Chapter 8
“What happened to you?”
I narrow my eyes at Paige as she drives us to school. “What do you mean?” I pull down the visor and stare at myself in the mirror.
“You look like you didn’t sleep.”
Both of my eyes are bloodshot red. “Because I didn’t,” I say with a giggle.
“What does that mean?”
It was hard for Kai and me to leave each other last night.
I felt so protected in his arms, making it hard to want to leave.
He dropped me back off at four in the morning, only giving us three hours to sleep before school.
It was hard waking up this morning, but I couldn’t think of a good excuse to get out of school since I was supposedly sick last weekend.
“I snuck out last night.”
“What!” she says and slams on her brakes at the red light.
“Oh, my God, Paige. Pay attention.”
“Sorry. But what!” she exclaims and turns to me while we wait at the light.
“Kai picked me up,” I say with a big grin on my face.
“No way. What did you guys do?”
The light turns green, and she slowly steps on the pedal. Not fast enough, because the group of guys behind us honks at us.
“We went to the park by my house and hung out.”
“That’s all?”
I look at her, puzzled.
“Did you finally sleep with him?”
“Jesus, Paige. Just because you sleep around doesn’t mean I am.” I nudge her side.
“You bitch. You make it sound like I’m a hoe. I’ve only slept with one guy.”
After parking at our school, we hear, “Drive faster next time.” It’s the same group of guys that honked at us earlier. We both roll our eyes as they walk away from us, laughing. What assholes.
“Did you at least kiss?”
“Obviously.”
She squeals. “Finally.”
I shake my head, not understanding why she’s so excited for me. I know friends get excited for one another with these kinds of things, but now it’s just weird.
“What?” she says, eyeing me.
“Nothing.”
My ears fill up with all the noise and chatter from everyone inside the school. This day is going to drag. I can already feel it.
“I thought you would have lost your virginity by now.”
“Can you say that any louder?” I mumble. The beating in my head is starting with the lack of sleep.
“No one heard.”
“Maybe I’m waiting for the right person.”
“I thought I lost it to the right person, but now look at us.”
That’s exactly why I’ve been waiting. Paige was so down on herself when she and Jace broke up.
I guess she believed him when he said they would be high school sweethearts.
Now we know he only told her to get into her pants.
I’m definitely not looking for a Jace. I’m not losing my virginity until I find someone who will stay.
I collapse on my bed after a long day of school. I’ve been dying for a nap all day. Every period, I struggled to keep my eyes open. Until I actually fell asleep after lunch. The teacher wasn’t so happy about that.
The day dragged on longer than any other day. I feel even worse for Kai. He has to go to work after his classes. At least I can take a nap.
I’m awakened from my sleep when Brynlee taps my shoulder. “What?”
“Mom told me to come get you for dinner.”
I sit up and reach for my phone. It’s already six-thirty. I slept for three hours. "Okay, I’m coming.”
I follow behind Brynlee's little footsteps into the kitchen. A Domino’s pizza box lays on the table. Usually, when my mom brings home food, it’s because she’s too tired to cook after work. I enjoy her home cooking, but I also like to eat out.
“What were you doing? We kept calling you.”
“She was sleeping.” Brynlee cuts me off.
I didn’t hear any of them come home or call for me. I must have been dead asleep. My stomach grumbles. I usually eat a snack after school, but I was way too tired, and now I’m overly hungry.
As I take a bite of pizza, I look at my phone.
Kai: Miss U
Kai: Sneak out again 2nite.
“What are you smiling about?”
I jerk back, startled by the question as if my mom is reading my text messages. “Nothing,” I say with pursed lips.
"Whooo, Blakely has a boyfriend.”
I narrow my eyes at my sister.
“Is it a guy?” my mom asks.
“Maybe.” I can’t help but giggle.
“Blakely and the boy sitting in the tree, K I S S I N G!” my sister sing-songs.
Both my mom and I laugh. “Do you have a boyfriend, Bryn?”
“Ew, no. Boys are gross,” she says, nibbling on her pizza.
