Someone Else's Fairytale

Twenty-Six: Kyra

A couple of weeks later, while I was cramming for a biology exam in the evening at Jason's house, someone pulled up in the driveway. A moment later, I saw Jen walk past the front window and I got up to let her in. She already had her hand raised to knock and looked baffled for a moment.

“Hi,” I said.

“Hi. Jason here?”

“Yep!” he called out. He'd been sitting on the couch, with Steve's old Securities Law textbook. I now knew how he filled his brain with so much random knowledge; he studied every spare moment he wasn't working, working out, or talking to me. He capped the highlighter in his hand and set it aside as he got up. “You hungry?”

“I'll make you something,” she said, absently. She walked right through the front hall and back to the kitchen.

“Hey.” Jason tailed her. “That is not what I asked.”

“Do you have a moment?” She sounded exhausted.

“Sure.”

I went back to my studying. Whatever had Jen so distraught was none of my business.

Jason's floors were all tile and hardwood, though, so I could hear their conversation clearly a room away.

“I'm out of ideas,” said Jen.

“About?”

“Kyra. That girl's going to kill me.”

“Kyle know you're here?”

“He's taken her a on a long drive. Up through the Jemez. I don't think this'll work any better than the last three times, but at least it keeps her tied up for a couple of hours.”

“What's going on?”

“She's in love with this guy. Name's Nate. No good, does nothing, good looking-”

“Like me?”

“Please, I'm not in a joking mood.” There came a clank, like someone putting something down on the stove.

“Jen, you don't need to cook-”

“It's what I do, okay?”

“It's your job. Take a break.”

Water ran in the sink. “I've got to get her out of Albuquerque. I wish there was a military school in Alaska I could send her to-”

“I'm sure there is.”

“But she'd probably just run away from it. She's almost eighteen. She will be eighteen in less than a year. Our options are dwindling, and I'm so afraid she's going to get herself pregnant.”

“You talked-”

“Yes, yeah. She's on the pill. Doesn't stop me worrying. At that age, people just don't know any better.”

My mother sprang to mind.

“So you want me to help? You need money for tuition in Alaska?”

“No.”

“Just tell me what you need. And you really don't need to be cooking right now. I'm not hungry.”

“Maybe you can talk to her.”

“She hates me. You've noticed that, right?”

“No, she hates me. She thinks I've got a double standard because I've put up with you all these years and tell her she needs to stop it with all the guys. But she knows you're not screwing around anymore, so maybe you can say something that'll get through to her.”