The Fragile Ordinary(28)

When I followed Tobias into the flat, the first thing that assaulted my ears was the sound of cartoons, reminding me of Vicki’s house after school with Ben. As soon as the door slammed shut behind us we heard, “King, is that you?” just before a little boy threw himself out of the living room and hurried down the short hall to grin up at Tobias. He was about six or seven, as I’d suspected, a mini-me of Stevie, and he was hopping from one foot to the other like he had ants in his pants. “Yer home early. Where’s Stevie? Come play the Xbox with me!”

“Kieran.” The blonde from the couch yesterday appeared in the doorway of the living room. She had dark circles under her eyes and a weary expression on her pretty face. “I told ye, yer cousin is working on a project with his friend from school.” Her gaze moved to Tobias and she gave him a fond smile. “Hi, darlin’.”

“Carole.” Tobias gave her his lip curl. “This is Comet. Comet, this Stevie’s mom, Carole.”

“Nice to meet you.”

She smiled. “You, too.”

“Comet,” Kieran suddenly said. “Cool name! Can I come sit with you and Comet?” he asked Tobias.

“Sorry, buddy.” Tobias mussed his little cousin’s hair in affection. “We’ve got work to do. I’ll come find you after.”

Kieran’s face crumpled with frustration. “But—”

“Kieran, come watch yer cartoons and give Tobias and Comet some peace.”

To my surprise Kieran, although pouting comically, did as he was told and disappeared into the living room with one last soulful look at us. Carole gave us another tired smile. “I’ll keep him occupied. Yer mum called. She’s working overtime.”

Tobias barely acknowledged this. Instead he gave her a scowl along with a nod of his chin and turned to me. “You know where you’re going, right?” He gestured up the hall. “I’ll be there in a sec.”

Realizing he wanted privacy with his cousin, I walked down the hall, giving her a shy smile before I disappeared around the corner. However, I hadn’t quite made it to the bedroom Tobias shared with Stevie when I heard him ask, “Did you see the doctor?”

I froze, curiosity and, let’s face it, nosiness, getting the better of me.

“I was working until two. I didnae have time before picking up Kieran from school.”

“You told Mom you’d go.” He sounded frustrated.

“As I told Lena, I’m fine. I’m just fighting off this flu.”

“Mom said—”

“While yer mum is at work, I’m the adult in charge of ye here. So stop worrying about me and go be a kid. Worry about yer schoolwork. Lena says yer grades are suffering, and if I find out it’s because Stevie is leading ye astray, I won’t be happy.”

“I do what I want, not what anyone else wants.”

“Then ye’ll only have yer own stupidity to blame when ye end up living in a flat like this, working at a job with crap pay and no future. Yer so smart, Tobias, smart enough to listen to me when my son won’t. Lena says ye enjoyed school back in the States. Pretending to not like it because my kid doesn’t like it is the opposite of smart.”

“I don’t need a lecture, Carole.”

“Don’t ye? Life is short, kid. Don’t waste it pretending to be something yer not.”

I hurried into Stevie and Tobias’s room before I could hear Tobias’s response. I didn’t want to get caught eavesdropping. But I was intrigued about Tobias’s life even more than I had been the night before.

When Tobias came into the room I was already settled on the bed with my notes spread out on his duvet. He kicked off his shoes and got on the bed, swiping his notes off his bedside table. He was quiet and broody again.

“Kieran is cute,” I said, attempting to break the silence.

His expression softened a little. “Yeah, he’s a funny kid.”

“He seems to like you.”

“What’s not to like?”

I rolled my eyes, and this time Tobias chuckled. “Not so shy anymore, huh?”

And just like that I blushed, making him laugh harder. Pretending to scowl, I stared ferociously at my notes, trying to remember where we’d left off the night before.

“You’re cute when you blush.”

My gaze flew up at that comment, my heart suddenly pounding. Tobias was staring intently at his notes, like he hadn’t just given me a compliment. A compliment that had the blood whooshing in my ears and flooding my cheeks. When he refused to meet my stare, I looked back down at the papers in front of me.

“I think we’re on the fifth soliloquy, right?” he said, as if he hadn’t called me cute.

Deciding it was best for my mental state to go along with the pretense, I cleared my throat. “Right.”

As we worked, the easiness fled and it wasn’t because of Tobias’s offhand compliment. It was because of my reaction to it. Steph or Vicki would have said something coy or flirty back, and the compliment would have been forgotten as the conversation continued. But not me. I didn’t know how to react, and I overanalyzed and wondered if he really meant it or if he was messing with me. Then I started to think he really was messing with me and how mean that was!

I exhausted myself trying to focus on our presentation and mentally berate Tobias at the same time.