VIOLET SKY, takigawa chris yuu

━ chapter twenty-five

act ii

how do we do this?
( carefully. )

chapter twenty-five

❛there are always exceptions to the rule❜

━━━━━━

Amara gets a call from Lucas three days after Christmas.

She doesn't answer it, mind you, because she's too busy making buñuelos with Chris and Eiko, but he leaves a voicemail that she only sees after Eiko has taken Chris home for the night.

The voicemail is strange, just as strange as him trying to call her. He has never done that. Not for her birthday, not for checking up, just to talk — never.

So she isn't surprised to find that he's drunk — slurring his words, running off on tangents when he gets distracted, but the main message, supposedly, is that he's changed. It takes everything in her not to laugh at that.

He has a girlfriend now; her name is Belen and she has a daughter. When he took her to meet their parents, their mother disapproved of her, largely because of how Belen apparently works at a bar and has a daughter from a previous relationship and how that's an embarrassment to Lucas and the family. Amara tries not to roll her eyes too hard at that.

But Lucas' epiphany at finally being faced with their mother's cruelty isn't even the most surprising thing. It's the fact that he's talking to Luisa again. And she's in the process of forgiving him. Or so he says.

She sits against the headboard of her bed, knees pulled to her chest. Water hums in the pipes within the walls, Lucas shuffling loudly, belching once before launching into another long-winded explanation.

"Luisa, umm, said it wasn't . . . wasn't really my bad 'cause like Mom might've kicked me out too or something. But I never talked to her after . . . even at school . . . which is — which is where I fucked up. Anyways —" he laughs "— this is getting so-o long, my bad. Luisa said she wants me to be better so she could forgive me. Like, um, take care of Luna and make sure Mom doesn't treat her like she treated you and Luisa."

You have to be kidding me . . . She glares at the footboard. He's drunk off his ass, talking about how he only started to realize how horrible their mother is because she disapproved of his relationship, and Luisa genuinely wants him to take care of Luna?

It's easy, for the moment, to hate him. Her stupid, deadbeat of an older brother. Does he realize what this even means?

"I know it's probably — probably hard to believe. 'Cause I didn't take care of Luisa and I didn't take care of you but," he pauses and sniffles, like he's crying. "I-I really do want to do better. I'm supposed to be your big brother."

That snuffs out her anger. She almost hates herself for it, weakening at the first sign of vulnerability. Dropping her forehead to her knee, throat tightening uncomfortably, she reminds herself, he's drunk. He probably doesn't mean any of this. Don't get caught up.

He takes a second to clear his throat, compose himself, and start again. "And — and I really, really like Belen. But she says I can't be with her unless I know for sure that I can take on having a kid. And — and I figured I have to do right by you guys before anything else. So, um, yeah," he clears his throat. "I wanted to let you know. And apologize. I'm sorry. Double that apology, actually, because I know you're not gonna like that I did this while I was drinking but I didn't know if I'd lose the nerve so I wanted to take care of it now. So. Happy belated birthday. And uh . . . yeah."