Falling for my Best Friend

Pick Up the Phone

Wren

When I get home from school, the house is quiet. I know my dad is home because his truck was in the driveway but I don't see him anywhere. I start to head upstairs to my room to get to work on my homework. Of course, you can't do homework without the proper tunes so I put in my study jams CD and get to work. A little bit later, I hear Quin come in from school so I go downstairs to greet her and get a snack. 

We're in the kitchen hunting for something to eat when I hear muffled voices from my parents' bedroom.

"This is unforgivable, Cara, you've gone too far," I hear my dad say.

My mom is here, he said she wouldn't be here. I start to shake a little bit until I notice Quin looking at me so I take a deep breath before I grab the goldfish crackers and say, "Come do your homework in my room?"

She happily obliges me and joins me in my bedroom. I do my best to focus on my homework and the music and try not to think about the fact that my mom is downstairs. It would probably be smart to at least tell someone Mom is here so I pull out my phone and start a text to Kil. 

[Wren]: Don't do anything yet, but my mom is here

[Kil]: u ok? Just about 2 go 2 interview

[Wren]: We're alright, Quin is with me and my dad is here, I just thought I should tell you

[Kil]: I will call u as soon as I'm done

[Wren]: Good luck :)

Quin and I continue working on our homework until I hear the front door open and slam shut. I instinctively get up and close my bedroom door. 

Quin looks at me startled, "What?"

"Nothing, don't worry," I say as calmly as possible.

"You don't always have to protect me, I'm not a little girl anymore!" Quin says getting visibly angry.

I go to sit next to her on the bed, "Quin, it's not that, I know you're not. There have been a lot of things happening at home lately, some you know, some you don't, I just don't want you to get unnecessarily hurt."

"I know more than you think I know, I know what momma did to you," she says sternly.

"Quinny, we can't talk about that right now, if you want to talk about it, we need to wait until dad is here," I explain, "You can't tell people about that, Kilian is the only person who knows outside of this house."

"I know! I told you I'm not a little girl. It's nice that you all protect me and sometimes I like to be taken care of but I can help too you know," she says and I can tell she's hurt.

"I should have trusted you more, I just knew you had a lot on your plate with school and everything, I just want you to be able to be a kid," I explain.

"It's okay, you can take care of me but I just want you to know that if you need me I can take care of you too," she says softly, "I'm almost thirteen."

This makes me smile. I know she's growing up. I don't have the heart to explain to her how I can tell she reverts majorly every time something serious happens, she can just have this one for now, so I pull her into a hug.

"Well, maybe I do need your help; wanna take a walk to the fabric shop? I have to make my Homecoming dress," I ask.

"Daddy will buy you one, we can go to the mall," she says.

"You know I like to make them, I don't like all those princess vibes you find at the mall, that's much more your scene - before you know it you'll be buying dresses like that," I reply.

"Okay, let's go!" she says, convinced.

We pack up our homework, I still don't know who went in or out of the front door so I'm a little hesitant to go downstairs. I text my dad to tell him where we'll be and take a deep breath before we go downstairs. The coast is clear and we make a safe escape from the house. Dad's truck is still here, so maybe mom left?

At the fabric shop, I have fun with Quin, we decide on some stretchy black silky material and red pleather. I'm not sure what I'm going to sew but I know I do my best work off the cuff. We walk home and go into the living room to see my mom and dad sitting on the couch waiting for us.

Inside my head I swear I can hear, "DUN, DUN, DUN."

Dad can tell I'm startled, but his face is calm so I decide to see what this is about. I look at my phone to see if Kilian has called yet and I have three missed calls from him, he's probably freaking out. I just had my phone on silent and didn't know so I fire a quick text to him before I sit with my sister on the love seat.

[Wren]: So sorry, I'm ok, at home, mom is here again

Kilian

Of course, the one day that I have plans after school is when Wren's mom is around. I feel awful that I'm not there for her but I need this job if I'm going to pay Shane back. I have to trust her when she says it's okay so I do my best to focus on the interview and it seems to go well. It's nothing special, parking cars at a restaurant but I get tips so I hope it works out. 

As soon as the interview is over I call Wren, no answer, I head towards home and ten minutes go by so I call Wren back, still no answer. This shouldn't bother me so much, but after what happened last weekend, I'm stressed. I pull into my driveway fifteen minutes later and call Wren again before I go inside, still no answer.

I take a deep breath and try to calm myself; there could be any number of reasons that she isn't answering her phone. I go inside and turn on the TV then promptly get lost in sports recaps for a bit even though I don't really care about sports; finally my phone pings, it's Wren and she's okay but she is with her mom again. At least she's okay but I don't know if I feel much better. I sit with my phone for a while before I decide to grab a shower.