Sleepover chapter! Finally! :D
Just in case, TW for abuse in this chapter.
Enjoy.
"Are you hungry?" April said on the way up the stairs. "I just got back from the restaurant, so it should still be warm."
"Starving," Karai admitted. April grinned at her over her shoulder and led her to the front door to the apartment. April unlocked the door and stepped inside, and Karai followed.
It was smaller than she'd imagined, Karai noted. There was a tiny living room, filled with a massive couch and a TV. There was barely enough room to scoot out of the doorway. The kitchen was to the left, and something smelled delicious. A set of stairs was to the right, leading up to the second floor.
"Welcome to Casa de O'Neil," April said, waving her hand proudly. "Here's the grand tour. You're in the living room, the kitchen's right there, and my bedroom is upstairs."
"It's very... cozy," Karai said, and April beamed.
"I know! Isn't it great?" April shut and locked the door behind her. "If you want, you can go put your bag up in my room. I'll start getting dinner ready." April started heading to the kitchen, leaving Karai standing in the living room. "Just make yourself at home!" she called out as she disappeared from sight.
Karai sighed and started trudging up the stairs. There were two bedrooms at the top, and she stuck her head in one. It was incredibly formal, with the bed made, and she backtracked, heading to the other. She stuck her head inside and knew immediately this was April's room — painted bright yellow, with a stuffed turtle sitting on her unmade bed. She dropped her bags on the floor and headed back downstairs to the kitchen.
April was opening up take-out boxes on the counter, dumping the contents on a plate. She pushed a plate of dumplings towards Karai and then tossed her a pair of chopsticks.
"What is this?" Karai asked, pulling it towards her and picking up the chopsticks, snapping them deftly. She slid into a seat at the kitchen table.
April rolled her a water bottle and joined her. "It's called pizza gyoza," she said. "My friends told me about it."
Karai looked at her, then back at the plate with sudden apprehension. "Pizza?" she repeated, eyebrow raised.
April giggled. "I know, I know. Sounds weird, but it's way better than it sounds! Trust me."
Karai hesitated a moment, examining the plate closely. "I'll take your word for it," she said, and slowly bit into it. A delicious flavor absolutely flooded her mouth, and her eyes widened.
"Well?" April watched her reaction closely, chopsticks wavering in the air.
"It's good!" Karai said, geniuinely surprised. She wolfed down the rest of her bite, and April rolled her eyes.
"I told you," she teased. "Maybe you should listen to me more often."
Karai rolled her own eyes at that and speared another dumpling. "Hey," she said casually, "when I was upstairs, I think I went into someone else's bedroom first. Is that your aunt's?"
April's smile kinda wavered. "Yeah," she said, and she poked around on her plate.
Karai waited for more of an explanation, and when none came, gave her a side-eyed look. "Did I say something?"
April sighed and set down her chopsticks. "My mom died when I was little, so my dad raised me. But he went missing not too long ago, so my aunt's been staying with me ever since. She's a reporter, but she doesn't usually live in New York." She shrugged. "That's why she's gone this weekend; she went to go home and check up on things."
Karai was quiet for a moment. Shit, she thought to herself, taking in April's downcast expression. This is not how I wanted this night to go... I need info on the turtles, not her tragic backstory! Unless... his disappearance is related to those creepy alien things Leonardo and I ran into. She cleared her throat. "Do the police have any leads?" she asked, mentally hitting herself when April's expression crumpled even more. Sympathy was NOT her thing.
"Not really, they just think he was in the wrong place at the wrong time." April rested her chin in her hand, and her lower lip started to wobble. Sirens screamed in Karai's head.
"I'm sorry?" Karai said slowly, trying to sound comforting but coming out more awkward than she intended. Quick, distraction... "My mother died when I was a baby, too."
"Really?" April said, looking at her with mild interest. At least she no longer looked like she was about to cry, Karai noted sullenly.
She shrugged. "I have no memories of her. She was killed by an enemy of my father."
"Holy shit!" April said, eyes wide and straightening up. "That's crazy!"
Karai made a face. "That's part of the reason why we moved here," she said. "My father is on some crazy mission to take down the man who killed her."
