WHEN SHE WOKE UP, she heard Grandma Ruby scolding her father for treating her as if she was useless. Aura shook her head and stood up from her bed. She wiped away the droplet of water that came from the roof on her face and marched to the bathroom, hoping to not encounter any of her family members in the process.
Once she was decent enough, she walked out into the kitchen. Grandma Ruby stirred something in a pot on the stove with a hand on her hip. Her parents sat on the couch, watching the news, when they noticed her presence.
"Well, if it isn't the party girl," her father said, as if forgetting how she got there the night before.
Aura rolled her eyes. "Hello to you, too," she replied. She went over to Grandma Ruby and hugged her from behind. She gave her a peck on the cheek as Aura read the time on the stove clock.
"It's three o'clock?" she said incredulously.
"Yeah, guess you had a wild night," her mother said. Her tone was guarded as her eyes traveled Aura's body. She realized she was looking for any signs of misbehavior. She wondered when she would stop treating her like a child.
"It wasn't the wild you think," Aura pointed out. "I only had two glasses of champagne. I had a good, decent time, Mom." She faltered at the end, knowing well enough that it wasn't as decent as she would've liked.
Her mother huffed and turned back to the television. Aura shrugged, not knowing what else to do. Maybe she was still bitter about Aura not attending the barbecue like she had hoped.
"Hey, baby, I left a bit of breakfast for you in the fridge. A little something to wait until I finish here." She pointed back to the pot in front of her. Aura smiled and thanked her.
As she ate the small sandwich, she thought about Tyson. His words from the day before replayed in her head. He also didn't find Zachary to be a good one to be around. Her shoulders hunched as she recalled how bratty she was.
He was only telling her how Mrs. Smith had been wanting to see her.
Gulping her glass of water, she cleaned up her area and set out to find Mrs. Smith and Tyson.
When she crossed to their property, she heard the crackling of the radio and a faint grunt following it. Aura bit down on her lip and walked up the steps. The front door was shut, but the wide open windows let the wind calm the summer heat, no doubt.
She knocked on the door, feeling her small breakfast rise in her throat. She wondered if Tyson would forgive her. She had been so hard on him for no reason. She took out her anger on him unnecessarily. He did not deserve the type of treatment from her or anybody.
"Coming!" A silvery voice called out.
A large smile covered her face as Mrs. Smith opened the door. She gasped and placed a wrinkly hand over her mouth.
"Oh, my little Aura," she let out. Tears formed in her eyes as she spread her arms wide for her.
"Mrs. Smith, it's so nice to see you again," Aura said, stepping into her warm and familiar embrace. Her hands squeezed her before letting go. Mrs. Smith stared up at her, barely containing her smile as she inspected Aura's face.
"My, how you've grown," she said. "Come in, come in! And you know you can call me Teresa." Her arm pulled her inside their little house and she shut the door behind her. She complained about all the bugs that always flew in whenever she opened the door, never mind the fact that the windows were wide open, and then offered her a drink.
"Oh, no, I'm good." Aura smiled as Mrs. Smith wobbled around her kitchen.
Unlike Grandma Ruby's kitchen, Mrs. Smith's had a cool tone palette. The wooden cabinets were painted silver, which contrasted with the white countertops. Her fridge was one of those old designs with the freezer on top, completely white. Her other appliances were black, which played well with the color palette.
Plastic food containers piled up beside the microwave, and Aura realized they were from the barbecue the night prior. That would be their dinner for the day.
They never wasted anything.
"Sweetheart, I missed you last night," Mrs. Smith said. She took a wet rag from the sink and started wiping down the counters. Something told Aura she had done that about a hundred times that day alone.
"Yeah, when I was told about the barbecue I had already made plans somewhere else. If I had known, I would've been there."
Mrs. Smith turned to her, a small smile adorning her face.
"It's alright, sweetheart." She waved her wet rag around. When she was done wiping down the counter, she threw it inside the sink. "I think it was Tyson who was more upset about it. He sulked all night." She then imitated an exaggerated sulking face, to which Aura laughed at.
"Where is Tyson, by the way?" Aura asked.
"He went to buy some things from the hardware store to finish up his latest order. All that boy does is work and work. And for what? I told him he could go to college and get a better job. But no, he said he needed to take care of me." Mrs. Smith turned to her again, a hand on her hip. "Do I look like I need care from him? I'm the one caring for him."
