We've Met Before

19 - Why Is Everyone So Rude

CADE

I hold the phone against my ear, waiting for her to respond. The line flickers.
"Dahlia?"
"She's in the shower, jackass. What do you need?" Her boyfriend responds, humming to himself to the tune of 'Hey There Delilah.'
I scoff, fumbling with the zipper of my backpack. I look around the living room, knowing that it's Tuesday morning and Kaia is going to come feeling down the fucking stairs any second now. I can't have her knowing about this conversation. I want her to take care of herself right now, while I handle everything else.
"What the fuck is your problem? I need to talk to Dahlia, not her bodyguard, asshole," I mutter back, keeping my voice low.
He laughs, obviously amused with my secrecy. "My bad. Dahlia doesn't like you so I can't be nice to you," he explains as if it's completely normal to play Simon days with your girlfriend.
Well... if Kaia ever didn't like anyone, I think I'd kill them for her.
"Listen, I just need to talk to Dahlia. It's urgent, and I know she knows something I don't."
Dahlia's reaction last Friday was out of her common realm of motion. Dahlia worked in a very specific way, which I myself experienced after what happened during the summer.
She doesn't get physical, she won't even turn an eye at you when she's angry.
Dahlia is philosophical to a certain extent, deciding that if you've stopped too low in her mind, that you aren't worth her words and arguments. She'll isolate you from herself, pushing you away from everything she knows and loves.
Apart from Gabby, I had been also told by Dahlia to stay away from Kaia. She threatened, and I quote, "if you go near Kaia, I will cut your balls off and deliver them to your fucking mother."
Luckily, that didn't happen.
Which also means Dahlia saw something good about me. A reason to ignore her anger.
Dahlia's boyfriend sighs on the other side of the line. "She's coming out right now, hold on..." The line rustles. I hear muffled voices, before an angry groan rises from the speaker. "What the fuck do you want, Steele?"
"I see why your boyfriend and you are together now." Match made in Heaven. "What happened between you and Gabby on Friday?"
Silence.
...
"Meet me at Post Oak by 8 pm. I'll send directions for it after I hang up."
I'm not offered a chance to respond when the line beeps. So much for good conversation.
Kaia's feet come down the stairs, her converse skidding across the wood of my floors. She looks as brilliant and stunning as ever, her light blue top highlighting her hazel eyes exactly as it should.
She smiles at me, and then she suddenly stops. My heart stops.
"What's wrong?"
She frowns, tucking her hands underneath each other across her chest. Fuck me, because that shirt fits so right.
Her red lips quirk into a smirk. "Mm, get your mind outta the gutter, Steele." She turns serious again, walking towards the cabinet and pulling out a mug and our coffee blend. "My backpack and school supplies are all back at home."
Her body lengthens as she reaches for the sugar, her ass perking up from the motion. Every single movement accentuates her body, especially because of the pair of black leggings fitted around her hips and waist.
Shit, the backpack.
I clear my throat, and I swear I can hear her giggling. "I'll take you back to your house and you can pick your things up, alright? We're up a little early anyways too."
She nods, pouring water into a pot and heating it on high. Her hips sway as she walks beside me, leaning against the counter for a banana. Her ass grinds slightly against my groin, and I know exactly what she's doing.
She tries backing away, but I hold her hips steady, right where she wanted them to be so badly. I move her hair from her neck, garnering just enough space to see the smooth skin of her throat. I bring my hand to the front of it, feeling every groove of her vocal chords as she groans to my touch.
"Stop playing with me." I thrust my hips forward, just enough for her to feel me hard underneath my sweatpants.
I hear another set of footsteps down the downstairs hall. I let go of her. Her hands drops down to her hip, her fingers barely caressing my erection.
She knows she's trouble.
My mom walks into the kitchen, her mood from yesterday upholding the test of time. Kaia finished filling three mugs with hot water, pouring coffee in one, coffee and sugar in another, and finally opening a cabinet for a tea bag and dipping it inside the cup.
