let's stay together even tomorrow

Chapter 6

When Casey had suggested the group to go to the beach he hadn't planned for it to be soon–– the boys have been extremely busy for the past few months–– and he never expected the little trip to take so long to plan out. He was beginning to get agitated. Nerves cruise through his body as each of the boys tells him they have a clearing in the schedule.

No, Casey can do this. He can plan this and make the day memorable for them to remember whenever they're down. Jesse would have wanted them to start making new memories. Jesse would have wanted them to move on already but they held on tight. Maybe too tight.

Ironically, the month that everyone is mostly free turns out to be October. Casey groans as he gets up, a chill hitting him. He suddenly gets the urge to never leave the warm comfort of his shared bed. Which doesn't have Elijah in it and that makes him pout. Right after graduation, the two were able to find freelance jobs where they chose their own clientele. Elijah ran his own floral shop and was being booked left and right. Finn recently quit his day job that he miraculously hadn't been fired from to become a ballet instructor for little kids. He seems much happier and healthy. Micah was climbing up the ladder at his barista job at a local cafe, becoming the manager of one of the shops of the slowly growing chain in the US. The boys were pleasantly surprised when Micah told them of his endeavors–– if you had asked them what Micah's major was, they couldn't tell you. As for him, his progress was getting there. Casey's canvas art took off slowly, starting to become popular locally and he was being commissioned at least every week. He never failed to evoke strong emotions in his customers, a good thing he hoped. It wasn't much, but it was something that helped all of them regardless.

The apartment is colder than usual and Casey shivers as he makes his way to the couch where Finn is, laying on top of his cousin. In these past hectic months, Casey has never failed once to check up on the older. Last month on his six-month anniversary of being clean again, the boys made it their mission to showcase how much they loved him. It's times like those that the universe feels right. When one is surrounded by the pure love of people. Finn saw how much they deeply cared for him and he felt needed and wanted.

Time passes, and Casey has no idea how long since his eyes were closed. But everyone is here now. He scratches his head and looks at the calendar on the wall. From where they lay on the couch, the calendar is right across, next to the entryway of the apartment. The TV is slightly turned towards the couch, not much of a living room space. "What day is it? Friday?" Finn pushes him off of him with an Ugh get off, loser, and stretches his arms. Somehow Elijah magically appeared right next to him. "Cas, it's Sunday." Casey turns to Micah and pouts, "Oh. Wait–– that means that–– It's the–" They all look at him with puzzling expressions, waiting for him to finish. But he doesn't; he just sits there with his mouth open.

So quiet, not even a dog could hear him, Casey says, "The 15th... It's October 15th." The boys go silent, how could they have not noticed? They were so busy and time just went on and on. It's been one complete year. 365 days. Has the earth spun that much already? Elijah stared at the TV which was currently the only source of noise. Springing from the floor, Micah plays with his long delicate fingers, "So, we're all free then?" His voice was just slightly louder than Casey's but still small and quiet.

Finn turns the TV off, "Yeah, we are. So, Cas, what's the plan?" The second the question left Finn's mouth, all eyes were on him. Shit. Fuck. Does he have a plan? Is the one he hasn't scraped together the right one? He bites his index fingernail before answering, "Yep. It's all in here. Mapped out. Got a schedule and everything." He points to his head. Finn chuckles at him before yelling, "Well I'm off to look my absolute best." He mumbled the next part but they all heard it, "He better see from up there in the sky." And with that everyone else got ready.