Distant Minds

Chapter 23: Renovation

    Ralph and Kate arrive at Kate's house. "Wow, it looks brand new!" Ralph exclaims. Kate agrees. "This is great. Now I can finally move back into my room! Hopefully not too much is damaged though." Ralph and Kate exit the car. Kate takes out her house key and inserts it into the door. "Here goes." The two walk in. Just like new. Kate and Ralph make their way to the stairway. "My room?" Ralph smiles. "Thought you'd never ask." Kate goes up the stairs first and grabs Ralph's hand trailing behind. Ralph closes the door. Kate jumps on her unsized bed. Ralph slowly walks toward her. "So? Whatcha wanna do?" Kate begins to blush as Ralph pushes Kate into a lying position. But as he was about to make a few moves, the doorbell suddenly rings. Ding dong ding dong Ralph complains. "Dammit, we just got here." Kate gets up and heads downstairs to open the door. She opens it with Ralph following behind. It's Braden.
He looks at Kate, astonished. Like he's seen a ghost. "Hey, Braden. What do you want?" Kate says reluctantly. "Before you take sides, I just need to tell you something. Look. I'm over you now. I accept the fact that Ralph is yours. As long as you're happy, I'm happy." Ralph nods from behind. Braden looks at Ralph. "But dude, we have a problem here, man." "What is it?" "It's your brother. He's being a real mastermind right now man, I can't even explain." "How and where did you even get that from Braden?" Kate asks curiously, "its a long story. May I come in?" Ralph interrupts. "Nah, nah, let's do this outside." Braden nods quickly. The three sit at the front porch. "A little while ago, when I was still crazy for Kate, Randall and I Made a deal. I would keep Troy away from him and Gabby while He tries to get you back to me." Kate looks disgusted. "The hell? How would that even work? You know, I'm not an object-" Braden interrupts, "Kate, SAVE IT. It turns out, that Randall and Troy we're behind this as a team all along. For the past years Troy agreed with Randall to date gabby to get away from him, but as soon as he came back, he had a thing for her so he made it all look like troys fault!" Kate pauses. "Randall May be smart but My Sister isn't an idiot. She can see through all that like it was nothing." Braden shakes his head. "That's the thing, Kate. Randall only made a deal with me so he can just keep Gabby from last minute feelings before he leaves for Military. He told me himself. Kate, Ralph, he had that look in his eyes that seemed like all of this was his fault. Everything from before then relating to Gabby Troy and Randall was his fault. Please, I know it wasn't my business and I have been a complete jerk, but you have to believe me." Ralph smirks. "Yeah, I wish I could. But I don't really wanna believe the guy that supposedly crashed Gabbys car in the end. Kinda a dick move bro." Kate backs Ralph up angrily. "Yeah, why even were you speeding like that! You scared the living life out of her. Thank god she's alive! Tell me why, why you were speeding." Braden pauses, guilty. He answers dead quietly, "look, guys. Please, just believe me. I don't really wanna talk about why I was speeding-" Ralph stands and yells "ANSWER KATE, AND TELL US WHY YOU WERE SPEEDING." "I WAS SCARED OKAY!?" Braden stands and yells back, giving up. "My brother was a victim of an armed robbery. There. I bet you didn't see that bullshit on the news." Ralph and Kate sit bewildered. Kate answers scared, "Braden, I'm im sorry-" "no." Braden cuts. "If you two lovebirds don't believe me, especially even when i mean no harm, why even bother? Both y'all hate my ass anyway." Braden leaves the porch area and walks to his car. Ralph walks behind. "Braden, hey man. Wait!" He opens the car door and turns only to see Ralph at the corner of his eye. "No. I'm done."

    Red waits at the mall waiting for his first date. He texts Daniel.
You nervous for your first date with a dude?
I have butterflies bro
good thing you took some of Kyrie's info abt him.
Yeah, and I can't believe she was okay with only being friends.
I bet you thought she wanted you back
Duhh who wouldn't?
Good lord
Oh, I think I see him
Good luck bro I'll catch you at your place again
Cya
Jason takes a seat in front of Red and they smile at each other. "H- hey, Richard," "Hey," Red answers back. He doesn't know what to say. He's too nervous. Jason suddenly strikes up the first question. I'm wondering, "what school do you go to?" "Im going to Carver Middle School." "Oh my goshhh SAME!!" Reds eyes begin to light up. "R- Really??" "Yeah! I already have my schedule!" Jason pulls out his phone and shows Red. Red looks up. "We're going to have three classes together. Oh my gosh!!" "Let's gooo, we're gonna be great friends for sure. Maybe even more than that.." Jason smiles. Red looks at the depths of his eyes as he stares back into his butterfly filled soul. Red suddenly asks, "What do you do for fun?" "Mainly video games, do you play?" "Red pits his hand up. "Hun, not with these nails. But you know, maybe you can teach me how to play." Jason blushes. "I'd like that. I'd like that a lot."
Red finally arrives home after a long date. He sees Daniel in the living room taking care of Jacob with a girl. Red smiles. "Jacob, is this Laven?" "Kuya don't be an idiot you know it's Laven." Daniel looks at red. "Thank god Live didn't come over. That would've been hell." Red laughs. "Come on upstairs Daniel, I wanna tell you everything." The two arrive upstairs and sit on reds bed. "Okay, so. As soon as we stopped texting Jason sat in front of me. It was awkward at first, but he started the convo. We're going to the same middle school this year!" "Nice dude, that's gotta be-" "shut up Daniel quit interrupting." Daniel laughs. "Fine fine, go on." "I asked him what he does for fun and he said video games. I asked if he could teach me and he said yesssss." Daniel shakes his head in pure reluctance. "Then for the next six hours we grabbed boba, looked at clothes, by the way he looks cute in everything he wears and then we went to sunrise park and took a long walk. And I mean long." Red takes a long sigh. "He's so dreamy." Daniel raises an eyebrow. "Damn, Bro you know I've never seen you so happy."