The Outlier

SIXTEEN

"Hey, Kai," Bella greeted once I picked up the phone— its loud ringtone acting as an alarm for me. 

"Morning, Bella," I answered, my voice still raspy. 

"I know it's early but do you wanna ride together to school?" Bella suggested. "I just thought it'd be more.. convenient if we were in the same car 'cause, you know, we're neighbours."

"That'd be nice Bella," I sighed, "just walk straight through the front door, I'll go down right now and unlock it for you." 

"If I don't answer you then I'm in the shower, okay?" I informed her.

"Yeah, okay. See you soon." 

I jogged down the stairs, unlocking the front door for Bella to walk through. I'm usually happy to be around Bella, the presence of the jittery girl was quite calming. We had many similarities. But seeing someone this early in the morning isn't fun. 

The hot water droplets hit my skin as I began lathering soap over my skin. The steam coming off of my skin calming me, I began humming quietly.

I stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel tightly around my body. I continued humming, my mood still elated from yesterday's Vitamin D burst. Today, golden sunshine was still peaking in from between my curtains.

I got dressed, comfortable enough to be at school but still dressy enough to be in Port Angeles. 

I stepped out of my room, looking down at the living room from the top of the stairs— trying to find any sign Bella was in my house. 

"Bella," I called, "you here?" 

"Yeah," she said quietly. 

"You can come up to my room if you'd like," I suggested. 

I heard hollow footsteps against the hardwood floorboards as she ascended up to my room. Bella's strides were short with quick, light footsteps. No footstep fell out of beat when she walked. Her movements, in the nicest way possible, reminded me of a rat. Her hurried walk was almost like a scurry. 

"Your room's really cool," she chuckled. 

"You like it?" I asked, flattered. 

"Yeah," she nodded. She ran her fingers over the strings of my guitar, slightly plucking at them as I looked for my wallet. 

"You play?" she asked. 

"Oh, yeah," I laughed, nervously. "I don't like playing electric guitar much though, so you'll see my guitar's a bit dusty. I much prefer playing bass." 

"You play bass, too?" Bella asked, impressed. 

"Yeah," I chuckled, my cheeks heating up as I noticed her awe-filled brown irides eyeing me. 

"Can you, um, play for me sometime?" she shyly asked. 

"Of course." I smiled warmly at her.

"Found it! Let's go," I announced, gesturing to my worn-out leather wallet. 

The wallet was a gift from my father, a hand-me-down. He gave me the wallet on my twelfth birthday after he saw me continuously ogling the old thing whenever he pulled it out. He made the upgrade to Mont Blanc wallet and nothing upset me more. I couldn't bring myself to tell my father I wanted him to use his old wallet— I couldn't muster enough courage to utter the words. After all, my father was a strict, no-emotions-from-my-daughter kind of person. 

I was sad I couldn't see the wallet anymore. Every time he pulled out his wallet, I expected to see the brown, faded leather wallet I loved so much. The feeling of yearning wilted away when on the snowy, winter morning of my birthday I saw a small pink box perched up on my nightstand. The box was wrapped like it held something new. Something unfamiliar. But when I opened it, I saw the familiar fading leather that my father always carried.