Confounded: Part II - 47. Chapter 47

CHAPTER 47 --==Tom’s POV==--

“So what do you have planned for the day, Tom?” Uncle T. asked when Kit and his dad had gone to the office.

“Actually,” I began, eying him as he sat down across from me, a steaming mug of coffee in front of him, “I need my car, living here. I can’t keep depending on you guys. So I thought I’d go and get it, today?”

“Sure. I didn’t even know you had one.”

“Yeah, I got mom’s old one.”

“The Honda?”

“Yup.”

“That was a nice car...back then...”

“I wouldn’t know; never drove it.”
I grinned.
“Got grounded too many times to enjoy it.”
That got a snicker out of him.

“I bet. Little shit that you are. So, you need me to bring you?”

“If you would? I’d rather not take the bus and all that crappola.”

“Sure. I got nothing on my plate, aside from some quick errands.”
I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Ahuh…and we know all about those, don’t we?”

“Oh shush. Let the record show that you’re wearing the new threads. What’d Kit have to say about your new wardrobe?”
I could feel a blush coming on. Okay, so I’d taken Kit’s suggestion and gone with a different color today, choosing a white shirt and a sleeveless pullover, V-necked, light grey. And the jeans just felt so damn good. Those were still black, though.
“Ah…he liked them, eh?”

“Yeah.”

The memory of what’d come after was still vivid in my head. I looked away, avoiding Taylan’s scrutiny.

“He liked them enough to spend the night, did he?”
I groaned inwardly. Did nothing get past him? And then he laughed.
“You seriously think we didn’t notice? Mitchell always checks up on him, before we go to bed. It’s his routine. He wasn’t there. Simple one plus one, Tom.”

“Sorry, I…”

“Oh come on. Sorry? What for? Tom, listen; you guys are together. I’m not gonna pretend you’ll just do a peck on the cheek at night and go your separate ways. Nope, you’ll wanna spend the night. And I, for one, am not gonna say a single thing about it. I was young, once, you know. Still am!”
I raised an eyebrow at that.
“Hey! I am!”

“Sure.”

“You wanna walk or drive?”
I grinned.

“Okay. You’re still young.”

“Good boy. And because I am the best uncle in the universe, I’ll let you drive us there.”
Ooh!

“Yeah?”

“Oh yeah. I wanna see your driving skills, before you get into that moving deathtrap. I remember that thing, and I’m talking two decades ago. When she met your dad, she drove that thing.”

“It’s fine!”

“We’ll see. I think she must’ve been high on the fumes, choosing your dad. You’re not getting into that thing until I’ve seen it. I’m no mechanic, but I sure as what am not gonna face the boyfriend while he has to visit you at the morgue.”
I rolled my eyes. Drama queen.

**********

“There. See? Got us here in one piece,” I said, grinning smugly.
He’d been watching my every move on the way here; I drove perfectly!

“Yeah, okay; you can drive. Now let’s just go inside, huh? I need coffee.”
Exiting, I followed Uncle Tay, going around the back. And as we stepped inside the house…

Fuck.

Alia was home.

I hadn’t expected my youngest sister to be here. I’d tried to call her, as Dad had asked, but she hadn’t been in, probably out at the mall, when I had. I didn’t have her mobile number, so I’d called at home.

Barely sixteen, she was, like me, not one of the tallest. My eldest sister, Xena (and yes, she’d gotten a lot of flak for her name) lived on the East Coast, and was actually the tallest of all of us; she was attending Brown, going for a medical degree. She was engaged, last I heard. We’d never been close and she was a bit of a bitch, really. But Alia…aww man…

“Tommy!”

“Heya sis…”
I felt a bit awkward as she flew over and hugged me tightly. I hadn’t seen her in weeks! I didn’t know if she was gonna give me crap or…ah, fuck it.

Hugging her back equally tight, I grinned when she withdrew.

“You look good! Wait,” she said, holding up her finger, rushing back to the table, grabbing something. Then, before I knew it, I had my picture taken and she was pressing buttons on her phone like a crazy person. “That’s so going on Facebook©, right now.”

