Cold of the Sea

Chapter Eight: Excitement

Keith groaned, sitting in his kitchen with a bowl of cereal in front of him the next morning. He was watching through the bar to the living room with a glare, seeing Shiro and Allura cuddled up on the couch eating omelets and watching the same stupid show from before.

"Hey, Keith, would you like to meet my cousin and her fiancé? She's visiting today she's very excited to finally meet you and Shiro." Allura called, looking to Keith, who quickly averted his eyes as to not be caught staring.

"Yeah, whatever. I'm not doing anything else." Keith rolled his eyes with a shrug.

"Afterwards I'm gonna let Allura have some time with them and then head to the beach, wanna come with?" Shiro added.

"Sure." Keith deadpanned, shoving another spoonful of food into his mouth.

"We're going to leave in an hour, so be ready then, okay?" Allura smiled.

"Mhmmm..." Keith hummed blandly, finishing his cereal, cleaning his bowl, and running up to his room.

When there, he curled into his covers and pulled his laptop to himself. He began to surf the web for the next forty minutes or so. After reaching five minutes past his cut off time, he pushed himself up to get ready. He regretted agreeing to this.

He pulled on a pair of black skinny jeans and a grey Mothman Lives t-shirt, making sure to leave his fingerless gloves on his hands and tying his short hair into a low ponytail. He slipped on his red high-top converse, putting on his glasses as an afterthought. He only ever needed them to read, drive or whatever else was like that. He was only slightly near-sighted, but enough to need glasses occasionally.

Keith ran downstairs, seeing his brother and Allura putting their shoes on. He sighed, walking past them to the car and falling into the back seat. Pulling out his phone, he noticed a text from Pidge. Again. They usually weren't even up this early.

P: Hey, morning.

K: what are you doing up so early

P: My mom wanted me to clean the house but it only took, like, 30 min so she woke me up early for no reason

P: but now I'm messing around on my computer

K: of course you are

P: I mean, I am sexually attracted to technology.

K: yeah I know

P: Whatchu doin now then??

K: going to meet allura's cousin and her fiance or something

P: mk, who's that?

K: I'm pretty sure her name's Kida but I wasnt really paying attention

K: idk

P: sounds like a cats name

K: I hate cats.

P: I know you do

For the rest of the ride, Keith and Pidge texted, talking about nothing in particular. It wasn't long before the group neared a hotel that was situated on a hill, looking out to the sea. A few minutes were spent finding parking, but soon they were making their way on foot to the large building.

Keith wasn't fond of the boring colors decorating the outside, but he knew that the hotel was very popular around here. It was the only hotel in the vicinity of the town. It was the most popular thing around. Granted it was the only thing around.

The group of three was making its way to the room they had been instructed to in no time. Allura was talking up her cousin, saying that she was an archeologist that knew a crap ton of languages and her fiancé worked with her as a linguist.

The older two were the only ones involved in the conversation, and Keith was really questioning why he had decided to come. He could be out at that patch of beach looking for Lance or hanging with Pidge. But no, he decided to do this. And he was even tied up afterwards as Shiro had asked to go to the beach with him.

Allura knocked on the wooden door labeled 314 once she found it, excited smile overtaking her face. The door opened to a strikingly pretty face, her choppy white hair fell down her back with some of it tied low, hanging over her shoulder, and similar bangs stopped before her eyes. Her skin was a dark tan and her eye color matched that of Allura's. A tattoo spanned her cheek in an interesting pattern.

The woman grinned as her eyes met Allura's, and she engulfed her into a hug, babbling happily in a different language. The two girls shared the embrace for a while before separating. Allura stepped back and then gestured to Shiro.

"Kida, this is my boyfriend, Shiro, and this is his little brother Keith." Allura introduced, and Kida happily grabbed both males in a tight hug. Both reacted awkwardly, but Shiro hid it better.

"Hello, hello! I'm Kida and this is my fiancé, Milo." Kida announced, pushing another person in front of her.

He was scrawny with sandy blond hair falling into his face. Glasses slid of his nose and a goofy smile played at his lips. He looked beyond awkward but seemed to be trying desperately to hide it.

"H-hi." Milo waved, attempting to be polite, he really seemed to be a nice guy by nature, he was just... socially awkward.

"Oh, don't mind him, he's always been intimidated by new people." Kida broke in with her interesting accent, tossing her arm around Milo's shoulders.

"Well, if you didn't catch it before, this is Shiro, my boyfriend, and his brother, Keith." Allura repeated for Milo, to make sure he knew who he was talking to.

"Oh, please, come in, come in. Where have my manners gone?" Kida spoke casually, directing the three inside.

The large group was soon situated on a couch, talking and telling stories of their lives. Keith abstained from joining in, rather sitting back and listening to the conversation. He occasionally texted Pidge when they would talk to him but otherwise he stayed bored and tired on the pluffy cushions.

Kida had seemed to live an exciting life, as had Allura. Milo's life seemed less so, and, well, Keith already knew Shiro's. Roughly an hour into the discussion, Keith was forced in by his brother.

"Keith, why don't you tell them about your life? I'm sure you have some great stories." Shiro grinned, knowing he was making Keith speak up.

Keith told only a few, boring tales, knowing that it would get Shiro to stop pestering him. When he was finished the group seemed to move quickly from the topic of Keith's life and to something more appealing. Keith was left out of the conversation for the rest of it.

Roughly three hours past before Shiro even began to speak about leaving. Keith was beyond bored by listening now and just wanted to get to the beach. He oddly really wanted to be in the ocean and feel the waves crash against his skin.

He wanted to see Lance.

He knew it was a ridiculous notion and that it was nearly impossible as Lance would never risk being seen like that, but he just wanted to. He sighed as he and his brother began to leave, walking from the hotel to the car they had taken. They had promised to come back and pick Allura up when she was done.

They were finally heading to the beach.