April's eyes were the size of dinner plates, and she opened her mouth to ask something, but Karai held up a hand. "But can we not talk about it tonight?" she all but begged, and she hated to beg. It made her sound weak, but she really didn't want to think about her father at all.
April's expression cleared some, sympathy obviously alight in her eyes. She cleared her throat and pushed her plate away. "You wanna go watch a movie?"
"Perfect," Karai said, standing up, following her to the couch and silently thanking for that close call. Anything but more family talk. If that continued, she'd have to turn April in to her father for no other reason than to stop talking about it.
April flounced down, sprawling out a bit, and Karai sat down on the other side of the couch. She rested her hands in her laps, sitting stiffly with her back completely straight.
"Dude," April said, giving her a side-eyed glance as she waited for the TV to boot up. "You can relax, you know." Karai leaned back against the sofa, and April rolled her eyes. Hesitating, Karai tucked her feet under her, and April gave her a thumbs up. Netflix booted up, and April started scrolling. "What do you want to watch?" April asked. Karai watched rows and rows of colorful posters flick by, and didn't recognize a single one of them.
"I haven't watched much TV," Karai said, and April looked at her like she was crazy. "My father doesn't approve. He thinks it gets in the way of... school."
April wrinkled her nose. "You know, the more you talk about your dad, the more I don't think I wanna meet him."
Karai pursed her lips, not denying it. Too bad he wants to meet you, she thought bitterly, watching softly as April grinned and pointed, laughing at something on the TV.
"Well?" April said, looking at her expectantly, and Karai blinked to focus.
"What?"
"Do you want to watch this?" April said patiently. Karai looked at the screen, at some cheesy animated TV show called Space Heroes. She looked at April with a raised eyebrow. "Hey, don't mock it. My friend absolutely loves this show."
"And you trust his judgment?" Karai said skeptically. April shrugged, and Karai sighed. "Why not?"
April grinned. "I'll go make popcorn." She got up and walked to the kitchen, leaving Karai to watch the opening title of the show.
It was cheesy, poorly animated, and totally predictable, and Karai absolutely loved it. But when April came back in and set a shared bowl of popcorn in her lap, looking at her with expectant eyes, Karai made a face.
April laughed. "It can't be that bad," she said, sitting back down and scooting closer to Karai to be able to grab popcorn. "Captain Ryan seems... enthusiastic."
"I suppose enthusiasm is one word for it," Karai said, popping a piece of popcorn in her mouth.
They binged it for hours, complete with April throwing popcorn at the TV and Karai doing her best impression of Captain Ryan at April's wheedling.
Karai loved it. She felt normal, for a night at least. Being normal was never something she'd wanted before, never even considered, but sitting next to April, binge watching some stupid show, she grieved for the life she never got to have.
The credits scrolled across the screen, and April flicked off the TV with a yawn.
"Hey!" Karai said, sitting upright. April shifted her feet off of Karai's lap and stretched. "What are you doing?"
"Don't you wanna go change?" April said, standing up and popping her back. She yawned again. "I'm kinda getting tired."
Karai looked at the clock. It was only 2:34 — that wasn't that late, but she was running out of time. "I suppose," she said, and she turned to follow April to her room.
Going up the stairs, she noticed a line of picture frames, most of April and a man Karai assumed to be her father, cheekily grinning. Gawky pictures of April as a kid, complete with braces and glasses, popped up every now and then, and she let out a snort.
April swatted at her without even bothering to turn back around. She headed in to her room and lowered the blinds. "Habit," she explained away dismissively when Karai gave her a look. "Don't want someone peeking in."
"Who's going to look in your window at the top of an apartment building?" Karai said with a snort, and April made a face.
"You'd be surprised," April muttered, opening the door to her closet.
Ugh, again with the turtles. "So I'm curious," Karai said, sitting cross-legged on the floor by her duffle. April was digging around in her closet, out of sight. "Tell me about these friends of yours. You know, the one that made you your phone and introduce you to weird pizza flavored cuisine."
April was silent for a moment, and she stopped rummaging around. Karai wished she could see her face. "They're homeschooled," April said quietly, almost too quiet for Karai to hear her in the other room. "I didn't meet them that long ago, just kinda... ran into them on the streets, and we hit it off pretty quickly." She walked back out holding a pair of pajamas. "It's been nice having them around, especially with my father being gone and everything. It's like I just adopted a bunch of brothers or something."