Aura laughed as Mrs. Smith grumbled some more about her grandson. She ranted about his need to be the man of the house. She appreciated the want to take care of everything, but she could manage just fine without him. All she wanted was for him to make a better future for himself. According to Mrs. Smith, he had one of the highest GPAs in his high school and was thought to be a great professional, had he actually gone to college.
"I told him, Aura. You get better opportunities for jobs when you have a degree. That's why Elijah, may he rest in peace, busted his ass in college. That's why he had a good job. But this one doesn't seem to get it into his head." Mrs. Smith clicked her tongue, shaking her head.
Aura smiled at the elderly woman. She wanted what was best for her grandson, and although she wouldn't admit it, she probably wanted to know he was going to be okay once she parted. She recalled having a similar talk with her mother when she was in high school.
They weren't exactly excited for her decision to go to cosmetology school.
"And there he is now," Mrs. Smith said, throwing her hands in the air. The door creaked open as Tyson stepped in. His face froze when he saw Aura leaning against a counter.
He wore his usual simple tee, jeans, and sneakers. His face glowed from the immense heat outside. A barely noticeable tinge of red colored his cheeks as he cleared his throat.
"Aura, what are you doing here?" he asked, finding his voice.
"I came to see Mrs. Smith, duh." She rolled her eyes.
Tyson didn't know what else to say until Mrs. Smith chastised him for leaving the door open. He unfroze, and closed the door before Mrs. Smith could give him a piece of her mind. Aura chuckled, loving how vivacious she was despite all the years that have piled up on all of them.
"Did you find what you were looking for?" Mrs. Smith asked Tyson. He nodded and went towards the fridge to fetch his reusable water bottle. It was almost half-way full as he began to chug the water.
"I'm going to try to finish those cabinets today. If not, maybe tomorrow," he said.
Mrs. Smith hummed in approval. Tyson leaned on the fridge, trying hard not to look at Aura's way. She noticed his awkwardness and smiled. Just days before they were starting to feel more comfortable around the other, but after their argument about the party, things reverted.
"Aura, sweetheart, you have to tell me how you see Tyson now. He's a lot different than when you were in kindergarten, isn't he?" A small smirk framed her lips as Aura struggled to find the right words.
"Yeah, he's not three feet tall anymore," she said, faltering at the end.
Tyson gazed down at the lackluster white tiles. It seemed like the ground was more interesting than the conversation. Aura bit down on her lip and interlaced her fingers together, trying to find something to do.
"My God, what is going on between you?" Mrs. Smith pointed to both of them. "The tension between y'all is slapping me in the face, and I'm too old to be slapped." She huffed and waddled to her living room couch.
When Mrs. Smith grabbed her radio from her coffee table to find the station she was looking for, Aura turned to Tyson. He stared at her with those big brown eyes, and the confidence she tried to emulate dissipated in her throat.
"So, how was the party?" he asked. He cleared his throat and crossed his arms in front of his chest, avoiding eye contact with her. She let her bottom lip slip between her teeth as she tried to find the right words.
"It was okay," she managed. "Met a few people." She shrugged as she recalled Zachary's group of friends. It was an odd group, but they seemed to have history together. She wanted to talk to him about them, but she feared that if she mentioned Millie, he'd close off more. And if she told him about Callum, he'd sing his I told you so's.
And she wasn't there to gossip anyway, she was there to apologize.
"Tyson, I'm sorry for yesterday," she started. He waved a hand in front of her, and pointed back to the front door. He propped himself up using the fridge, wordlessly asking her to join him outside.
Once he shut the door, his shoulders dropped. In the light of the sun, those brown eyes melted like a pot of ink. They stared deep into hers as if he knew every single thing about her. It scared her. No one looked at her like that, not even Zachary.
"Like I was saying," Aura commenced again. "I'm sorry for that stupid argument. I was being petty for no reason. I was just annoyed at my parents and I took it out on you, and you did not deserve that."
His expression was unreadable as he studied her for a second. Slowly, a smile spread over his lips, lighting up his features.
"It's okay," he said. "I also may have overreacted a little."
She bit down on her lip to keep from saying something she would regret.
He held out his hand between them. "We good?"
Aura shook it. "We good."
"Great," he looked over at the front yard, where he had already set up the cabinets to work on, "you wanna join me as I work?"
Aura grinned. "Sure."