Chapter 4
CHAPTER FOUR
SERENA
A fter getting home, I sent Dominick a text that I arrived safely, and that turned into another phone call that lasted until almost midnight. We talked a little about everything but kept the conversation light. He asked about my classes; I asked him how he decided to go into law enforcement. He told me more about his partners, Eric and Dane, and I told him about my favorite drinks at the coffee shop. We talked about movies too—his favorite ( Fight Club ) and my favorite ( Shaun of the Dead )—and what our date would be like on Thursday. He didn’t go into much detail other than he would be picking me up at my house at seven, and the rest would be a surprise. I tried to argue and say I’d meet him somewhere so he wouldn’t have to go out of his way to pick me up, but he insisted.
Now I’m sitting in psych class, head bobbing from tiredness. Professor Stein’s droning voice is a struggle to pay attention to on the best of days, but today, running on only four hours of sleep, it has me fighting to stay awake.
A pinch on my thigh has me jerking my head up from where I had it resting on my hand. “Ouch. What the fuck,” I angry whisper at Kai.
“You were drooling,” he responds, not taking his eyes from the white board up front where Professor Stein is writing up the traits of narcissistic personality disorder.
“Was not,” I huff indignantly, folding my arms across my chest. His only response is to tap his pen on my notebook page where there is a noticeable wet spot smearing the ink on my notes. My cheeks flush in embarrassment, and I see his lips quirk up in a smirk out of the corner of my eye.
“Keep your mouth shut,” I mutter as I go back to taking notes. He just presses his full lips into a flat line, trying his best to contain the chuckle trying to escape.
“So where is Dudley taking you on your date?” Kai asks as he shoves a huge bite of pizza into his mouth. We have a long break between classes right now, so we are eating lunch and working on our outlines for our psych papers.
“Dunno.” I pop a shoulder as I take a sip of my Cherry Coke. “He won’t tell me. I just know he’s picking me up at seven.”
“Do you need me to hang out with your mom or anything while you’re out?” Kai’s offer surprises me. He’s stayed with Mom before when Mrs. G couldn’t be there, but it’s usually only when I have no other options. He’s busy himself with work and class so I try not to intrude on his free time when he gets to work on his photography.
“Nah, Mrs. G is staying. She won’t miss the opportunity to embarrass me in front of Dominick, I’m sure. Did I tell you about her cabana boy story?”
“No, and I really don’t need to hear it either.” Kai grimaces as he puts his large hand over my mouth in an attempt to hush me. He should know by now that move doesn’t work on me. I stick out my tongue and lick his palm, causing him to pull away.
“Dude.” He shakes his head in disgust when I giggle at him.
“But she said his tally whacker was as big as one of those giant zucchinis!” I do my best impersonation of Mrs. G while Kai tries covering his ears to block me out. “They don’t make them like they used to, ReRe! That boy damn near split me in half!” I double over in a fit of laughter as Kai starts singing loudly, trying to drown me out. Kai just rolls his eyes at me, familiar with the kind of stories Mrs. G likes to tell. She has regaled him with a few when she has cornered him at my house.
We draw a few curious looks from other students nearby, so I cool it on the zucchini talk and focus back on our work. “What are you writing your paper about?” I lean over, trying to sort out the mess that is Kai’s notes. Kai is brilliant but disorganized. He always struggles with getting his thoughts in order, so that’s usually where I come in when we work on assignments together.
“I dunno. I think borderline personality disorder or maybe the narcissistic one he was talking about today. Seemed interesting. You?”
I shrug, unsure of which one I want to write about. “I’m leaning towards the dependent one. It reminds me a lot of you, needing someone to take care of them all the time.” My lips quirk up in a grin, and Kai gives me a playful shove.
“Yeah, fuck you too.” He laughs as he goes back to sorting through his notes. We resume our work as we finish off the pizza that Kai bought us. He thinks he’s subtle about how he takes care of me, but I notice. I always notice how he always buys me lunch, always tips on his free coffee in the morning and all the ways he looks out for me, like making sure he’s available on my dad’s birthday and anniversary of his death. Kai is my best friend, and I don’t know how I would’ve made it through the last two years without him.
I lean against him and rest my head on his shoulder. “Thanks for lunch. You want to come over for dinner tonight? I’m making tikka masala.” Kai wraps his arm around my shoulders and gives me a squeeze.
“Can’t tonight. There’s a protest happening in the square over a police shooting that happened a few towns over. I’m going to document it for the school paper.”
“A protest? What happened?” I sit up, shooting him a concerned look. A protest sounds scary, and I’m worried about him going to one.
“Some kid got pulled over on his way home from work. When he was reaching into his glove compartment to get his papers, the cop freaked out and shot him through the door thinking he was grabbing a gun. He was only sixteen. It’s fucked up. The cop hasn’t even been put on suspension for the investigation.” Kai’s lips press into a thin line while he shakes his head. “You know, that’s the third shooting this year of an unarmed teenager by the police? Shit is fucked. So now all the demonstrations are popping up across the country, trying to bring some change.”
“Is it safe for you to go?” I bite my lower lip, looking up at my best friend, fear niggling at me after the stories he told me about his own encounters. He’s been my rock and my biggest source of support since my dad died. The thought of anything happening to him causes a painful clenching in my stomach.
“Yeah, it’s fine. It’s just some local activists giving speeches. But I think we are on the cusp of something big happening, and I want to be there to document history.”
