[-Grayson-]
"I had a more civil conversation with your father. Over the phone, of course." Ma told me over Facetime, adjusting her camera.
I sighed, spinning on my swivel chair. "What happened?"
"He said he was sorry. He drank too much a-and it was an out of body moment. Mi cariño, it's been a few months and this is the first time it's happened in a while." She rubbed a hand over her distressed face.
"Ma, do you really want Gabby to be living a life like this?"
She shook her head once, shamefully admitting it. "You're my first son. I care for you."
I wish I was there to hug her. Instead, I wrapped my own arms around my knees, bringing them to my chest. "I know you do, Ma. I also know this is hurting you. Please tell me that you're okay. I want our life to finally be normal again."
"I-I think I'm okay. Everything will be normal once your father finally-"
"He isn't my father." I snapped, my voice softening when her chin wobbled. "He stopped being my father since I was born. How can you even trust that man? He's been nothing but harmful to you."
"Please give David one more chance, I'm begging you." Her voice cracked.
"Don't beg me for anything, Ma. I ran out of chances to give. I just don't see it." Her silence resumed for several seconds before I decided to change the subject. "Where's Gabriella?"
She wiped her face. "I think she's playing with her dolls downstairs. She's getting a bit lonely. She only has a few friends at school."
"Can I see her?" I asked and she brought her phone down the staircase, flipping the camera around to Gabby.
"Grayson! Hi!" Gabby waved with a crayon in hand. She reaches for the phone and Ma let her.
"Hi, Gab. How's your day been?" I questioned, smiling. It's been a while since I saw her.
She waved a piece of paper in front of the camera. She was moving too much for me to see the actual drawing. "Look! I did you, Mommy, me and Daddy." Gabby pinched each side of the page and I saw it clearly now.
I could feel my smile drop, yet I tried my best to keep up the appearance. There were four stick figures: Me holding—which I assumed was—Gabby's hand, then Ma with her bright pick handbag. After was our 'dad' with a question mark replacing his face.
"Oh, mi cariño..." Ma trailed off, as if she doesn't know what to say.
"It's okay." I muttered, dismissing whatever she was going to dispute. "It's beautiful, Gab." I said, beaming, trying to wave off the heavy weight on my chest.
"I know, right! I want to be those people who draw." She ventured, already starting on the back of the paper.
"An artist?" I suggested, scratching the back of my neck. Gabby's too young to think about her future, but it's nice that she found something she loves.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you said." She muttered and sighed tiredly. "Grayson when are you coming back? I miss you." She leaned her head onto her tiny fist and made a sad face at me.
"No, don't look at me like that. I'll be back in the summer, okay?" She nodded, still not responding but just staring at me. "I miss you too, Gab."
"Grayson..." Ma said, leaning a bit closer to the screen to squint at the camera.
"What is it?"
"There's a girl behind you. Who is that?" Her voice was laced with confusion and amusement.
"What do you-" I looked over my shoulder once. Then twice. "Shit." I muttered.
"Grayson!" Eve and Ma both scolded. Ma clapped two hands over Gabby's ears and Gabby giggled. "There was a child present." Eve hissed at me.
"Hi, girl." Gabby waved, a bit too optimistically.
"Hey!" Eve smiled from where she was standing. "I was wondering if you had any tape. I ran out." She turned her attention back to me, doing what she came here for.
"Uh..." I dug through my desk and found a roll of clear tape. "Here."
"Thanks." She took a few steps into my room to grab the tape, brushing my fingers and casted a glance on my laptop. "Hi... Gabriella, right?" Hearing her say my sister's name almost makes me smile. Almost.
"Mhm..." Gabby dragged the word out. "They call me Gabby though. You're so pretty." Gabby pointed out, clasping her hands together to her chest.
Eve stared at the ground, a blush crawling up her neck. "Thank you very much, Gabby."
"You're welcome very much." She replied happily, grinning at her answer.
"What's your name, darling?" Ma asked her and Eve looked up, startled.
"Oh, uh―me?" She pointed at herself.
"Yes, you, smart-ass." I muttered, realising it was too late since Eve was already swept into this conversation.
"Um, Evelyn, but people call me Eve because it's shorter. Obviously." She used her knee to jab my forearm that's on the armrest. "Save me." She whispered.
"Suck it up." I said the first thing that came to my head and she slapped my shoulder, effectively shutting me up.
"That's no way to speak to a lady, Grayson. I taught you better than that. You can call me Jolene, darling."
"Nice to meet you, then. I should get going, I'm running late. Bye Jolene. Bye Gabby!" She called over her shoulder, walking out of the door.
"Bye, bye, E." Gabby waved at no one since Eve already left and she stared at her arm like she accidentally erased Eve. "Woah. Oh no. Did I gone her?" She asked, panicking.
"Did you-? No, she just left. You didn't see it, Gab." And she exhale, relieved.
"So... who was that?" Ma asked then gasped. "A girlfriend you didn't tell me about?"
"No! She's my new roommate. She moved here a few weeks ago."
Ma looked defeated, shoulders slumping. "I thought you would've told me something along the lines of 'koi no yokan'" Her accent was terrible, but I didn't look into it that much. I got the gist.
"Ma!" I threw up my hands up, exasperated and I knew exactly what she meant.
"Or, eesome." She fucking giggles. Never have I ever seen Ma giggle. She's having too much fun with this.
I covered my face with my hands. "He's not even here right now." By he, I meant David.
Ma and I would always say our feelings through words instead of expressing them during the times where David was around all the time. It became a habit and I found new words that would describe my feel exactly when I wouldn't know how to say it out loud.
We talked for a while until the hours flew by and I realised it was dinner by the time my stomach was grumbling.
"I think that's a sign. You should get going, mi cariño."
I sighed, not ready to hang up yet. "You're right. Bye, Ma."
"Adiós, mi cariño. Te amo."
"Te amo." I replied before clicking the red button.
I felt like I could hear my knees creaking for the amount of time I spent sitting down. Eve was laying down on the couch and her head was resting on the armrest, oblivious to my presence. She was scrolling on her phone, smiling at whatever just came up.
After opening the fridge, she finally looked up at me. "What was it that your mom said?"
My spine went rigid. Did she hear the entire conversation? "What?"
"She said something like, koi yada yada. I forgot but it sounded like Mandarin." She added, as if hearing my thoughts, "I wasn't trying to eavesdrop or anything, I just happened to hear it."
So she's not mentioning anything else... interesting. "It's nothing. It's also Japanese."
She sat up completely on the couch, turning to face me. "It sounded like absolute gibberish to me, no offense. How do you know?" Gosh, this girl's curiosity never ends.
"It's a thing between my mom and I."
I could sense the small shift in her mood in her next words. "That's... lucky." She settled for a vague reply.
I was about to say something to counter that, but I realised she seemed to not be in the mood to talk anymore. I exhaled to myself as I waited for the food to cook, impatiently tapping my fingers on the counter.
I scooped my dinner onto my plate, continuing to step into my room. "Bye." I said before closing the door behind me.
"Gray?" She stopped me with just her words.
I didn't exactly ignore her, but I left the door ajar as I slid my plate onto my desk. "Yeah?"
"Gabby and Jolene are amazing." Even through the noise of the fan, her voice was the only thing I could hear. Without seeing her, I could picture the soft flush of her cheeks from saying the thought out loud.
"Thank you... for saying that." I whispered, barely even audible to my ears, much less to Eve. To her, it might've sounded like nothing. To me, it was everything.