That night, I didn't manage to get any sleep, Emma and I decided to stay at a hotel instead since it was the closest to the location we would have to meet with Mrs. Son and Brayden the next day, it was also near one of Malachi's favorite parks, I had hoped we could find him that night by chance. We didn't manage to stumble across him. We made our way to our room, after a bit Emma was soundly sleeping on her bed, I took this chance to smoke a cigarette on the balcony.
"Where could you be Malachi?" I thought to myself as I took in a puff of smoke,
"God, please, let me find him," I said under my breath while exhaling a cloud of smoke.
At that moment I felt Emma hug me from behind and rest her head on my back. It felt almost as though she was promising we would find him in the morning. I tapped the butt of my cigarette to knock off the ash into an ashtray. I closed my eyes, wishing we were here in this hotel for a celebration, I turned around and embraced Emma.
The next morning, we checked out of the hotel as soon as we woke up and made our way to the local convenience store since it was the only thing open. Emma enjoyed her onigiri and I got myself a bottle of black coffee.
We sat in the car park of this apartment building waiting for Brayden and Mrs. Son. After a decently long wait, I heard the roar of Brayden's AE86 from around the corner, he parked next to us and we got out of the car and began to discuss a plan.
"Okay so these teams won't work" stated Mrs. Son
"Why's that?" Brayden asked
"Both myself and Emma don't know how to drive manual" She answered
"Yeah, that is true" I responded
"So what are we gonna do about our little 'teams'" asked Brayden
"Since Brayden and Kaze are the only ones here who can drive manual, I'll go with Brayden and Emma you can go with your boyfriend"
"We aren't dating" I responded
"Not yet~" Emma responded
"Okay enough of this lovey-dovey shit, let's get a move on," Brayden said
"Aight, meet here at 6 pm?" I asked
We all nodded in agreement and began our search. We drove laps around the whole city, searching every single nock and cranny humanly possible, we went through multiple tanks of gas to the point where the cashier knew who I was just from my car. We searched and searched.
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
We all felt so defeated. We had gathered in the living room at Grandma Winnie's place, Brayden was frustrated but tried his best not to have a massive outburst out of respect for Mrs. Son, Emma comforted Mrs. Son as she began to say some very depressing things. I sat outside with my head in my hands, I was so lost.
"What am I supposed to do?" I thought to myself
"Am I this pathetic!? I can't even find my best mate"
I started crying, bawling my eyes out as if they were trying to fill the world's oceans, I hadn't cried this much since the death of my parents. I was miserable. The only thing I wanted at that moment was some guidance, a sign even, anything… anything that would help me find Malachi.
"Mum, Dad. Please, I need your help" I said under my breath
At that moment, that moment of complete sorrow, I felt a warm presence touch my left shoulder, it felt as though all my worries and burdens had been lifted off my shoulders. I looked up to see who had touched my shoulder, but no one was there. I stared at my car and smiled.
"Thank you, mum, dad, I'll do you proud"
I walked back inside of Grandma Winnie's house and sat down with everyone else. I didn't know what to say, but I looked at all of them in the eye and made sure to have a determined look to make sure they all knew I was going to find Malachi, no matter what. Emma stood up and clapped her hands together,
"Kaze, we should get going we have school tomorrow"
"Oh true aye, I completely forgot!" added Brayden
"Oh yes, you kids should get going, sorry for making you run all over the city today"
"Mrs. Son, no need to apologise, us three are going to make sure we find Malachi and bring him home to you," I said with a smile,
I saw Mrs. Son's eyes water up a little bit and she thanked me. We all got into our cars and drove off, I was on my way to drop off Emma at her parent's place but she insisted that she should stay the night with me. I tried to convince her that her parents would want her home but she called her mother and got permission.
"What's up with that smug ass smile?" I jokingly asked
"Hey! Sorry I'm excited" Emma responded pouting and crossing her arms
"Why though? It not like we gone do anything"
"That doesn't matter Kaze, as long as you're here I'm more than happy"
"Shut up"
"No"
"Why"
"Because I don't want to"
"Whatever"
We began to giggle, but I could tell that Emma was still a bit off so I placed my left hand on her thigh as a way to comfort her. We arrived at my place and I began to cook some dinner.
"Yo Emma, what you want for dinner?" I asked while putting on my apron
"Um… what ingredients do you have Kaze?"
"Just say what you want and I'll make it"
"If that's then you can surprise me Kaze~"
"If you say so babe"
"Wait.. what did you just call me?"
"Hey out the kitchen now babe if you want it to be a surprise"
Emma stood there in awe, which was fair enough since I had just called her babe. I ended up cooking up some tofu wrapped in bacon which was seasoned with some homemade teriyaki sauce, and that dish was followed up with a side of potato salad and a veggie soup.
"Ready!" I said poking my head out into the living room
"Coming!" Emma said hastily walking into the kitchen to see what I had cooked
"Woahhhhhh! Kaze! This smells so goood!" She said trying not to drool
"Ahaha thank you," I said taking a cruiser out of the fridge
"Hey! Kaze c'mon don't drink tonight, please your sixteen Kaze"
"Yeah Yeah, if you say so babe," I say as I put my cruiser back into the fridge
"There you go again"
"What do you mean?"
"You keep calling me babe"
"What you complaining?"
"No no definitely not"
We enjoyed our dinner and just spent some genuine time together. We hadn't done that in a while and it felt really good getting to slow down and talk to Emma one on one. After dinner we decided to play gin rummy, explaining the rules to Emma took a while but seeing her competitive side was pretty entertaining. By the time we were done mucking about it was about 10 pm.
"We probably should get some sleep aye, Emma?"
"What!? Whyyyy"
"We have school tomorrow, Emma"
"So? Why can't we just drive off into the night and have some fun underneath the night sky"
"I mean we could, but that would mean you would go to school with no sleep and you need sleep to function"
"Why now of all times do you choose to say the right things?"
"ahahaha whatever," I said as began to lay out the futon
"Why are you setting up the futon Kaze?"
"So I can sleep?"
"What, just sleep in your room with me"
"You know I can't do that Emma"
"Kaze, its just one night~," She said as she began to cling onto me
"Emma, you know I would if I could"
"Well you can"
"But"
"But what?"
"Your parents have done so much for me and I feel as if I'm betraying their trust in me if I were to do anything indecent with you"
"Fine, but at least stay in the same room as me?"
"Okay, but you're sleeping on the bed, okay Emma?"
"Fine by me," She said with a very childish smile