Eli laughed, looking down at his plate and back up at Atti as he teased about being the head of a beach house. He wouldn’t get flustered and pink-cheeked in front of all of his family - no matter if Atti was correct or not (which he was.) Eli liked being in charge, and he felt comfortable in it. Not being a House Dad had him feeling funkier than he’d admit. One more little toast later and he smiled at Atti, taking a deep breath and clinking their drinks together, “Love you too, brother.” Then, the hula performance was underway. Sailor, as any typical eleven year old boy, took one look at the hula dancers shaking their hips in coconut bras and turned to Lily and they both started laughing. Eli was happy they had each other. Granted, some days were hard and full of bickering, but at the end of the night, regardless of what they day had brought, they had one another and they had Eli and that made him feel good. He was always worried they’d grow up too fast living in Nora’s house. He’d watched the Buchanans’ and other younger kids start getting into risky things before they should’ve, but sitting there and watching Lily and Sailor as they watched the show gave Eli hope. They were goofy and sweet. Their eyes lit up at the fire spinners. They smiled big, dimpled, genuine smiles watching the show. Hell, they even asked if they could all snuggle up together later that night and watched Moana in Eli’s bed. And it gave him reassurance that he was raising them alright. He could almost hear his mom say, “Even better than alright, Eli.”
“You gonna find a Hawaiian girl to take home with you?” Atti whispered a little too loudly, snapping Eli back into the show. Eli’s eyes widened and he shook his head, nervously checking his phone out of embarrassment as Maisie, who was sitting next to Cal, turned around and eyed him for a quick moment. “You’re a dead man.” He mouthed silently to Atti as Rae watched the two of them, smiled, and pulled Atti’s attention back into the show. It only lasted a few more minutes, and as soon as the final applause was given and the fire spinners extinguished their flames, Atti spun back around to Eli, “We should go out!”
“Ah, I can’t, man,” Eli said, finishing off his second glass of champagne, “I promised the kids we’d watch Moana tonight.”
And then, like clockwork, Lily showed up at Eli’s side, resting her hands on his shoulder, “We don’t want to anymore. We’re gonna put on our own hula and fire show for Grandma! Sailor’s gonna spin fire, but not real fire…I think we’ll make fire out of paper. We know it wouldn’t end well if he used real fire. And me and the girls are going to be hula dancers!”
“Alright,” Eli sighed, watching Lily and Sailor scurry off with the other kids before turning back to Atti, his signature, wickedly-charming Eli smile falling onto his lips, “I guess we’re going out tonight.”
Atti shot Lily a thumbs up and a wink when she told Eli she didn’t want to watch the movie anymore. Besides, they had the whole trip to watch Moana. He was sure there would be a rainy day where all the little ones piled into one of the houses to watch Moana and Lilo and Stitch anyhow. The first night was for celebrating, and Atti wanted to go out and have a blast. He didn’t want to think about anything. He wanted to buy the whole bar a round of drinks and regret it in the morning. He wanted to take Rae out and dirty dance with her to some EDM song he didn’t know. He wanted drunk girls reaching for him and throwing him words of adoration and perhaps getting a little too handsy. Atti wanted to dance and laugh and lose his voice and wake up and not remember any of it.
“Ha-ha!” Atti cheered and raised his glass. “Yes! Let’s do it! Can Rae come?”
“I’m not going,” she protested. “I love you, but I’m going to stay home.” She turned to Eli, “Take good care of him.”
Zander died when he and a few other boys went out to a concert--an Ed Sheeran concert. Atti was out on his own tour at the time, but the minute he got word of Zander and Pason’s deaths, he flew straight home. He mourned. He grieved. Then he picked himself back up and continued to move and work. He went back out on the road and continued to perform. He knew, firsthand, about the trauma of losing a partner, and he saw it tear Mimi to shreds. And Rae saw it too. And he knew Rae was worried about him when he went out. Anything could happen at any minute, and he understood the anxiety of that.
Dinner finished up, and Atti downed another Corona. He wasn’t planning on changing. His white button up and khaki shorts were fine enough, but he’d freshen up a little bit. He slow danced with Rae with their feet in the water. He kissed her sweetly in the sunset and promised he’d come back home to her. And once the sun was down and night fell on the island, Atti and the boys piled into the Uber and took off. With Atti’s name and face, he and the boys were let in immediately. Club music loud, the alcohol smell prominent, Atti turned back to Eli and said in his ear, “No getting into fights tonight, alright?” He turned to Caiden, “No babysitting me. I’m a big boy.” Then to Luca, “We gotta find you a girl, man.” And then back to Eli, “We gotta get your mind off of Devil.... I mean Devon.” He winked and squeezed his friend’s shoulders. “What do. you want to drink? I’m buying.”
turnnoffyourmind
dailybridgerton
blakekathryn
dededos
prguitarman
