The House Above the Sea

40.

The amount of people here is starting to make Elsie anxious.

They pour out of the stadium in droves, an army of popcorn-wielding, jersey-clad spectators marching across the black pavement to their cars. The moon above is dull compared to the vibrant stadium lights, great metal towers that shower the dome in white. The boom of a 90s hip hop song echoes far into the night.

Elsie lingers awkwardly by the front security checkpoint, glancing at her phone every few moments, though she knows the screen will be blank. Joey had promised he would meet her after the game, but then again, he probably forgot. Elsie wouldn't blame him for it—with a high-speed mind like Joey's, he's constantly getting ahead of himself.

A family walks past her, the parents' eyes tired but happy, their two children—a boy and a girl—laughing and nudging each other. The thought of Kit rolls into her mind as she watches them. She hasn't seen him since he left for the Big Apple a month ago, finally college-bound after three years of playing catch-up.

She knows he will be fine; he's Kit, after all. He's been through much worse.

Still, she can't help worrying. When she hugged him before he got on the plane, when she pulled back and saw the set to his jaw, the flicker of faraway hope in his eyes—as if he was searching for something—she couldn't help worrying.

Elsie stifles a squeal as a familiar pair of arms sweep around her from behind, furling around her waist. "Staring off into space?" Joey says into her ear. "What are you doing? Pondering the infinity of space and time?"

"Get off me!" Elsie says, laughing. "You're all sweaty and gross."

Joey nips at Elsie's ear with his teeth, before he scoots back. "Weird way to say, Congrats on your first win of the season, but okay. I like the creativity."

Elsie pivots, facing him. She was right: he is sweaty and gross, the front of his emerald University of Hawaii jersey almost black with sweat and his hair hanging lank in his eyes. She sighs, stepping forward anyway, resting her hands on his shoulders. "Congrats on your first win of the season," she says, just to see the smile that spreads across Joey's face. "Are you sure you want to be here, by the way? You can go celebrate with the team if you want."

Joey rolls his eyes, hooking an arm around her shoulder as they make for the parking lot. "Like hell I'd do that," he says. "Now that Kit's not here I have an even better excuse to hang out with you all the time. You know. Can't let you get lonely."

Elsie scoffs. "I'm not the lonely type."

"Sure you aren't," says Joey, and he turns his head, something in his eyes suddenly candid. "Have you talked to Kit, by the way? How is he settling in?"

"Last I checked he was looking for an apartment to move into. Says dorm life doesn't suit him."

Joey winces, the same thing Elsie did when Kit had told her over the phone earlier. Having spent eight years locked away in that abandoned house, a cramped living space crawling with strangers was probably a slap in the face to him. "An apartment in New York, huh?" Joey says, and stops, shuddering despite the heat. "What made him go there, anyway? It's like nothing he's used to."

Elsie holds his gaze, a dark eyebrow risen sharply above a clean line of eyeliner.

She adores Joey, more than she would admit. But he's such an idiot sometimes.

"Please, Joey," she tells him. "You and I both know exactly why he went."

Neo is late.