Being Neighborly

Chapter 34

Studying for midterms this week quickly transformed from crying over calculus formulas to setting up an investigation board, red strings and all, in the middle of Nicole and Nate's basement. After confiding in Tristan, I caught my two friends up on the KC and Katy situation. Our rescheduled Tuesday study session bled into Wednesday and Thursday once we realized there were more things to look over than just the symbolism of Animal Farm.

Oh, and Tristan joined us.

It started out a little weird, just like the unplanned group movie night at my house which seemed like it happened a lifetime ago. But slowly everyone warmed up to each other. During breaks between midterm prep and trying to find a connection between my life in California and Katy, Nate volunteered to show Tristan some soccer moves. I could definitely see a friendship blossoming before my eyes. One that involved Nate poking fun at how uncoordinated Tristan is with his feet and the ball.

"What should we work on next?" Nicole asked, clearing away our snacks from our most recent break. "US history or the murder board?"

"Can you please stop calling it a murder board," I groan. "No one is dead."

"Yet," Nate pointed out. We all turn to stare at him. "What? This is all too creepy for it not to lead to some kind of death!"

"Let's hope it doesn't get to that point," Tristan mutters around his glass of water.

"Anyway," I say trying to steer the conversation back to the point. "I for one cannot handle trying to name the presidents in order and which wars they were involved in. I say we switch over to the investigation board," I enunciate the word to try and get it to stick in Nicole's brain. "We have made zero progress on trying to figure out how Katy could possibly know anything about Carter or my less than stellar history. Or even why she would bring it up."

Tristan gets up from his spot on the leather couch and walks to the board. "Alright, so what do we know?" He points to the picture of Katy we took off of her Facebook profile. "Let's start closest to home with Katy. She used to live in Minnesota until she was five, then moved with her parents here," Tristan follows a red string from Katy to her only two places of residence. Other smaller strings splinter off to her parents, younger brother, and labrapoodle. "As far as we know from her social media, the only places she has traveled to are outside the country, minus Florida for the yearly family trip to Disney World."

"Right, so then we cross referenced her information with Carter's," I add, making my way to the board next to Tristan and pointing to the picture of me and Carter that he had emailed me a while back. Not the most flattering, but he is removed himself completely from social media and it's the best we could do. Plus, we were able to put my information up there with that picture since I started in California and move it over to connect with Katy's details. I follow a red string down from Carter's face to his section of the board.

"Kaleb Carter Hayes, aka KC, aka Carter, was born and raised in California by his parents. No siblings, no pets. His dad traveled a lot for business, mostly domestic, but that's it. Carter loved California and never wanted to leave. Except for the one time his family went to Disney World," I point out, following the long string that connects Carter and Katy together in the top center of the board at Cinderella's castle. "He went once with his family when he was 11 and never again since then. The chances of him and Katy meeting are super slim, and gets even more so if we assume they have kept in touch since then. So, I say we rule out that option; they were kids and it's highly unlikely that this is how everything connects."

"I agree," Nicole pipes up from her spot on the floor. "But that's the only connection we have between them."

"It's not viable though," Nate interjects. "There has to be something else, something we're missing. Do we have any other photos? Bank statements? Phone bill records?"

"Dude, this isn't the FBI," Nicole rolls her eyes. "All we have is social media and what we already know about them. And these are all the photos we have, mostly from Katy."

"It's a start," Tristan says.

"It's not enough though!" I sigh and flop back down on the couch. "We're better off just focusing on our midterms than wasting our time trying to figure this out. And unless Katy comes at me with a knife or something, I'm going to assume I'm safe."

Tristan takes a seat next to me and places his hand on my knee. "That's a little dramatic, don't you think? And we will figure this out because I'm not going to let anyone hurt you again."

I smile up at him and place my hand over his to give is a small squeeze.

"Ew, since when did Tristan Johnson become soft?" Nicole's laugh interrupts our moment.

"Haven't you heard? Apparently I'm her boyfriend now," Tristan gives a small smile back at her, a twinkle in his eyes.

Just as I was about to half-heartedly dispute that statement, Tristan's phone rings. I look over at the table where he left it and see Luke's name appear on the screen. My insides turn a little. I know I told him I would butt out of whatever business he has with my uncle, but it still makes me uneasy that I know nothing about their relationship.

"Sorry, I have to take this," Tristan says, getting up and swiping his phone from off the table. He answers and takes the conversation upstairs.

"Did I just see your uncle's name on his phone?" Nate questions.

"Yeah, but I agreed to let him do whatever he and my uncle are doing. It bothers me since I thought they hated each other, or that Tristan was scared of him, but there's really nothing I can do."

"You could eavesdrop," Nicole suggests. "Unless you think that violates the terms and conditions of being Tristan Johnson's girlfriend."

"Shut up," I say, getting up to go and refill my cup of water. And if I happen to catch part of Tristan's conversation with Uncle Luke, then it is what it is.