Chapter 10- Comfort
Lynn and Hannah bounded up the steps to Kari's house, while she and T.K. followed at a much slower pace. Kari and T.K. almost bumped into the twins at the top of the stairs, however, not even noticing that the two girls had yet to enter the house. Three curious pairs of eyes stared knowingly at Kari as they overheard the shouting match taking place inside.
Kari groaned inwardly. Her mother and grandmother were shrieking so loudly this time that it was a wonder the whole neighborhood hadn't heard them. Stealthily, Kari unlocked the door and crept inside.
"All you care about is that stupid dog!" Kari's mother screeched. "You somehow couldn't ever manage to help me out when I needed it, yet the dumb dog is spoiled rotten!"
"At least I care about some things more than I care about myself!" Grandma Kate screeched back.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Only that it's a wonder Kari doesn't hate you. She's miserable here, and what have you done to help her? Absolutely nothing! It's been all about you since your good-for-nothing husband ran out, and you know what, I don't blame him!"
The four teenagers had reached the attic door, though they could still hear every word clearly. Kari winced as they brought her name into the argument. T.K. grabbed her hand and squeezed it comfortingly. She smiled and led the way to the attic.
"I'm sorry you had to hear that," Kari apologized to her three friends.
"It's okay, Kari," Lynn replied.
"Yeah, but I think it would probably be better if we left," said Hannah. "I can tell this is uncomfortable for you. We can reschedule this girls' night for next week, okay?"
"Okay"
"Besides," Lynn added, "the whole girls' night thing is kind of ruined with T.K. here." She winked at Kari. "I think you two would rather we weren't here, anyways."
Kari blushed, and tried to deny it, but Hannah actually agreed with her twin for once. They gathered their stuff and left the house as quietly as they entered, since the drama was still unfolding downstairs.
After they left, a silence settled over the two of them that was anything but awkward. "It's funny," Kari said, as they sat on her floor, leaning against the wall. "There's so many things that I couldn't wait to see you to talk about, but now that you're here I can't remember any of them."
"I know," he said, "but I don't care, it's not important. What's important is just being together."
The night wore on and Kari's mother and grandmother were still shouting in the kitchen, the noise echoing through the house so that it could be clearly heard in the attic, Kari and T.K., however, forgot all about it, simply enjoying the thrill of being close once more. They eventually fell asleep in her bed with their arms wrapped around each other and their bodies pressed close. It was the most comfortable sleep Kari had ever gotten, until about nine o'clock in the morning, when Kari's mother walked in and found them there.
"What the hell is going on here?" Kari's mother screamed as she reached the top of the attic stairs.
T.K. shot from under the blankets so fast that the older woman might not have seen him if she hadn't been staring so intently.
"Kari Kamiya, I would have expected better from you," she continued to shout.
"Mom! Nothing happened!" Kari protested, glancing at T.K. for support. T.K., however, was backing towards the wall, extremely uncomfortable with the situation.
Kari's mother noticed T.K. and her expression softened for a second, before she turned her anger on him. "Takeru, what are you doing here? Does your mother know that you're here?"
He tried to respond in his own defense but she wouldn't let him get a word in. "Honestly, I would have thought that you two, of all people, would be responsible."
"Mrs. Kamiya," T.K. finally managed to interject. "Nothing at all like what you're suggesting happened."
"Takeru, be quiet and get you're ass downstairs while we figure out what to do now."
T.K. conceded, nodding his head in agreement and following the two women down the stairs. All three of them were surprised, however, when the reached the second floor of the house, to find Kari's grandmother arguing furiously in her nightdress with three very familiar boys.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Grandma Kate screamed, throwing her hands in the air for emphasis. "I've never met any boy named T.K., and he's certainly not in my house."
Kari suppressed her laughter at the obscurity of the situation when Matt, Tai, and Davis realized that Kari, T.K., and her mother were standing just beyond the doorway.
"Tai!" Kari's mother shrieked, forgetting her fury with T.K. and Kari as she threw her arms around her son. Before Kari knew it, she was squeezed from behind as Davis lifted her into the air. He gave her a sloppy kiss on the cheek before T.K. pulled him off.
"Down Davis," T.K. joked, pretending to smack him with a rolled up newspaper. They all laughed until Matt grabbed T.K.'s arm and jerked him into the living room.
Several choice words were said between the two brothers before Grandma Kate interrupted, serving breakfast to all of her guests.
Over breakfast, some practical problems were discussed.
Grandma Kate surveyed the group of teenagers, deciding that she did not have room for all of them in her house.
"That's okay," Tai stated through a mouth full of scrambled eggs. "Matt rented a house for us and the rest of the band. It's only like two blocks away so our partying- I mean practicing, won't disturb you."
Matt shot him a glare that could easily compare to Kari's mother's when she found T.K. and Kari in bed together that morning. "We don't mean to offend you or anything," Matt said to Grandma Kate, "we just didn't want to impose."
