"Hey, Kiko? I'm back." the Polynesian girl shouted, coming into a small house located in the rural areas of Inna De Poona.

Justin looked at the house, realizing this was a major downgrade than what Brooke had provided for Lailani before she fired her. Brooke really did this poor girl dirty.

He sat down on the worn-out looking couch while the Polynesian girl began settling down. His luggage was relatively small, so he didn't need to carry much.

"I'm gonna go set up my bedroom so you can sleep in it." she said.

"Wait, I'm sleeping with you?" he asked, thinking that was a bit weird.

She blushed, knowing something like this has happened before. "Y-Yeah. JUST sleeping. No need to worry."

She walked away, prepping her bedroom to accommodate two people.

"Jeez, things seem a bit rough over here." JD said to himself.

The house was a bit worn down. The couch was made of faux leather that was slightly ripped. The carpets were a dark brown, having some visible stains that looked to be residue of canned pasta or baby food. The whole place was an obvious train wreck.

Wonder why her cousin lives in a place like this?

Suddenly, there was another person sitting on the couch next to him. He could feel their prescence once they sat down, but he had no idea who this was.

"Excuse me, Mister?" the youthful voice said, sounding a bit quiet and shy.

He turned his head and saw the person. It looked to be like a little girl, roughly 8-years old. She had tan skin, just like Lailani's.

"Uh..." he awkwardly said, feeling a bit nervous around this strange child. I've never been good with children...

But then, another person walked into the living room. She looked to be older, around 30-years old. Her skin was also very tan, though that wasn't enough to hide her eyebags and obvious drinking problems.

"Tawna, what's uh... What are you doing? Who's this weirdo?" she said, sounding a bit drunk.

Lailani came out, realizing that her cousins had seen their guest.

"Oh good. You're awake." the Polynesian said to her older cousin.

"Lailani... W-Who's this strange guy in our house? Is he your boyfriend?"

Yeah, right.

"Kiko, this is my friend from America. This is Justin Dark from Commotion City. Justin, these are my cousins, Kiko and Tawna."

"Heh... Hi there." Justin said, nervously waving and introducing himself.

The Polynesian mother slowly blinked, looking very unimpressed. Though, she was probably too intoxicated to have an opinion.

"So, this is the guy you did three-ways with last year?"

What the fuck?

"Ah, Kiko!" Lailani shouted, feeling very embarrassed that she said that in front of her own daughter.

Tawna looked at him. "Mister, what's a three-way?"

Oh shit. This is NOT how you start a conversation. She's just a little girl. What do I say?

"It's when you have three highways to choose from when driving. You'll learn about them when you're older." he replied, hiding the real meaning of 'three-ways' from this innocent child.

"Y-Yeah. He's right, Tawna. No need to worry." she added, confirming to the child that this was what it meant.

The young girl understood. "Okay then." she said, getting up and going into her room.

"Make yourself at home, Justin. I'm not sober enough to talk yet. I need to go to my room and pass out." Kiko stated.

The Polynesian mother began to head to her room but ended up collapsing on the floor. She had obviously drank too much before they arrived.

The Polynesian girl walked over to her unconscious older cousin, having a look of concern on her face.

"I'll take care of her. You go to my room and settle down for the night. It's been a long day. You need to rest." Lailani said, beginning to drag her alcoholic cousin into her bedroom.

He nodded, going to the room that obviously belonged to her. The words 'Lailani Kealoha' were blatantly on the door, which was odd.

Justin went in, seeing that she had prepared the room all nice and neat for the two of them. However, there was no air mattress on the floor, nor another bed in sight. She just grabbed another pillow to put on her twin-sized bed.

He knew he was going to be sleeping with her during his visit, which was very odd. Does she not know I'm with Tiffany or some shit? I know she's a closet-freak and all, but this is ridiculous.

Lailani walked in, looking exhausted after the long day she had.

"Hey, Lailani? Where's my bed?" he asked, wondering if she had another bed or not.

"Oh," she replied. "Well, there isn't one. You're going to be sharing the bed with me, if that's okay with you."

Hearing her say that seemed a bit surreal. If this were last year, he wouldn't be opposed to sleeping with her. However, things were much different now. I don't think I can do it. It's like I'm cheating...

"Are you sure about this?"

She tilted her head in confusion. "About what? Sleeping in bed with me?"

"Y-Yeah. It's pretty weird sharing a bed with you now since, you know? Since me and Tiffany are together. It would be pretty awkward."

She frowned, thinking that he was making a big deal over this. "I'm sorry if that makes you uncomfortable. You can sleep on the couch if you'd prefer that."

