The next morning, he woke early, visiting Christina before she went to school.
‘You want some make up?’ she repeated, staring at him as he stood before her in the doorway of her apartment.
‘Uh, yeah, can I come in?’
He pushed past her suddenly into the room, Christiana closed the door after him, turning to him.
‘What do you want make up for?’
‘It’s not like that’ Kevin frowned.
His hand went to his face then, where there was still heavy bruising from the fight.
‘I want to go and visit my parents’ Kevin explained. ‘And I don’t want to look like this.’
‘Oh, I see’ Christina spoke softly. ‘I thought you were going strange on me.’
She handed him what he needed, and he began to paint around his eye and cheeks as Christina bustled around the apartment, a little flustered.
‘God I'm always so busy’ she complained bitterly, ‘I never have enough time…’
‘How does it look?’ she asked Kevin hurriedly then.
Kevin straightened up, lowering his hand. He turned away from the mirror to face Christina, smiling at her.
‘What do you think?’ he smiled, ‘looks gone hu?’
‘It looks pretty convincing’ she sighed wearily. ‘Now are you done? I have to go out now.’
*
He walked with Christina to school, just because he wanted, and it was a nice day.
‘I’ll see you around then’ Christina sighed wearily when they had reached the school gates.
‘Hey’ he said grabbing her arm firmly then to stop her, she turned back to him. ‘Take it easy ok?’
She let out a sigh, her eyes tired.
‘I will’ he smiled wearily. ‘Thanks.’
He let go of her then.
‘I’ll see you’ Kevin said to her.
‘Bye.’
She turned and marched away, Kevin watched her as she went. From where he stood he saw Jessica. She raised her hand to wave at him tentatively. He waved back at her, jovially. She felt guilty for what had happened, blaming herself for Kevin’s suspension, he knew this, and yet he regretted nothing.
He turned away from her then, walking away from the school with a spring in her step.
He headed home, back to see his parents, and feeling a little nervous.
*
They were delighted to see him and welcomed him with open arms. His mother hugged him tightly on the doorstep, Kevin hugging her back with amusement, laughing and complaining after a few moments that he couldn’t breathe.
‘I'm sorry’ his mother said flustered as she let go of him. Patting him down, ‘it’s just so good to see you, why didn’t you come and see us sooner?’
‘I'm sorry’ Kevin gasped with a smile. ‘I…I’ve just been busy, so much has been going on you know?’
‘Come, come on in’ his mother ushered him in the door, unable to keep her hands off him, acting excited like a child on Christmas. ‘Honey! We have a visitor, come quick!’
His father rounded the corner, appearing from the kitchen. Kevin braced himself for another tight hug, fighting for breath as his father held him tightly.
‘Let’s get you some tea, shall we?’ his mother offered, forcefully pulling the two apart before his father had a chance to suffocate him. ‘Honey?’ she said to Kevin, placing her hand upon his shoulder. ‘Would you like some tea?’
‘Yes please’ he smiled.
She grasped him either side of his cheeks, nuzzling his nose with her own.
‘We’ve both missed you so much’ his mother said to him, forcing herself to let go of him before moving away. ‘Come on, hurry up and sit down.’
They all moved into the kitchen, his mother bustling around the kitchen, humming happily to herself as Kevin and his father sat at the table.
‘How are things for you then?’ his father asked him. ‘Is your new place nice? What about the man you're staying with?’
‘It’s all really nice’ Kevin smiled back at his father. ‘The guy I'm staying with is nice enough, and the place is amazing.’
‘We would love to see it’ his mother said, and Kevin felt a nervous twinge in his stomach, ‘but I doubt the man who owns it would want strangers wandering around his home’ his mother finished, and Kevin relaxed slightly.
‘We have some news for you’ his father told him. ‘We are……selling the house.’
‘Selling the house?’ Kevin said a little alarmed. ‘Why?’
‘We’ve been here for so long’ his mother said, pausing what she was doing and turning to face him. ‘This was only supposed to be a temporary house, you were…. not exactly planned’ his mother gleamed at him shyly, ‘a happy surprised but…unexpected. We never expected to adopt but….it just happened. One thing led to another, and it was the best thing I ever did.’ She giggled then like a child. ‘You’ve never really like this house that much’ his mother said, ‘have you…?’
‘I never said that?’ Kevin protested.
‘It’s alright’ his mother replied, placing teacups before each of them. ‘We understand. You were never happy with staying in one place for too long, even as a boy.’
Kevin watched tentatively as his mother poured his tea, adding the milk.
‘Our business is doing very well’ his father explained, ‘and I think it’s time to move away from here, for work, you understand? Plus, we want to see as much of the world as we can before we die.’
‘Honey!’ his mother scolded. ‘Don’t talk like that, we’re not planning on dying, not anytime soon anyway.’ She turned to Kevin then. ‘But he’s right about us wanting to see the world. We never wanted to stay here for this long.’
‘When….’ Kevin gasped, trying to control himself, ‘…when are you leaving?’
‘Not for a few weeks.’
‘A few weeks?!’
‘We will always stay in touch’ his mother said kissing him on the forehead. ‘We are moving to another country to continue our business together.’
‘Tour guide’ Kevin mumbled. ‘That’s going well then?’
‘Oh, exceedingly well’ his mother gleamed, ‘but we need to be closer to our friends in order to run our business better.’
‘Oh…’ Kevin mumbled. ‘I see.’
‘Are you alright?’ his mother asked.
‘Oh…uh yeah it’s just…’ he swallowed the lump in his throat. ‘I'm going to miss you…’
His parents smiled at him.
‘Oh’ his father spoke, reaching around to grab a letter from the kitchen counter. ‘This came for you the other day.’
He handed the letter to Kevin, who took it uncertainly, opening it.
‘This is from Lisa’ he gasped, glancing up at his parents.
‘We know’ his mother smiled. ‘We recognise the handwriting.’
‘And she drew a starfish on the envelope’ his father pointed out. ‘You remember how much she always loved starfish?’
Kevin glanced at the envelope again, seeing a little cartoon sketch of a starfish.
‘She could be a little odd sometimes’ his father said to no one in particular, ‘but she was a good girl.’
‘She was perfect’ Kevin breathed, opening the letter.
Lisa was a childhood sweetheart, for many years the two had played together and become very close friends. One day her family moved away, her father needing to do so due to work reasons, and Kevin had not seen her for a very long time. It was a devastating blow to have lost her, they had kept in touch for years after, but had not seen each other since they were children. And then, Kevin had met Sarah.
Kevin began feverishly reading the letter, his heart beating hard in his chest, and butterflies in his stomach. He gripped the letter tightly, hands trembling slightly in excitement and anticipation.
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