Karai hummed a noise of affirmation, thinking, and April looked at her a little suspiciously.
"Why do you ask?" April asked, hands on her hips.
Karai's eyes widened imperceptibly. "You talk about them a lot," she said smoothly. "They seem like interesting people."
April's face split into a sheepish grin. "I guess so," she said, rubbing the back of her head awkwardly, messing up her ponytail. "That's why Irma and I are no longer friends. She didn't like me hanging out with her. Different worlds, I guess." April got kinda quiet and turned around to face the window.
She started stripping off her shirt, and Karai felt all the air immediately leave her chest. She dove into her own duffle bag, head down, trying to find her change of clothes.
Startled, April paused and turned her head. "What?"
"Nothing," Karai said, pulling out her clothes. "Just didn't expect you to change right there."
"Oh." April shrugged, tilting her head to the side. "You've seen me change in the locker room before," she reminded her.
"I'm aware," Karai said, a trace of annoyance in her voice.
"If you wanna go change in the bathroom you can," April said, turning back around. "I'm not looking. But now you owe me the answer to a nosy question."
Karai debated her choices for a moment. More subtle turtle interrogation, or wasting time in the bathroom. "Hit me with it," Karai said, and she turned her back to April's, taking off her own shirt to change.
"Tell me about that boy you liked," April said, a teasing expression in her voice, and Karai snorted. Of course April would ask her that.
"I think I'm past him now," she said, not even daring to let April know she knew the turtles too. "He had nice blue eyes."
"You already told me that," April whined, and then she gasped, growing quiet.
"What?" Karai whirled around, finishing tugging her shirt down over her head.
April was staring at her an abject horror, dirty clothes piled on the floor. "What happened to you?!" she asked with concern, and Karai mentally cursed, feeling her anger spike.
"I thought you said you weren't looking," she spit out, picking up the rest of her clothes and stomping to the bathroom. She slammed the door behind her and braced herself on the sink. Not good. April saw the bruises. They weren't even that bad; most were fading green and yellow by this point.
April banged on the door, having followed her out. "Karai, that looks bad. Did you go to the doctor? Who did that to you?"
"Forget about it," she hissed, and she quickly finished changing. She had to get out of here. April knew too much, and she felt the familiar rise of panic in her chest. How could she take her to her father now? What would he even do if he heard April confronting him about it?
April's voice was more subdued on the other side of the door. "Did your dad do that to you?" she asked quietly, and Karai's heart skipped a beat.
"Of course not. What makes you say that?" she asked quietly.
"Let's see, you're super defensive, you said something about you and your dad arguing last night, you favor your side a lot on gym class, and you also refuse to change in front of people," April rattled off quickly, and Karai blinked back the hot tears that quickly welled up in her eyes. April was more perceptive than she gave her credit for, Karai noted. She didn't know why she was going to cry; crying was weakness. She'd had worse before, honestly. She just felt... ashamed.
Clearing her throat, Karai opened the door and came nose to nose with April. Her blue eyes were wide with concern, and her hair was loose and out of the ponytail.
"Let's just forget this ever happened," Karai said, trying her best not to be distracted by the April's puppy-dog eyes and doing her best to sound imposing. The lighthearted tone of the night was gone.
"I'll beat your dad up for you," April vowed, narrowing her eyes. Karai laughed bitterly at that. One, she couldn't really take April seriously with her bright yellow pajamas. And two, April had no idea who her father really was. "I'm serious! Have you told anybody about this? Karai, he's abusing you!"
Abuse. Karai's mind short-circuited. This wasn't abuse. This was... well, she deserved it. She messed up, she failed her mission. It was training. But something niggled in the mind with that word, and Karai sighed, pushing past her into the bedroom and throwing her things back on her duffle.
"No," she said finally, and April looked like she was making a rapid fire decision in her mind. She tapped her phone in her hand absently.
April nodded once, and immediately turned to grab her backpack. "Come on," she said. "We're leaving."
Karai couldn't believe her ears. "Leaving?!" she repeated. "To go where? It's after midnight!"
April's jaw was set. "I think it's time for you to meet my friends."
Well, well. Looks like Karai's about to get what she wanted.
PLEASE R&R!