“Huh?”

“Nevermind her, honey,” Mom said, laughing and also giving me a hug and kissing my cheek. “She’s just excited to have her brother back home for a little while.”
She nodded at my sister.
“She asked to stay at home, when she found out you were coming. I hope you don’t mind?”

“No, of course not. Al, you’re not gonna plaster me all over Facebook©, are ya?”

“Duh, of course! Look!”
Shoving the phone in my face, I saw a miniature picture of me, the one she’d just taken, with a caption reading ‘Returned from the dead. Suck it, bitches! Here’s my bro!’
And as I watched, I saw a response, the phone updating live. And I grinned, when it updated just then with a familiar name.

“Read that.”
When she did, she did a little double-take, read it again, and then screamed.

“You’re kidding! Seriously?”

“Ahuh…”

“What’s this all about?” Uncle Tay asked, confused.

“Show him,” I said, winking to Alia.
When she did, he began to laugh and read it out loud.

‘What’s my cute boyfriend doing at your house?  ’
A message from Kit, replying to her Facebook© post.

Looking at mom, I raised an eyebrow.

“You didn’t tell her?”

“I figured you would, when you felt ready to do so.”
Actually? I didn’t mind, if the world found out this way.

“Oh wow!” Alia cut in, bouncing around. “You and Kit? Awesome!”
I couldn’t help but laugh, catching her as she bounced by.

“Easy now, sis. It’s not like… world news or something.”

“Dude. Really. Have you seen him? He’s so hot!”
Umm; yeah?

“Alia!” Mom chided. Hey, no comment from me. The guy was. “He’s your cousin!”
Well, not really. By marriage, but not by blood.

“So?" Alia retorted, not even looking up from her phone, busily tapping on it. "He’s doing my brother, but I don't hear you say anything about that! Even so; he's still hot. And so tall! I showed a picture of him, at school? I could name at least ten girls who’d go for him in a heartbeat.”
Oh, I bet. Not gonna happen. I felt annoyed, there.

“Ahem…”
She looked up from her phone.
“He’s kinda…taken, Al. As in my boyfriend?”
I caught Uncle Tay’s glance. Yeah, yeah…so I get a little jealous too. Sue me.

“His profile doesn’t say…oh….wait…it does. He must’ve updated it recently, then…”
What on earth was she going on about?

“Say what?”

“His status always said ‘single’. But he’s updated it. It now says he’s in a relationship. Oh, the girls are not gonna like that!”
I could care less about them. But I was way due on a Facebook© checkup, for sure!

**********

“I’m not sure,” Uncle Tay said, looking at the car with uncertainty, “will it still start?”

“Please…of course it will! These are foreign cars. They’ll run when everything else dies.”

“Ahuh. And when’s the last time you had it checked?”
Umm…

“It’ll drive. God, you’re such a…”
He took out his phone.

“Lemme take a picture.”

“Why?”

“I’ll send it to Kit. For future reference, when we visit you at the morgue.”
Looking to the sky, I sighed deeply. Really?

“Whatever. You go do that, while I start the car and leave you in the dust, mmk?”

“Sure,” he replied, closing one eye while aiming the phone. “Is that rust or a hole?”

“That’s my boot up y’r ass if you don’t quit it,” I mumbled under my breath. Sheesh.

Opening the door, I got in. Uch. I wrinkled my nose. Apparently, no one had thought to actually roll down the windows and air it out. Bah.

Confidently, I keyed the ignition. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Trying again, I got the same result.
Crap.

“Battery’s dead.”

“No shit! You sure? I think it died of natural causes. Look at it; it’s just screaming for a scrapheap.”
Sighing, I closed my eyes and counted to ten.

“Just…get your car over here; we’ll hook em up. It just needs juice. It’s not been used. That’s all.”

“Ookay…”
He disappeared, driving up a few minutes later and parking beside.
“You do know what you’re doing, right?”

“Yeah, I do.”

