HIP #2: Summer Of Love

Chapter 24

The door creaked as I opened it and I think I have already memorized the wooden floor and how it makes a squeaking sound when I step on them after the two weeks that I've been here. Apparently, I can say that this is the worst room in this resort. When the sunlight hits my sun, I ran to Peter who was leaning on the wall beside his door. Wearing a plain white shirt, and gray jeans, he ran his fingers through his blonde-messy hair.

I glanced at him while still fixing the sides of my shirt. "What's up?" He asked and I leaned on the wall beside him. He has his arms crossed together and feet on top of each other. "I'm fine. What about you?" He pressed his red-shiny lips together and kept smiling at me brighter than the sunlight.

"I'm good too. Far from worse, far from perfect." I giggled. It wasn't a joke but his sarcasm can be placed everywhere and whenever he wants to.

"I'm pretty bored."

"Me too."

"Got any fun thing to do?"

I froze to think about his answer. As far as I can remember, swimming and playing sports are the only fun things we used to do here. But back then, Britney used to bring some of her card games and boards. We play them most of the time when we're lonely and got nothing else to do. I still can picture the day when we played the worst game ever. It was The Coffee Roll. On that night, I lost and I had no choice but to drink all the five cups of pure coffee without any sugar or creamer. Because of that, I couldn't sleep for three straight days. Exaggerated to think about but it was real. Because I am a very sensitive person especially when it comes to coffee. I will never ever play that game again or anything that involves coffee.

"I don't know. Britney isn't here so we don't have any board games or cards to play." I responded after a long minute of thinking. "Maybe we can do something else? Got to think about it first." I nodded.

He rubbed his chin while watching the people pass by. "What about exploring this place?" We're like kids who are thinking of what we should play; we're bored and have a lot of free time to entertain ourselves. "Haven't we explored this place several times before?" I laughed

"Well, yeah... we have. But nothing's wrong with doing the same thing again, right? Unless it's something wrong." I agree. "Ok." Was the only word I said back to him and swung my hands through the air slightly. I turned around and began walking down the stairs. Here we go again. I felt his presence behind me and he took the same footsteps I did.

I turned to the other way and we passed by the sports court. We are now facing the tallest building among all the other buildings in this resort. It's three times taller than that building where our room is located. This is where our used to be rooms are placed so I know every inch and every corner of this building. "Want to play in there?" I looked behind me and found Peter pointing his finger at the playground. That's where we play like kids before. I remember just last year, when we were playing in the swing, one of the kids came to us and asked for a seat.

Shane gave his seat to the kid and all the children immediately ran to us and stole our spots. That was pretty traumatic and hilarious. I bet he still remembers that day like I do. It wasn't a long time ago yet. "Sure," I followed in his footsteps as we came to the sandy playground.

It's surrounded by tall trees keeping the temperature tropical; not hot, not cold but just right. And they also block the sunlight. The metaled swing creaked when I sat on it and Peter took the other one beside me. The way it makes sounds shows how old this place is.

"Do you remember what happened last year?" Just as I was thinking about that should be forgotten memory, there he went and reminded it.

"How can I forget that? Little did we know they were a group of kids trying to get our seats." I couldn't help but laugh. At least they were kids because if they were our age, I could have punched them one by one. His cold and deep-big voice made its way through the wind while he giggled.

I held the swing back and forth and it lifted me. When I was a kid, this is my favorite part of the playground. When we visit, I would stay in the swing for hours and won't even play with the other obstacles. I won't forget how many times I fell because of too much force and too much motion.

After the silence that took place between us, "what's your favorite place on earth? Entirely." I asked. I never asked him a question regarding favorites except when we talked about Taylor Swift in the expensive restaurant. This question is a different talk.

"The bathroom." I frowned. Out of all places, the bathroom? Seriously? Did he even hear my question right? How can he love the bathroom more than any other place? "Why?" I am trying to hide my laughter. I don't want to laugh because that's his choice but I'm so confused that he chose the least place I love to go to. He took a deep breath in and smiled.

"I already have told you a lot about what my dad has been doing to me. When he hits me, at first, back then, I used to cry a lot because I was not used to it yet. And when my dad sees me cry, he hits me more. One time when I couldn't help my tears because of all the bruises I got from him, I ran to the bathroom. It's the only place in our house that has a lock. My room has none nor does his and mom. And whenever I want to run away from him, I would hide in there where he can't open the lock. It's my only safe place."

All of a sudden, my laughter held itself back. As I said, held itself back. I searched for it, but it wasn't there anymore.