Re-Arranged

Chapter Twelve (2/2)

Sawyer was running out of breath now, but he did not look close to being done. "You... you never resolve anything... anything in your life. All you know... is... running away... from your problems. You expect others... to clean up your mess... to defend you... to come save you –"

"Hey, that's not –!" Darian could not control it but neither could he finish it.

The younger one's eyes lit up at his interruption and he raised his hands in a sweeping gesture towards Darian. "See? Who am I talking to? Who... am I accusing? And look... look who's defending! The knight... knight in shining armour!" He turned his gaze sharply to the interrupter and smirked. "What? Think I'm wrong? Just last week, remind me... no, remind us where you went."

Darian gritted his teeth and dug his nails further into the palms, the muscles in his arms tightening.

"To" – Sawyer looked at Kelly, leaning forward, his hands clasped together – "rescue" – he turned to Darian – "her" – and back to Kelly, a triumphant smile constant on his face – "isn't it?"

*

Last Wednesday, after he received the call and messages from Allison, it felt like ages for the billing to finish, for him to deposit Ben and groceries at home, simultaneously confirming his suspicions that Kelly had not come there yet, and running down the street towards where Ben used to go to school.

Darian noticed the car parked on the street before he could see the fallen, abandoned piece of pillar and sitting atop it, Kelly.

"I figured," he began as he stepped into the overgrown grass, crunching it under his soles. Kelly looked up and gave a half smile. "I figured that if you weren't here, I'd call you."

She shifted on the fallen piece of concrete and patted on the space beside her. "You heard, huh?"

"No, not in details. You got the call after all. Al only told what she knew. That was enough for me to make a guess." She leaned her head on his shoulder and brushed some stray strands of hair behind her ear. "But hey, at least you don't have a six pack of beer in your belly this time."

"Or the six take-out super-large milkshakes."

"Yikes, that was a rough one. Or a hundred candies packet with nothing but wrappers in it."

"Hey! That was only forty candies!"

"Right. That's what's important."

"Of course. You're changing the course of history of my sugar intake."

Darian chuckled and pushed at her head, making her laugh too. "So, how are we doing?"

Kelly let out a long, deep sigh and slipped her arm through his. "Oh, not bad. I mean, I left work without any notice, though I already clocked in nine hours – yay to going in early! – and I did not return home, and I am instead sitting here, staring at our car and thinking how we chipped the paint near that front bumper." She raised her free arm to point.

He followed her cue, his brows furrowed. When he saw the lines of scratches, his forehead cleared. "Ah yes, the infamous experiment we forgot to cover up."

"Experiment? We?" Kelly raised her head and stared at him incredulously. "What did you and Ben do?"

Darian burst out laughing. "I love the confidence you have in us blundering." He bent down to kiss her head and added, "Last week we were giving the car a wash. One thing led to another and let's just say Ben was curious to know if a sponge with a pebble stuck on it was still a sponge. But see? We were discreet enough to try it only on a small, tiny spot."