The State of Broken Things

Item: Doubt

Item: Doubt

"Ximena, apurate! Vamonos!" I yell up the stairs, checking my watch. Dad had an early day in the office today, so he asked me to take her, but she still isn't downstairs and we were supposed to leave five minutes ago. We both woke up late this morning, so we're all in a rush and I have no idea what's going on.

She almost falls down in her haste, her hair not brushed or anything. We tumble out of the door, and I lock it over her and she realizes she forgot her lunch only after I've done so.

Once we get into the car, I pass her back a banana as I pull out of our garage.

"Sorry," she says as she peels it, vaguely out of breath. "I couldn't choose what to wear!"

I scan her in the rearview mirror. "You look pretty, don't worry about it."

Despite the fact that my free period is first today, I'm up early and have no idea what I'm going to do until class starts. I kind of want to just go back home, but I don't really see the point in going if I'm just gonna have to leave an hour later.

Once I drop Ximena off, I sit in the parking lot, tapping my fingers on the wheel, watching her throw the peel away before bounding into her classroom.

My phone starts ringing, almost making me jump out of my skin. I answer it as I pull out of the parking lot.

"Hello?"

Addie yawns through the phone. I smirk.

"Huh, you're actually awake? Surprise, surprise."

Usually, when I go to pick her up, I have to actually go inside their house and dump a cup of water on her or something, which resulted in them needing to give me my own key. She's the deepest sleeper I know, and I have no idea how Cas wakes her up every day without resorting to violence.

"Mm, shut up," she says. "Can we go to that waffle place before school?"

For a few seconds, my mind is completely devoid of thoughts and I have no idea what she's talking about.

"Oh, the breakfast place by the Tesla dealership," I say, my brain finally deciding to check in as she starts rustling around and getting out of bed. The last time I had to take my car in for maintenance, we went there and Addie ate more in one sitting than she has in the entire time I've known her. It was a small little cafe, quaint and cozy, with benches instead of actual chairs. "Yeah, okay. I'm on my way."

"Fine, but you better not expect me to be ready in the five minutes it takes for you to get here."

"I took Ximena to school today," I say. "Just left, so more like ten minutes."

Despite her protests, she's almost ready by the time I get there. I go inside to help her grab her bag, and she's putting the finishing touches on her makeup.

"Can we just take a second to appreciate my makeup today?" she asks, motioning to the eyeliner that somehow she always manages to wing evenly.

"It looks very nice."

"You should let me do yours," she says, turning to me with a wicked smile, some brush thing in one hand and what I'm fairly certain is lipstick in the other.

I snort. "Whatever. Just don't expect me to look good in it."

She takes my phone from me, too lazy to change the bluetooth to hers and pulls up her playlist.

"We could just go to iHop or something," I tell her. "Closer and cheaper, since you won't let me pay for you."

She doesn't even grace me with an answer, pulling her jacket tighter around herself. It takes her a second to wake up, and probably doesn't help that she hasn't had any coffee yet, so our drive there is fairly quiet. Other than passing her a hair tie from the stash that I've started to keep in the car, because Katrina always forgets hers, we don't talk much about anything, instead listening to her Led Zeppelin playlist.