by C L Walker
Mothers were always on repeat.
It was almost dark, but the setting sun lent a lingering orange glow across everything it touched. I noted the crisp bite in the air as I stepped outside, it was going to be a clear, cold night
We sat on my porch swing with one earbud in each of our ears so we could listen to music together.
I looked over as Sora walked out of his front door and down his steps. He didn’t look over in our direction as he walked to his car clad in tight ripped blue jeans, Keds and a fitted white hoodie.
“There he goes again, much to my misery looking nothing like a teacher ought to,” I said.
A moment later I stuck my tongue out at him as he started to pull out of the driveway not thinking that he would notice.
Amber glanced over at his car. “Like you said there is absolutely nothing to see so mind your eyes girl.” She shook her head and clicked her tongue the way her mom did whenever we did or said dumb things.
I rolled my eyes and wondered if she realized she sounded like her mom when Sora’s car stopped suddenly, and he rolled down his window.
“I saw that brat,” he said playfully.
She looked at me and then I looked at her in question as if she would know what he was talking about, but then I remembered that I had stuck my tongue out at him.
I had already gone there so I had no choice but to stick to my guns, so I looked back at him and slowly slid my tongue out again.
He shook his head and laughed before his window went back up and hid him from my view before he left.
So, he wasn’t moody any longer? Just like that?
Amber laughed beside me as she slapped my thigh repeatedly. “You’re doing a splendid job of making sure he always sees you as a child my dear.”
“Whatever, he irritates me. I’m his student and he calls me names and laughs at me so easily. What teacher does that?”
Righteous indignation was a beautiful thing.
“A teacher who has a student that also happens to be his neighbor, who is immature and causes him unnecessary trouble because she is a brat,” she offered.
Truth.
But I wasn’t going to admit it.
“Geez woman whose side are you on?” I asked.
I folded my arms across my chest and slumped down in the seat.
I had been hoping that she would say his actions were a sign of interest, but unfortunately when your mom says he picks on you because he likes you it’s usually not true. Most of the time he’s just an asshole.
She didn’t answer me because the boys finally rolled up. “Oh, look they are here right on time.” She jumped up excitedly as she had every other time Jake had made an appearance since middle school.
She had a way of making people feel special, I knew every time I walked into a room that if she was there, I was going to feel wanted. Jake and I were lucky, plain, and simple.
They had been dating since seventh grade and their relationship was mature and quite impressive if I was being honest, although it seemed a little boring. I jokingly referred to them as an old married couple because they seemed so settled with each other. I could see them being like my parents, except oddly enough, my parents had more of a spark in their relationship than them.
“Jake!” she yelled beside me, as he got out of the passenger seat of a brand-new blue Camaro and I sighed beside myself.
Even though I pretended otherwise, and I did enjoy getting ready, I really didn’t want to go on a date or be around love birds. I wanted to sulk at home in a fuzzy onesie and watch political rants on YouTube because the guy I really wanted to be going on a date with was out of my league.
Sora had left the house looking nice, and he had skipped down his steps like he had somewhere special to be. So, I couldn’t help but wonder where that may be, and who, it may be with.
When Mikey got out of the driver side my first reaction was pleasant enough, he wasn’t bad looking.
Pfft liar, he’s no Japanese heart throb and you know it.
He nodded his head and said hi, and I said hey back quietly before I got in the car.
The ride to the restaurant was quiet aside from the conversation Jake and Mikey were having about their band and I appreciated that Mikey seemed chill.
Little did I know he was waiting to display his full colors.
Dinner was interesting in a torturous sort of way.
Mikey was by all means an attractive prospect… to some girls I was sure of it. But he fell flat for me, and I couldn’t even be persuaded by his just got done wrestling in the sheet’s messy blonde hair or his clear blue eyes.
He was a musician, and he looked the part with his studded leather jacket and his ripped jeans. It was a look I greatly appreciated but in a cleaner sort of way, as he was on the grunge side as far as rock and roll looks went and at the end of the day, I liked edge, but I also liked pretty boys.
But looks aren’t everything and I didn’t base my decision on them alone.
I gave him a chance but then he annoyed the piss out of me with his want to be Mick Jagger swag. He was trying to portray the tortured Rockstar bit but when he stepped out of that brand-new car his daddy had bought him, his cover had been blown.
I didn’t know what was worse, people who wanted to appear to have everything, like how most people were on social media, or people who had everything and acted like they were so put out by their riches.
Apparently, he felt trapped by his parents because they paid for his apartment by the college and bought him his car. He said he felt like they were controlling him with material items.
He wanted their band to make it so he could say ‘fuck you’ to the man and his money bag parents.
It was more painful to listen to than Rachel, I’d rather spend my entire evening listening to her talk shit about every single person in town than listen to Mikey complain about his parents and that was saying something.
Had I believed that his complaints were genuine I wouldn’t have been annoyed, because I know that money doesn’t buy happiness and I wouldn’t put it past families to control members with it.
By the end of dinner, I wanted to strangle someone as both Jake and Amber could tell.
