Page 19 of Lost in the Current of You

“So, just talking huh?” Her voice was just a mere whisper.

“What do you mean?” I whispered back.

“You and Reece last night.”

“Ah. Then yes, just talking.”

“What did you guys talk about that made you look so…” She waved her hand in the air like she was trying to grasp the words. “… resigned and drained this morning.”

“I don’t think I was resigned.”

“But you looked it.”

I paused at that because I guess she was right. I realised a lot about how similar Reece and I were and I wasn’t sure that was a good thing. How it seemed like he would open up to me but he shut himself off and I knew he would do it again and again. And I had been so quick to want to fix him. To help him. To be there for him.

But I didn’t tell Avery that. I didn’t even know how to, except for how I had already told them.

“I guess with Reece being upset, I took a lot of that on and I didn’t know what to do to help him because I didn’t know what was going on. I just held his hand and that was that.”

She smiled and held out her hand for me to grab. “I get that. That little shit over there cried to me for almost an hour straight a few weeks ago and I didn’t know what to do or why he was upset. And then he wiped his tears and stood up and said ‘I’m good now’.” She laughed and the face mask she wore cracked. Her eyes widened immediately after as she sobered and turned her head. “Shit. Don’t tell him I said that. He told me to keep it between us. I think he was a little embarrassed.”

I zipped my lips, although it hurt a little that he would keep something from me like that. But I guessed it was the same way with me talking to Avery then.

Alex startled himself out of his sleep as he leaned up on his elbows.

“How long was I out?” His voice was groggy with sleep.

“About ten minutes,” Avery responded.

“Cool. Ten more minutes.” And then he laid back down and went back to sleep while Avery and I snickered.

It was the perfect day and I felt like I was just floating on air. I almost collapsed in bed when we arrived back that evening. But with all that sleep Alex had, it just energized him and he did not let us even step near the bed, only hauled us into the bathroom to get ready for the night.

And when we walked through the streets on night five of our week, I threaded my arms through theirs and dropped my head on Avery’s. “Thank you for today. It was the absolute best.”

Alex hummed in agreement. “The best.”

7

On our last day, we spent the whole day on the water, balancing and gliding on paddleboards. I was aware my skin would be raw by the time the sun set, but I didn’t care about those chances. I was absorbed in the last moments of freedom I had.

That freedom washed over me like a calm breeze, with salt in the air and the lapping water against my ankles. I could feel my muscles loosen with every deep breath of the ocean air and the tightness in my chest loosening with every touch of cool water. It was a moment where the realisation that I was just one in a billion people living in this world sank into my bones, and here I was, living in the moment, and I was happy. So happy.

I reopened my eyes with my head tilted back towards the sky. A smile pulled at my lips as I continued to soak up the sun no matter how much it started to sting my skin.

“Kody? You good?” I looked over to Reece as he paddled up next to me with an amused smile on his face.

It had been two nights since he disappeared on us. And like it was merely a dream, he had been back to his old self the next day, chipper as can be and not a single mention of it.

Like the night before, when it was an all-eighties disco, he was singing obnoxiously loud to ABBA songs and dancing without a care in the world. It was when Dancing Queen came on that he pointed to me and dragged me to dance with him while singing the lyrics to me with my face in his hands. He dipped me and the widest smile had stretched across our faces while his arm held me tight around my waist. Not a single hint of sadness glinted in his gaze, making me wonder how he could slip that mask on so easily.

I swallowed my thoughts down. “Yeah, I’m good. Why?”

He pointed with his paddle towards our group who had strayed a fair distance away from us. I mumbled a “shit” and started paddling to catch up, but was careful not to throw myself off the board.

Reece chuckled to himself as he paddled along next to me. “I mean, I almost didn’t want to disturb you. You looked very content.”

I chuckled. “I’m just soaking up our last moments here.”

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