𝘼𝙁𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝙒𝙀 𝘾𝙍𝘼𝙎𝙃𝙀𝘿 ↣ 𝙊𝙉𝙀 𝘿𝙄𝙍𝙀𝘾𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉

18. LIVE FOREVER

Both Keenan and I's heads snapped toward the sound. She was just about to explain what the problem was, what it had been for the last three weeks. Then, to interrupt, Karter and Louis started shouting at each other from the recording studio.

I turned off the burners as quick as I could manage and then ran towards the sound. Keenan followed, moving as fast as she could.

I came to a halt at the open door of the recording studio. Louis and Karter were standing a few feet apart, taking very loudly.

"It's none of your fucking business, okay? Just stay the hell out of it!" Karter ranted.

"We're only trying to help," Louis reasoned, voice raising just a little bit.

"We don't want your help! If we wanted it, we would have asked for it already! Don't you see that?" Karter asked.

I stepped further into the room, getting both of their attentions.

"Everyone needs to calm down," I said firmly.

"Fuck that," Karter sighed.

"Take a walk," I suggested, nodding my head to the door. He stared at me, making no move to leave. "Go, buttercup, I'll find you in a few minutes."

Karter rolled his eyes and stormed out of the room. I watched his back, astonished. That really just happened.

I looked to Keenan, then. She was leaning against the wall looking between Louis and I.

"If you know what's going on, you need to tell us," I said. She sighed. "Obviously it's bad if it's enough to put Karter on edge enough to do what he just did. Come on, sweetheart."

"It's our dad!" she said exasperatedly. I blinked in surprise, because that wasn't what I was expecting at all. "Is that what you want to hear? It's our dad."

"Your dad?" Louis asked. "He's still around?"

"It's complicated," Keenan mumbled, stepping closer to us. Louis and I backed up to the couch and I nodded for her to sit, giving her plenty of space.

"Explain everything," I said.

"It's just- it's stupid, you know? He's the one that gave us up, he shouldn't get to try to come back into our lives like he means anything to either of us," Keenan said.

"We're gonna need more of a backstory than that, ginger snap."

"Karter and I got surrendered into foster care when I was four. It was a year after our mom died. Without her, our dad went crazy. He drank a lot, he did a lot of drugs, he was violent. As soon as DHS got wind of that, he surrendered both of us. No questions, no court case, no nothing," Keenan said.

I wasn't sure what I was expecting. We knew nothing of their lives before us. I assumed their parents had both passed away, and they had no relatives that could take them.

I was far off.

"You said he's trying to come back?" Louis asked.

"He's come to our school," Keenan said. I dropped my jaw. "He told us he wanted to try to get custody of us again, and get us out of the system for good."

"Okay," I said slowly, trying to figure out what I wanted to say. "Is that something you or Karter want? To go back and live with him?" The thought of no longer having Keenan and Karter living with us suddenly hit me hard. It put an uncomfortable weight in my stomach.

"No," Keenan said immediately, shaking her head. "We don't want anything to do with him. But he's already got a lawyer and I guess it's already in the works. I don't know. I don't want to live with him again."