Asunder

Chapter 21 - My Boys

"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"I said, no!"

This is harder than I expected.

I pout at him, widening my eyes and sticking out my lip. He doesn't yield anything. I drop the act with a sigh, stomping impatiently.

Ever since I got here early in the morning -much to my parents' dismay-, I've been working my ass off to get him to agree. The plan was simple, and formulated by Emma and myself: I was to give subtle hints that would convince him to let me see him dance. Slight turns of phrase and expressions that would twist his mind and manipulate him into conceding; very intelligent stuff. However at my first of many planned attempts of the meticulous operation, he froze and looked me straight in the eye mid-bite of his toast. And squinted.

He stared at me like that for a couple of seconds before he started chewing again, mouth full and smiling smugly, shaking his head as if to say 'Nice try, Greene'.

So my convincing smile instantly evaporated into a glare, and I trudged up to where he was leaning against the busy kitchen table. I nearly knocked a jam jar off the edge when I commenced plan B. Which consists of about an hour of:

"Yes."
"No!"
"Yes."
"Kingsley, no!"

Cross-armed and stone-faced in front of an exasperated Sky, I tap my foot on the watered grass. I can tell that he's holding back a smile, so I continue.

"Yes." I hold my chin up at him.
He steps closer to me, imposing his height. My blood boils when he smirks in victory. "No."

I don't have the time to growl at him in response before Hana walks by from the kitchen, carrying a basket of seeds. She nods at Sky and says matter-of-factory: "Yes."

Sky turns to her and a grin spreads onto my face. "Mom!" he whines. "You don't even know what this is about!"
"You right," she sets the basket down and holds her hands together in front of her, in an ironically innocent pose, "but I know that Kingsley wants 'yes', and that you want 'no'. So I say 'yes'."

She leaves Sky gaping at her and walks back to her flowerbed.

My win is secured. His jaw tightens and I waggle my eyebrows at his profile. His eyes avoid mine.

"Come on," I nod complacently, "momma knows best."
He squints. "Momma is on your side."
"That's why she knows best."
"Clearly, both of your logics are flawed."

I poke him in the belly, concealing my wince at the hardness of its surface.

Really, how hard is it to show me a single song? Just one?

He sighs, and steps backwards before looking at me. It makes me realize with a blink how close he was standing.

"Fine," he rasps, and I bite my lips, barely containing a victory squeal.

He looks to the sky and mouths 'What did I do?', and I skip over to Hana's spot at a bed of empty soil.

"And where are you going?" I hear him say behind me, and I turn, letting my arms fall to my sides as I walk backwards:

"Now that I have your word," his brow rises at that statement, "your little performance can wait until I finish with your mom."

He scoffs, but doesn't have anything to say afterwards. No snarky comment, no shit-eating grin. I gasp at that, and turn to strut away, fist pumping in the air. This is the real victory of the morning.

Giggling to myself, I don't dare turn back and taunt him. I only bend down next to Hana's crouched body, careful not to knock over her basket of seeds. Half of them are already buried under the soil, and she reaches for another.