"I suppose that's alright," Kari's mother said. "Are you in the band too Tai?"
"Nah," he said, "I thought about getting involved, but realized that I just couldn't fit it in to my busy schedule."
All of the kids at the table burst into laughter. "Yeah right," Davis said. "Tai couldn't sing a note if his life depended on it."
"Yeah," Matt agreed. "After we kicked him out of our practices he still kept following us around."
Tai opened his mouth to defend himself when a loud voice from the other room interrupted him.
"Kari!" Lynn shouted as she barged through the front door. "The Teenage Wolves are having a concert on Friday night, and guess who got tickets!"
She stepped into the kitchen and froze.
Kari laughed at the shock on her face. "Lynn, this is my brother Tai and my friend Davis. You've already met T.K., and this is his brother- "
"Yamato Ishida," she whispered, finishing for her.
Matt laughed, accustomed to the strange reactions people have around him. He stood up to shake her hand. "You can call me Matt."
Lynn blushed, a first in Kari's book. "I'm Lynn," she stammered. She was about to say more, when Grandma Kate seemingly pulled a chair out of nowhere for her and passed her a plate.
Soon everyone was laughing and catching up. Davis was telling Kari about how terrible life in Odaiba had become without her, and how he was forced to put up with Yolei's whining and T.K.'s complaining all of the time when T.K. placed a hand on her arm.
She looked at him expectantly and he signaled for her to follow him. Nobody noticed as they left the table for the privacy of the living room. She followed him to the couch where he sat down beside her.
"Kari, I need to ask you something," he began in such a serious tone that Kari suspected that something terrible had happened.
"You and Tai have a lot in common, but you have a much better voice than he does. Matt was kind of thinking that, if you wanted to, you might sing with us in the concert."
"Really?" Kari asked, flattered and a little curious.
"Yeah," T.K. said, relieved that she was interested. "It wouldn't have to be a solo or anything. Matt was hoping that we could do a duet together. He thinks that by having you sing with us we might get more guys interested in our music instead of crazy fan girls."
Kari laughed at their reasoning, but agreed to the offer. T.K. hugged her, thanking her repeatedly and explaining that he hoped Kari's decision to sing with them could serve as a peace offering to cool Matt's annoyance with him.
They reentered the kitchen to find all of the inhabitants staring, having already been informed of what T.K. was asking her.
Before Kari could tell them anything, Lynn said, "Kari, if you turn down this opportunity up, I will never forgive you."
"Well it's a good thing that I said yes," she said, laughing at her friend's forwardness.
Matt thanked her a million times more, and everyone was excited for Friday, though no one was as excited as Lynn. There were three long days before the concert, and three even longer nights, now that T.K. was staying with Matt in the house they rented.
The second night they threw a small party, which basically meant that it was the band, Tai, Davis, Lynn, Hannah, Tom, and Drew hanging out while T.K. and Kari made out in an upstairs bedroom.
Hannah and Tom left the party earlier that night, Tom not being much of a social person. And Drew left not long after, realizing that Lynn was going to be flirting with Matt the entire time instead of him, so it left Kari and Lynn to walk back to Kari's house.
"Hey Kari," Lynn said as they slowly walked down the dimly lit sidewalk.
"Yeah."
"Do you love T.K.?" she asked almost hesitantly.
"Yeah, I do."
"Okay."
"Why do you ask?" Kari implied.
"Because I wanted to tell you that you shouldn't sleep with him unless you're sure that you love him."
"Thanks mom," Kari said teasingly.
"No, I'm serious," Lynn said somberly. "I don't know what Hannah told you about what happened between me and Drew, but I did sleep with him."
Her voice was suddenly shaky, and Kari stopped walking, alarmed with seeing a weakness in her friend. Lynn was always the strong one, who always put her friends and family before herself. She never cried, and hardly ever showed much emotion. Heck, Kari had only seen her blush once.
"We were really good friends," Lynn continued, "and there was some drinking at the party, and I was a little buzzed. I'd always been attracted to him as more than a friend so when he started making moves on me, I guess I didn't exactly resist."
She sighed, "It ruined our friendship. He's still awkward around me, but I guess that's because he still wants to be more than friends with me. I know him well enough to know what a sucky boyfriend he is…" she drifted off.
"I don't know what I was thinking," she concluded. "I didn't really love him, and sleeping with him just led him to think that I did. So, don't sleep with T.K. unless you're sure that he loves you."
Kari was silent, processing all of this new information about her friend. She tried not to think about what might happen between her and T.K. if she slept with him, but she couldn't seem to stop thinking about it.
Eventually, the night of the concert arrived, and while she was nervous about many things she was completely decided about her relationship with T.K. She knew that she loved him, had always loved him, and even if they did end up sleeping with each other, she would not let anything come between them.