When Mikey got up to go to the bathroom before we were about to leave, I leaned over the table and grabbed Amber’s neck lightly and pretended to choke her.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” she said, before she looked back to make sure Mikey was nowhere in sight. “He’s normally not like this…I seriously don’t understand what’s happening right now.” She turned to look at Jake for an answer and he glanced at me sheepishly.
He ran his hand over his close shaved head and looked between us and I noted that he looked as frustrated as I felt, and it made me feel a little better.
“He’s usually really cool and I mean he complains about his parents but not this much. I think he’s worried about what you’ll think of him,” he said.
“You mean that I’ll see right through him? Which I do,” I said, and I was not able to hide the irritation from my voice. “He’s a tool! What the hell guys?”
I sat back in my seat and slurped down the rest of my strawberry lemonade as I looked up and saw him walking back across the restaurant, so I braced myself.
Jake looked over at Mikey then turned to me quickly. “He might be nervous, give it the rest of the night, please,” he pleaded to my better half.
I huffed and sat up in my seat again, nodded my head and gave a glare to Amber before pasting a more pleasant look on my face.
“Thank you, Kyla,” Jake said.
Mikey sat back down beside me, and I resisted the urge to plaster my body against the wall and mouth ‘help’ to the first passerby on the other side of the glass.
“What were you guys talking about? Me I hope,” Mikey said, as he turned to give me a wink, with smiling blue eyes that had absolutely no effect on me.
Ugh. No boy. Just stop.
“Shall we go?” I asked a little too sw
eetly, such things were beyond me, so it came out sounding unnatural.
Amber rose her brows in worry as she absorbed the sound of my insincerity.
But it wasn’t like Mikey could tell, he looked as if he had hit the jackpot, but the truth was he wasn’t going to be hitting a thing, at least where I was concerned.
He spent the whole car ride drumming his fingers on the steering wheel while he pointed out every ‘sick guitar riff’ like we weren’t all in possession of ears.
I was tempted to grab his seatbelt from where I sat behind him and choke him with it so the only sound, I could hear coming from his mouth were gurgles.
But I was decidedly against murder and it was lame to go in for attempted, if I was going to do something, I wasn’t about to half ass it.
When we pulled up to the café I sighed as I leaned my forehead against his window and looked outside at a couple walking in together as they held hands.
Well, at least the night couldn’t get any worse I reasoned because we were about to go into somewhere where he wasn’t allowed to talk much.
But Mikey, I had learned, was unpredictable.
Chapter 8
Kyla
The cafe was a popular hangout for the outcasts in our town, the kind of people who looked around them and saw far more than meets the average eye. Either that or all the try hard folks who wanted to fit in with the outsiders.
There were some readings I found hard to listen to because they were overly dramatic, but I liked the atmosphere, and I enjoyed the people and their stories.
Like most of the buildings in our town the cafe was built in the early 1900’s and looked a little worn down with its washed-out wood.
But inside it was a whole other world, with black tiled floors, dark sapphire walls and a ceiling that looked like the night sky in a place without light pollution. There were black wood tables and chairs, black booths and in the back, there were several dark blue couches that surrounded the small stage with light blue pillows.
The lighting was romantic and always made me feel relaxed, as if I were at a home away from home.
I walked inside behind everyone else, my pace had slowed to that of a slug. I wanted to go home so I was dragging my feet like they were going to get me somewhere else.
We took our seats on a couch right in front of the stage, and I was of course squished between Amber and Mikey.
I kept looking down at Mikey’s thigh smashed up against mine in horror, because his touch made me uncomfortable.
“Do you come to these things often Ky?” he asked, using a nickname for me that I never gave him permission to use.
We had known each other for two hours and he was already taking liberties, the nerve of some people was truly astounding.
I turned just enough to make sure my voice was heard over the noise of the room.
“It’s Kyla to you and yes I do, it’s something to do in an otherwise boring town,” I said.
He laughed at my censure which served to irritate me further. I didn’t understand people who couldn’t catch a clue.
How obvious does one have to be?
“You’re feisty you know,” he said.
Cringe.
Everything he said was so cheesy, I didn’t think people actually flirted like that.
When I didn’t reply he nudged me with his shoulder and whispered, “I like it.”
Cringe. Cringe. Cringe!
“Okay everybody be quiet it’s starting,” Amber said, as she looked over at me sheepishly because she knew she could only save Mikey for so long.
A red headed girl walked up on stage and the lights dimmed everywhere in the room except on her. She was willowy and walked with a certain grace I imagined a model would on the runway. Her hair was in a long braid down her back and she had a lovely smattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks. She was in all black and make-up free, she was a pretty girl that I hadn’t seen around before.
Though it wasn’t uncommon to come across strangers since it was a well-known cafe that boasted of hosting many from out of town.
She snapped her fingers and I sighed thinking she was going to snap after every line. I didn’t judge them for it, but it just seemed awkward to me. I always thought it was something you’d only see in the movie but occasionally, someone would get up there and give us a snaptastic performance.
