Forever Yours// Reggie

Chapter 7

Reggie was simply bouncing for Joy as we vanished to a beach. When my feet touched the sand I took in my surroundings of the ocean and the fresh salty air. This place was beautiful but it seemed too packed to be a neighborhood. People were everywhere, biking around the beach, playing volleyball, swimming, or just chilling around. I found it odd that there were so many people around. Reggie smiled at me before he turned around and froze.

"What's wrong Reggie?" I asked

When I turned around I noticed that the neighborhood was torn down. I immediately frowned, right where his house was supposed to be was replaced by a bike shop. Alex and Luke went beside Reggie in an instant and tried to comfort him as I only looked around sadly. Twenty-five years later and all that Reggie and the boys knew was destroyed. This was heartbreaking, I was lucky compared to them because I wasn't stuck in some darkroom, I was here, watching and discovering the new world as years went on. The two boys looked at me sadly causing me to give Reggie a hug from behind. I laid my head on his back as I felt him shake slightly.

"A bike shack, right where my house use to be," Reggie said in a disappointed voice

"I'm sorry man" Luke mentioned as he placed a hand on Reggie's shoulder

"They made the Meyerson's house into a noddle shop. Why couldn't they have made my house a pizzeria or something?"

"They tore down the whole neighborhood," Alex noticed as he looked around

"I guess my parents are gone"

I quickly moved to Reggie's side and gave him a tiny sympathetic smile. He returned a small smile and reached for my hand giving it a small squeeze.

"Everyone is gone." Alex said with his voice laced with sadness "friends, family, Bobby, everyone."

"Bobby, that's right" Reggie stated "I guess that vegetarian lucked out. What do you think happened to him?"

"He probably just got old like everybody else and moved on." Luke stated bluntly

I sent Luke a "what the hell?" Look as I protectively stood in front of Alex and Reggie. I get that people handle situations differently but he knows these two boys better than anyone, he should know that now is not the time to be so blunt.

"Luke give them a break, this is a lot to take in. He just found out his family is gone" I told him

"Dude how are you so casual about all of this?" Alex questioned as we walked up beside me

"Let's be real for a second." Luke stated looking between all of us "it's not like any of us were close to our families. My folks always regretted buying me that guitar. Reggie, your parents were literally a fight away from a divorce. Alex..I- your parents would never look at you the same again after you told them you were gay"

"Okay none of us had it great. Alright? But at least we had something you know, what do we have now?" Alex says freaking out looking between all of us with frustration written on his face "and before you say cool teleportation skills, just know, I'm not entirely okay with that either. Alright? It tingles...in weird places."

Luke gave Alex a look as he kept his arms folded over his chest "You feel better now?"

Alex nodded slightly and I used my free hand, that wasn't holding Reggie's hand to grab a hold of Alex's shoulder to comfort him. I looked over at Luke who seemed to read my mind. These boys needed some motivation.

"I'll tell you what we have. It's what we had since the day we came together." Luke started as he hopped onto a fallen tree, looking down at the three of us "we have us. We're the only thing that we're ever going to need"