Distant Minds

Chapter 22: Red Handed

    "His name is Richard! Why? Do you know him or something?" Kyrie shakes her head nervously. "I- I- No, Jason I don't. Well maybe I do know him. Who was he with?" "He was with two guys. Older and younger. I think they're his brothers." Kyrie looks down. Defeated. "Nope. I umm, yeah I don't know them." "Well too bad! We need to get together sometime!" "Yeah. Well, I got to go now," Kyrie says hesitantly. She checks her phone. "I have like 20 missed calls from my mom." The two get up from the couch. Jason smiles. "Girl that was a real short visit! We haven't had time to hang out since school ended." "True. You should come over next time. Hey, before I go, can I ask you one more thing?" "Yeah of course!" "Should I apologize to him in person? I mean, I haven't tried." Jason puts his arm on Kyrie's shoulder as he opens the front door. "Hun, if you're really up to facing him right now, then do it. If he forgives you, you have a best friend. If he turns you down, you were never meant to know each other in the first place." Kyrie smiles. "Thanks Jason. Good luck with Richard. I'm sure he's a handful."

Ralph and Kate lay out the inflatable bed in the empty guest room. Red asks Ralph, "You sure Randall can't catch up here?" "Nah man, he's gonna stay with Gabby at the hospital for like a long while. He'll just crash at Daniels place since he has the spare key." Red nods and walks into his room, Daniel Lays out a sleeping bag. "Thanks for letting us sleep over for the weekend red. Should be fun." "No prob. Y'all can stay up as long as y'all need. I just wanna put some makeup on." "It's 11:30 PM Red." "So!?"
Hours pass. Red continues to put on makeup at 2 am while everybody else is sound asleep. He overhears a voice. A child's voice, talking. Laughing. Red shakes it off. "It's nothing, I'm just being an idiot again." But the whispering voice continues. Red shakes his head and stands up. Fumbling, he trips his way over to the door. He puts an ear against it to hear what the voice is saying. The voice stops. As red makes his way back the the chair he hears laughter. "Oh what the hell!" Red whispers loudly. He opens the door. Pitch black. Takes out his phone and puts it on flashlight. The noise is coming from Jacobs room. "Ugh." Red whispers. "I told him to go to bed hours ago-" He opens the door. "Jacob!" Jacob fumbles on his bed and his phone drops onto the floor. "I caught you red handed! Now Jacob kids your age shouldn't be watching-" Red picks up Jacobs phone and sees it on FaceTime. "Who is this?" Red asks him. Jacob stays silent. "Jacob you need to tell me who this is-" "It's Laven!" Jacob yells. Red closes the door behind him. "You mean liv's little sister?" "Yes. We've been talking for weeks now." "How did you even get her number you have never even-" "shut up Red. You know nothing about cute girls." "Well if you have a crush on Laven, you need to let me know that Jacob." Red sits on Jacobs bed. Jacob shakes his head. "I know you don't really like Liv. If I told you about this, Laven and I would never have a chance to hang out." "Well since you care about her so much, I won't stand in your way." "Does this mean she can come over sometime?" Red smirks, "As long as I'm not in the house." Jacob gives Red a hug. "Thanks bro. I'm gonna play some games for a bit then ill sleep. Finish your makeup. You look like a clown."

    The next morning, the doorbell rings. Daniel opens the door. "Hey Kyrie," "Hey, is- is Red here?" "Yeah, yeah. He's still sleeping though. He stayed up til 5 putting on makeup." "Red puts on makeup?" Kyrie says confused. "Red is discovering himself. People can change in a couple of weeks!" Kyrie laughs. Daniel nods. "Well. I suppose you can come in, I'm assuming it has something to do with him." "Yeah, I have some explaining to do, and more." Daniel let's kyrie in. "Is Reds mom home?" "Oh no she left for work about an hour ago." "If you're here, where's Ralph?" "He went out with Kate earlier as well. I think they're visiting Kate's house and such. It's almost fixed after that fire." "Ohh, cool. Daniel can I ask you something?" "Yeah, what is it?" "Red broke up with me right?" "Yeah," "Red found a new kid right?" "You can say that," "His name is Jason right?" "Yeahh- WAIT how do you know all this?" "Jason is my friend!" Daniel stops. "Seriously?" "I'm 99% sure." "I- I don't know wether to say too bad or thank god." "I'm not here because I wanna get back with him. I'm here because I wanna help him get with Jason. As a friend." "Well, If I know Red, he'll be your friend again. You've known that crackhead all your life!" "I'm positive that will happen too. I know a lot about Jason. We're classmates. I can help Red get to know more about him." Jacob is seen walking down the stairs. "Good morning kuya, oh hi kyrie!" "Hey Jacob, now as I was saying Daniel, I need Red to know everything about Jason. He's a good friend, but he can be-" "Daniel!" Jacob cuts off, "can you make something for us to eat please?" "Yeah sure bro, hehe, hold that thought kyrie." Kyrie nods. Daniel got up from the couch and begins walks to the kitchen to make some sandwiches. Kyrie gets on her phone and scrolls through Instagram.
Red finishes putting on his makeup and looks at his phone screen. "Good enough." Red scoffs, "I didn't have enough time to finish the look anyway." Red opens his closet. "Crap. How am I supposed to put my hoodie on now?
Daniel hands Jacob and Kyrie a breakfast sandwich. "This was all you had so
I tried my best haha!" "Thank you" Jacob said. Footsteps are heard going down the stairs. Red enters the room. Daniel looks up "Hey bro, wow. Is that what you stayed up all night for?" "Screw you Daniel. And yes. Yes it was." Daniel gets up and hands red a sandwich. Red looks to his left and sees kyrie sitting down. "Daniel, what is Kyrie doing here?" Daniel shrugs. "You see, Kyrie has some explaining to do."