Sorry for the late chapter so here's an old man on a tight rope -->
I poke at the slimy pizza, tentatively raising it to my mouth. Surprisingly, it's not as awful as it looks.
Papa has already finished off his portion and is scraping the remainder of the sticky pizza off his plate and into the garbage. He leaves the dishes in the sink to soak and then heads to the door.
"Birdie," He calls from the other room. I stand up and join him in the entrance where he is balancing on one foot to tie his shoelaces. "I'm going out. Can you please finish cleaning up and then go help Kittie close up the marina for the night?"
"Sure." I swallow the last of my dinner. "But if you're not going to the marina, where're you going?"
Papa stares at me for a moment before blinking and slipping on his sweatshirt. "I'm just going out with friends. I might be home late."
"With who?" I pry, grabbing onto his arm.
Pa shakes me off. "Why are you so concerned, Birdie? I'm an adult, I can do what I want."
"Okay." I mutter, turning and trudging back to the kitchen. My father had never kept many secrets from me, so this was strange. I ignore the curiosity and sit back down at the table, resting my chin in the palms of my hands.
Now what?
I stroll around the house, the boredom after all the craziness of the past few weeks unfamiliar. I sit on the couch with my sketchbook and flip through all my old drawings. Did Ty really think that they were good?
At one point, I thought that I was a good artist, but now I'm not so sure. The longer you stare at the sketch, the worse it gets, the more flaws you find, the more you want to crumple it into a ball.
When I look up, the living room is dim, the sun no longer visible through the dusty windows.
"Darn!" I quickly race to the door, shoving my feet into my sandals and taking off towards the marina. By the time I get there, I'm out of breath and exhausted by the short sprint, sweat clinging to my forehead.
I spot Kittie descending the steps of a boat and standing on the dock, staring thoughtfully out towards the sea.
"Kittie!" I stop right in front of her, bending over to help slow my pounding pulse. "Sorry I'm late. I forgot."
She shrugs. "There really wasn't very much to do." The young woman looks like new. There isn't a drunk aura radiating from her like there usually is. The thought of helping Kittie sober up brings a smile onto my face.
"Oh." I pause. "Would you like to take a canoe ride?"
She looks at me pensively for a moment, before answering with a brief "Okay."
The two of us push the small boat off of the shore, and hop in while it's still close enough to the sand to not get our socks wet. I snatch a paddle and slowly push us off of the clay-like sand, into deeper water, and soon through the deep waters of the salt water bay.
"I used to do this a whole lot, you know. Canoeing." The recovering alcoholic lets her finger tips lightly skim the surface of the water, making wave-like patterns flow from behind them. "I used to live on Vancouver Island, and boating was a sport all of us enjoyed. Days before my family died, we moved up here, to escape from the bustling city we grew up in. It was quite a change to go through, especially the difference in driving habits, it was much too confusing for my famil-" Kittie's voice wavers, and I pat her lightly on the back. "I was the only one not in the car." A single tear slips down her cheek. "Thank you."
"Kittie, My father and I only just slightly helped you back on your feet. It was you who helped yourself recover, you should really give yourself some credit." I reply, slowly circling the bay with our bright red canoe. She smiles out across the water.
"I'm so proud of myself." She wipes her eyes and sets her paddle across her lap. "I really am. But I couldn't have done it if you guys hadn't helped me get started."
Kittie sure has changed.
The next day, I'm back at the marina early, sitting in the scorching sun with nothing to do, when suddenly Claire and Kennedy come walking down the dock.
"Hey, Kessy, where's Ty? We need to speak with him." The girl, about my age demands.
"Must be in his grandfather's yacht." I shrug indifferently, raising my hand to my brow.
"Okay." Claire smirks, turning around and making her way down the long dock to where the large boat is tied, Kennedy trailing behind.
They emerge minutes later with Ty, Leon poking his head out after them.
"Where're you all going?" The senior citizen calls after them, his stringy grey hair plastered to his forehead with sweat.