Hooking up the batteries in short order, I had him start his car, then got in. Hah! The dashboard lit up right away. And seconds later, my car rumbled to life. I sent him a look of triumph, only to have it die on me when the engine huffed, puffed, a big loud bang and then; nothing.

“I think it just died, Tom.”
No. Really?
“Perhaps we should poke it; make sure it’s really dead.”

“I could poke you, make sure you’re not really dead?”

“Oh, very funny, hahah. No dude; this one went the way of the Dodo. Seriously. And Kit just sent his reply, by the way. If I let you drive it, I’m a dead man.”

“You sent him the picture?”

“Of course!”

“Traitor.”

“I think this ship has sailed, Tom. Seriously; this… car, and I use the term lightly, has only one trip left; to the scrap yard.”
Sighing, I guess I had to agree.
“Oh, and Kit wants to know why you’re not responding to his texts. Which is funny, if you think about it; he never replies to his. Little shit. Well…tall shit. Well, you know what I mean…”

“Uncle Tay; I’m really not in the mood, right now.”
Fuck.

“Tell him that! Not me!”
Counting to ten again…

**********

“Well that was fun!”
I moodily stared out the window as he parked the car in front of the garage.
“Oh, come on. It’s not the end of the world, it’s just a car. We’ll sort something out.”

“How? How am I gonna get to work? College?”

“Tom…relax. We’ll work it out. Hey! Look at me.”
Turning my head, I met his gaze.
“It’ll be fine, kid. At least you got to see your sister again, huh?”

“Yeah…”
That really had been good.

I’d missed her. Even her annoying shit, the stupid teenage screams and such; flattening some wannabe boyfriends, all that crap.

Only me, Alia and Jay had lived at home, still, Xena having gone away; I’d never missed her, but I did miss Alia. I’d made sure I had her mobile number in my phone, which, when I’d turned it on, had like twenty messages from Kit already.

**********

[So the car is a bust.  ] I sent.

>I heard. About time you replied. Phone off?<
I pressed reply.

[Yeah, sorry. Was driving.] I hit send.

>I miss you!<

[Oh really? You sure? I’m surprised you can find the time to squeeze me in between Facebook© and Alia.]
Pressing Send, I wished I could take it back. That’d sounded a little…peeved.

And, to be honest, I was.

>Log on Facebook©.< I got back. And a second later >Add me.<

Fine. Firing up my laptop, I waited for it to boot and went to the page. It’d been ages since I’d been on it, and even then used it infrequently at best.

Entering my username and password (I had to try a few times before I got the right one), there were a slew of ‘friend’ requests and even more gaming requests. Ignoring the latter, I clicked the ‘friend’ requests; there were a lot. Alia, Mom, Dad, Xena, Taylan, a few friends from school, several people I didn’t know, Aunt Gemini, even my little niece India, Kit, and even some bikers!
Going down the listing, I accepted all and the people I didn’t know. I think I added about twenty five. And it was easier.

A chat window popped up, in the lower right corner.
Kit.

>Thank you. Check my page.  <

Clicking his name, I went to his page. And there he was, laying on a surfboard, that great smile of his plastered on his face, mid-motion in the water. Fuck, he had a shitload of friends; hundreds.
Scrolling down, he cited what school he’d gone to, where he lived (LA)…

>Press ‘About’< he sent.

Doing as he asked, I pressed the link. And there it was.

In a relationship with Tomás Slattery. My name was a link.
I found myself grinning. Ahuh…

>Update yours.<

It took me a while to find how to do it; that friggin’ page was unbelievable. But I found it. And selected him. And when I pressed the save button, I felt oddly…relaxed. I checked it, just to make sure, and stole the picture from Alia’s page to feature as my own. Then, scrolling down, I saw my updated page.

In a relationship with Kit Gilmore.

And then the ‘likes’ began, as I’d updated my relationship status; Kit was the first. Then my mom, then Alia, Uncle Mitchell, even! Damn, he was on Facebook© too?

And then…

Jay.

A chat box opened, right next to Kit’s.

{Hello little faggot brother. I see that we’re keeping it in the family, this time?}