Broken Souls Don't Cry

Chapter 17

Kai

Kai had talked to his sister on the way home after picking up the pizza, giving her a rundown of the standoff with Chelsea. Christi had just laughed at him. Apparently his breakup of a non-existent relationship was amusing to her.

"What did you expect, Kai?" Christi giggled.

"Not that" he admitted. "I'm so glad I moved out here and don't have to deal with her on the daily"

"How is it going out there?" Christi asked nosily.

"Things are going well. Classes are a pain, but I've got a handle on them currently. Work is great. You haven't told father yet about my job?"

"No! I'd never tell him your secrets, especially when I'm keeping my own!"

Kai sighed in relief. He knew he didn't really have to worry, but he still liked to check. "Good."

"So, any girls?" she giggled

Sara immediately flashed in his mind, and he frowned. They were finally friends after a rough first week at school. He thought she was beautiful, and he could get lost in her eyes, much like he had earlier.

"I don't have a lot of time this semester for dating. There is a girl here from high school in one of my classes. She's my partner on a project so we've been seeing a lot of each other."

"Ooooh!" Christi squealed. "You like her! I can't wait to meet her when I come out in a few weeks."

"Over my dead body, and it's not like that. We weren't friends in high school and only now are somewhat friends."

"The makings of any true love story!"

"Okay," Kai said sharply, "that's enough of that talk. I'll let you meet her, only because we have so much work to do on our project. You meeting her is inevitable."

"Fine." Christi hung up a minute later because she had a party to go to with friends.

Kai greeted AJ when he walked in. He put the pizza in the oven before doing some general cleaning.

"Sara's still coming over to study right?" AJ asked while taking a sip of diet coke.

"Yep"

"So, what's the deal with you two?" AJ asked inquisitively. "I was very surprised to know you two know each other. You were a jerk to her you know."

"I know. I've already apologized, for all of it" Even things AJ didn't know about, Kai mused. "We have an understanding now and have a truce, so to speak. We didn't like each other in California, and I found out the truth."

"What was that truth?" AJ gave him a persistent glare.

"It's not my truth to tell." Kai shrugged and sat down on the couch next to AJ, watching him play the video game.

"Alright. I'll accept that. She's like a little sister to me Kai, and future business partner."

Curious Kai asked, "What's up with that anyways?"

"Oh, she and I are going to operate an animal rescue after school. Give a place for all those animals in the shelter who are at risk of being euthanized because they've been there too long or are considered unadoptable. There's two dogs, Bruno and Ashby, at the shelter that are coming up on their adoption deadline. If they don't get adopted...." AJ trailed off. He didn't have to say it, Kai understood what it meant for them.

"Huh. That sounds admirable. Have you started getting things going for that? Connections, donors, stuff like that?"

"Well, the connections are going to be fairly easy. We've worked with several rescues over the years and know people at other shelters in the area. Sara really knows her stuff. She's worked a lot with our boss Jerry in learning more about dog behavior, since he's a behaviorist and all"

"Wait that's a thing?" Kai asked shocked.

"Oh yeah..." AJ went off on the video game after another player killed him. "She's also going to do social work on the side. She can do appointments all virtually now so that will fit her schedule pretty well."

"You guys seem to have it all figured out" There was a knock at the door and Kai went to answer it. He smiled when he found Sara on the other side struggling beneath her load of books, binders and laptop. "Here, let me help you with some of that" as he reached out to grab some of the things.

"Thank you," she said breathlessly as she followed behind him to the table.

"So, food or work first?" Sara asked as she glanced between Kai and AJ.

"My vote is food" AJ called over his shoulder.

"Sounds good to me!" Sara smiled and gave a little laugh.

Kai took the pizza out of the oven and grabbed a few paper plates. He let Sara dive in first and he was surprised when she loaded four slices onto her plate. She must have caught him looking because she looked at him curiously.

"What?" she asked

"Oh, nothing. I'm just not used to seeing girls eat that much food. I usually only see them with salads"

"Well, I love food. Salads too, but I like food food. But this plate is for AJ" she then took it over to AJ, who was still sitting comfortably on the couch playing his video game.

He waited for her to return to the kitchen and fix her own plate, this time with two slices. He followed after her, grabbing three slices and then sitting down by her at the table.

A few minutes went by in silence as they all ate. AJ was still playing his game, so he was taking bites in-between kills.

Sara finally broke the silence, "So, I'm dying to know how you two know each other?"

"That is an embarrassing story" Kai started before AJ cut in.

"Well, Kizer over there is a nerd" AJ called, giving her a quick glance.

Sara gave Kai a surprised smile, "Oh really? Who's Kizer?"

He let out a very long sigh and ran his hands through his hair. "Kizer is my handle for video games. AJ and I met at a comic convention in Utah several years ago, right after graduation. He and I battled it out over a video game competition they were holding. He won. We've been friends ever since."

Sara burst out laughing. The sound was melodious. Her laugh sounded genuine, much better than any other girl he knew, especially Chelsea's. That girl laughed like a hyena. He knew then that he wanted to make Sara laugh as much as possible. She deserved that much.

"Wow! I did not picture you as the nerd type." She finally said between laughs.

"Yeah, well there's a lot you don't know about me, Sara" he gave her a smirk.

"Well, keep it going, tell me more nerdy stuff. If you don't, I'll ask AJ at work on Monday."

"Dang, you'd go behind my back? I can't have AJ telling all my secrets!" Kai faked being hurt and gave a mocking grab at his heart. "Tell you what, I'll let you ask me one question each time we work on the project or are in class. Then I get to ask you a question. By the end of the semester, we should know each other pretty well."

"Deal" she leaned forward, smirked, and giggled before settling back in her chair.

They finished eating and started to work on filling out the paperwork for the rescue and the shelter. Then they finished working on the written proposal assignment before calling it a night.