the teawitch (the tea-series part one)

sweet boys

22-12-2020 under a bridge

laughing echoed in the dark and narrow path under the bridge. A few boys, for as far as I could hear 5, walked close, half frolicking, almost pushing one of them in the dark water.  

I tried to hide in the shadows, between the wooden pallets and trash someone dumped there. 

"What do we have here?" One of them noticed me and kneeled down with a wide grin in front of me. It dissapeared when he noticed my state of being.

The blanket the man had gave me a few days earlier had been stolen by someone, leaving me with the clothes I had wore in the car. If you could still call it clothes. The last bits that held it together were slowly falling apart. My shirt was already gone. 

"Damn... Alex... get the car ready..." the sudden warm and worried tone in his voice made me look up into his grey eyes. He smiled soft and held out his hand. "Come... I bring you to a nicer place and food, okey?"

food... I was starving.

I nodded slow and hugged myself.

"You want me to lift you?" He chuckled soft and did already, pressing my against his warm chest. The young man hurried after his friends, that had stopped laughing now.

One of them shortly glanced back and gave me a worried look with a warning message in it.

I frowned slightly but let it go, looking up at the man who held me. He had black messy hair and a serious face. If I wouldn't be in this state I would have been simping on his good looks. He was muscular for as I could feel, but the shirt and jacket were hiding it sadly enough.

He got in the rearseat and placed me on his lap. "Finn, you still got that appel you took with you?"

The boy that had looked at me warning nodded silently and handed the older one a piece of fruit. Again he smiled weak at me.

The man took the apple and grabbed a pocketknife. "I am Rex, by the way, Choi Rex."

"Rue," my eyes were locked on the food in his hands.

He cut off a piece and handed it to me. "There you go."

I nibbled on it silently while leaning against his chest and stared at the trees passing by.

"Where to go?" The driver asked, tapping on the wheel.

"Let's say... My own house..."

"Okay!"

Rex' eyes traveled back to mine. "So... The boys in this car are my friends, clearly... Alex is driving, Michael is the one next to him... Next to us is Finn... And the last one is Brandon."

The Brandon guy was the tallest and was muscular. He occupied a lot of space in the car, but since Finn was a small boy it wasn't a problem. He was the youngest, for as far as I could see, and had long hair that reached his shoulders. I looked at a small braid he had made in his hair, almost not visible. It looked cute but I couldn't find the meaning behind it.

Brandon had dark brown hair, shaved off on the sides. It gave him a kind of bad boy look but it was nice. He grinned broadly, talking with Michael without any fear on both of their faces.

Of course they wouldn't be scared of anything, they had nothing to be terrified of. Those boys could protect themselves if they had to... Or they thought. They wouldn't survive a car crash.

Michael and Alex were obviously brothers. They both had almost white blond hair, cut in exactly the same haircut. If you would ask me, i would say they were twins.

I swallowed, staring at the view outside again. Rex stroked my hair calmly and handed me now and then some pieces of apple. My hunger slowly started to ease, but only a bit.

"So..." Alex looked at me in the rearmirror, "how old are you?"

"I... Just turned 15."

Finns eyes widened a bit and turned his head to rex.

"That's... Young..." Michael muttered, "and your parents are gone?"

"Died... In that car crash..."

"Oh... I am so sorry," Rex said, pulling me closer.

I nodded, becoming silent again for a while, listening to their talk about something they found very funny.

Alex parked in front of a huge house and got out, opening the car door at my side. "My lady," he smiled brightly.

I slid off Rex' lap and admired the house while the others got out too.

Brandon wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "I know... I am jealous too on that motherfucker."

"Language, we have two kids here," Michael grinned before walking to the entrance.

Brandon rolled his eyes at me before rushing after him, slamming his hand against the back of Michaels head.

A soft giggle escaped my mouth while I watched them.

"Kids..." Rex smiled softly and took me by the hand, leading me inside. "You wanna sleep already? You seem tired.."

"Sure..."

He took me upstairs, walking behind me for if I would fall. "You can sleep in my bed... That's the most comfortable and furthest away from the noisy suckers." The man opened a door at the end of the hallway.

I stepped into a large room with dark main tints. Black curtains were pulled for large windows that covered one whole wall. In the middle of it stood a king sized bed, made of dark brown wood. His desk was a mess. Full of bottles with pills, small sacks with something in it, and pencils.

Rex quickly shoved everything off it and dumped it in a closet. "Don't mind the mess."

"You didn't know that I would come... I'll leave tomorrow again..."

He sighed, "Rue... You can stay... Don't worry." He walked over to me and grabbed both of my hands. "You don't deserve to be on the streets... Okay?"

"You guys don't deserve me..." I muttered, trying to pull my hands free. "You are way too nice..."

"Lovey..." He sat down on the bed, "I don't wanna hear you died on the streets. Let me help you, please."

I rubbed my eyes, "no... I won't die... I can save myself."

"You are welcome here... We really don't mind if you stay here longer. Are you still hungry?"

"N-no..." I muttered, lying again.

"You only ate an apple, Rue. I'll ask Alex to get some food for you."

"No, no need for, sir..."

He chuckled, "please, just Rex... I am 23..."

"Still... I don't want food..."

"I'll still give it to you, Rue... Let me."

I sighed but let him, sitting down on the bed too. Rex hurried down. Staring at a few empty bottles on the ground, I listened to the others talking loudly. Finn almost screamed something. I laid down and pulled the covers over myself, trying to ignore the screaming. I was trembling and felt tears coming up.

They shouldn't fight about me...

Rex came back after a while, sitting down beside me. "Hey... Are you okay?" He rested his hand on my shoulder.

I only wrapped myself more in the blankets. "I d-don't deserve you... I am only r-ruining your f-friendgroup," I sobbed.

"He wasn't angry about that, Rue, don't worry. He was already furious about something that happened earlier. Brandon doesn't always accept how he feels. He is one of the younger ones and.. lets say... Weaker than the others..."

I sniffed and stayed silent. "Still.."

"No, not 'still' you can stay here as long as you want... It's no problem."

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Gehe, second chappp