She offers the sugared coffee to my mom, which she happily takes between her hands. She slides me the tea across the counter, her face red and flushed.
"Good morning, darlings. You both have school tomorrow, get going! Cade, if Kaia is late because of you," she extends a finger, pinning it against the air towards me, "You will hear it from me."
I roll my eyes, laughing at my overly dramatic mother. "Yes ma'am."
Little does she know Kaia's little games were going to make me delay our entire morning. School isn't that important anyways.
We all conversate a bit more, talking about school, and my mom somehow sneaking in a complaint about her gardenias aren't growing. Kaia goes on an entire rant about sunlight and water ratio.
Whatever that fucking means.
Even though it all sounds like gibberish to me, she looks so attentive speaking about it. She's so joyful offering advice on plants and flowers. I can't forget her face when she helped my mom garden her Yarrows.
Beautiful flowers, for such a beautiful girl.
——
Kaia screams 'Ain't No Sunshine' by Billy Withers at the top of her longs, her voice matching with the jazzy instrumental in the back.
Her hair's grown out a little since summer. It hands perfectly across her shoulders.
She could be bald for all I care and I'd still think she looks astoundingly gorgeous.
I like this side of Kaia. The freeness in her voice that she finds when she's comfortable. I've seen it a couple times, whether it be with me, or with her dad, or with Dahlia and Kaitlyn. This is what Kaia hides underneath her silence.
I park outside her driveway.
"I'm a single call away, Kaia. If you don't come out there in ten minutes I'll knock the fucking door down and rummage inside for you."
She giggles, filling the car with that gorgeous sound. Although, I'm mad she finds my comment amusing because I'm not joking in the slightest.
"I'll be fine," she says, rolling her eyes at me.
I'm telling you.
Trouble.
I'm uneasy letting her go inside, but after her escapade to her dad's, I realized that I have to stop holding her inside my bubble of what's okay for her.
I was worried.
Completely out of my fucking mind.
But she's okay.
She can deal for herself, and I can't let my possessiveness take over the way she's growing. She's not the girl I tore down this summer anymore.
The clock ticks by, my knee bouncing at every millisecond of a second.
Tick.
Tock.
Tick.
Tock.
Ten minutes pass by, and I say fuck it. I open my door and jog quickly to the door.
Would she be mad if I actually knocked it down? Probably.
I turn the knob like a civilized, but obviously less cool person. I hear silence.
"Kaia?" I call out, receiving nothing in response. My heart thumps inside my chest, the worst outcomes clouding my mind.
I roam around the house, trying to find Kaia. I finally stop, hearing a sob come from a closed door down a hall.
It's Kaia's room.
I knock lightly.
"Sunshine, what's wrong?" I prop my ear against the wood of her door, trying to respond to any noise or faint movement I can sense from this side of the wall.
The door slightly creaks open. Kaia's head is held down, her hands trembling as she grips onto the edge of the door.
The door creaks wider, allowing me to get a glimpse at the state of her room.
I've never been inside her room before, so I truly have no idea what it's supposed to look like —but god.
Kaia seemed to have pots and plants propped against the window will, basking in the sunlight. Now they're scattered pieces of clay and dirt scattered on the ground, along with everything else that's been knocked off it's shelf. Her bed is completely destroyed, the oak headboard smashed in two. Her window is shattered as well, shards of glass hanging between the threads of her carpet.
She leans against my side, bunching up my shirt between her hands. I place my arms around her, rocking both of us back and forth.
I can feel her pain so acutely. Almost as if I was experiencing it first hand.
"This was the only space she hadn't touched," a long sob breaks through her sentence. "She's torn apart the entire house, but this corner was mine."
"I know sunshine, I know," I whisper into the blonde of her hair, wishing I could soothe away all her aches.
Hatred crawls through my spine. I wish her mother was here right now. I wish I could make her feel the pain she's inflicted on her daughter.
