Chapter 10
Kai
Afew days after my late-night adventure, Tāne was waiting for me when I got home from class, looking like a bloody cat who had got the cream.
I froze in the doorway, my hand still on the door handle, and eyed him suspiciously.
“What’s up with your face?”
His grin was unwavering and his dark eyes lit up with delight.
“Something interesting happened today.” He waggled his eyebrows.
“Okay?” I raised my brows in return, waiting for an explanation he clearly wasn’t going to provide any time soon.
“You know I’m horrible at guessing games.” I dumped my bag next to the door. “Just get on with it, would ya?”
“You’re quite uncooperative for someone who apparently wants this.” Suddenly, his hand shot out from behind his back, brandishing a hot pink piece of paper with something scrawled on it.
I squinted at whatever he was flapping at me, strolling to join him in the kitchen.
“Am I supposed to know what this is?” I tilted my head to one side. “Looks like chicken scratch from over here.”
“I reckon. The old bat next door certainly seems to think so.”
“Janet?” I furrowed my brows.
“Ahhh, on a first-name basis with the future grandmother-in-law already, I see.”
“What?!” I spluttered, my eyes widening.
Grinning smugly, Tāne waved the paper around again. Fucker.
“Janet seems to think you really, really need her granddaughter's number.” He sucked his teeth. “Now what could you possibly need her number for, neph?”
I glared at him. “Don’t fuck this up for me.”
“HA! I knew you had a thing for the neighbor girl!” Tāne pointed accusingly at me as if he had just uncovered a conspiracy.
He was terrible when it came to names.
“Her name’s Tori.” I ran my tongue over my teeth. “Getting hard to remember names already, old man?”
Tāne gasped. “I’m only fifteen years older than you, dingus.”
“That’s what I’m sayin’.”
“Bloody rude.” He inspected the paper again. “Not sure I want to give you this now.”
I held out my hand and made a grabbing motion. “Fucking try me. Give it here before I take it from you by force.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Shit. It’s like that, aye?”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” I shrugged.
“Riiight. Keep telling yourself that.” With a smirk, he rounded the kitchen island and slapped the pink paper into my still open palm. “Let me know how that goes for you.”
My fingers greedily closed around it, clutching it like Tāne was about to rip it away from me again.
“Yeah, nah. I’m good.”
“Don’t fuck it up!” he called over his shoulder, chuckling to himself as he disappeared into the living room.
Tosser.
Tori
Judging by the tone of her texts, I could tell Mom had been getting a bit worried.
I'd been avoiding her for a couple of weeks, and this had only really worked because Gran was warfooting it with technology in general, and Mom worked nights so often, our waking hours only overlapped slightly.
Nevertheless, I could tell I was getting close to alarming her, so when my phone buzzed again, I decided to answer it.
“Hi, Mom.”
Her relief was immediate. “Oh, sweetheart. I’ve been trying to catch you for days!”
“Yeah, sorry.” I forced a smile onto my face, hoping it would reflect in my voice. “Just … busy.”
“With school?”
Knife. Twist.
“Mhm.”
“Oh yeah?” I could hear the clinking of dishes in the background. “You keeping up okay? Eating? Sleeping?”
The basics, as always. She would forever be checking if I’d remembered how to be a functioning human.
“Totally. Fine. Great, actually.”
Lie. Lie. Lie.
“That makes me so happy,” she breathed, and a pang of guilt hit me. “I worry, you know. But you always land on your feet. You’re just like your grandmother.”
Don’t know about that, Mom.
“What about you?” I hastily asked, trying to shift the focus off me. “How’s work?”
She launched into a monologue about yoga class, her new friend Sheila and how she’d finally learned what a podcast was. I chimed in when necessary, smiling at all the right moments, even though she couldn’t see me.
“Tori?” she said eventually, more softly. “You sound … tired.”
I forced a chuckle. “That’s college, Mom.”
“You sure you’re okay?”
Yeah. Just drowning in paperwork, misery, and student debt, all while pretending I haven't let myself start to care for a man who's guaranteed to leave.
“Totally.”
There was a pause. She didn’t quite buy it, but she let me keep up the pretense anyway.
“Alright. Call me when you find the time, sweetheart.”
My throat closed.
I opened my mouth.
Nothing came out.
So I lied instead.
“Of course.”
She exhaled, comforted by a promise I probably shouldn't have made.
After we said our goodbyes and the line went dead, I leaned my forehead against the cool glass of the window in my bedroom and took a shaky breath, swallowing everything I couldn’t afford to feel.
Because this was my mess.