Nine

“Hi, Mom,” Kayleigh said meekly, poking her head around the kitchen door. “Did you hear from-“

“Hey, kiddo,”

“DAD!” she ran into his arms, making him drop the stack of papers in his hand. “Oh my God! I can’t believe you’re back! Are you really back?”

“Yep kiddo, hopefully,” the corners of his eyes wrinkled.

“Warren,” Tamara said warningly from the kitchen table.

“Oh. Right,” he bent down and scooped the papers up. “Well… Your mother and I were just talking.”

“Good talking?” Kayleigh turned to stare at her mother hopefully.

“Not good, not bad,” her father said slowly. “Just… talking.”

“There’s a lot of stuff over the last twenty years that we feel we need to work out,” Tamara said evenly.

“Right.”

“Okay, well, at least you’re talking, right?” Kayleigh bit her lip to keep from squealing. “Do Addy and Reese know you’re home?”

Warren nodded. “I tucked Reese in and played a bit of Halo with Addison.”

Kayleigh smiled. “Good. Everything’s back to normal.” she fought back a yawn. “I had a crazy night. I’ll tell you about it in the morning though. I have to get to sleep.”

“Okay, kiddo,” her dad got up to kiss her forehead. “Have a good night. We’ll talk to you in the morning.”

“’Night, sweetie,” her mother murmured, not making a move to get up and kiss her.

Kayleigh glanced down and then darted from the room, finally remembering the promise she had made to Tyler.

“Kayleigh? Is everything all right?”

“Yeah, Ty, everything’s fine,” she couldn’t keep from smiling. “My dad came back home.”

“Really?! Like, for good?”

“Yeah, I think so. He and my mom are talking now, so hopefully it’s all good.”

“Really? God, Kay, that’s great! Do your brother and sister know yet?”

“Yeah, he came home while they were still up,”

“Seems like everything’s falling into place,”

Kayleigh sight and slid onto her bed. “Yeah, I guess. Now I just need to get into college.”

Tyler chuckled. “Well, maybe tonight you can cross off one major high school accomplishment?”

“What?”

“Would you go with me to Spring Formal?”

Kayleigh bit her lip to try to stop smiling. “Like… a date?”

“Yeah…”

“Like… a girlfriend?”

He paused. “I don’t want to pressure you. If you think it’s too soon…”

Her heart twisted. “It’s a little soon…”

“I did just get back…”

“I mean, just because we kissed doesn’t mean we have to-“
“Exactly. We’re not freshmen.”

“”Okay. So… Just friends then?”

“If that’s what you want,”

Kayleigh held her breath. “It is. I think it really is.”

“So… until further notice…”

“We’re just-“ a shriek on her end of the phone cut her off.

“Kay?”

She didn’t respond. Her eyes were glued to the door. “I gotta go.”

She wasn’t sure if he heard her and she wasn’t sure if she cared. She bolted out of her room, nearly slamming into Addison who was on his way downstairs.

“What was that?” he huffed, his feet slamming down on the floorboards.

“I have no idea,” Kayleigh panted. “Was it Reese?”

“Couldn’t be,” Addison whispered; they had reached the bottom landing. “I ran into her room after I heard it. She’s crying in her closet.”

They crept up to the kitchen door. Everything was silent, save for the humming of the ice maker in the freezer.

Addison nudged her in the ribs until she called out hollowly, “Mom?”

There was a pause before she replied, calling them into the room.

Kayleigh gazed around the kitchen; nothing was out of place—all the cherrywood cabinets were closed tightly, the lights in the display case (which contained her mom’s salt and pepper shaker collection) flung rainbows onto the ceiling. Only a bottle of Arizona Iced Tea sat out on the counter next to two glasses and a clear folder sat in the middle of the kitchen table, tiny writing turning the white paper gray.

“What’s going on, kids?” her dad asked, his arms crossed tightly in front of him so the thin tendons in his forearms pushed against his skin.

“We heard a scream,” Addison said. “We wanted to make sure you were okay.”

