Raven must sense my unease. “Kai was just telling me how Khloe gave you a makeover yesterday. I am glad you got the job. She is a handful but she is the cutest kid ever. I would love to watch her if I didn’t work at Beans and if Kelli didn’t hate me.”
“She doesn’t hate you, she just don’t like you very much,” Kai chimes in. I wonder if his mom is why they aren’t together. I want to ask, but I feel out of line doing so.
“She totally hates me,” Raven says with a snort.
A ball of paper comes hurling towards me. It lands on the table between Kai and me. He unravels it, takes one look and shakes his head.
“What is it?” I ask knowing it most likely says something about me.
“Nothing,” Kai mutters angrily. “You want to get out of here?” I figure he is talking to Raven but when I look at him, he is staring at me waiting for an answer.
“Actually, I do.”
“We’ll see you later Raven,” he says to her. I was expecting her to be coming with us. I have never skipped school before, but there is something about Kai that makes me want to live a little more freely than I have been.
“We will go towards the office like we are signing out for lunch, but not. Okay.” I nod and follow his lead.
I feel like such a rebel when we pull out of the parking lot. “Now what?” I question as we drive onto the highway leading out of town.
“We have a few hours until we have to pick up Khloe-bug. We could go to my friend Jake’s place. He’s cool you’ll like him. He plays the drums in Cooper’s Religion. We hold rehearsals in his garage. That’s where we are going actually.”
Chapter 10
Jake’s place turns out to be a really old farmhouse on the outskirts of town. He lives in an apartment over his parent’s garage where Cooper’s Religion rehearses. Before we get out of the car, Kai tells me a little about Jake. He says that Jake’s parent were killed a few years ago in a car wreck, his senior year to be exact. He cannot bring himself to go in the house so he stays in the garage instead. The story is really depressing.
A guy, I am assuming to be Jake comes from the garage with a cigarette hanging from his bottom lip. This guy is covered in tattoos. His ears are pierced from top to bottom. Jake has his dirty blond hair in a long braid slung over his bare shoulder, and it almost touches the top of his jeans it is so long. I have always been jealous of men with better hair than mine.
Kai and I get out of the car and they greet with a fist bump. “Jake this is Kat…Kat this is Jake.”
“Damn man, you breaking off a piece of that?”
Kai punches him and says, “Don’t be a dickhead.”
“Oh, you like her.” He winks at Kai. “Don’t worry Kat, when you get tired of the boy,” he teases, and hooks his thumb over to Kai, “I will be here to show you all about a real man.”
“Oh, you know where I can find a real man. Please tell me where this real man is?” I retort.
“She’s got jokes. I like her.”
“She sings too,” Kai brags softly.
“No shit.” He snuffs his cigarette out on the block wall of the garage.
“Come on.” Kai takes my hand and leads me into their rehearsal room.
I take a seat on a nearby leather couch. I have to say I am impressed, I was expecting this room to look like something out of frat house…empty pizza boxes, beer bottles and dirty socks. The room is clean and the instruments seem to be well cared for. The drum set is on display in the center of the room, with the band’s logo in bright red gothic lettering.
Jake goes over to a mini-fridge in the corner and tosses Kai a soda. “What’s your poison kitty Kat?” He looks to me with a suggestive brow.
“I’ll take a water if you have one.”
He brings the bottle to me instead of throwing it. Flopping down beside of me on the couch, he drapes his arm behind me letting it hang from the back of the couch. “So you and Kai...” He digs his elbow in my side.
“I watch his sister.” I shrug. I am so lame. Kai is watching us but I don’t think he is listening to our conversation.
“Hey man, how’s Raven? She hasn’t been around lately.”
“Good. Busy. Working,” Kai answers coldly. I wonder what that is all about.