Perfect Redemption

Eight: In Which She Actually Has A Heart And She Shows It

She stands beside Eden, placing a hand on his shoulder, as if she's staking her claim. Her eyes scan me, no doubt judging what I'm wearing. I've only a frayed leather jacket that my mother had given to me, a grey tank top and jeans, and a pair of worn out boots. She clicks her tongue, probably in disapproval, as her eyes bore into mine.

"You're late," she states.

"So I am," I say. "Sorry about that. I had stuff I needed to settle in the morning."

She seems uninterested, her eyes now landing on Eden. Eden's beaming up at me, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"Right," she says. "Just be back by eight o' clock."

Eight hours.

      I got this.

"Sure," I say, my hand extending towards Eden so he can take it. He doesn't hesitate, his warm fingers clasping around mine.

"Eight o' clock, you hear me, Blaire?" She glares at me. "Not a second longer."

"Thanks, Mrs. Adams." My smile is so strained. I'm actually picturing stabbing her repeatedly in my mind.

She frowns, and then before I can take Eden away, she crouches down so her face is leveled with his and she presses a small kiss on Eden's forehead. Her hands cup his face and a genuine smile replaces the fake one. "Be good, alright?"

"Okay, mom." Eden nods. "Can I go now? Please?"

"Fine." Hurt crosses her eyes and I pretend not to care. "Have fun."

I tug Eden's hand along and after a while, let it go and slide my arm around his shoulder so he's closer to me. An excited gleam dances in his eyes as he sees the skateboard I dumped at the side of the street.

"You brought it!" He exclaims. "Maybe today is the day I'll finally get the hang of skateboarding."

"Hey, if you believe you can do it, I ain't stopping you." I release him and pick up the skateboard, then hand it over to him. "Let's just not practice here. It's too dangerous. Should we go to the park?"

"That's actually number six on my list," Eden takes out a crumpled piece of paper from his pants and showed it to me.

I almost forgot about it. Ever since he got adopted by the Adams, I made him promise that every week he would make a list of all the things he wants to do with me when we finally get together on the weekends.

"Alright then. What are the first five?" I prod and he thrust the paper towards me. I take it from him and whistle lowly when I see the long list. "Holy crap, Eden. Thirty things to do? In two days? You sure we can finish it?"

"Yes." He nods. "We always do it. We always finish the list."

"Alright, alligator," I shrug. "I'll let you lead today. Let me see... number one is... ice cream. Of course."

"Duh." He rolls his eyes. "You're paying."

"I see what game you're playing at," I tease. "Bringing me along so I'll pay for your food? Not a chance, buddy. We split. 50-50. It's the only way."

"You're joking," he scoffs.

"Come along now," I drag him along. "We got..." I look at my watch, "about 7 hours and 43 minutes to complete thirty things. We got to make every second and every penny count."

☸☸☸☸☸☸

We're perched on the park bench, eating our ice-cream as Eden tells me about what I've missed during this entire week. I was going to teach him how to skateboard but after five minutes on trying-and failing-to stabilize himself on the thing, he eventually gave up and suggested we get more ice-cream. I'm not complaining; ice-cream is fucking nirvana in my mouth, especially the one from the ice-cream shop near the park.