Their father nodded, tight lipped. Addison held his gaze firmly, trying to discern what his father was hiding. Kayleigh stared unabashedly at her mother. Her hair was a bit disheveled—the clip she normally held it back with for dishwashing was skewed all the way to the right of her head, pushing short tendrils of hair up like mini-Medusa snakes. Her nose was cherry red, her lips chapped and there were angry red marks on her palms and the backs of her hands from where her nails had dug into them.

“Mom?” Kayleigh said softly.

Her mother turned to look forlornly at Kayleigh, the tips of her lips lifting up sadly; the smile didn’t reach her eyes.

“Mom?” Kayleigh repeated.

“It’s nothing, sweetheart,” her mother said. “Don’t worry. Go to bed.”

“Is it Grandma?” Addison asked, half-rising from his chair. “Is it her heart? Did she have another stroke? A third heart attack?”

“No, Addison, it’s not Grandma. She’s fine,” their father said, his voice hardly above a whisper. “Tamara, we should tell them. It’s only fair.”

“There’s nothing fair about this, Warren,” Tamara spat, swiping at an eye quickly.

Warren’s jaw tightened. “Fine. Kayleigh, come sit down.” He held his eldest children’s gazes. “Your mother and I are getting a divorce.”

Kayleigh’s eyes slid to Addison, who had drawn his lower lip far into his mouth, like he used to when he got anxious as a toddler when he didn’t see his mom or dad for more than five minutes. She glanced at her mother’s left hand, where her engagement and wedding rings sparkled brightly; her dad’s finger was bare.

“Why?” Kayleigh winced the moment the words left her mouth.

Her father’s mouth hardened. “Irreconcilable differences.”

Tamara snorted. “Please, Warren.”

“I can’t very well tell them the real reason,” he muttered, turning into his future ex-wife’s ear.

“Of course you can’t,” she hissed back. “But don’t make up this bullshit.”

“Typical!” Warren roared. “Typical Tammy. You’re not happy with any of my answers. They’re never good enough, are they? You always want more!”

“That’s a lie!”

“See? Even my feelings are wrong! You just keep asking for me to do this and that and be this person that I’m not! I’m sick of pretending! I can’t give you anymore!”

“Stop,” Kayleigh croaked, cradling her head in her hands.

“Oh, poor you, Warren! Is life too hard for you?” Tamara mocked. “You’re married to a successful lawyer who brings in more than half the income, you live in a beautiful house—which I paid for most of the renovations—I gave you three beautiful children and you get to play around with your stupid cameras all day. What more do you want out of life?”

“For you to be happy with what I bring to this family!”

“You don’t bring anything,” her voice cracked with tears. “I bring the money, the food, the discipline—You’re the ‘fun’ parent! You never yell! I always do the yelling! I have to punish them and then they hate me and you’re all perfect and cool!”

“Fine, Tammy,” Warren slammed his chair back; the legs caught in the grout and flipped the chair over with a sickening crash. “You want to do less yelling? I’ll be the tough one from now on.” He turned to Addison and Kayleigh. “Addison, you’re not to leave your room until you get a one hundred on a math test and you can go an entire month without us being called by the principal.”

“Stop,” Kayleigh said, pinching the bridge of her nose.

They ignored their daughter. “That’s not what I want, Warren. And you know that pretty damned well.”

“I know what you want,” he sneered. “But we said we wouldn’t mention that in front of the kids.”

“Will you stop acting like we’re in college for one minute?” Tamara’s breath was coming in quick gasps, shortening with her rising exasperation. “That was nineteen years ago, Warren. Get that into your head. In all the years I’ve known you, you haven’t grown up one bit.”

Warren glanced down at himself; his ripped, dark wash jeans hung almost as low on his hips as his thirteen year old son’s, his faded The Who t-shirt had a large spaghetti sauce stain over his stomach and developing solution had bleached the hem, he still wore the shark tooth and hemp necklace his high school girlfriend had given him on their five-month anniversary and played off the rocker image he had generated with the small silver hoop through his right earlobe, his “freedom” present to himself upon moving out of his parents’ house.

“That didn’t seem to bother you two years ago,” he said quietly, bitterness staining his voice black.

