Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 87181 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87181 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Of course, they blackmailed him. I couldn’t even blame my brother for not telling me if that was the threat they placed on his shoulders. I knew how much going to school out here meant to him. He had his friends and football. It felt cruel that our parents even threatened him like that. I’d expect them to do that kind of shit to me, but not to Mano.
I felt bad that he had a glimpse of the parents that I grew up with. The manipulative behavior where they gaslit me into thinking I was a bad kid when they were bad parents. They’d always make it seem like they were the victims when they were the abusive party. I still get those reactions from them to that day. It didn’t bother me much since I was so used to it, but I could see how it hurt Mano. It wasn’t fair, and it pissed me off enough to want to kick them out of our apartment and set them up in a hotel.
“How long are they planning to stay again?” I grumbled.
“Five days until New Year’s. I’m sorry, Kai. Really.”
“Don’t apologize. This isn’t your fault. This is just our parents being our parents.”
“I set up dinner reservations at a five-star restaurant tomorrow,” Mom said, barging into my bedroom. She looked at the hamper of dirty clothes tossed there from my trip to Wisconsin. Her nose turned up. “Is this the pigsty you’ve been having your brother live in?” she asked me.
The curse words flying through my head felt worthy of giving me a one-way ticket to Satan’s dungeon, but I bit my tongue.
“Mom, come on. He just got back from a trip,” Mano explained, gesturing toward my opened suitcase on the floor.
“Don’t bother, Mano,” I urged. It wasn’t worth the battle. My parents would see what they wanted to see, no matter what. She must’ve forgotten all the years I went through our house, picking up their dirty, alcohol-drenched clothing and doing their laundry because they were too intoxicated to function.
Gosh, I needed to talk to Holly.
The last thing I wanted to do was deal with my parents for the next five days. I needed to get to Holly and explain the situation to Penelope. Instead, I was dealing with two grown adults telling me that the way I was living wasn’t up to par with their newfound uppity personas.
“I can’t do dinner tomorrow. I have to work these next few days,” I explained. “You can’t just show up to someone’s house and expect them to change their whole life.”
“Your restaurant doesn’t open until five in the afternoon. We can do lunch,” Mom offered. “Unless you don’t eat lunch.” Passive aggressive mother was full steam ahead.
“That’s fine. We’ll figure it out,” I muttered.
“Your father and I are exhausted from our travels. If you could pick up the speed of preparing the room, that would be great, sweetheart,” she said before heading out of the room.
Mano frowned my way. “Sorry, Kai.”
“Again, don’t apologize.”
I was ready to sleep on the couch, but Mano took off his top twin bed mattress and made me a bed beside his. As I lay on his floor, he said, “You could just sleep with Holly and pop back in the morning.”
“That probably isn’t a possibility.”
“Why not? Didn’t you guys have a great trip together?”
“We did. Then Penelope showed up at the restaurant, telling me she had feelings for me.”
Mano sat up a bit in bed. “What?”
“And she kissed me.”
He sat up more. “What?”
“And Holly saw the kiss.”
He shot up from his bed. “What?!”
“Exactly my thoughts.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. What did Holly say when you talked to her?”
I fluffed my pillow and plopped back down on it. “Nothing. She blocked me. I tried pounding on her door before you arrived, but she wouldn’t answer.”
“Dude! What are you doing here sleeping on my floor? You need to Say Anything that girl! Put a boom box on your shoulder, stand outside her balcony, and beg her to talk to you!”
“This isn’t a movie, Mano. You can’t just do that stuff. Anyway, I almost got a noise complaint about banging on her door. I’ll figure it out tomorrow. Go to sleep. It’s late.”
“But Kai—”
“Good night, Mano.”
“But Kai!”
“Good night.”
“Hey, Kai?” Mano whispered, poking me in the side. The sun was peeking through his window blinds, yet my body wanted to sleep for ten more hours.
I grumbled and flipped over to my side, turning my back to him. “Still tired.”
“Yeah, okay. I hear you, but I want you to know that I was only trying to improve things.”
“What are you talking about?” I muttered, yawning into my pillow.
“I might have reached out to Holly on the dating app, seeing how I don’t have her number to text her. And I told her it was me, and that you liked her and were sorry, and I explained what happened with Penelope and that it meant nothing and that Penelope is just crazy.”