Damn. Am I being rude? Shit, maybe I should disregard my morals for this once. I never get to see Lailani that much. This is the least I could do.

"No, I think sharing the bed with you would be better." he said, hopping in to his Polynesian friend's bed.

She chuckled, somewhat relieved that he changed his mind.

Lainlani then crawled into bed with him, taking off her orange flip flops. The Polynesian girl was always a bit odd. She always wore those, even once stating she'd walk around bare-foot if she could. Man, I think she has a foot fetish or some shit. Wear some shoes for once.

As they were laying in bed, ready to drift off to sleep, there were still so many questions that JD needed to be answered.

"So, what happened between you and Brooke?" he asked, jumping straight to the point.

She looked at him, not comfortable telling the whole story, considering that they were both trying to go to sleep.

"We'll talk more about it tomorrow. Just get some rest, okay?" she said, proceeding to cuddle him. being the big spoon.

"You know my every weakness." he stated, being a bit sarcastic.

She let out a huge yawn, not responding to his sarcasm. It really was time to go to bed. They fell asleep, ready for a full-day tomorrow.

But the last thought on Justin's mind was: I need to try to call Tiffany ASAP.

The next morning, Justin woke up at his usual time, 10 o'clock in the morning. But to his surprise, Lailani was also still asleep at this time.

Damn, looks like we both slept in.

However, she woke up, most likely having the feeling that he wasn't that far in front of her.

"yawn. Good morning." the Polynesian girl said to her long-distance friend.

He was still too drowsy to give a proper response.

"Hey, wake up, sleepyhead."

Again, he didn't respond. He also started to close his eyes again, possibly wanting to sleep in even more.

"Hey, get up." Lailani said, encouraging her friend to get out of bed.

Of course, he wouldn't budge.

"I'll make you waffles!" she added, hoping that would motivate him to wake up.

However, the moment the W word came out of her mouth, his eyes shot wide open.

"NO!" he shouted.

The Polynesian girl looked at him, feeling very confused. "W-What? Why not?"

"Don't make me waffles." he said, sounding hysterical. "Make pancakes instead. Or French Toast, or fucking muffins."

"What's the matter with you?" she asked, not aware as to why he was so opposed to her kindly offering to make him waffles.

He shrugged, realizing that his Polynesian friend didn't know why he chose not to eat, or even say, anything about waffles.

"Y-You'll learn more as I stay here, just like how I'll learn more about what happened between you and Ms. Belrose."

Lailani nodded. She wasn't aware of the Waffleslam situation. It had been too long since they've actually spoken. Shit, now I feel bad. Same old Justin Dark: always making things awkward for everyone.

They both went into the kitchen, seeing Kiko and Tawna already awake.

"Morning, Mrs. Kiko." he said, greeting the Polynesian mother, who was suffering from a terrible hangover.

"Ugh... I'm not married. Just call me Kiko." she said, feeling disgust.

"Alright." he replied, feeling even more awkward referring to her as Mrs. instead of Ms.

The Polynesian mother then raised the newspaper up, not wanting to pay attention to the random guest that her younger cousin brought into their house.

Tawna, on the other hand, couldn't stop paying attention to him. She kept giving him that wide-stare, focusing her big eyes on him.

"What?" he said, not knowing what the little girl wanted.

"Your skin's so light." she said, seeming as if she had never seen a pale-skinned person before.

"Um, thanks? Your skin's so... tan?"

The little girl then walked off, being very awkward. Lailani just looked at him, knowing this was a bit uncomfortable for her close-friend, who had just discharged from a mental hospital the day before.

"Don't worry about her. She's just tired, that's all." the Polynesian girl reassured.

Kiko put the newspaper down, thinking she could put in a few words.

"So, what's the deal here?" she asked her cousin.

"W-What do you mean?"

"Like, is he your boyfriend, or is he your friend, or is he your fuckboy?" she asked, still being vulgar.

"KIKO!" Lailani shouted, thinking this was very inappropriate.

"What? I'm just asking."

"sigh He's just my friend. I'm looking over him for the next two weeks to help him get back on his feet."

"Really?" the Polynesian mother replied. "Are you sure he's just not here to suck on YOUR feet?"

Justin suddenly got a bad feeling in his stomach, nearly vomiting. Lailani was in shock at how vulgar her hungover cousin was being.

"T-That was completely uncalled for." she said, feeling just as disgusted as her friend.

"Whatever. Anyway, I'm gonna go get ready for work, okay? If you two plan on fucking, could you please keep it down? I have an 8 year old daughter in here."

