Eavesdropping (Again)

One day, about a week later, when Remy went to the club, he noticed that Renee and Landon were missing. There were a bunch of other kids there, including Emmitt. He said that he hadn't seen either of them all day. They got through the meeting, which was just a bunch of games that, in theory, sound very childish, but in practice, were very fun (and also childish).

Remy asked Emmitt if he wanted to look for them with him, but he was meeting up with Step. He asked Remy if he was okay with that, to which he said yes. They hadn't defined their relationship, so each person was free to do whatever they wanted with other people.

So Remy went alone to find the couple. They were in the first place he checked, which was Renee's room. He listened outside the door first, wondering what they were up to that was so important they'd miss the club meeting, which to be honest, was a very low bar. The first thing that popped into his head was that they were... well, fucking, to be blunt. But as he listened, he heard frantic, shaky voices, like they were trying to be quiet but whatever they were talking about was making it difficult.

"And it makes me so angry," he heard Renee say. "But I just have to be like, 'Oh, everything's fine!' like none of it fucking matters. And that's all I can do. And I'm sorry if that doesn't make sense to you, Landon, but I just need to say these things. Sometimes, I feel okay. But right now, I just feel so much anger, but there's nothing I can do. I just have to feel angry in private and be smiley and approachable in public. And it fucking sucks."

Remy kept listening, but he didn't hear a reply from Landon. He remembered Landon telling him that Renee bottled up a lot of emotions, emotions that she would only show to Landon, and it was a lot for him to hold onto. To know that someone you love is unhappy but there's nothing you can do for them, it's a hard thing to carry on your own. Which is possibly the reason Landon was fine with sharing that information with Remy. It was less weight on his shoulders, knowing that he wasn't the only one burdened by Renee's bombshells.

Whatever the two said next, Remy was unable to hear it as their voices quieted down after Renee's outburst. Remy thought that he should leave, but he felt a sense of duty to stay by them, even if they didn't know it. They couldn't handle all of this themselves, and though any action Remy took or could have taken wouldn't help, he felt better being near them. So he just sat down against the wall next to her door.

It was a while before anyone came out. When Landon opened the door and stepped outside, the first thing Remy noticed was how tired he looked and how red his eyes were. Without looking back, he closed the door. Apparently Renee was staying in.

When he finally noticed the boy waiting by the door, he said wearily, "Remy?"

"Hey," he replied softly.

Instead of saying anything else, he just slumped down in front of the door next to Remy. He let his head fall onto his shoulder and closed his eyes. Remy felt something drop to his shirt sleeve and saw the tears leaking down from Landon's eyes. Remy let his head drop over top of his and grabbed his hand.

"I'm so tired, Remy," Landon whispered.

"I know," he whispered back. "But it'll be okay."

He mumbled into his shoulder, "You don't know that."

Suddenly feeling tired himself, Remy just repeated, "It'll be okay." His eyelids felt very heavy, and he let them close. He squeezed Landon's hand tight as they drifted to sleep in the hallway. "It'll be okay."