The House Above the Sea

23.

It's strange to watch: Kit and Elsie, Elsie and Kit, still a working pair even after so many years apart.

Neo and Joey watch somewhat covertly from the doorway as Elsie says goodbye, her hands resting on Kit's shoulders, eyes burning with an intensity that makes Neo quiver a little. Not because he's never seen that intensity, but because he has, because he's positive such a flame has existed in his own eyes before.

"I'll be back tomorrow," Elsie assures Kit, pinching his cheek. He groans and swipes her hand away, but he's smiling. "I promise. I'm not leaving you again, okay?"

Kit lets out a quiet grunt and shakes his head. Neo and Joey blink, perplexed, but Elsie nods her head. Her voice is a taste of sorrow as she says, "I won't tell Mom and Dad yet if you don't want. But Kit—"

He shakes his head once more, more enthusiastically this time. Elsie sighs and steps back. "Get some rest, you."

She joins Neo and Joey at the front door, but before Neo swings it shut, he lifts his eyes, meeting Kit's. Neo's left him in this house many times before, obviously, but something about this time is different: there is a dull glint to Kit's eyes, a hollowness, that speaks of a profound yearning to go with them. Neo's chest aches. He wants to go to him, to hold him, but Kit waves him off, forcing a smile.

Go ahead, he is saying, his eyebrows lifted. Please.

The door squeaks as it shuts. Neo turns away.

Joey and Elsie are standing at the bottom of the stoop, the slight breeze off the sea playing in Elsie's hair. Side by side, Neo is struck by the difference in their heights, the top of Elsie's head barely meeting Joey's shoulder. Neo can't decide if it's Elsie that's extremely short or if it's Joey that's suddenly so tall. He decides instead not to think about it at all.

"Everything okay?" he asks, tennis shoes thumping against the aging wood as he descends the stoop. The sky overhead is remarkably clear, a clean slate of indigo punctured by a myriad of twinkling stars. His fingers suddenly itch for his telescope.

"Perfect," Joey says, turning to face him. "I was just saying that I think Elsie owes us something for our troubles."

"Our troubles?" Neo narrows his eyes. "Yeah, right. I'm the one who did all the work to get her here. You didn't even believe me until like, three days ago."

Joey lets out a squawk of disbelief, crossing his arms. "So? I was in on the whole letter idea. That counts for something."

"What was it you told me the morning before I gave it to her?" Neo says, and clicks his teeth, index finger raised in the air. "Oh, right. 'You're insane?'"

Joey pulls Neo close by the hem of his shirt, dropping his voice to a whisper. "Neo, give me a hand here. I am simply trying to get us free food—"

"Are milkshakes okay?"

The two boys freeze, Joey's hand slowly unfurling from Neo's collar. Elsie pulls a wallet from her pocket, a pretty pastel blue, and flicks it open. She ruffles through the cash compartment for a moment, gives a small noise of approval, and shrugs at them. "I've got a few extra dollars," she says. "Besides, we still have more to discuss."

At the only ice cream shop in town—more of a hut than a shop, offering no indoor seating and parked right beside an eldritch abandoned parking lot, Elsie buys them milkshakes. Neo, in an attempt to be courteous, orders a small, but immediately regrets it when the employee—a sleepy-eyed teenager who probably goes to the local high school, too—hands Joey his sixteen-ounce double chocolate shake.