There's Always A Plot Twist | Wattys 2023 ✓

16| The Caterpillar

The drive back from the ultrasound is quite.

Even the music, that was once enjoyable ear-splitting, sounds like it has a damper over its speakers.

"I mean...its wasn't that bad." Mrs. Martinez voices, glancing across at her daughter in the middle of a self-inflicted meltdown.

Riley agrees with Mrs. Martinez, listing off a bunch of other complications that they could have found and didn't. "Your mom is absolutely right, it could have been a lot worse."

"Back in my day we were just glad the baby was healthy, and yours is. That's good news isn't it?" Mrs. Martinez asks, enjoying the feeling of the cool breeze drifting through her window. "I think its time to stop frowning otherwise you're going to get those wrinkles like...wait who has the wrinkles again?"

"Auntie Bertha." Kenna replies begrudgingly.

"Right...I should send her some more of those creams she likes for her birthday." Mrs. Martinez tries, quickly realising that her usual light-hearted jokes aren't going to work this time.

Kenna sighs, understanding how silly she must seem after getting the good news that the bad feeling she had in her stomach was in fact only happening in her head. "I know, I know, everything is just..."

"Just what?" Riley ask.

"Most girls dream about how her life is going to go, how many babies she'll choose to have, if she wants them that is...I just feel like I'm doing everything, I don't know, wrong."

Mrs. Martinez immediately rejects that hypothesis. "Kenna, I had your brother when I turned nineteen and had nothing."

"What about-"

"-okay, I had you're father but you know what I mean Kenna. Take it from the woman who had three kids before marriage and started her career before getting her degrees, there is no right order."

"I mean, my dad swapped jobs three times before he found out what he wanted to do." Riley adds. "It drove my mother insane but eventually things got there."

"Exactly!" Mrs. Martinez snaps her fingers, her entire body fizzling with life, including her newly manicured toenails hanging on the edge of her loafers for dear life. "Life isn't always about having all the answers. We all make mistakes along the way."

"Some of us more than other." Riley croaks, her mind wandering onto her own junk.

Kenna musters up a smile, feeling truly grateful to have both of them with her. "Thanks Mami, you're the best."

"I know that's right." Mrs. Martinez sings. "And if I hear you saying the same thing to your father I'll make sure to burn your food when you come to visit."

Riley laughs at first but stops when she notices that neither of them are laughing along. "Oh, she's serious."

"You have no idea." Kenna shudders, remembering the blaze of '08. "Those poor gingerbread men. They didn't see it coming."

As they near their apartment, Riley asks for Mrs. Martinez to let her out, stepping out of the car in front of the Van still parked in the same spot as earlier. "I'm going to go see if they need any help...moving in a stuff I mean."

Kenna hums but doesn't press her on it. "If you need me just text and I'll sprint over here in five minutes."

Riley laughs at the absurdity. "You're pregnant." 

"Mami once wrestled a horse when she was pregnant with me. Impossible runs in my blood. Right Mami?"

Mrs. Martinez, who had been nodding her head, validates Kenna's claims. "They still call me wonder woman whenever we visit. I've quite literally become an urban legend at this point."

"Riley?" Lain smiles when she turns, letting him get a better look at her face. "I didn't expect to see you so soon."

"Is that the guy?" Mrs. Martinez inquires, brushing Kenna's hair out of the way so she can peer up at him. "I can't see."

"Riley, please move two inches to the left so my mother can steal your future boyfriend." Kenna mumbles, hearing a small humming response from Riley before the light she was blocking flood the car.

 "And of course, where there's one there's another." Lain remarks, lowering the boxes in his arms. "Hi Kenna."

"Hello, Lain Adler, this is my mother. No, she is not my sister and yes, she is married."

Mrs. Martinez swats Kenna's arm before flashing her award winning smile. "It's lovely to meet you, Lain, is it?"

"Yep, its nice to meet you too."

Before the usual shenanigans can occur, Kenna clears her throat. "Anyways, we're going now, right Mami?"

"Ok, I get it. I'm leaving." Mrs. Martinez leaves with a beep of her horn and her tires tearing up the ground as she speeds away. "Riley sure knows how to lock them down."

Meanwhile, Riley giggles airily, feeling somewhat awkward now that she has throw herself into the situation.

When will she ever learn to think before leaping?

"Where's Amara. I thought she was suppose to be your twisted soulmate?" Lain inquires, comfortably putting his hands into his jean pockets as he approaches.

"Its twisted sister, and she was busy with induction stuff, so, yeah." Riley replies, hating herself for letting his good looks bring out this side of her.

"Are you stalking me?" he asks with a grin, his perfumed scent washing over her.

"Me? Stalk you? You must be joking." Riley splutters, her nerves from earlier drying up faster than a desert.

"I'm a funny guy but I don't joke about my safety." he replies, his voice laced with pride. "I'm starting to get a little worried. I only just met you and yet you already know where I live."

Riley feels herself glaring at his light jabs. "Ha, ha, you're definitely not as funny as you think."

"Oh I'm not?"

Doubling down, Riley folds her arms. "I actually came over to help but now I'm feeling a little unwelcome. Maybe I'll take my services somewhere else."

Lain opens his mouth to say more when a loud thud from behind forces the pair to stop the match for now. 

"My bad, that box is heavier than I thought." a voice confesses before coming into view.

Riley watches Jonas Adler climb out of the van, immediately noticing the resemblance between the two, both having dark eyes and hair as well as having similar bone structure in places like their noses.

Jonas even went out of his way to curls his hair to look different but Riley can see that they both share the same wavy hair texture.

"Jonas, this is Riley." Lain utters, adding an accent onto the J of his name to sound more like a Y.

Riley spots the cogs in his brain clicking like a person who can finally put all the stories they've heard to a face.

Jonas offering her his hand to shake with a welcoming smile. "Its nice to finally meet the woman who aided this moron in his escape yesterday."

"I'm sorry for your lost."

"Thanks." he replies, tired of hearing those five words in the same combination for more than a few weeks now.

"And here I thought we were just having fun." Lain cuts in, picking up the box he had placed down earlier and offering it to Riley. "If I let you rummage through my things, you have to promise not to bring down the vibe."

"Got it." Riley responds, catching the box as he drops it into her arms. "Oh this baby picture of you is adorable."

Lain groans, closing his eyes. "I'm going to regret this aren't I?"

"If you don't then I haven't done my job right."