Sensation (h.s)

Chapter Seventeen

✺ Kate's point of view ✺

"So, your day was good? Dad says hi." My moms familiar voice carries through the speaker of the phone as I walk through the cold winter air. My hair whips around in the wind and my body shivers each time the wind blows, but it doesn't stop me from walking at a fast pace towards my destination.

"Yeah, my day was fine. Lots of tests since it's almost winter break, but it's slowly getting better. How are things around the house?" I ask in return. My mother sighs lowly and I imagine the familiar purse of her lips as she stares at something that displeases her. It's almost comforting to picture her shaking her head at the messy kitchen, or the dirty laundry, or something that she usually exerts her energy stressing herself out over.

"They're fine. The fridge went out last week while your father and I were out to dinner and when we got home everything was warm and practically ruined. We just got it fixed yesterday. Oh Kate, you should have seen the repairman. I thought he was some stranger from the street sent in with some faulty fridge repair license. He tracked more dirt into the house than the dog does." Her rambling voice is like a familiar song and I momentarily wish I could record it and listen to it over and over again. The hardest part about being away from home is being on my own. I never thought I'd dread having to go weeks on end without being nagged by my parents over something. I never thought I would miss being reprimanded until now.

"That sounds horrible. The fridge is fixed though, right?" I fake interest in hopes of keeping the conversation going on longer.

"Yeah, it's fixed. I had to go to the supermarket today and replace all of the spoiled food, but I- oh, hi Charlie! How was school, sweetie?" I'm not paying much mind to her words until I hear the familiar name that's been sitting heavy in my heart since this spring.

"Charlie's home? Can I talk to him?" I ask quickly, raising my voice to an unnecessary level from excitement. A few students walking past give me a confused look but I easily ignore it.

"Charlie, Kate wants to say hello. Come over here." My mom doesn't question it and I'm silently wishing he'll listen to her for once and talk to me.

"I have homework to do. I'll talk to her next time." He answers in the same uninterested tone that I've heard for months when he's rejected each of my attempts to say hello. I take what I can get though and smile at the thought that his voice sounds slightly deeper. I wonder to myself if he's grown at all since I left. Gotten taller, gotten a girlfriend, maybe even started styling his hair differently. There's a million questions I want to ask him if he'd give me a moment out of his day just to check up on him.

"Charlie, it won't take any time at all to just say hello to your sister. Don't be ridiculous." My mother snaps in return. It's silent for a moment, then I hear his voice again, but it's not what I was hoping it'd be.

"I'll call her later maybe. I have stuff to do." His voice is far away now and I slump my shoulders disappointedly when I realize he's walking away.

"I'm sorry, Kate. I try so hard to convince him to change his mind on you but he's so stubborn just like your father." My mothers voice sounds in the phone speaker again and makes the moment a little better, but not much.

"I can't expect everyone to ignore everything and see me as the same old Kate, I guess." I answer with a low sigh. My mother says something reassuring in return and we carry on our conversation for a few more minutes about random things until I tell her I have stuff to do and hang up.

I make it to Harry's lecture hall in no time and brace myself for whatever mood he's potentially in. We haven't spoken since last night and he read my message and ignored me when I texted him good morning earlier today. I don't feel as though I was completely in the wrong for snapping at him in a stressful moment, and I apologized multiple times. It didn't seem like a big enough argument for me to have to suffer for multiple days without hearing from him. It doesn't even really feel like something that can be classified as an argument.