Elyar and I

Chapter 23 - The Truth

Nikki POV

I still couldn't believe that Zero dug Stanley's hole for him. I have to admit though, for once, I was jealous of Stanley. I know, not exactly what you'd expect from a girl who thinks he's the most annoying person in the tent.

Ziggy and Squid waited for Richie and I, again.

"You know, you don't have to keep waiting for us. We can find our way back by ourselves now." I said as I launched myself out of my hole.

"Oh, really?" Squid said.

"It's not that hard. All you have to do is go towards the buildings and the two trees." I responded.

"We don't care if you know your way back. This is an all boys detention centre. And you guys are 2/3 girls here." Ziggy replied. Richie rolled her eyes and picked up her shovel.

As we daudled back to camp, letting time escape us, Richie and Squid walked infront and Ziggy walked behind with me. I watched as they playfully punched eachother and played slapsies. They would make a really cute couple. But, you know what is weird though. I can always play the little matchmaker when it comes to other people, but when it comes to me and other people, it's like i'm the one needing the advice.

"You wanna know why we wait for you?" Ziggy aid after a minute of comfortable silence.

"I kind of think I know the answer to that question without you telling me." I retorted.

"Oh, yeah. And why's that?"

"The same reason Squid waits for Richie. The same reason you kissed me that day in the hole." Ziggy smiled down at me as I watched Squid and Richie continue with their childish games.

I tried to catch up to Richie and Squid, but a hand grabbed my hand and our fingers intertwined.

"Let them have their moment." I pulled away from Ziggy and walked over to Richie and Squid as Squid lifted Richie up onto his back. She let out a small giggle as the sand blew in her face.

"Hey, Feists." Ziggy shouted. "C'mere."

"What?" I shouted as I turned around and walked closer to Ziggy.

"I wanna tell you something." He whispered. We were now stood, looking into eachothers eyes and we had stopped walking. Ziggy was probably waiting until we were a suitable distance away from Squid and Richie so they didn't hear whatever he was going to say.

"Shoot."

"Well, you know how you told me about your past and how you and your brother got in here? I want to return the favour."

"You don't have to you know. But I won't judge."

Ziggy looked to the ground and I grabbed his hand. "Okay. When I was little, I had two brothers. One called Luke - he was a little bit younger than me. But only by a year. And there was Leo, he was the oldest by about two years. When I was 14, Leo came home one day and he said that he wanted to join the army. You know, fight for the country and shit. So he... how would you say it? He 'followed his dream' and became a soldier in the army. I didn't want him to go as Luke and I didn't really get along and my mom wasn't really around and my dad left when I was 5. So he was kind of like a dad to me. I guess he had to grow up pretty fast in order to take care of Luke and I. But I just didn't want him to leave. We drove to the airport with him. Like, all of us. And he said to me, 'I will be home for christmas. Don't you worry, I will always be here no matter what. Now I want you to be good for mom.' And by this point, I could feel the tears welling up inside of me." Ziggy looked up to see if I was listening. I was listening with all of my heart. Listening was one of the useful things I was actually good at. "Before he left to get on the plane, we all got a picture with him and he asked me to take care of Luke for him. Although, I didn't really like Luke, I was willing to suck it up until he came home. They called out his flight number and he left us to get on the plane. I couldn't stop the tears from freefalling down my face now. I wasn't used to feeling so worried for someone elses life. Mom dropped us off at home, then she went to her friends. Probably to go drinking like she always did when she was upset or angry. And the first thing Luke and I did, was argue. And since Leo wasn't here to stop me. I ended up punching him and popping his lip. A few months later, we got a letter from the army saying that Leo was missing. I didn't know how to deal with it. The news hit me pretty hard. Mom didn't really seem that bothered as she was still drunk when we got the letter and Luke was crying. For the first time in what seemed like forever, I hugged him and he hugged me. We had both lost one of the most important people in our lives. And he still hasn't been found. The army say that they are looking everywhere for him, but they doubt that he's still alive. After about a week of Leo being missing, I got into fire and it was almost like I was obsessed with it. One day, I was in the school yard and I was playing with my lighter and I set a peice of styrofoam on fire. Thinking that it would die down, I put my jumper over it, but that just made it worse and my jumper set on fire too. The flames got out of control and in the end, I ended up burning down one of the portables."

