7. Seven
SEVEN
SEVEN
Caleb is on his phone, not eating his lunch. I glare at him, but it doesn’t draw his attention.
“Isn’t today your day off?” I ask him, kicking his leg under the table.
“Yes and no,” Caleb answers. “I didn’t have plans, but there’s an issue with one of the VIPs…” He gets up, kisses the top of my head, then goes into the bedroom.
Nacho takes the opportunity to jump into the chair Caleb vacated and sniffs at the half-eaten fish tacos.
I sigh, my shoulders drooping. “No, that’s not yours,” I tell Nacho.
I’d really thought we could have a good day, only me and Caleb, but it seems like I can’t even have that. I shouldn’t be upset. I could probably call Vortex or Havoc, but I know Vortex is busy with Connie and Havoc is running errands or doing whatever it is Caleb actually pays him for.
A knock at the door startles me. I grab Nacho and pull him against my chest, looking between the front door and Caleb’s room. My entire body tenses up.
Nacho meows loudly.
“Caleb? Come on, we’ll be late!” a familiar voice calls through the door.
“I’m coming!” Caleb shouts back. He’s dressed in a full suit now, and he goes to the door. His shoulders are tight, and his expression betrays his annoyance.
Trent is on the other side.
“I told you I’d meet you downstairs,” Caleb says to Trent, making my heart drop into my stomach. So much for us spending the day together. “There was no need for you to…” He trails off. “Oh. Hi, Lori.”
Caleb steps aside, and a young girl who only reaches Caleb’s chest walks through. Her dark brown hair is pulled into a ponytail, and she’s wearing a shirt with some anime characters on the front and a pair of jeans.
I eye Lori, finally able to put a name to someone I’ve only talked to via text.
“Hi,” I say cautiously. Nacho starts squirming in my arms, and I set him down — only for him to run straight for Lori and rub against her ankles.
“Crap, sorry,” I say, remembering that she’s allergic. “I’ll put him in my room.”
“It’s okay! I took allergy meds before I got here!” Lori says, smiling widely. She hunches down to pet Nacho. “Who’s a good little Nacho? All covered in queso already.”
Caleb looks between Lori and Trent. “Not that I don’t appreciate seeing Lori, but what’s she doing here?”
Lori lets out a very loud sigh. “For some reason, Mom and Dad didn’t trust me to stay home alone. So I need a supervisor while they’re both busy and I’m not in school.”
Trent very visibly rolls his eyes. “The reason is because the last time we left you on your own, you ended up leaving without telling us where you were going.”
I see Lori make an annoyed face. “I was just over at Toby’s. Jeez.” Lori stands up and turns to face Trent. “We’re here now. Go away, I don’t need you anymore.”
Trent clutches his chest. “You wound me, foul daughter. Wait and see if I’ll take you out to Khaw Thai for dinner.”
The Thai restaurant in the casino is one of Caleb’s favorites.
Lori laughs, then she looks over at Caleb. “We don’t need Dad for that, right? We can go without him.”
“Of course,” Caleb answers, smiling gently at her. “In fact, I’ll tell the staff to ban your father for tonight.”
Lori laughs while Trent makes fake protests.
I feel more awkward than ever.
I wish I could joke around like this. I wish I knew how to joke around like this. I’m learning, but I’m not comfortable with it.
I walk toward Caleb and press against his side. “You’re leaving?” I ask, trying to hide how unhappy I am about that but failing.
“It should only be an hour or so,” Caleb says. He glances at his watch. “Forty-five minutes.”
“What’s the over/under on the real time?” Lori asks with a big smile. “I bet it’s closer to an hour and a half.”
“Nope! You are not betting,” Trent says immediately. “State law says you have to be over eighteen to bet. Until then, you will keep my money away from the gambling table.”
“It’ll be forty-five minutes,” Caleb adds. He waves to us. “Seven, you can keep Lori company for a bit. There were new episodes of your martial arts lawyer anime, right?”
Panic seizes me, and I shoot him a desperate look.
I don’t know what to do with children, or teenagers, or whatever she is.
I only know hollow-eyed, terrified kids, not ones who are well-adjusted and happy .
“Yes, but—” I begin, but I don’t know how to tell him I can’t do this without making myself seem like a jerk.
“We’ll be back soon,” Caleb promises, before he and Trent head out and shut the door behind them.
Lori gets up and starts walking toward the living room. “Miss K? Miss K, where’s my favorite kitty?”
Miss K saunters out of Caleb’s bedroom, like she recognized Lori’s voice. She goes to her immediately and rubs up against her legs. Normally Miss K is more standoffish with visitors. It took her forever to warm up to Havoc.
I watch the two of them, feeling helpless. The memories from the other day are gnawing at me, and if Caleb hadn’t seemed so surprised to see Lori, I’d have thought this was planned to keep me occupied.
“Do you want to watch it?” I ask tentatively, going to the couch and sitting down so I can fiddle with the app on my phone that controls the TV.
“Yeah!” Lori scoops up Miss K and plops herself down on the couch right next to me. “I was going to watch last night, but I got caught up in reading this really long fanfic.” She blushes. “Anyway. Let’s watch the episode. I bet the woman with the cat is the real murderer.”
“I think so, too,” I say. I turn the show on, and we start to watch.
“I love how close Mitsuki and Natsumi are,” Lori says. “They’re always there for each other. Always ready to defend each other. Even though they started as rivals!”
On screen, Mitsuki and Natsumi are fighting back to back against their enemy.
