Kai groans. “Mom. She’s notsomegirl.”
How the heck did Kai become a doting boyfriend when I was certain he thought dating was lame? Seriously, has Tabitha brainwashed my best friend to be obsessed with her?
Mrs. Nelson’s footsteps sound up the hall. “If she’s your girlfriend, I want to meet her.”
“I don’t want you scaring her off,” Kai argues.
His mother laughs. “Me scare her? You just worry about yourself.”
“Look, it hasn’t even been a week yet,” Kai replies. “Let us work each other out first before you invite her over to dinner.”
“Okay, okay. But I don’t want you to keep secrets. I want to know what’s going on with you two.”
“Eww, Mom. I’m not gossiping with you about my girlfriend.”
“I just want to know you two are being respectful and taking things slow.”
“Relax, Mom. I’m in no rush.”
My eyes nearly burn holes through my note pages. I’ve never stared harder at one space. Every word that was spoken kept me frozen. If I didn’t keep my cool, I would’ve blurted out something that’d surely annoy Kai.
“I’ll catch ya tomorrow, Jamie,” Kai calls, and I hear the jingling of his car keys.
“We’re not gonna meet at the skatepark later?” I call back, leaning over the table to peer into the living area.
He doesn’t come into view, instead opening the door to the garage. “Naw. I promised Tabby I’d take her to the mall.”
It’s an effort to keep the hurt out of my tone. “Oh, okay.”
The garage door closes, and Kai’s presence disappears from within the house. His mother’s footsteps backtrack, and I slide down in my dining chair.
“How can he do that?” it mumbles out of Milo in a breathy tone.
I look across the table to watch Milo scribbling a note across the page. “Huh?”
He looks up. “What?”
“You said something.”
“Did I?”
“Yeah. Were you talking about Kai?”
Milo fidgets, averting his eyes. “I didn’t mean to say that aloud. I guess I’m too frustrated.”
“That was very composed frustration. Are you sure you and Kai are twin brothers?”
Milo laughs. “Been asking that for a long time. I just can’t believe he’s hanging with Tabitha.”
“You don’t like her?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know her. I just can’t believe he’d do it to you.”
I rear back with a frown. “I’m not into Kai, if that’s what you’re getting at.”
“No, I know that. I meant because she’s mean to you.”
“Oh.” My shoulders slump forward. “Yeah. I don’t know what he sees in her. To be fair, she’s not as bad as the other two.”
