Finding Hearts

Chapter 6

KATE

"You're home late", Mom says after I did my best job to slip in quietly through the door. Sighing being busted, I throw my backpack on the couch and come at her side to kiss her cheek, earning a kiss on my forehead in return.

"I've made some pasta. We left you some on the table", she continues, pointing at the table for me. Although I've just had a cookie and a milkshake, not eating would grow suspicions in her, so I force my way to the table and sit down, as she quickly calls from the kitchen. "Have you washed your hands first, Katie?"

No, I did not.

I stumble off the chair and rush to the bathroom, coming back five seconds later with clean hands and a wish to get out of here.

However, I sit down at the table and start eating. Mom quickly joins me, taking a sit at the opposite side, directly in front of me. "How was the interview?", I ask her, to start some small talk. Mom works at the Blank Valley's top newspaper, so everybody in town knows her. My Dad is also known, yet that's because he's a huge lawyer out in New York. His office is there, so every morning he drives one hour to get to his office in Manhattan, then comes back in the afternoon.

"Good", she answers, tucking her long blonde hair in a ponytail. Mom is the one Aaron and I got most of our features from. While Dad has some dark brown hair and brown eyes, Mom's blonde hair and blue eyes mirror ours. He's always joking about us getting the good side of the family. Mom and Dad would be the definition of high school sweethearts trope. Fell in love in eleventh grade, went to prom together. Twenty years later and they are still together.

"How was school?", Mom asks back.

I shrug. Bad. Really bad. And it got even worse after I completely ruined Cal's 'date'. "It was okay", I lie.

Mom reads straight through me. "Don't you It was okay me, Missy. Did anyone give you a hard time?"

"No, Mom, I'm fine", I mumble, taking another pasta to shut my mouth.

"You need to be honest with me, Katie", she doesn't let it go. "If anyone hurt my baby, I'll make them wish they were never born."

"Gee", I let out surprised. "I thought you were the one saying kindness is the most important."

"Yes, it is. You always have to be kind, sweetie. I'm still standing by what I said. But if I hear that someone hurt my beautiful baby girl, I can't just be expected to sit here and do nothing."

"You're gonna go to jail", I point out.

She winks, clearly not worried. "Then we'll count on Daddy to bail me out."

Silence falls between us for a few seconds, til we both start laughing out loud. After some time, I make courage to ask her the one thing I been meaning to. Yet obviously not the way I actually mean it. Hey, Mom. So, I know we hate hockey players, and especially their captain, all thanks to Aaron, but he's actually a really nice guy who I happen to have kissed and wish to do it again someday. Would that be okay? See. I definitely can't put it like that.

"So, Mom, I was wondering...", I begin, earning her attention. "Could Liv and I maybe go to a hockey game sometime?"

She flinches, and she doesn't have to say it out loud, I already got my answer. "You know", she begins nevertheless. "I mean, first of all, that wouldn't be so much okay for Aaron. However, since you're free to do whatever, I don't see any problem in that." She sighs out loud, tucking another strand of her hair. "One question though. Why hockey? That's so boring."

"It is?", I ask surprised. Never seen a hockey game in my life but I can't picture it being boring. Especially not with guys like Callum Slade playing.

"Yeah. It's just a bunch of people running pointless on ice." She smirks at something in her head, something she decides to share with me. "The players are basically like male versions of Elsa."