Wow, Ms. K is such a hypocrite.

"Uh... H-Have a good day at work." the Polynesian girl said, feeling a bit on edge.

"With my job, there are no good days. Speaking of which..."

Kiko then grabbed a small bottle of alcohol, looking like she was going to bring it to work with her.

"Can't go to work without my keycard."

She eventually left, leaving JD alone with his friend and her little cousin. Him and Lailani chilled out in her bedroom for most of the day. However, he still had so many questions in his mind, but after what he witnessed with her older cousin, he needed to ask this one first.

"So, what's the deal with your cousin?" he asked.

Lailani looked at him, not knowing which cousin he was referring to.

"Tawna or Kiko?" she asked.

"Err... BOTH of them." he blatantly said, thinking Tawna was also a bit troubled, just like her mother.

She let out a sigh, ready to get into some controversial territory about her distant family members.

"Kiko had a bad break-up last year. Ever since her husband left her, she's been drinking more. She was never like this until it started. She used to be sweet and caring."

"So, in other words: She relies on alcohol in order to function?"

"Mmhmm." the Polynesian girl said, nodding her head. "Her husband left her out of nowhere and never came back. Now, she's stuck taking care of Tawna all by herself. That's why I'm here now, especially after what Ms. Belrose did."

"I know, I know. And what about Tawna? Why is she so weird around me?"

"It's mainly because she doesn't know you. Tawna's always been shy around strangers, especially people from outside of the tropics."

Ah, I get that feeling now. She's very shy and not used to outsiders. I knew it wasn't a racial thing. She's only a child.

"So, what happened between you and Brooke?"

And there it was: the big question he had on his mind ever since he arrived on the island.

"I-It's a bit complicated. But, basically: I told Ms. Belrose about some stuff. I told her I that I didn't like what she was doing and what happened to Suki. Then, me and her got into a little argument and next thing I knew: she fired me."

"Really?"

"Y-Yeah. Some of the things she said made me cry that day. I had to leave Love Lei Resort. The only family I had left that wanted to take me in was my cousin Kiko."

Nobody makes Lailani cry. I'm definitely gonna confront Brooke while I'm here.

"What about your parents?"

"They... They don't talk to me anymore. We had a bad fallout a couple of years ago. That's why I don't stay with them... Or talk about them."

"L-Lailani..." he said, rubbing her shoulder. "I'm so sorry. I know what it's like. I'm basically in the same boat, as far as family goes. We haven't spoken much since last year. Mom doesn't even know that I was in the psych ward."

She nodded, already sort of aware of this.

"That's understandable. I can see why you wouldn't wanna tell her about something like that."

He hugged her, knowing she had gone through a lot within the last year. Losing her job, moving in with her alcoholic cousin, cleaning up after a young child. It was a lot to take on in such a short amount of time.

"This year's been crazy. I've had a lot happen to me since we last met."

"I could tell." she said, eyeing his disgusting black hair.

"What are you-? Oh, yeah." he replied, realizing she still didn't like his current hair dew.

Justin frowned, feeling a bit embarrassed that his long-distance friend had to see him looking like this.

"Don't worry. I have a special herbal wash that'll clean it right out."

He smiled at her, thinking she was being too kind.

"I sure hope so. But still, we need to look out for each other. I have a lot of people after me online. So, we should watch each other's backs."

"Y-Yeah. I try to stay offline to take care of Kiko and Tawna. Things are pretty rough over here."

For real. The house is a mess.

"T-Thank you, Lailani. Really, I mean it. You didn't have to take me in while Tiffany's dealing with whatever back home."

"It's no trouble. I'm glad I get to see you again. Tiffany's the one who suggested it."

I really need to call Tiffany later...

JD was a man who had faced several demons in the last few months, more so than most people did in an entire life time.

Regardless, it was nice to have some sort of support in his life. Tiffany, Audrey, Nikki, Jessie, Aiko, Vin, Connor, and Lailani were some of the most supportive people he had ever met. He even became closer with the ones who he didn't talk to that much.

However, many thoughts were still in his head:

Why did Brooke do this? She really is a narcissist.

Polly still lives here, I think? I dunno. Haven't checked Polly's Paradise in months.

Abia... Wonder what she's up to these days?

I hope Tiffany's alright. I was doxed before I was put into Blackwing...

Waffleslam had better not come after me. Stefano's a scumbag. Shit, wonder if Percy actually got him a flight to CC? Fuck, the problems are still here, but at least Joseph's out of my head...