I nod and return to my work, not really sure what to say, but unable to let go of the uneasy feeling sitting in my gut now. Kai is always on the lookout for history in the making, so I know there will be no talking him out of going to this demonstration.
After our break, we go our separate ways. I make Kai promise to call me when he gets home tonight just so I know he makes it back safe. The uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach over this demonstration won’t go away.
In stats class, I get a text from Dominick that I check, unable to resist knowing what he has to say.
Tall, Dark and Pumpkin Spiced: Hey, I won’t be able to talk tonight. I have to pull a double to work crowd control for a protest happening. I’ll be seeing you in the morning though. Can’t wait for my pumpkin fix. ;)
I smile at his winky face, and the worry about the demonstration eases a bit in my gut. If Dominick is there then things shouldn’t get out of control. He’s a good cop and will keep things calm.
Me: Be safe tonight. I’ll miss talking to you. See you in the morning.
Tall, Dark and Pumpkin Spiced: Wouldn’t miss it for the world. Seeing you first thing in the morning is the best part of my day.
With hearts in my eyes, I tuck my phone away and spend the rest of stats class daydreaming about my upcoming date with Dominick. I’m pretty sure the professor announces a test for the next class, and I don’t even care if I fail it—I’m on such a high from Dominick’s attention.
It’s 11:30 p.m. and I haven’t heard from Kai yet. I decide to send him a quick text checking in, just to see if he made it home ok.
Me: Hey, how was the demonstration? You home?
I wait around for twenty minutes for his response, but none comes, and my message never shows as read. I crawl into bed, knowing I need to get some rest if I want to stay awake long enough to go on my date with Dominick tomorrow, but sleep doesn’t come easy with the worry about Kai creeping back into my head.
When I wake up the next morning, I check my phone right away to see if Kai ever responded. My heart sinks when I see my message to him is still unread. It’s ass-early in the morning so I don’t dare call him in case he just got home late, but the anxious feeling crawling through my brain will not let up as I get ready for work. I send him one more text, just to let him know I’m worried.
Me: Hey, how’d it go last night? Call me when you get a chance.
With that, I shove my phone into my purse and head into work, hoping that maybe seeing Dominick and hearing from him that everything was fine last night will alleviate my worries.
A few hours later, the bell jingles above the entrance of Brewed Awakening and I see Dominick and crew walk in. They all look tired and a little worse for wear. I can only assume they all three pulled doubles last night to help cover the demonstration.
“Good morning, boys. What will it be?” Dominick stands back and lets Eric do the ordering today. I can see the dark circles under his eyes and wonder if he might be planning on rescheduling our date tonight, based on how quiet he’s being.
“Back to the usual for me and Dane, sweetheart. Your boy here is still on the pumpkin spice.” Eric shoots me a flirtatious grin as I key in their order.
“You boys look tired—need any extra shots of espresso?” I ask, trying to get an idea of how last night went and how worried I should be about Kai this morning.
“Nah, we’ll be alright once we get going.” Eric brushes me off without offering up any additional information. I nod and turn to give the ticket to André to make the drinks. He finally decided to show up for work this morning, which is a good thing since Marie had a checkup with her OB. Working the morning shift alone is miserable and hectic. I’ll take André’s slow-as-molasses ass over working alone.
I look past Eric and meet Dominick’s silver eyes. I bite my lower lip, debating how to break the ice with him. It feels awkward this morning. I can’t tell if it really is, or if I’m making up shit in my head, spiraling because of my anxiety over Kai. I settle on a barely audible, “Hey.”
“Hey, Kitten.” His voice is gravelly, like maybe he spent the night yelling or barking out orders. I can’t help but take a moment to imagine what it would sound to hear him call me Kitten in bed.
Dane and Eric busy themselves with talk of an upcoming football game tonight, so I take the opportunity to ask Dominick how last night was. “Everything go okay last night? You seem…quiet.”
“Yeah, mostly. Had a few rowdy shit disturbers in the crowd we had to throw into lock up for the night, but all in all it was a peaceful protest.” I can feel the tension leave my shoulders when he confirms it was a peaceful night. I just have to assume Kai got home late and crashed before texting me. I make a mental note to give him shit about that later.
“Do you still want to go out tonight? If you’re tired I—” Dominick raises his hand and puts a finger to my lips to hush me.
“I’m going to stop you right there, Kitten. We are going out tonight. This date is the one thing I’ve been looking forward to all week. Seeing your gorgeous face is the reason I get up early in the morning to buy coffee instead of making it at home. So shut your pretty little mouth unless it’s to tell me how excited you are about our date.”
I feel my mouth drop open in shock as I nod mutely at his words. The way he’s looking at me can only be described as intense, but the slight upturn of his lips tells me he knows exactly the kind of effect he is having on me.
“Ah, um, yes…sir?” There I go glitching again. I can’t seem to carry on a normal conversation with him any time he’s in front of me.
“Good girl.” Dominick flashes me a panty-dropping grin before swiping his coffee off the counter. He tips his head to André in thanks and throws some cash in the tip jar before following Eric and Dane out of the coffee shop.
I turn around after he leaves, eyes wide, cheeks flaming hot, to meet an also stunned André’s shocked expression.
“Um, when did that happen? Since when does the hot grumpy cop talk?”
“It happened this week. You'd know that if you bothered to come to work more than once a week.” I roll my eyes at André and turn back to the counter to serve the next customer, barely being able to contain the smile threatening to bloom across my face.