“Do you think anyone is hot in your class?”
“Yeah, but I think they get cold sometimes, too.”
My lips press together, trying to hold in my laugh. I glance over at my mom and she’s trying to hold in her laugh, too. Brynlee looks between us both and realizes we’re stifling our laughter.
“What?” she asks.
Both my mom and I glance at each other, shaking our heads. “Nothing, honey,” my mom says. “Finish your pizza so we can get you in the bath.”
I’m waiting for Kai outside, underneath the tree. This time, I was prepared and came out early. He drives up next to me, I get in, and we head down the street.
“How was work?”
“I was so tired.”
After dinner, I texted Kai back and said I would sneak out again. After Brynlee got out of the bath, I went in, took a shower, and came out in my pajamas so my mom would see I was getting ready for bed. I washed all my makeup off so it would seem legit that I was going to bed.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. I enjoy spending time with you.” Kai heads to the same park we went to last time.
“But maybe it’s better we hang out after you get off work.”
“This is the only time I can because Kevin uses the car after work.”
I never thought about that. Maybe if I get a job, we can both save up for a car and share it. That would make it easier to save up, rather than just one of us saving. I doubt my mom would go for that.
We park in the same spot as last time. In the farthest corner, away from the streetlights.
Kai reaches back and grabs the blankets he brought.
The summer is ending, and the nights are cooling down now.
Kai places one blanket on the grass and the other on top of us.
As we lie down, Kai extends an arm, letting me rest my head on his arm and against his chest.
I look up at the stars glowing.
It feels nice to be wanted like he wants me. He always asks me to hang out. Maybe I should ask him too sometime. He always beats me to it, so I never get the chance. Is it the guy’s job to ask?
“What are you thinking?” he asks.
“Nothing.”
He reaches down and tickles my stomach, making my stomach harden, and my laughter erupts. “Tell me.”
“Okay,” I say in between laughs.
“I was thinking how nice it is that you always want to see me.”
“That’s because I like you.”
I dig my head deeper into his chest as he wraps his arm around me. “I like you too.”
“Are you new to our school? Come to think of it, I’ve never seen you before.”
Why did that pop into my head suddenly? I meant to ask him that a while ago.
“Yeah. I am.”
“Where did you go to before?”
“It was called West High in Salt Lake.”
I’ve also noticed he doesn’t have many friends down here. It doesn’t seem like he talks to anyone at school. His friend Owen doesn’t go to our school.
“Why did you move?”
“My parents split. My brother was already going to college down here, so we moved closer to him so he could help my mom out with me.” He pauses before saying, “That’s why I’m at my brother’s.
My mom isn’t doing good with it. I feel bad sometimes, like I’m a bother when she worries about me, so I stay with my brother. ”
I swallow the lump in my throat.
“My mom and dad split, too.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. After they had my little sister, which was an accident, he didn’t involve himself in our lives that much. My mom got sick of it and kicked him out. She said she was practically raising us by herself anyway, so it made no difference.”
I remember that day vividly. It was on a Saturday night when their yelling woke me up, something that started happening more often after having my little sister.
I remember my mom was having a hard time getting Brynlee to stop crying.
She would sit on the couch with her head in her hands and cry.
I was only ten. I didn’t know what to do.
I would go into my sister’s room and shhh her and rub her stomach to calm her.
My mom was always upset with my dad and his drinking.
That night, he came home drunk and continued drinking.
That was the first night I heard my mom tell him to leave and never come back.
He didn’t leave that night. It took him a few months to finally leave after that.
“Do you still see your dad?” Kai asks.
“At first, we did. But my mom would only let him come to the house and see us. He drank a lot, so she was worried he would be drunk with us.”
“My dad, too.”
I understand now why his parents split. If his dad was a drunk too, I can’t picture his mom wanting to stay with him.
It’s nice that we have something in common.
Growing up with a single mom is hard. I watched it with mine, and he’s watching it with his.
Even though I don’t know him well yet, it feels like a thread stretching between us, bonding us in a way only addict parents can.