eyes. "What?! That shit is like, super expensive!"

"See it as a welcome gift, 'kay?" She smiled. "I know everything's been a lot for you, lately. Painting's what brings you back to now, it keeps you grounded. Now shut up and watch the movie."

No matter where, when, or how I was, I knew that I'd always have Aleksia. She had all the freedom in the world, could go wherever she wanted. And yet still, she stayed. She stayed so I wouldn't be left behind.

-

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Sorry for the short chapter:( Still, I hope you enjoyed<3 If you did, it would make me super happy if you could leave a vote and/or comment!!

More about Robbie's life is revealed, what are your thoughts? And how do you feel about Seth, do you think the people at HHA are right to dislike him?

As always, stay hydrated and cya next time!! <3