I grab a suitcase that's huddled inside the corner of her broken closet. I start tugging articles of clothing inside, fitting whatever's possible inside. I'm not letting anything like this happen again.
"What are you doing?" Kaia wipes her eyes, breathing in.
"You're coming to live with us. My mom won't mind having someone to talk to, and no offense, but I won't be able to control myself from not killing your mother the next time I see you cry over something she's fucking done."
Kaia grabs my shoulder lightly. "She doesn't have anyone else, Cade. You don't understand—"
"You don't understand, I want her blood on my fucking hands and this is the only thing that will keep me from not hunting her down right now. Stop thinking about what's going to happen to her. Be—"
She places a hand to her bottom lip, tugging slightly. "Selfish."
——
I let Kaia pack her things in quiet, letting her have some time by herself.
She's been needing some time to reflect over things by herself, and I tend to not be the greatest of influences to do that.
I tend to do things I don't mean when I'm feeling emotionally overstimulated, and I don't want to haze her own emotions with mine.
She comes out a few minutes later, two bags in hand. I take them from her, loading them in the back of my Jeep.
We drive directly to school. Kaia stares out at the window, stuck inside her head. I take her hand, grazing her knuckles with my fingers.
She feels so soft.
"You'll feel better, sunshine."
——
We run inside the locker rooms, all of us sweaty from practice. Dean's heads straight to his locker, opening it, and taking out his phone. He begins typing, a large grin on his face.
I look at the group of guys around us. "This my friends," I tug at Dean's shoulders, "is called the Jane Lynn syndrome."
Dean does a 'tsk' noise with his teeth, scowling at me. "Cade is talking straight out of his ass. This fucked has been hung up over Kaia Turner for the last five years."
I shrug. Not afraid to admit it. I never have been.
Reid Miller, a sophomore laughs. "The quiet chick in my pysch?"
I glare at him, mad that he's spending time with her when I'm not present. "I don't know, dork. Is she the quiet chick in your pysch?"
The guys laugh, all of them nudging at Reid.
"I'm just saying. You could do way better bro."
I pause at my locker, everyone's laughs stopping as well. Everyone in this locker knows that I'm not the one to mess with. If anyone's untouchable inside this locker room, it's me.
I turn around slowly, stepping towards Reid. My height stretches over him, until he's backed against the wall. "What did you say?"
Reid stutters, struggling to say something as a response.
Fear prickles at his eyes, watering.
"Are you about to cry?" He turns his head down. "Get the fuck out of my locker room."
He dashes straight to the door, not bothering to change out of his sweaty uniform. The guys dissipate, disappearing into their own respective corners.
Dean stares at me, with a shit-face grin.
I widen my eyes at him, letting my best friend roll his eyes as he laughs.
"What?" I ask.
"Talk about whipped."
——
Kaia's waiting in the parking lot, her hot pink converse striking out against the black concrete. Her hands are tucked inside the pockets of her zip-up hoodie, as her hair flies wildly against the wind.
I swing an arm around her shoulder, heading to my car.
"How was your day?" I ask, revving up the car.
"Youhaveanappointmentwithareadingspecialistatfour!" She blurts out, her sentence coming out in a single long string of sound.
"Kai, what?"
"Look, don't get mad! I scheduled an appointment with a reading speciality after doing a bit of research. It's at four!" She shrugs her shoulders, sweetening the lines of her eyes and smiling nervously.
I scrub a hand at my face. "I'm not going."
"What?! Why?!"
I don't think I can tell her, but I'm terrified of the doctor, and a reading specialist sounds too much like a fucking doctor to me.
"Because."
"Because?..."
I groan. "Jesus fuck. I don't like the doctors."
She frowns, placing a palm on her forehead. "There's no way," she laughs, "you're scared of the doctors?"
Here we go.
    "I'm not scared of the doctors! I'm just apprehensive..."
    She looks at me with the you're-literally-eighteen sort of look, and I lean back.
    "Fine! I'm scared of the doctors. Happy?! When I was eight, this stupid ducking doctor accidentally shoved one of those ear thermometers up my ear, and I'm pretty sure I'm partially deaf now."