“See? This is what I mean! You’re such a child!”

“I’m pretty sure my anger is justified,” he roared. “And this matter is hardly childish. If anything, you’re the childish one!”

“Will you two just stop?” Kayleigh screamed, throwing her hands onto the table. “Just tell us what’s going on. I don’t care if you don’t want to. We have the right to know what’s splitting our parents apart.”

“Your mother’s been having an affair with her boss for the last two years,” her father’s voice came out calm and steady, his green eyes pinned on his wife’s downturned face. “Again.”

&&

“How many times?”

Blake closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Five.”

“Five? In one night?” Kristoph leaned back on the couch and crossed his hands behind his head. “I underestimated you. I thought you’d only hold out for three.”

Blake glared at him and drawled, “Thanks.”

Alex McKinley strolled over and sat next to Blake, folding one long leg under himself. “I’m assuming, Kris, by the dejected look on your face that Blake and Abby did it more than three times last night.”

Kristoph glared at him. “So?”

“Pay up,” Alex smirked. “I believe that’s… oh, two hundred bucks?”

“You bet two hundred bucks on how many times I’d have sex?” Blake’s head snapped towards Alex.

“Wrong. I bet fifty bucks that you’d be able to get it up more than three times. Kristoph here bet two hundred that you couldn’t,”

“Kris!”

“What? It seemed like a responsible investment,”

“I’m assuming Blake found out about your little bet, boys?” Mallory strolled in with a cup of soup in her hand, other one poised coquettishly over her hip.

“You knew?” Blake’s eyes narrowed at hers.

“When will he learn?” Mallory rolled her eyes skyward. “I know everything that goes on in this little group, Blakey poo.”

Alex smirked and moved over so Mallory could sit next to him. She leaned her head against his shoulder and sipped her soup contentedly. The two had a strange relationship; they dated for almost a month in freshman year and after their break-up, didn’t talk for a year after that. By some stroke of fate, they became as close as ever again junior and had been nearly inseparable since then. They fought like siblings and were two of the most immature seventeen-year-olds Blake had ever had the misfortune to meet, but at the end of the day, he was seethingly jealous that both had someone that close who they could turn to unconditionally. It was what he had had with Kayleigh.

“Move,” Alexis snapped from above, glaring down at Alex and Mallory.

Blake glanced up at her quickly, his eyes flicking quickly to Alex who slunk away with raised eyebrows.

“Hey baby,” Alexis purred, her manicured nails sneaking up his arm.

“Hi Lex,” he grunted, shifting away uncomfortably.

“What’s the matter sweetie? Uncomfortable?” her eyes flickered down to his pants and she bit her bottom lip, almost coyly.

Kristoph snickered.

“I’d rather we didn’t let everyone know about our sex life,” Blake whispered angrily, detaching her hand from his.

Her eyes grew wide. “But… I thought…. I thought guys wanted… that.”

“I think there are some things meant to be private,” Blake snapped. “Sex being one of them.”

Blake glanced over at Kristoph who had scooted so far over in his seat that the side legs were hovering off the floor.

“Whatever,” he grumbled. “I was going to ask you to Spring Formal. But if you’re just going to keep talking about this… I might as well go stag.”

He snatched his bag from the floor and stalked from the room, Abby’s eyes following him as she sat silently, trying to bite back tears. Kristoph smirked at her, bolting from his seat to follow Blake.

“Well done, man,” Kristoph clapped Blake on the back when he caught up to him outside the science labs. “So you finally decided to give up on Abby and go after Kayleigh?”

Blake’s cheeks flamed. “What? No. That’s ridiculous.”

“Oh, so you just don’t double-dip,”

“Excuse me?”

“You know,” Kristoph grinned and nudged Blake.

Blake shook his head pointedly.

“Bang the same chick twice?”

Blake punched him in the shoulder. “That’s not it.”

“Well if it’s not Kayleigh and it’s nothing about sex, what is it?”

Blake exhaled loudly. “I just didn’t realize how clingy she was.”

Kristoph nodded. The two walked in silence toward the library.