I nod, entranced by the scene. I clench my hand into a fist and try to mimic a punch, the way Havoc had taught me. “Fighting in sync like that must be hard.”
“It just means their relationship is really strong!” Lori says. She bounces on the couch when the two land a punch on the main enemy at the same time. “That’s what I mean!”
I imagine fighting side by side with Havoc or Vortex.
That feels less realistic, but that’s why Martial Law is an anime and not real life.
Maybe I should ask Havoc to teach me moves like that. Maybe it would be easier if I imagined myself as Mitsuki and Havoc as Natsumi.
I don’t think either of us could pull off the super moves though.
“Hah, I knew it! Cat lady did it!” Lori says when the big boss reveals herself.
“She was the most suspicious.” I smile, though, glad that my prediction was correct. Caleb is always really good at figuring out who did it, and he was trying to teach me about how shows work. I guess some of it stuck.
While the end credits roll, I notice Lori tapping on her phone. I glance over and see a treasure chest that opens to reveal some sparkling gems. She bites her lips and taps again to open yet another treasure chest.
“What’s that?” I ask, only to be mortified to be caught having watched to begin with. “Sorry!” I quickly say. “I didn’t mean to look at your phone or anything.”
“Huh? It’s fine.” Lori taps again and shows a game with anime art.
“I was doing my dailies. And a new banner started, so I figured I could try my luck with some rolls. I didn’t get the SSR character I wanted though.
” She clicks over to something that shows off different characters.
“If you get the SSR costumes, there’s extra scenes.
This guy is my fave, so I only roll when it’s his banner?—”
I don’t understand any of it, but Lori shows me how I can download it on my phone, too. There’s an intro story about the main character being swept into another world, and from there, you collect fighters to help on the travels.
“You have a few free spins to start you off,” Lori says. “And you’re guaranteed an SSR in your first ten spins when you make a new account.”
She explains that SSRs are super super rare characters, and that there are low chances you can get one. Each day, the game gives you chances to earn more treasure chests, but you can also buy more.
I open three chests and get the SSR character that Lori wanted.
I grin widely. “I won!”
“You did!” Lori agrees. “Sometimes I’m tempted to start a new account whenever a new event rolls around so I have those guaranteed pulls.”
“You mean you’re guaranteed to win that way?
” I ask, struggling to understand the concepts — but I know I like the idea of being guaranteed to win something .
“What if you buy more?” Caleb let me connect my debit card to my phone so I can buy music and books, and I’ll be able to use that to buy things through the game, too.
“Yeah, but it’s annoying since you have to remember all the logins. If you buy more chests, you get more pulls. The percentages are listed here…”
Lori is still showing me how to play, the anime forgotten, when Trent and Caleb return.
“Who’s hungry?” Trent asks. “We have a reservation for three?—”
“So, me, Uncle Caleb, and Seven?” Lori asks cheekily.
Trent sticks his tongue out at her. “No, it’s for me, Caleb, and Seven.”
“Daaad!” Lori shrieks. She gets off the couch, taking a pillow with her, and goes to pummel her dad.
Caleb comes to sit beside me, loosening his tie. “The reservation is for four. You can come with us if you want, Seven. I wasn’t sure if you’d be interested.” He glances at his watch and scowls. “Has it really been an hour and a half?”
“See! I told you!” Lori shouts. Then she starts giggling, because Trent is attempting to lift her and failing.
I’m torn between wanting to go so Lori can tell me more about the game and wanting to stay home to try it myself. My day alone with Caleb seems less important now, less immediate, and I’m not sure I want to be around Trent.
I still haven’t quite forgiven him for stopping me from jumping off the balcony that day.
Maybe I’m glad I didn’t, but in a way, things would’ve been so much simpler for everyone if I had.
I look at Caleb. He’s watching me, and my heart races as I wonder if he knows what I’m thinking. Sometimes he seems almost prescient, but he doesn’t push me to go.
“Will you bring me something back?” I finally ask. “I think I want to take a nap.” I have a feeling Caleb wouldn’t approve of the game.
“Maybe we can order the food and eat it here?” Lori asks. “Seven, I wanted to show you this other anime too! And we didn’t even talk about the Natsumi and Mitsuki scene from episode fifteen?—”
“My daughter, the weeb,” Trent declares. He hooks his arm around Lori’s shoulder. “Come on, let’s give Seven a break. And your lungs, for that matter. Your eyes are very red right now.”
“I’m fine ,” Lori says, but now that Trent mentioned it, I realize that her eyes are watering.
“Seven will keep the cats company. And he just ate, anyway,” Caleb says.
“I’ll send you links to the fanfics I read!” Lori says as Trent leads her away. “Read them so we can discuss, okay?”
I’m still not entirely sure what she means by fanfics, but I nod. If it’s something about Martial Law , it should be interesting.
Caleb ruffles my hair. “I’ll be back soon. Call or text if you need anything from me. Havoc and Vortex should be free too, if you need company.”
I nod. “I’ll be okay,” I promise, smiling up at him.
He kisses me, then the three of them leave.
Once they’re gone, I open up the game again, furrowing my brows as I start playing with the rolls. It doesn’t take long to run out of the free ones, and I hesitate only briefly before buying another few chests.
At least with the game, I can win sometimes.
I wonder if there are blackjack games too.
I go back to the app store, discovering that there are several. I download one of those, too, discovering that it’s even easier than the tables downstairs — and it has the added benefit of being safer.
Suddenly, being stuck in the apartment seems more appealing. I don’t have to leave to do what I enjoy.
And maybe, just maybe, my luck will finally turn around.