When I knew that Ziggy had finished his story, I bombarded him with a hug and he hugged me back.

"Don't worry, they will find him and everything is going to be okay." I smiled as i buried my head into his chest. I could have stood there for ages. But it was too hot and I could feel the sun scolding my arms. Ziggy pulled away from the hug and smiled down at me again. I wasn't really good at the whole re-assuring thing. But I think I did pretty well. He didn't seem as worried any more. I looked up to see that Squid and Richie weren't in our sight any more. They must have gone back to the tent. Ziggy and I slowly walked back to the tent, in a deep conversation about how we thought that it was stupid that we had to come out and dig a hole every single day until we got to leave this shitty place. I felt like Ziggy was one of the few people that I could open up to since he told me how he got here and everything.

We finally got back to the tent and Richie was there. Alone.

"Hey, Nikki. Can I talk to you?" Richie asked in a serious tone. Did Squid say something to her?

"Sure." Ziggy must have taken this as his cue to leave and he headed out of the tent.

"You will not believe what's just happened!" Richie said suddenly all excited.

"Wh..." I didn't even get to finish my word before I was interrupted.

"Squid's just kissed me!" My eyes got wider as I heard those four words. I knew that he would have kissed her sooner or later, but it still came as a shock to me.

Richie POV

Squid and I were walking a little in front of Nikki and Zigzag and we were bored. Without warning, Squid playfully punched my arm and smiled.

"Hey!" I said as I punched him back. Squid rubbed his arm where I had punched him.

"Oh, sorry. Did I hurt you?" I said in a mocking tone.

"You wanna play slapsies?" He asked, changing the subject.

"Sure." I asked as we both got our hands ready. "You better be ready to lose!" After about five minutes of slapsies, Squid won. And I pretended to be in a huff with him.

"So, about Nikki last night." He asked.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry. She's just a little short tempered, thats all." I said as I let out a yawn.

"You tired?" He asked as he looked at me. I could barely see his face because of all of the dust that was covering it. His bandana was a sort of grey-ish colour now as it was obviously quite old and his cap was covered in dust off digging all day. I nodded. "You want a piggy-back?" As soon as i heard the word 'piggy-back' my face lit up. I loved piggy-backs. They were amazing. "I'll take that as a yes then" He smiled at me with his pearly-whites as you might call them. I jumped onto his back and he carried me back to camp.

When we got back into the tent, Squid put me down on my cot and sat next to me.

"I've got something to tell you, Richie." Squid looked down at his feet.

"What is it?" I replied.

"Well, erm... I like you a lot, Richie. And not just like as a friend. I love you." I smiled at those last words. The words I hadn't heard in what seemed like a lifetime. 'I love you.' I felt my cheeks getting hotter as he smiled back at me. Probably waiting for me to say something. Squid got up to leave.

"Wait! I, um... I think I love you too." I admitted. Squid smiled at me and sat back down. A rush of heat started in my chest and spread throughout my body, reaching every last limb. I could feel his eyes watching my every move from the slight twitch of my lip, to the way my shoulders rose and fell as I breathed. He leaned forward slowly, his hand brushing a hair out of my face and in an instant, his lips were on mine. They were rough and smooth. They were perfect. We pulled away from the kiss after a good minute.

"I'm gonna go find Magnet. I promised him I would have a game of snooker with him." He smiled as he got up and left the tent. Still not able to process what had just happened i sat on my cot and let my many thoughts cross my mind. A few minutes later Nikki and Zigzag walked in.

"Hey, Nikki. Can I talk to you?" Zigzag must have took that as his cue to leave because as soon as I said 'can I talk to you?' he left.

"You will not believe what's just happened!"

"Wh-" Nikki began but I interrupted her before anyone could walk in.

"Squid kissed me!" I could see the shock trail across Nikki's dust-covered face and she smiled.