The Art of Us

Chapter Twelve

Kal

Kal was at Mara’s house and ringing the doorbell faster than Superman could change clothes in a phone booth.

Ireland answered and smiled when she saw him. Progress. Last night, he worried she wouldn’t talk to him again.

She opened the door wider to let him in. As he passed her, he gave in to the impulse to reach out and pull her into a quick hug. She stiffened as if surprised, and he worried he was blundering his way into the whole thing, but she softened against him and hugged him back.

“So ... I live at Mara’s now,” she said against his shoulder.

He pulled away, regretting that he needed to. “So I see.”

She took him into the kitchen and cut off a slice of bread from the fresh-baked loaf sitting on the cutting board. She set it on a plate, cut off two more slices, and put those on their own plates.

“I don’t know how Mr. Wasden found out my dad wasn’t taking care of me,” she said. “I have my suspicions of who told, and I’m so mad about it, I can’t even think well enough to plot out my revenge.”

Kal froze. She was mad. He figured as much, but he didn’t love to have the information verified. “Who—” His voice cracked. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Who do you think told him?”

Ireland frowned, her lips twisting to the side in a way that made a little crease in her cheek that was super adorable. He looked away to try to shake off the desire to kiss that little crease. The moment when she told him she knew he’d betrayed her secret without talking to her was not the moment he should be thinking about kissing her.

And Kal had betrayed her secret. He’d spent all night going over it in his mind, trying to see it the way she would see it. Not that he was sorry she wasn’t living on her own because that had been all sorts of not awesome. She hadn’t been safe. He’d seen the hungry way Rowan had watched her when she’d left school the other day. The guy had practically salivated on his own shoes. If anyone knew Ireland was on her own in what was basically a rudimentary lean-to, she would be vulnerable to whatever malevolence they could imagine. He’d heard Rowan talk about girls with his friends. And Rowan wasn’t the only guy in their school Kal didn’t trust. Kal knew there was a lot of malevolence to be had in the world.

But Kal thought maybe he should have talked to Ireland first.

“Janice,” Ireland said, tugging Kal back into their conversation—the one where she was revealing who had betrayed her.

Kal tried to process the name—process that it wasn’t his name and figure out whose name it actually was. “Who?”

“The school janitor. I helped her a few times to do her work, and she figured out I was on my own. I can’t believe she’d do this to me. I was fine, and now ... ugh!” Ireland threw her hands in the air and then settled them on the granite countertop as if needing to hold herself up.

“Maybe she did you a favor though.”

“You think living with Mara is a favor?”

Kal looked around at the kitchen he stood in. At the fact that there was a loaf of bread on the counter to slice into, at the fact that there was a stocked fridge and pantry just a few feet away. Did Ireland not see all the ways she was lucky in this? “There are worse places to land,” he said, not sure if he was landing himself in an argument with her by pointing it out.

Ireland’s shoulders slumped and she turned and leaned against the counter. “I know.” She covered her eyes with the palms of her hands. “I know.” She put her hands down. “You’re right. And her kid sister’s pretty cute, so there’s that. I’ve never had a kid sister, so that part might be fun.”

And you’re safe , he thought. He had done for her what he hadn’t been able to for Brell. He’d made her safe. Kal leaned against the counter next to her, close enough that their arms were touching. “So what are your plans for the day?” he asked.

“Oh, you know ... world domination. One hidden-objects game at a time.”

“Huh. Never knew hidden-objects games were so ruthless.”

Ireland shrugged, her shoulder sliding against his, her touch sending his pulse racing.

“Need a minion for the hostile takeover?” he asked.

She made a gagging sound and playfully shoved him away. “No. No minions. Sycophants are the worst. But ...” She eyed him as if sizing him up. “You might make a handy sidekick. What do you say? Wanna be my sidekick?”

“Maybe. What’s the dental plan like?” They were facing each other now, close enough for him to see the white nebula pattern in her blue eyes.

She leaned closer to him. “Free popcorn on the weekends. But don’t tell anyone else. It’s a secret perk for my favorite sidekicks.”

He leaned closer as well. “That’s not a dental plan, unless you’re an evil dentist.” How had they moved so close together? His gaze dropped to her mouth.

“I thought all dentists were evil,” she whispered.

“Only the ones who wear capes,” he whispered back.

“Can I kiss you?” she asked. The question was so soft he almost didn’t hear it over the thundering of the blood rushing past his ears.

Instead of responding, he moved his mouth slowly to hers, giving her time to pull away in case she hadn’t meant to ask for a kiss, in case he had heard wrong. She didn’t pull away.

