As I wander down the hallway upstairs, I hear Briar's voice. Not her singing one—unfortunately. More of an angry one. I peek into what must be her room for the summer. She's sitting at the window seat, her knees pulled up to her chest with her phone in her hands.
"Please, Sarina," she begs.
Sarina's voice rings from the phone. "Why are you even asking? The videos are great."
"Yeah, but I just don't want anyone to watch them, okay?"
Sarina scoffs. "Briar, you're great in all of them."
Briar shakes her head. It looks like she's about to argue some more, but she glances towards the door, doing a double-take when she sees me. She sits up, smiling. "Hey."
I wave, stepping into her room to join her. I look at her phone, and Sarina looks back at me with a curious smile. She waves first. "Hi, I'm Sarina."
I smile at her. "Nice to meet you. I'm Idris. I just saw one of your videos. You have a great voice." But I still prefer hearing Briar sing, relishing the high of what feels like fire in my chest, taking up all the oxygen in my lungs.
"Thank you." Her smile dims as she gives Briar a pointed look. "I'm guessing this is why you're asking me to make some of the videos private...?"
Briar nods. "Yeah. Pretty much."
Sarina rolls her eyes. "Idris, what are your thoughts on the video you watched?"
Briar's head snaps to me. "Don't answer that."
I can't help but laugh, and I almost feel bad considering how serious Briar looks. I nudge her with my elbow. "You were great. It makes me want to hear you sing more."
"See," Sarina says, her eyes wide. "I don't understand why you don't want people to see the videos." A crease forms between her eyebrows. "Or why you don't perform anymore." She waves a packet of paper around. "You're pretty much one of the only people I trust to give me advice."
Briar sighs. "I just don't, okay?"
Sarina scrunches up her face. "I still don't get it, but okay, Briar. Whatever you want."
Briar sits up at that. "Does that mean you'll make the videos private?"
Sarina shakes her head. "No. Because they're good and you're talented and people should see that."
"That was the whole point of the talent show video, wasn't it?" I ask.
Briar groans, pressing a hand over her eyes. "You watched that video?"
I have to laugh at how flustered she's getting. It's pretty cute. No wonder why she likes to tease me so much—if that's even why she teases me, that is. Because I could tease her about performing for days if I get to see her blush.
When Briar lowers her hand to glare at me, I make sure to smile at her so she knows I don't mean to hurt her or anything. The crease between her eyebrows almost completely disappears, and her eyes turn a lighter shade of brown. Suddenly, the fire in my chest returns, taking up all my oxygen as I get lost in the color of her eyes. It's like I'm drowning in honey right now. It takes me a second to remember what we're talking about. Even then, my voice comes out as a whisper like my mind is still focused on the mesmerizing color of Briar's eyes and can't multitask.
"Yeah," I say. "We watched it. And you were great."
She blinks, glancing away. "Thanks..."
Her cheeks fill with color again, but for some reason, it feels different this time. Like she's not blushing about me complimenting her talent. Like maybe she's blushing because the compliment is coming from me. And knowing that I can have this effect on her makes me all too aware of the fire inside me.
She inhales and shakes her head before turning back to Sarina. "I should probably get going, but can you at least promise to think about it?"
Sarina has an amused smile on her face as she nods. "Okay. I promise." She shuts her eyes tight for a second, her fingertips pressed against her temples. A second later, she opens her eyes and drops her hands. "I thought about it. Answer's still no." Briar starts to sputter a protest, but Sarina's already plowing on. "Okay. Have fun. See you later. Call more. Love you."
She hangs up, making Briar growl. She drops her phone in her lap and glares straight ahead as she sits back. I laugh, making her turn her glare on me.
"What?" I ask.
Briar shakes her head, running a hand through her hair. "Nothing. I just don't like people watching me perform."
"Well..." I shift, so I'm fully facing her. "It seemed like you did at some point."
Briar shrugs. "Maybe. But not anymore."
"How come?"
She shakes her head, standing. "No reason. Anyway, we should head back downstairs."
Would they be done arguing by now? Considering everything, I think Gareth and Everett would argue about whether Gareth's a supportive parent or not for hours on end. But maybe they'll agree to argue about it later. Not that I want to take that chance.
"Let's wait a second," I say, brushing my hand against Briar's to stop her from leaving. "I kind of want to talk about your dad's draft."
Briar nods, sitting back down. "What about it?"
"What do you think about it so far?"
Briar looks straight ahead, running a hand down her shorts. "I like it so far. It's interesting to see my dad's interpretation of Địa Ngục and how Hien and Hai's parents are going through all these caverns and realizing what they were like as parents when they were alive."
I nod. "I think going through the Underworld kind of humanizes them in a way."
Briar shrugs. "That's kind of the point of Địa Ngục. You're supposed to repent for all the awful things you did when you were alive." She gives me a knowing look. "Hien and Hai's parents have a lot to repent for."
"Well... maybe as parents, but not as people." Briar pauses. Her eyebrows knit together as she tilts her head to the side. I shrug, averting my eyes. "There is a difference."
She sits back, flipping her phone in her hands. "Good point..." She hums to herself. "I guess my dad's projecting a lot already."
I arch an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"Now that you mention it, I think he's trying to redeem Hien's parents as parents. All we saw from them in the original series was how bitter, elitist, and toxic they could be and how much they projected on their kids. Which is..." Briar glances at the door. Even when it's obvious no one's there, she leans towards me and lowers her voice. "Which is kind of how my dad always described my grandpa when I was growing up. Now we're here for the summer, and I don't think my grandpa is exactly like how my dad described him." She shifts, tucking a foot beneath her. "I don't know all the details, but my dad made it sound like my grandpa was going through hell while he was waiting to talk. And I guess my dad is trying to..." Briar gestures like she's trying to grab the right words out of the air. "Trying to... be understanding about it..."
That makes so much sense. Gives me a lot to think about, but it's hard to focus on the conversation when all that comes to mind is how insightful Briar could be. But I manage to push the thought aside enough to process everything.
"So you think he's trying to convince himself that Everett's seeing where he went wrong as a parent?" I ask.
Briar nods, letting out a breath. "Something like that."
I don't think that's working out too well. Especially since Everett just accused Gareth and Thera of being unsupportive parents. Wonder how that'll change the revision process. Wonder how that'll change Briar's view of things...
"Has it convinced you so far?" I ask. "About Everett being more than just a flawed parent?"
Her eyes widen at the question. "Convinced me?" I nod. She frowns and focuses on some point on the floor. "Well, I think it's too early in the book to know for sure. But I already have my parents and Marlowe lecturing me all the time about giving him a chance. So this is just my dad unintentionally lecturing me some more."
I laugh, leaning forward and resting my hand on my knee. "I think you're the only person that would ever see it or phrase it that way."
Briar shrugs. "It's what happens when you're the author's daughter." Fair. "I don't think I'm wrong, though."
"Do you want to be wrong?"
She blinks, turning to me. "Wrong about what?"
"About your dad trying to reconcile whatever happened in the past."
She averts her eyes, shifting away from me. "That's complicated." Before I can press, she gets to her feet. "We should head back to dinner, so we can start reading again soon."
I sit up. "Briar—"
She's already leaving the room. I settle back on the window seat, staring at the doorway like she'll come back. I wish she would, so we could finish the conversation. I feel like there's a lot Briar doesn't want to talk about but needs to.
Or... maybe I just want to get to know her more. And, hopefully, I can do it sometime soon.