amsterdam ( central cee )

27

!! not edited

Oakley looked at me with faux disgust and right before I light my cigarette he slaps it out of my hand making it fall into the puddle next to my feet.

I look at the wet cigarette, my hand still ready to spark it. "That was not necessary. Do you know how much a pack costs these days?"

"Ion give a fuck," he admits. "Should be enough for you to stop this shit, innit."

I roll my eyes and spark a new cigarette. "Those are really bad for you, you should know." He says, leaning his weight against the hood of my car.

I blow out the smoke and shrug. "We're here for a good time, not a long time, Oakley."

He grins like he wants to make me weak in the knees and leans back, supporting his weight on the back of his elbows. I blow out the smoke and he lazily blinks at me. "What have you been up to lately?"

A smile naturally graced my lips in response to his question, and it dawned on me just how deeply I had longed for his presence in my life. My lips parted excitedly as I eagerly recounted my journey, sharing my progress and the stories of every patient I had cared for along the way. I've carried every milestone in the depths of my heart, preserving them for when I'd eventually see him again. 

With every uttered word, it was as though a weight I had carried for so long, gradually slipped from my shoulders. He's just looking at me, leaning against his elbows all nonchalantly, allowing me to talk his ears off. 

"And you know what?" I say, holding the smoke in my chest. "I went into the pool a few months ago, I dunno, ever since the hospital... I haven't been afraid. It's shown me that fear is just an illusion that can be conquered." 

I blink up at him right when my cigarette finishes. He's smiling, soft and genuine, and with a gleam in his eyes, I've missed. As I stomp on the glowing bud on the ground he elongates, and with a few steps he's right beside me. 

His tattooed fingers fell on the curve of my jaw and he angled my head up. "I'm so proud of you, Han. It's nice to see you achieve your dreams and them tings yeah." Our lips are nearly touching, and I have to keep myself from smashing my mouth on his. 

"Thank you..." I whisper, he's looking right at my mouth as I speak. "Oakley," I breathe as though releasing a heavy burden from my chest as if uttering his name were my lifeline. At this moment, he is all I truly want--- need.

 "Do you... wanna go inside and smoke a blunt?" 

The corner of his pink mouth curls. 

"Let's do it."

I grin and then turn to the entrance of my garden. I unlock it and when I swing the door open I tell Oakley to stomp the mud off his shoes. 

He told and when I turned around for the door I gasped in horror. 

"Dad, what are you doing here?" My dad looks up from his laptop and shoves his AirPods to the side. I feel Oakley freeze beside me. I snap my eyes toward him and then back at my dad, who's doing the same thing, his eyes slowly moving between mine and Oakley's shadow. 

"Dad," I breathe, not really sure how he's going to respond to this entire Oakley and I situation. "I just--- I thought you were.... Weren't you going out with mom?"

There's so much happening right now, I have so many questions; why is he here? Why is he sitting in the cold outside?  How did he manage to connect the headphones on his own? And I feel like I could die from embarrassment. 

My dad doesn't respond, just a single eyebrow raises. I hear Oakley shift beside me, stepping behind me as if I could shield his existence at this very moment.