Sticks and Stones

Eight: No Such Thing as a Free Lunch

Tatum decided to not tell Kinsley who she was getting lunch with later today.

Genuinely, Tatum thought it would do more harm than good. Kinsley knew that Tatum was doing Brady's plan. This was all part of it, really. It was just an extra step to make him do the plan. She wasn't even hiding anything from Kinsley, if you thought about it. Tatum never bored her friend with the details of her work. Why would she start now?

She also hadn't asked her about Jamie yet. There had to be a reason that Kinsley didn't tell her about her youngest brother. Tatum knew when to pry and when to let things go. This was hardly something she could even pry with, considering she wasn't even supposed to know about it. So, really, Tatum wasn't even doing anything wrong. In fact, she was indisputably sure that she was going about everything in the best way possible.

Maybe getting lunch wasn't the worst thing that Brady could've picked for them. If she was being honest, she couldn't remember the last time she had a proper meal. With her schedule, Tatum had a bad tendency to forget to eat. It wasn't purposeful, but she just was too busy most of the time. She would grab a granola bar or something bigger if she could hold it as she ran out the door. But since she was always running from one place to the next, she tended to just forget.

They scheduled for it to be after Tatum got off her shift from the clinic. They had another session this morning that had actually gone well. He referred to it as "her turn", and his turn was lunch. She thought it was rather rudimentary, but it was his call. And as long as he was going along with the PT plan, she didn't plan on complaining anytime soon.

But that was later. Right now, Tatum was sat on Kinsley's bed as the two watched a movie on her television. Her friend had decided that Tatum was severely lacking when it came to watching movies that she deemed as critical "must-sees". They had an ongoing list of films to get through for the semester. It may have been early in the day to be watching a movie, but they spent time together when they could considering their busy schedules. To both their surprise, Tatum was a surprisingly emotional movie viewer. Kinsley had even started making note on the list of which movies she cried at.

Their hands both picked at the bowl of popcorn between them. Their eyes remained trained on the screen, entranced by the coming-of-age movie. Tatum did her best to bite back her emotions as she watched all the storylines wrap up in that bittersweet, far-away nostalgic feeling that these films always gave her. They always just struck a cord inside of her. Eventually, she had to acknowledge the tears streaming down her face.

"God, these always get me," Tatum sniffled, wiping her eyes hastily as the credits began to roll.

"When you cry at nothing in real life, it has to be released somewhere," Kinsley insisted, shoving more popcorn into her mouth.

"Hey, I cry sometimes."

Kinsley scoffed. "Yeah like when you get a ninety-four instead of a hundred on an exam."

"That was one time," Tatum said with a groan, shoving her friend gently.

"And it was insane!" Kinsley exclaimed with a laugh.

Tatum chuckled, allowing her to have that one. It was absurd, if she was being honest. She could admit that she probably cared a bit too much about her academics. But she thrived off the validation she got from it. She would work herself into the ground but come out of it with the top grades in her class. It was worth it to her. Most of the time, that is. To be fair, she was getting a bit exhausted lately.

She opened her mouth to say something back to her friend, but paused when she caught the look of indecisiveness on Kinsley's face. It was obvious that her friend wanted to say something, but was contemplating it. Tatum didn't want to push her or divert her thoughts, so she stayed quiet, allowing her roommate to gather her thoughts.