"We're just going to go hang out around town." Kennedy explains, pointing in the direction of the streets past the beach and brush.
"Oh." Leon's eyes flick to me, then back to the group of teenagers. "Are you going to invite Birdie? Wouldn't that be nice?"
Ty stares at me for a second before shooting a nervous look at Claire.
"Well," she grins, her smile bringing back memories of fear. "I mean, Kestrel can join us if she wants."
"Um..." I ponder. "I have some homework to do, actually- I need to get home."
"Come on, it would be fun to 'chill' with these cool cats." Leon wiggles his eyebrows. The group of teenagers in front of me nod sarcastically, and I'm unable to discern whether they're being true to their actions or not.
"Just for a little while, I guess." My shoulders do a short shrug and before I know it, Leon is back in his boat and Ty's posse maneuvers me off of the dock and down the narrows sidewalks of downtown Wrenside.
After a few minutes of our stroll, Claire stops in front of the ice cream parlour.
"I'm smoldering. Let's get something cold." She hangs onto Kennedy from the neck. "And you'll pay, right, Kenny?" A kiss is left on his cheek before Claire skips into the store.
"Isn't she gorgeous?" The young O'Keefe sighs, and Tyler has to slap him to get his attention back. The three of us follow Claire inside, and begin to order our ice cream. When it comes to my turn, I look at Kennedy, expecting him to refuse to buy me ice cream, but he nods. I open my mouth to order, but am suddenly interrupted by Claire.
"Oh, and she'll have a kiwi frozen yogurt." After placing her last demand, she escorts Tyler and I to a table while Kennedy pays. "Hey, don't look at me like that. It's for your own good." Claire confirms in the direction of my slight scowl, and turned around to check up on the progress on the ice cream front.
When he returns with our desserts, Everyone grabs theirs and licks the ice cream hungrily, but I make sure to thank Kennedy before picking up my spoon.
He nods in acceptance of my thankfulness, and takes a big bite from his chocolate cone.
When everyone's done, I'm still picking at my food. Kiwis, for an unknown reason, give me an upset stomach, and have as long as I can remember. On one side of my dish, there's a pile of mangled fruit, while on the other side I'm working on evading the rest of the kiwi while still eating.
"Kessy, you're being very unappreciative. Apologize!" She reminds me of a strict mother, scolding their child for feeding the dog their brussel sprouts.
"I'm sorry. It won't happen again." The words don't come from my mouth, which alone confuses me, but when Ty's hand lands on my back the confusion that's going on in my head explodes. Why would he do this?
"Tyler, get out of our conversation! You ruin everything!" Claire begins to throw a fit, and before she veers out of control, Kennedy grabs her shoulder and walks away with the screaming girl in his arms.
"Sorry about this, guys. See you later." And with that, the door closes behind them.
"Want me to eat your kiwi?" Ty asks.
"Please."
"You know, she was actually genuine for a while there. Claire's just been... less trusting lately than when I first met her." He explains, chewing loudly on a mouthful of the green fruit-mush.
"And why is that?"
"We..." Ty pauses. "We tried dating for a week or so, and when I broke it off Claire was devastated. Poor thing."
"I didn't think she cared that much." My whisper is barely audible.
"Me neither." The empty ice cream dish is passed back to me, and I toss it into the garbage bin behind me. We walk out the door, side-by-side.
Before I know it, the two of us are on the crosswalk that separates the way to the Koppinger's from the route to my house.
"Well, see you later, I guess." I shrug.
"You don't have to." Ty gasps. "I mean- you can come with me if you want. I just bought this new video game-"
"I'd love to." I answer before he overexerts himself.
We're halfway down the road to Leon's when Tyler surprises me. We've been walking casually for the past five or ten minutes, and neither of us have said anything, but for a reason uncertain to me he slips his hand into mine. This action alone makes my heart beat a mike a minute, and my hands begin to clam up.
"Thank you for accepting me."
"I could say the same thing about you." I reply, looking up at his face, the afternoon sun sending a light shadow from the tip of his nose.
