War on Kitaris

Chapter 3 - Truth?

Seeing Devin, probably the world’s most god-damn beautiful man in the world standing in my kitchen, helping me cut up some carrot and celery sticks for afternoon tea, was probably almost a dream.

Jane wasn’t home yet from picking Tom up from his school, so it was just us two. Alone. I would be lying if that idea didn’t make the even the slightest bit happy. Once the silence got a bit irritating, I walked over to the stereo in our lounge, plugged in my iPod, and started playing some background music.

“What on Earth is that?” Devin asked me, screwing up his nose. I laughed and slid the carrot sticks and celery that has been chopped up onto a white plate.

“You don’t like music?” I asked him. Devin ran his hands through his dark hair, frowning slightly.

“This is music?”

I laughed loudly, and walked around Devin to place the snacks on the table. I sat down on the cushioned chair, and Devin followed my lead, and then opened the Biology textbook we were going to work from. “You haven’t heard this before? What century are you living in?”

Devin shrugged, but I notice him watching me carefully, as if he was expecting me to get angry and have windows cracking and light bulbs flashing. He relaxed. “I’m from a very different place from here.”

Clearly. Seriously, who hasn’t heard of this music before? “Yeah? Where are you from?”

I noticed Devin’s hesitance before answering. “I’m from Florida.”

I detected some BS in there, but I decided to drop the subject. If he didn’t want to tell me where he’s from, then that’s fine by me. I began writing some notes in my book, before Devin’s voice interrupted my train of thought.

“Where’s your mum?” he asked me softly. Just as I was about to answer, I heard the front door being unlocked. I turned my head to see Jane standing there, on the phone, and Tom happily holding a colourful piece of paper. Jane quickly rushed inside, clutching the phone to her ear, dumped her keys on the bench, waved to Devin and I, and then quickly walked upstairs. Tom ran over to Devin and me, grinning.

“Hey, Rose, look what I got on parade today!” Tom laughed, handing me the piece of paper. While I read it, he looked over at Devin. “Rose, who’s this?”

What Tom handed to me was a certificate, congratulating him on completing his set of reading tasks and getting high achievements for him. I scruffed up his hair. “Good job, buddy. And oh, that’s Devin, my friend.”

“Hey, Tom,” Devin said kindly, holding out his hand. I had to contain myself from laughing when Tom shook his hand, and I noticed how tiny it was in comparison to Devin’s. Tom then snatched the piece of paper from my hand, stole a carrot stick, and ran upstairs, claiming to go play with his toy cars…as usual.

“That is my sort-of brother, Tom,” I said, watching him trudge up the stairs. “He’s my little buddy.”

Devin smiled, his whole face lighting up. “He seems like a really good kid. I hope you don’t mind me asking though…what do you mean, sort-of brother? You mentioned it yesterday.”

I scribbled some more notes into my book. “Oh, yeah. Jane’s not my real mother and Tom’s not my real brother, but it feels like it. I’ve been living with them for eight years now, so you could say they’re my family.”

Devin looked down. “Oh…are you…adopted?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I’ve been in foster care since I was ten, and then we got the call that someone wanted to adopt me, which was Jane. She just had Tom and his father had left Jane and Tom after they found out Jane couldn’t conceive anymore, so she adopted me into the family.”