“So… Does that mean I can have her?”

Blake laughed. “I don’t think she’s your type, man.”

“Too vanilla?”

“Huh?”

“Tame. I like me some rocky road,”

“I’m not really sure about my flavor yet,” Blake cracked a small smile, punching Kris in the shoulder again before sauntering in the library.

&&

“Mom?” Blake called to a seemingly empty house. “I’m home!”

He flung his keys into the keyboard and walked cautiously into the kitchen, looking at the room exactly how he had left it this morning—phone next to his mother’s place setting, a mug of coffee still in the microwave, his mother’s snow boots still dripping slush under the island counter.

“Sarah?” he moved through the empty house as if in limbo; it wasn’t normally this quiet. The silence was suffocating and the air smelled almost stale; Blake felt as if he was moving through Jell-O. “C’mon Mom. This would’ve been funny years ago.”

“Blake?” a muffled voice came from upstairs, followed by a shriek.

Blake bolted into action. His loafers squeaked on the polished wood floor and as he ran past the stairs, the banister flexed and nearly ripped from the wall as he catapulted himself upstairs, the steps disappearing underneath his long legs three at a time.

“Mom? Sarah?” he looked around Sarah’s room, his fists held in front of his face. The room was empty, only her banners from science fairs fluttering in the sudden wind from the door being flung open.

“Shit…” he said under his breath, turning slowly to face the long walkway to the master bedroom. “Mom…”

“Blake! Help! Please!” the voice choked and squeaked.

“I’m coming! Listen asshole, if you’re touching either one of them, I swear to God…” he shouted as he sprinted into the room, stopping short when he saw his mom bent over double, clutching the corner of a writhing duvet. “Mom?”

“Oh, Blake!” she gasped. “You have to help! Sarah was trying to get this down but it fell on top of her! I’m laughing too hard to get it off her!”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he grumbled, swooping down to lift it off, revealing his red faced sister with tears streaming down her face. “What’s going on?”

His mom took a deep breath and steadied herself on the edge of the cabinet, her eyes flickering to Sarah, who was sheepishly clutching the duvet to her chest.

“Well, Blake,” his mom started slowly, pushing his arm to seat him on her bed. “We’re going to have a few guests for a while.”

“Aunt Mary and Uncle Marty?”

Sarah tried to suppress a snort.

“Not quite,” Mrs. Keegan smiled. “These are a little closer to home.”

Blake’s brow furrowed. “Grandma and Grandpa?”

“Blake, honey,” Mrs. Keegan sat down next to him. “The Brody kids are coming to stay for a little while.”

Blake’s jaw locked, the muscle twitching uncontrollably. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Blake,” his mother’s voice was low, warning.

“It’s just… why?” he tried to keep from whining.

His mother paused, choosing her words carefully. “Their parents need to go into the city for a little bit. I told Tamara that we’d help out.”

Blake sighed and closed his eyes, trying to clear the red spots from the back of his lids. “They’re staying in the pool house, right?”

“Blake! It’s the middle of winter! They’ll freeze just coming in for dinner!”

Blake’s face crumpled. “But…”

“They’ll stay in the house. We haven’t worked out sleeping arrangements yet…”

“Kayleigh can stay with me!” Sarah piped up, grinning broadly.

Mrs. Keegan bit her lip. “Yeah… I’m just worried that she’ll need her own space for now. Senior year, you know, is really hard.”

“I know, Mom,” Blake bit out.

She glared at him.

“I guess Addison will be staying with me,” Blake said evenly.

“That means that Reese will have her own room,” Sarah remarked, folding the duvet over her arms once more with a loud crinkle. “Seems a little unfair that the baby of the family doesn’t have to share.”

“I guess the only option is we can separate the two beds in the guest room so that Reese and Addison can share the room, Kayleigh can have Blake’s room and Blake can sleep on the couch,” Mrs. Keegan mused.

Blake’s jaw dropped. “How is that a solution? Why doesn’t Sarah have to give up her room?”

“’Cause I’ll need to be in my room to pack all my stuff,” Sarah said proudly, smiling even wider at Blake’s confusion. “I got into Interlochen Academy this semester!”