Instead, her fingers curled into his shirt and pulled him closer to her until their lips touched lightly, like a gentle breeze. Kal wrapped his arms around her and she melted against him. He was kissing Ireland. Tender, a little awkward, but not uncomfortable awkward, not insecure awkward. Just new awkward. She smelled like oranges and vanilla and warmth and sunshine. He was kissing Ireland Raine. When they broke away, they both let out a nervous laugh as if they weren’t quite sure what to do next. At least he wasn’t sure.

“What are you guys laughing about?” Mara’s kid sister asked, making both Ireland and Kal jump a little farther apart.

“World domination plans,” Ireland said with a smirk.

“And top-secret sidekick perks,” he added.

“Are we still playing?” Jade asked.

“Sure,” Ireland said. “I was just getting us all some bread that I made this morning. Asiago sourdough.” Ireland picked up two plates and tossed Kal a sassy wink as she followed Jade out of the kitchen.

“I, for one,” Kal whispered to himself, “am legit not playing.”

He picked up his plate and followed them into the living room, where they spent the next few hours in the game, moving from room to room in the mystery mansion while solving puzzles and finding hidden objects. He didn’t play many video games—who had time? Between the band and school, he didn’t have a lot of leftover minutes to dedicate to a hobby. But when he did play, it was usually a game with zombies of one kind or another. The hidden object game was a fun kind of different.

Jade went to the kitchen to get herself a drink but said, “No slobbering,” before she left.

“What was that about?”

“I think she means no making out while she’s gone.”

Kal’s face flamed hot at Ireland’s being so casual in talking about kissing him. He refused to be the one to act awkward about it. If she could be bold, so could he. “Dang. That’s too bad.”

She laughed, a sound that he was quickly learning to love.

“You don’t really hate it here, right?” he asked.

“No. Not hate it. I made bread today. That was so seriously ... everything ! Ten degrees of the best awesome. But Mara and the hag and harpy have treated me like I was trash since the first minute I walked into the school.”

“Hag and harpy?”

“Mara’s friends. I don’t know. I was doing fine on my own before. I don’t need this in my life. It causes me so much anxiety.”

“You seem calm right now.” He wanted to make her living situation seem okay since it was his fault she was in it.

“It’s easy to be calm right now. She’s not home.”

Just by her bringing it up, he felt the tension rise in Ireland. Time to shuffle the playlist. “So what are your plans after graduation?”

But if he’d thought that conversational direction would improve things, he was wrong.

“Moving, for starters.” She became more agitated and got up from the couch to wander the room. “I know most people have big plans after graduation. Mara’s going to Europe.” Ireland twisted her face and rolled her eyes to tell him what she thought of that. “Isn’t that just so one percent of her. Argh!” She threw her arms over her head as if protecting it from falling rocks. “If only Janice would have just minded her own business.”

Kal hated that she blamed Janice. The custodian was innocent. She hadn’t betrayed Ireland. He had. “What about college? You could go to college after you graduate. It’s what all the cool kids are doing.” He flashed her a grin but then wanted to kick himself. Could he be any more glib when she was having a crisis?

“Oh yeah. I should do that. ’Cause college is super affordable.”

“I could help you apply for scholarships.”

She was already shaking her head. “My grades have never been good. We moved around too much.”

By the time Jade came back into the room, Ireland had gone from happy to contemplative.

Mrs. Washington came home not too long after. She greeted them all, but before Kal had time to worry about whether it was okay that he’d come over, Mrs. Washington was asking where Mara was.

“She went to Emily’s.” Jade provided the needed information.

Mrs. Washington didn’t seem to love that answer but didn’t say anything more.

“I better get going,” Kal said finally. “We play Geppetto’s tonight.”

“Oh. Okay.” He and Ireland both stood. She walked with him to the door. Once they got there, he put his hand on the handle and twisted it open. “You can come with me if you want. I promise to get you home before eleven.”

Ireland looked back in the direction of the living room where they’d left Jade. “I should probably stay. We’ve almost got this game solved. I wouldn’t want her to think she wasn’t important enough to stick around for.”

He felt all the meanings in that statement. She’d been living on her own for who knew how long. “Are you going to be okay? I didn’t mean to make you feel sad.”

She nodded. “You didn’t. I’m fine. Or I will be. Just a lot going on. Sometimes I’m just so angry. I want to hit something but don’t know where to throw the punch.”

“You could go ahead and hit me.”

Ireland let out a small laugh. “You didn’t do anything to deserve it. But thanks for the offer. Thanks for everything.” She leaned over and hugged him. Then she kissed him, a light quick sweep of her lips on his before she pulled away, touched her fingers to her lips, and smiled. “Thanks for letting me do that. It’s way better than punching you.”

He smiled. “But the offer of you punching me is still on the table.”

“Can’t do it when you don’t deserve it.” She grinned and closed the door.

Except that everything she’d said proved that if she knew it was him who got her into her situation with Mara’s family, she would absolutely think he deserved it.