The Centre - a Home for Pembroke (bxb+/poly)

18. Sun Chapped Lips - M

🌟 P E M 🌟

"Is everyone ready?" Fox called out to us.

We all had our masks and fins on; nervous anticipation swirled around me as I geared up to jump off the boat into the clear blue water.

Cap took us close to a reef and pointed us in the right direction, reminding us to not disrupt the wildlife or take anything from the ocean.

We all excitably agreed that we were ready, and as we were just about to jump off the side into the water, Jace reached out to me with a bottle in hand and asked me to rub some sunblock on his back.

Vance asked Fitz if he put sunblock on and he turned beet red and shook his head. It took another few minutes of everyone slathering sunblock on before we were finally ready.

Once we jumped overboard, the water was cool and refreshing. "Stay together everyone!" Fox's voice came out muffled around his mouth piece. "And let's have some fun!" He sang out as we all laughed and agreed.

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"Oh my god! The reef was amazing! I can't believe we saw sea turtles, the most colorful and vibrant coral, stingrays and even humpbacks whales!!" Aiden excitedly recounted our adventure out in the water as we were shedding our wet suites and putting all the snorkeling gear away.

"Don't forget the starrrrfish," Jace snickered and shot me a playful wink.

"Oh jeez," I overly rolled my eyes at him, "you're so funny I almost forgot to laugh..." I huffed out, trying to hide my smile.

Fox jumped up on my lap as I sat down and pecked my lips, "He's a comedian, he can't help it," he chuckled, as his arm snaked its way around my neck and he pushed tight against me. Lowering his voice, "How are you doing, Pem?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "Fine," I half-heartedly smiled.

"Fine?" He tsk'd, "No, Pem, like how are you feeling, you haven't been able to really talk about what happened with your brother... it's kinda been a whirlwind since they left and we came on vacation," he whispered so close to me, I could see the gold specks in his irises.

"Hmmm..." I shifted my eyes away from his intense stare, "umm, well," I cleared my throat, "I guess a little sad, I know that he was blackmailing me but it just hit me when he came and actually threatened me to my face," I looked down to Fox's thin fingers that were gliding lazily on my abdomen.

"So... you were in a little bit of denial," he hummed out.

I nodded, "He was never a good brother, but I didn't actually think he would do something like this..." I chuckled lowly, "oh God, you probably think I'm dumber than a box of rocks," I shook my head, "seeing as though he literally sold me..." my voice hitched at the word 'sold'.

Fox's hand shot up to my face and lifted my head to look me in the eyes, "No, Pem, that's not stupid at all," his voice came out low, demanding me to believe him. "Everyone wants to believe that family will support them, inherently, they are supposed to," He wistfully sighed, "but, all of us here know that life doesn't work out that way... sometimes we have to make our own family," he smiled warmly at me.

I reached up and enveloped his hands that were embracing my face with my own hands, "Yeah, I think that's exactly what Vance did... for himself and for us," I smiled.

"Exactly!" He wrapped his lithe arms around my neck and pulled me in tight for a squeeze.

We embraced for a few moments and then I felt Fox being pulled away, "Oof!" A breath of air escaped his lungs.