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"What was that place like?"
"It was cleaner than it looked. Very go the fuck away. Band stickers on the walls. A burly guy at the register. A bunch of elitists who scowled at tattoos that weren't traditional enough."
"And you liked that?"
"The bands, yeah. It was a lot of punk. Metal. Hardcore shit. Nobody who listened to KIIS FM would dare enter that place."
"Perfect for you."
Yeah, it was. It still is. I can't say I'm into the elitist bullshit anymore.
But the whole I'm pissed and I don't want your opinion?
I get that.
"You've been seventeen," I say.
"Only three weeks ago even." She bites her lip. "There was a long time that I didn't see you."
"Mom didn't want me around Em. Not once I started apprenticing."
"Oh. I never realized. I thought you were just—"
"An obnoxious teenager who didn't want to be around my family?"
"I guess. I'm not sure. I was young. And I... I mostly thought you were hot."
"And old?"
"Yeah. But the same age as Harry Potter."
I chuckle. "I think he's older."
"Probably. But shorter. And—"
"Submissive, apparently?"
"Yeah." Her cheeks flush.
I shouldn't have said that. It's too late. The part of me that knows better is tired.
"How exactly did it happen?"
"I moved out the day I turned eighteen. Moved into a shitty place in Downtown LA. Had too many roommates. But I still came by to hang out with Em. Picked her up from school. Took her out on the weekends. Not like Mom was gonna take her to do the shit she actually wanted to do."
Kay nods.
"It was fall. I'd just gotten my sleeve. I was gonna take Emma hiking up in the Malibu hills. She used to enjoy that kinda thing. If you can remember."
"Sort of. She doesn't ever get dirty now. Unless it's the beach."
I nod. Emma is different than she was before the accident, but I'm not sure how much is her growing up and how much the ache of losing Mom and Dad.
"Mom saw me coming into the house. Asked about the tat in that why would you do that voice. I told her Ryan had done most of it. She'd met him once or twice."
"And she hated him?"
"She never said as much, but yeah. She grabbed Emma and made up some excuse about how they had somewhere to be. Then she found me and told me she didn't want me around her daughter. Not if I was going throw my life away."