“Where limbs tangled, she fell apart. Her body you took, her soul became another piece of your art. We looked for her there, we said we loved her, but no one really cared. They gave up before they even started, their sorrows slipped from lips that barely parted. Her soul trapped, rare glimpses only to be seen behind colorless eyes with a dead like gleam. The truth he hid with a calculated smile, her body which was never to be found, was scattered across a broken mile.”
I was anxiously awaiting the next line when the girl suddenly stepped back, and the rest of the lights came back on.
I started clapping immediately before anyone else did and the girl looked over at me and smiled. Everyone who stood on that stage was trying to express themselves so whether it was good or not I always showed appreciation. But I did find it good, although short, it told a sad story.
“What the fuck was that?” Mikey asked, a little too loudly next to me, and my skin crawled as I recalled he was touching my side.
The girl had been walking down the steps to sit on the couch next to us when the dumbass opened his mouth, and she heard him but chose to ignore it. Instead she sat down and turned to whoever was to her right with a nervous smile.
She might not have cared but I was still pissed.
“It was a poem about a girl who was kidnapped, possibly raped and then murdered by dismemberment,” I said, through clenched teeth while I peered down my nose into his face that I decided was ugly. “No one found her because no one cared to look, her body was scattered, and her soul was trapped inside her murderer thus the line about seeing her in his eyes.”
He laughed, not catching on to my irritation. “You got all that from five or so lines? Seems like a stretch.”
Amber put her hand on my arm and squeezed but I shook her off. I wasn’t going to waste another minute on some jerk that didn’t deserve my time or that of my friends.
“It’s not a stretch for someone who can see past their own nose. You’re too busy being a self-absorbed jackass to notice the real world around you. And even if you don’t like something it doesn’t mean you need to cut it down. Learn to keep your stupid mouth shut before someone shuts it for you.”
I glanced past Mikey and saw the girl staring at me with a smile on her face as the guy next to her leaned forward to stare past her and I realized I had gained quite the audience.
The most shocking part was that the boy, or man I should say, that was sitting next to her was Sora.
The girl mouthed ‘thank you’ to me and I smiled in return.
I couldn’t even appreciate a lovely moment with a perfect stranger because Mikey was determined to piss me off. At the same moment I had smiled at her he put his hand on my thigh and squeezed it to draw my attention back to him.
“Hey Ky, it was a joke okay. Don’t get your panties in a twist,” he said.
I heard Amber sigh beside me and mutter ‘dumbass’ under her breath before my gaze swung to Sora just as his dipped down to look at Mikey’s hand on my thigh.
His eyebrows drew together in concern as his mouth fell into a straight line before he gave me a questioning look.
I wasn’t sure what it meant but I felt like he was silently asking me if I needed him.
I took a deep breath, stood up and looked down at Mikey with a look that I hoped clearly displayed my distaste for him. “Don’t ever put your hands on me again you little creep and stop calling me Ky as I did not give you permission.”
I moved my foot as I crossed my hands over my chest and I accidently stepped on his foot at the same moment his cheeks grew red with embarrassment.
He sat forward and pushed me out of the
way before I had time to move my foot back.
I didn’t think he was trying to hurt me, but he pushed with a little too much strength and I went stumbling back and almost lost my balance.
Jake and Sora stood up at the same time and walked over to Mikey who was visibly fuming.
Sora got to him first, he didn’t touch Mikey, but he positioned himself in front of me and got in his face. “Hey man it’s not okay to push a girl like that, you need to back the fuck off.”
Mikey didn’t look at Sora because he was still focused on me. “I came out on this date because I heard you were an easy lay.”
I rolled my eyes at his confession, whoever he heard that from was giving out some seriously inaccurate information.
He paused to wait for my reaction, but I remained silent, so he said, “But that mouth of yours isn’t worth it if you aren’t going to wrap it around my cock.”
Once the words were spoken Sora shoved Mikey back down on the couch and Mikey finally decided to pay attention to the man in front of him. “What the fuck is your problem man, get out of my face!”
“My problem is you, you little punk,” Sora said firmly, and he pushed Mikey back again when he tried to get up once more.
Mikey laughed as he threw his hands up. “This is unreal dude; she gets pissy with me and this fucking guy has the nerve to touch me because of it.”
My body grew tense as I watched his face and realized he was probably about to hit Sora.
Thankfully before either of them could do anything Jake grabbed Mikey’s arm and hauled him up. “I’ll get him out of here no worries Mr. Tanaka.”
“Mr. Tanaka?” Mikey asked, as he tried to pull himself free from Jakes grasp. “Who the fuck is this guy?”
I moved to the side of Sora and he put his hand up in front of me without looking at me to stop me from going any further. He didn’t trust Mikey, but I thought he was the one in danger of getting hit by the asshole.
Sora stared at him like he was ready to rip him to shreds but I also saw indecision in his eyes. I imagined his thoughts were something like ‘to break his neck or not to break his neck’ or maybe something less poetic. In the end he said nothing more and simply watched Mikey with a look meant to intimidate.