Page 107 of Tell Me When It's Over

Since the Beckham fiasco, things between them have been extra awkward. I found Mom sleeping in a guest bedroom instead of theirs once, cheeks stained with tears, hair a mess, no makeup on, and I knew it was bad. Another day when she was leaving the house after Harry left for work, I asked her if she was okay and she said, “I haven’t been okay in a long time,” before closing the door behind her. She didn’t come home for hours, and once again, arrived long after Harry did with no explanation.

An elbow nudges my arm, drawing me from my thoughts. “What are you thinking about?” asks Kyler in a quiet voice as Beth plates banana pancakes, bacon, eggs, and my favorite turkey sausage patties for us.

I give him a genuine smile, pushing away thoughts of Mom because I don’t want my worry to bleed through. Not today. I spend every other one obsessing over what she’s doing, if she’ll fall into another pit of depression or lash out, and I want one day where I don’t have to think about her. “Nothing. How long have you guys been up trying to make breakfast?”

His lips twitch when I emphasize “trying” but he just chuckles. “Beth kicked us out of the kitchen after eight. So…almost an hour?”

The woman in question puts a hand on her hip and stares at Kyler. “It’s disheartening to see so much good food wasted from a lack of skill. One of these days, you two will need to learn to cook.” She eyes both of them, nodding her head once when they wince.

When she meets my eyes, she smiles warmly, affectionately, and it’s a look I wish I saw on Mom’s face when she looked at me. “I have faith in you since I’ve seen you in the kitchen. You’ll have to teach these two something.”

Grinning, I accept the plate she sets in front of me with a “thank you”, earning me a “Happy birthday, sweet girl,” in return.

Breakfast is as delicious as it smells, and Mia initiates the presents first like always once we’re seated in the den with the TV paused at the beginning of our first movie of the day. They both asked if I wanted to go anywhere, especially since last year was spent at a Violet Wonders concert, but all I want is to lounge in my pajamas, make a cake, and spend time with them.

“Unfortunately, someone made it impossible to top last year’s present. I tried, Lenny Lou, but Kyler nixed my idea.”

The man beside me chokes. “I wasn’t going to let you hire Garrick to come here and do a goddam striptease.”

My face heats. “Uh…what?”

Mia points at me. “See! She would have been down for that.”

Wincing, I say, “Actually, I—”

“She wouldn’t,” Ky answers for me, pinning our older sister with firm eyes that tells her to drop it. “End of discussion. Give her your gift so we can move on from this.”

She mutters under her

breath something that sounds like “just because you don’t want to see his junk doesn’t mean we don’t” which makes me struggle out a nervous laugh. Mia knows about the crush I’ve harbored on the lead singer of Violet Wonders, but that doesn’t mean I want to see his…thing. The thought alone makes me blush harder, and Kyler’s eyes narrow when he sees my blazing cheeks like he knows what’s going through my mind.

Sighing, Mia passes me a beautifully wrapped present that she eagerly watches me open with excited eyes. When I open the lid, she says, “I know, I know. It’s not the typical stuff I normally buy you. But since you loathe people spending a lot of money on you, I figured buying you a car would be out of the question even though you’re sixteen and absolutely need one.”

Staring down at me is a driver’s manual from the closest DMV. Smiling, I pick it up and notice the pink sticky note attached with Mia’s handwriting listing a date and time.

“That’s when your written exam is! I’m taking you that way Kyler can’t claim the glory of driving home with our newly permitted sister.” She claps her hands and beams when I smile at her.

“This is awesome, Mia,” I tell her truthfully, flipping through the booklet of laws and regulations, already eager and nervous for the written exam that I know awaits a week from now.

“Study up, sis. Don’t be like me who may have had to retake the test.”

Kyler deadpans, nudging my foot with his from where he’s perched on the floor with a long, rectangular box on his lap. “She had to take the exam twice, and the second time one of the workers practically gave it to her by going through the answers together.”

A loud groan sounds from beside me before Mia defends, “I have test anxiety, jackass! It’s a thing.”

It totally is a thing. Nora struggles with it, which is why I always help her study the week before a big test. She knows all the answers because we’d go over them countless times, but her anxiety would get the better of her and once she barely scraped by with a passing grade. I know she’s been working harder and harder to get the salutatorian spot for our graduating class, and every time someone—usually Striker, even though Nora told him to go away after what his best friend did—would bring it up, Nora would get weird and clam up, saying she didn’t want to talk about it.

Once their banter is done, Kyler passes me his present. I know what’s inside isn’t a test booklet, ticket to see my favorite band, or anything he’s given me before, because he looks nervous. His front teeth bite into his bottom lip as I delicately undo the pretty silver ribbon wrapped around the plain white box. I don’t recognize the label on the front of it, but Mia does when she gasps and starts watching carefully over my shoulder to see what’s inside.

She sucks in a breath the same time I whisper, “Kyler,” as I stare at the pretty silver chain with a guitar charm on it. Grazing it with my fingertip, I notice a smaller charm beside it, a heart that dangles off the same loop and hides behind the larger piece of jewelry.

He clears his throat. “It’s interchangeable. There’s an extender on the bottom if you want to wear it like a necklace, but it can be worn as a charm bracelet too.” Picking it out of the box, he taps my wrist and helps me put it on.

“It’s beautiful.”

Mia examines it closer, taking my wrist and touching the charms. “How did our roles get reversed? I’m usually the one who goes overboard for birthdays.”

I wince. “By overboard, you mean…?”

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