    Am I exaggerating? Yes.
    "Love, you'll be okay. A reading specialist is more of a teacher than anything, you'll be okay."
    "Great. A teacher. My second favorite profession."
——
    "These stupid chairs are uncomfortable, and my ass hurts," I whisper to Kaia, who's reading a People's magazine beside me.
    "Could you be more fucking patient?" She hisses back, kicking my leg.
    I roll my eyes. The only other people inside the waiting room is a small little boy, and some old guy who keeps staring at Kaia every so often.
    He's lucky I haven't bashed his head into the fucking wall.
    The little boy starts making faces at me, sticking out his tongue. I lift my middle finger and stick it to the twerp.
    He gasps, tugging at his mom's cardigan. I immediately act interested in Kaia's magazine, reading all about how Jennifer Lawrence came to divorce Brad Pitt.
    "That's so interesting," I murmur, suddenly realizing how entertaining celebrity gossip is.
    I take a magazine myself, propping it up against my face. My eyes take a quick peek at the little boy who now wears a scowl on his face. I stick my tongue out and he starts wailing like a baby.
    Kaia stirs beside me, her face softening at the small boy.
    "Awe, poor guy," she whispers.
    I huff out, jealous that I didn't receive that same response when I confessed my fear of doctors.
    I cross my ankle over my knee. "Oh, I see how it is?"
She places her hand over my knee, shaking it slightly as she speaks. "It's a little boy, Cade. Do you not feel sympathy for crying children?"
I look at her, a flat expression on my face. "No."
"You're just mad that you're here in the first place. Stop being so dramatic and grow up, love." My stomach flips at the nickname.
"Say it again."
"Stop being so dramatic?" Her eyebrow raises.
I shake my head. "No, the nickname."
She inches me forward, reaching my ear. "Love, love, love, love, love."
Each time it rolls off her tongue I shudder under her. She sounds so nice, so sweet.
My moment is interrupted by a lady in a librarian bun, and a pair of khaki trousers that look like they're too long for her. "Cade Steele?"
Kaia raises her hand. "That's us!"
——
They have me sitting on a dusty red ottoman. This does not soothe my fucking ass. I shift uncomfortably, hoping this ends quickly. Kaia's in another chair across the room. This fucking sucks.
I wish she was right next to me, like she's supposed to be. I don't like it when she's not near me. It irks me beyond belief.
It's like butter with no toast. Or the beach with no ocean. Or shoes with no socks.
"Because you're a bit older, your screening will be around two hours. Usually it can range from three to four, but Kaia told us that you're not awfully fond of doctors." The lady laughs, looking at me to laugh with her. I don't.
Kaia coughs on the other side of the room and I turn immediately. She raises her eyebrow and purses her lips towards me.
I roll my eyes. "Hahaha."
The lady turns back to a booklet with a sigh. "We've established with Kaia that the best route is to begin with reading and writing, it seems what you have the most trouble correct?"
I nod.
"We're going to start with a test called the Qualitative Reading Inventory. It'll be a series of passages along with a couple of questions for you to answer. You'll read them once in your head, and once out-loud. Are you ready?" She slides a rather large packet of paper. I take it, flipping through the pages quickly.
    Panic sets in. I won't be able to read any of this, and even worse, out loud. I look at Kaia, hoping she'll turn around and look at me, but she's already looking when I do. She nods, smiling at me.
    My breath rises back into my lungs, and I feel a warm feeling rise in my body. "Yes, I am."
   Time rolls by, and two and a half hour later, we're done. My face is flushed from the embarrassing exertion. I can easily withstand two hour long practices, but god is reading hard.
    "Thank you for coming, Cade. We'll send a report to Kaia as soon as we're done filing. You're lucky to have someone so attentive." The woman's red cardigan reminds me of Kaia. I turn around, watching as she's submerged into a gardening magazine she picked off the shelf of the room.
    "Yea, I am."