Two tickets

She had no more fight in her. Toda dragged her broken body into her room, climbing into her bed. She had taken a hell of a beating that night. She dropped onto the bed, eyes closing. She had to put up with Hama for a full day, she failed a test, and she got her ass kicked at club.

As she closed her eyes, she felt tears slipping, the salt stinging the scrapes along the right side of her face. She wanted to rewind a few months, back to when everything was so great. When she had friends outside of the swim team. When she could hang out with Austin and Xadrian, and she was getting herself back together.

As her tears started coming faster, she heard her phone start beeping. The beeping was from Skype messages. She rolled slowly to the phone, swiping her finger across the screen and looking at the messages.

Aus:   Hey! Xay and I wanna skype. You up for it?

Toda felt her stomach drop. It felt like forever since she had seen them. She scrambled to her charger, making sure her phone had enough of a charge, then she quickly pressed the call button, heart thumping.

Two faces appeared on her tiny screen. Austin's eyes lit up, smiling brightly, "Toda! Oh shit, did you just get back from club? How's 'Suke doing?"

Toda covered her mouth, trying to keep herself together, just so happy to see them. "Y-Yeah. Yeah, I got a good fight tonight." She smiled weakly, a few tears escaping. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you guys right now."

Xadrian frowned, nudging Austin, "Hey, can I talk with her alone for a minute?" Austin rolled her eyes and stopped off, making Toda laugh. She quickly wiped her eyes, unable to meet his gaze on the screen. "Toda... Are you crying?"

Toda felt her lip quiver, more tears falling down her cheeks, "N-No. No. I'm not crying..." Her body started to shake as she started losing her resolve. "I just... Damn it."

Xadrian gave a small laugh, adjusting the screen on his end so he could get close to the camera. "Hey, stop. Come on. Look at me." As she looked up, he gave her a half assed smile, "We were talking about how much we missed you. Maybe we can come back some time soon."

She wiped her tears, giving him a real smile. "Xay, please don't play with me. It's difficult enough. Fucking Hama and Sachi- He sent me a ten second clip of them hooking up! That raging prick. And after, I was so mad, I failed a huge test, and I fucking-" She stopped, regaining her composure and wiping her eyes, "I got into a fight with someone a lot bigger than me at club. And he messed me up pretty badly."

His smile comforted her, even if he was trying to make her feel better. "Breathe, Toda. Calm down." He held up two Delta tickets, "Like I said. We miss you. A lot."

Toda stared at the tickets, her face going completely blank. "...Xay. Xadrian." She nearly dropped her phone as she stood, looking closely at the screen, "Xadrian! What are those?! Are those fucking tickets?! ARE THOSE FUCKING PLANE TICKETS?!" Her door flew open, her brother and Retasu standing there, looking alarmed. She had the biggest smile on her face, running and showing the screen to Miyuki, the charger falling to the ground "PLANE TICKETS!"

Miyuki took the phone, and Xadrian held them closer to the screen, amused at Toda's reaction. Miyuki laughed, waving, "Good to see you again, Xadrian. You can crash with us when you get here."

Toda looked at him, eyes wide, "For real? They can?!" She took the screen back, eyes wide, "Will you?! Please, Xay, Austin can stay too!" She kept wiping her eyes, starting to cry again. "Oh damn it, I don't care where you stay. You're gonna be here and I just-"

Xadrian's laugh made her heart skip a beat, "We'll be there in a month. Think you can behave until then? No arrests, no hospital stays?" She nodded quickly, lips quivering. "Good. Now you need to go to bed. It's late there."

Toda looked at Miyuki and Retasu, who were smiling at her. "He's right. You need to get some sleep."

She sighed, trying to relax. "Okay. Okay." She waved the boys off, laying on her bed as the door shut. "I can't wait to see you..."

His voice was soft, like he was trying to keep it low, "I miss you."

Toda's smile was small, and she propped her phone up so the camera was facing her, "I miss you too. Loser."