Baby Steps

break up arc pt. 3

Louise growled and pounded her fist on Tina’s desk. “Bastard!”

“Language,” Tina scolded her sister from her seat on the bed.

“It’s English,” Zeke snarked from his seat at her side, grinning as he held her hand.

Tina rolled her eyes and slapped his arm. “Hush, you.”

Louise turned her eyes on the boy. “Please tell me you at least took a swing at him.”

Zeke shook his head, his expression remorseful. “I was too focused on gettin’ Tina outta there.” Then he looked back at the smaller girl with a twinkle in his eye. “School ain’t over yet, though. There’s still time.”

Louise’s face broke into a broad grin. For such a little thing, she could be downright ruthless. “Oh good. Get in a shot for me, okay?”

“Oh my god, both of you knock it off!” Tina scolded them, waving her finger back and forth between them. “No beating anyone up! Especially not on my behalf!”

“Lighten up, T,” Louise rolled her eyes, hanging her arm over the back of the rolling chair.

“‘Sides, he deserves it,” Zeke argued, giving her hand a squeeze.

“And Zeke would win, we all know that,” Louise added, waving her hand at the boy. “Have you looked at him?? He’s a beast! How tall are you now?”

“Six foot three!” Zeke boasted, his chest puffing out with pride.

“See? A beast!”

Tina scoffed and stood up, letting go of Zeke’s hand. She threw her hands up with exasperation, the sleeves of Zeke’s hoodie once again falling to her elbows. “I don’t have to listen to this.” She walked to the door.

“Aw, c’mon, T, it’s just for fun!” Zeke called after her light heartedly.

“She’s not actually mad, Zeke,” Louise told him.

“Yes, I am!” Tina called back, not bothering to put any conviction in her voice. She wasn’t mad, but she didn’t need them to know that. It wasn’t any fun if they knew that they won.

Tina walked past the living room, stopping to peer in at her mother and brother. They were seated on the couch, watching some obscure show and making jokes about it together. She knew that Linda would be extra clingy with Gene this coming summer since he was going to be in high school in August. That was weird to think about, so she pushed that aside and continued to the kitchen, where her dad was washing the dishes from dinner.

“Hey,” Tina said, walking over to him.

Bob looked over his shoulder at her with a small smile. “Hey. I heard yelling. Is everything okay?”

She nodded, going over to the sink. “Just Louise being Louise. Need any help?”

Her dad nodded to the dishes on the drying rack. “Can you dry these and put them away for me?”

“Sure.” Tina grabbed a dish towel and started on the task. Soon she and her father fell into a comfortable rhythm. The familiarity helped to soothe her frayed nerves.

She and Zeke had shown up to the apartment a little later than her family had expected. Thankfully he’d been able to come up with a believable excuse, but Louise had been eyeing her since they first got there. Dinner had been a noisy affair, as usual. Her mom and dad had talked about how business at the restaurant had been that day, with Linda throwing in the usual amount of embellishments. Then Gene had told them about his day with his dramatic pitch and volume. Louise hadn’t said much, but only because she was keeping an eye on Tina. As soon as dinner had ended, the short girl had dragged both Tina and Zeke into Tina’s room and demanded an explanation. They’d told her, and thus the dramatics in her room.