THIRTY-SEVEN

Scarlet Sapphira ran into Amane's arms when he returned and so did Lucy, into Luis' and the two kissed.

Scarlet Sapphira said,"I hear you're boss now."

"Meh, it's not that big a role, I'd rather serve you..."He said.

She looked away, then realized something and asked,"Three losses?"

"What do you mean?"

"You said on the phone you were unable to win three times, but you've only been defeated twice, by some Osinawa guy, a Selassie and..."

"You..."He said.

"What?"

"Don't you remember? Back at the river?"

"But I thought..."

"You made me forget? I told you I don't forget things that easily, besides, I never spill a drink, no matter how intoxicated I am."

She looked away then said,"I'm sorry..."

He kissed her cheek and said,"Don't be, I enjoyed every second of it...our first date..."

***

Amane walked back into his mother's room and planted a loving kiss on her forehead and her grip on his hand tightened as she forced a smile.

He sat beside her then said,"Don't worry mother, I'm not leaving you again..."

She let go and his brows furrowed as her eyes rolled to the other side of the bed, without looking, he smiled then asked,"Are you sure mother?"

The smile on her beautiful face returned as he nodded then said,"As you wish, my lady."

He then kissed her hand and took the picture she had looked at and kissed it, right on Scarlet Sapphira's lips as he gave her a piggy back ride.

***

A few days later, by afternoon, I sat with Luis, Scarlet Sapphira and Jack Johnson, as Lee and Amane played video games on the TV in the dimly lit room.

After we had sat there, doing nothing for almost an hour, I looked at Scarlet Sapphira and she took a deep breath and whispered something even I was oblivious to into her boyfriend's ear.

He looked quite surprised at first, then smiled and nodded, then stood up.

After Scarlet Sapphira had snatched the game pad from Lee then told him to clear off and he walked backwards with his hands in the air and a smile.

She connected a flashdrive to the Tv set then walked forward after selecting the file, took a deep breath and began...

After he two were done, all of us were shocked as we didn't know either of them could sing, but Luis had a frown on his face, before asking,"Okay, whose bright idea was it to sing the heartbreak song I completed and threw in the trash?"

Scarlet Sapphira, without hesitation, pointed at Amane then Luis stood up and walked towards him and tension built up as Amane confidently but apologetically spoke,"I'm sorry if we offended you Mr..."

Luis then said,"Shut up...and thank you..."

He stretched an arm for Amane to shake and when he did, he pulled him in for a hug, leaving all our jaws on the floor.

Scarlet Sapphira immediately ran in and said,"It was my idea to sing it here though."

"And I fished it out of the trash."Jack Johnson said.

Luis looked at them with a smile, then said,"I don't have that many hugs to give."

He then went to sit down and Scarlet Sapphira and Jack Johnson immediately hugged the still confused Amane at the same time, when he asked their reason, Jack Johnson said,"To rub off some of Uncle's cologne..."

"...and your attractive essence."Scarlet Sapphira added.

"Why don't you taste it?"Amane asked.

She pulled back, scoffed and pushed him backwards then left the boys, she had to get back to his mother, besides, she wasn't a guy.

Amane looked as Luis walked away, so followed and saw him on a ledge, looking in a direction with basically nowhere in sight.

Amane asked,"Why did you leave?"

"It's six, I came here every night by then to look."

"Look for what?"

"... Lucille... she's in this direction, hundreds of miles away, but she's there..."

"You really miss her, don't you?"

"I hope she misses me too...I realized how to be a father to her far too late and now, I think she hates me."

"From what I heard...she may be the most religious among everyone in the family, even Mrs Lester, I don't think she'll leave for no reason, besides...you aren't to blame for anything that happened."

"And how do you know? If I hadn't been so cold with that kid, I may have at least been able to take the blame for its death on myself, not her."

"... that's why she left?"

"That's how it began, after a few bad relationships, she was gone...I should have been there to protect her, but I was so filled with jealousy and rage because of...huh, never mind."

"She's taking care of widows and orphans, is that not?"

"Yes..."He said.

"Then maybe it was her calling in the first place and everything was a preparation, Luis, if she was able to go across continents on her own, with literally no money, I'm pretty sure she could come back if she wanted."

"You're not helping."

"I'm not helping or you don't want to be helped?"

Luis sighed as Amane said,"We're going out for the rest of the night, you could join if you wanted."

Luis stayed behind as Amane walked off...

After they had all been called to the parking lot, they were getting into the cars when Luis said,"Wait up! I'm driving my OWN car."

Lee shrugged and gave him the key.

Luis was about to open the door when I pounced on him from behind and he yelled for me to get off as I said,"I'm coming too!"

Jack Johnson timidly came from behind then asked if he could tag along, then Luis came closer, placed a hand on his shoulder and said,"You're the only competent person among all those idiots, of course you can."

Jack Johnson slightly smiled and got in the back seat as I yelled from behind, being joined by the others,"Boys' night out!!!"

Luis had a sullen expression on his face as he said,"I hate you all."

I placed an arm on his shoulder from behind and said,"Aww, you're being emotional, want another hug?"

"I'd rather be crushed by a bear."He said as he turned on the ignition, then Junior watched from his window...we had forgotten about him...

***

"Jug! Jug! Jug! Jug!..."We all yelled as Amane gulped down the milk.

He slammed down the fourth carton and I clicked the stopwatch and yelled,"He did it!!"

We all cheered like the boys we were and even Jack Johnson joined in on the milk gulping challenge, beating Lee's and my records.

Luis on the other hand, drank no more than a glass of the dairy product.

I looked at him, then grinned and said,"Luis, I bet you can't empty one whole carton of milk in less than thirty seconds."

"What are you doing?"

"Just stalling."

He yelled as Lee and Amane poured an entire carton of milk over his head then he frowned at me as I said,"Huh, I guess you can."

He pounced on me, pinned me to a wall and bought an extra carton and poured it over me as I drank it in mirth and he yelled,"How do you like it?!"

"Hmm,a little sweeter though."

Luis threw down the box then Amane, Lee and I carried him and dumped him in a pool and he resurfaced with a frown as I said,"At least you're cleaner now."

His frown slightly curved upwards by our effort, before morphing into a full on chuckle.

"To Luis..."I said, raising a toast,"...the best friend, brother and father that we've all had in a while."

"To Luis."They all joined in, before emptying the tall glasses over him after me.

Jack Johnson then brought out an entire bottle of champagne from nowhere and emptied it over his uncle, who also grinned then popped the two emergency ones from behind him, pouring them over all of us as we drank the sweet, golden rain...