The Quirky Tale of April Hale (Quirky Series #1)

25: The Height of Rudeness

Mr. Black's reply came fast. "Yes!"

I guess I started to really like the whole 'thin-walls-no-privacy' thing. It brough 'being closer to your neighbor' to another level.

"Don't chew her up! If she comes home crying, I'll throw a plunger to your head, cancer or not!"

"I know how to treat my guests! Now stop shouting, woman, my whole head is spinning!"

I could actually hear Mrs. Black slapping him, although the part where she slapped him was still a mystery. "How many times did I tell you that saying 'woman' is disrespectful, you manpig?"

"Mom, is Mr. Black really gonna chew me up?"

"It's an idiom, Dear. Remember what I taught you before?" Mom smiled at me. "It means I don't want him to censure you. He's an uptight big bastard, that man."

"I'm really scared of him," I admitted. "I think he only calls me for dinner so that I can be dinner."

At my deepest fear, Mom actually laughed heartily. "No, April. No, he won't do that. You make Ryder way too happy for him to actually turn you to be his dinner. He won't do that to his son."

"But Ryder doesn't look too happy, I often see him more frustrated than happy."

"You do realize that dealing with you is harder than to deal with other people, right?" Mom asked. I nodded, even though it pained me to admit so. One thing I liked about my mom was how she told it as it is. I couldn't understand people who said the opposite of what they meant, and then hope for me to actually understand what they really was thinking. It was like forcing me to be able to code a fully-functioning website just because I was familiar with numbers. 

"But dealing with Ryder is also hard. He's touchy-feely, easily angered, and he's too full of... of feelings. Sometimes I think he has a mountain of feelings just pent up beneath those tattoos."

"You know, those kind of qualities are actually what girls are looking for in a man," Mom said with a detached expression. "And boy, that kid is good looking."

I nodded shyly. 

"Anyway, his looks aside," there was a crease of wrinkles appeared on the corner of Mom's lips as she smiled. "Just try harder. Try harder to understand him. With all the things going on on his life, you need to be there for him."

"I keep trying, but in the end, I seem to upset him more than comfort him. I can't seem to know what to tell him."

"Oh, honey," Mom opened her arms and waited until I snuggled closer to her. Mom really liked being hugged. As we stayed silent for the next three minutes and three seconds, I asked her.

"You really don't know the solution to my problem, do you?" 

She shook her head. "No, I don't."

"I knew it."

"You're being too brutal with your honesty. Five dollars on the mean jar, April."

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Ryder walked to my house and picked me up at exactly seven. I had put on my nicest dress and Mom had armed me with a touch of her coral lipstick. The lip statement didn't go unnoticed by Ryder, of course.

"Nice color," he said. "Will it come off to my lips when I kiss you?"

"I hope not, I like the color, too."

My dad, who was already home, coughed to remind us of his presence. "I'm here."

"Hi, Mr. Hale," Ryder greeted him, unfazed by our previous flirting. "Thank you for letting April eat at my house today."