"I'm so glad that we're friends." Ty looks up at the sky, and tightens his grip on my hand, as if it's his last wish to stay connected to me. Internally, I doubt that it was a conscious decision on his part.
Externally, I shoot him a big grin.
I sit back down on the green couch, my old bed, and hand Ty a glass of deeply coloured banana juice. My own cup of juice is permanently set on the coffee table, as the sickly yellow concentrated juice reminds me of the chemistry experiences Papa and I used to do together.
"Want to play with me?" Ty hands me a controller and, once again, I am lost as to which buttons to press.
I can almost feel Leon's smirk when Tyler's hands land on top of mine and guide me through a tutorial for the game we're playing. Even after my fingers are released, I'm still navigating through the video game horribly, but much better than when I play with Izzy.
"Birdie, is Issac still here? I'd love to invite them over for a dinner party." Leon calls from the kitchen island, still engulfed in his cross-stitching.
"I'm pretty sure, yes. Papa said that he'll be leaving later this evening."
"Good to hear." He picks up the telephone and inputs a the numbers for my father's cell phone. After a few short rings, Leon starts babbling into the receiver at a record speed. "They'll be here in two hours. I'm going to go pretty up, have fun, kids." He winks in our general direction and skips happily into the bathroom, shutting the door gracefully behind him.
"Grandpa is so weird." Ty resumes or game, clicking a button to relieve it of its paused mode.
"Says you," I retaliate, bringing up our old joke, which doesn't seem to have any effect on me anymore whatsoever.
"Pshaw" He brushes my remark off with a flamboyant gesture. "Pick up the controller, it's your turn." I scramble to retrieve it from the desk, but while I'm struggling to get a hold on the video game controller, my persona rolls off a cliff.
"Drat."Ty emits a sigh. "You're nice and all, but no proper lady goes without wicked gaming skills." He lectures me, giving my head a little bop.
"Shut up."
"Ooh, she's a feisty one!" Tyler sticks his tongue out. "Hey!" A second later, I've grabbed hold of his spiked-up hair and am pulling it slightly. "Okay, truce. No more hair pulling, no more name calling. got it?" I nod. After a while, I've confirmed that I'll be a proper lady no matter how 'skilled I am in gaming' and turn off my controller with a satisfying click. Ty is still working on beating a boss, though, so I pull my knees up to my chest and lean my head on his shoulder.
"Being friends is fun." I mutter before drifting off peacefully.
Why do I always fall asleep?
When I wake, Issac and Papa are already setting the table. I let out a small groan, and Iz looks at me goofily, before shaking his head and going back to straightening the plastic cutlery and paper plates. It takes me a while to realize that my head is still resting on Ty.
"I-I'm so sorry!" My first reaction is to jump up briskly and apologize, and that I do. Tyler is still playing his game, and shrugs without looking up from the television screen.
"It's fine, having a warm shoulder is always good." Izzy and my father chuckle from behind us. "Now, go help your family. I'll be right there." I receive a pat on the head and walk into the kitchen obediently.
"You two are too cute." Leon remarks, sticking his finger into a creamy cheese sauce that has been simmering on the stove.
"Please don't tease me. It's nothing like that." I try to make myself clear, but the result is Issac laughing his head off behind me.
"Oh, Birdie, you don't know the half of it."
Half an hour later, we're sitting at the dining room table, eating our meal hastily. Izzy has apologized profusely, but he has to leave to catch his flight soon.
"How early is the plane leaving, anyway?"
"Two." Iz shrugs. "I want to get back on the campus as early as possible. There's classes in the morning." We all nod at his explanation.
"It'll be tough without you here, Issac." Papa sighs. "Although, I guess your absence at university will be kept on record."
"We love you, bro, you can come to us whenever." I add.
The Koppingers agree.
Izzy smiles.
It's not long before hugs and kisses are shared, and Issac is on his way home.
Hey guys!
The two of us have decided that our chapters will be shorter and we're going to condense the story to 18 instead of 24 chapters.
muah, love you!