“Then why haven’t you left yet?” he asked snidely.

“Because, dumbo, their second semester starts the first week of February. I fly out to Michigan in two weeks!”

“So… if, by some small chance, the Brodys are still with us then, will Kayleigh take that room?”

“Yes, Blake.” Mrs. Keegan’s exasperation was rising. “Go strip your bed and bring your sheets downstairs. You can sleep on the couch in the movie room. Sarah and I will make up the guest room beds. When you’re done downstairs, you can make your bed up for Kayleigh.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he grumbled, taking the duvet from his smirking sister.

&

When Kayleigh came into the house three hours later, toting duffle bags, sleeping bags and trying to herd her siblings into the house, Blake was waiting.

“Where’ve you been, roomie?”

Kayleigh visibly stiffened. “School.”

Blake glanced at the clock glowing over the oven. “It’s seven o’clock at night.”

“I don’t see why that’s any of your business,”

“My house. My rules.”

Kayleigh snorted. “It’s your parents’ house, Mr. Man.”

“Just tell me where you were and I’ll consider not making your life hell,” Liar, he said to himself.

“Fine,” Blake glanced up to see the bridge of her nose pinched tightly between her thumb and forefinger. “I was at school talking to teachers about my work from today and then I went to Starbucks with Tyler while Reese was at karate and Addison was at detention.”

Blake’s lungs burned and his stomach knotted and unknotted, feeling as tight as it had when Jack Carlotti punched him in the stomach for making out with his girlfriend. “Tyler?”

Kayleigh’s cheeks burned. “Yeah. We’re friends... I guess… Until we decide what to do next.”

“Next?”

“Yeah, next,” she smiled and hiked her bag up onto her shoulder.

Blake’s eyes clouded over, a thick veil hardening his clear blue eyes. “You’re in my room. Upstairs and to the left. I’m sure my mom’ll show Reese and Addison their rooms.”

Blake nodded curtly at her and turned back towards the couch before she could respond, turning the Giants game up to full volume.

“Blake,” she called over the din.

“What?” his voice came out low and gravelly.

“Where are you going to sleep?” her eyes rounded slightly at his gesture to the couch, slightly affronted that he didn’t even mute the TV to respond. “Well… thank you.”

Blake didn’t make so much as a signal that he had heard her, not until she left the room. His head swung to watch her stalk towards the stairs, calling his sister’s name. His fingers felt numb and each nerve in his body seemed to prickle. If he hadn’t known better, he would’ve sworn he was having a heart attack.

He turned the volume on the game up and put the Nets game into picture-in-picture, trying not to wonder about what Kayleigh was doing or touching in his room.

He groaned, muttering to himself, “Not all heart attacks are physical ones, Blake.”

Ahahahaha. Welcome to the official, original plot! Whoo! Now it REALLY gets exciting.

Soundtrack: I've been really lazy about finding perfect songs, so I'll just list the ones that I listened to while writing this.

(in no significant order) I Fell in Love Without You (Acoustic)- Motion City Soundtrack, The Climb- Miley Cyrus (I know, I know), No Surprise- Daughtry, If Today Was Your Last Day- Nickelback, Halo- Beyoncé, The Conversation- Motion City Soundtrack, When A Heart Breaks- Dave Barnes, Turn It Up (The Fall)- Pixie Lott, This is For Real- Motion City Soundtrack, If You See Kay- The Script, Tim McGraw- Taylor Swift, Beautiful is Gone- The Ruse, Moth's Wings- Passion Pit, Don'T Stop Believin'- Flight 409, My Mirror Speaks- Death Cab for Cutie, It Ends Tonight- The All-American Rejects, Think of You Later (Empty Room)- Every Avenue, Just For Tonight- One Night Only, I'm Yours- The Script, Ghost- Parachute

*all italicized songs are in the Growing Up Lonely soundtrack, not necessarily for this chapter.

If you have any suggestions, please either review or PM me!

Also, a big thank you to MarloCarlo10 for being my most faithful reviewer! You really make my day!!