I'm Keeping the Kitten

Nikolai

In the week since the party, I’d barely seen Gallagher. He popped in and out of the house at random, always on the phone, looking busy, lowering his voice when he took notice of me. I wondered vaguely why he was doing that, but at least things weren’t as awkward.

Dr. Nolan and my friends all encouraged that I most definitely go out with Gallagher Saturday and see what he had to say. The only potential hint I got was Gallagher coming into my room one day when I was playing hide and seek with Timcanpy and Pooka—who were attempting to hide amongst my many plushies—and listening to D, telling me to pack a bag. I had no idea why, but went through my closet, pulling out shirts, shorts, skirts, pants and dresses, unsure of what I would need and simply packing enough clothes to last me a week or so.

By the time Saturday arrived, I was practically nauseous from the churning in my stomach from my nerves. I barely slept and when I finally decided to crawl out of bed, my skin looked paler than normal and dark circles shadowed my eyes. With the help of concealer and foundation, I brought my face to a state of normalcy before heading downstairs to prepare a bowl of rice, the only thing that likely wouldn’t come back up later.

Brian had left for a work-slash-vacation event the day before, meaning he would be gone all of spring break and a little after. It was stranger to see him around than not, so I barely registered his absence.

“Good morning.” Gallagher’s sleep-weighted but cheerful voice pulled me out of the grains in my bowl and the many thoughts that muddled my mind.

“Good morning.” I smiled and he ruffled my hair.

“You look cute with longer hair,” he noted, tugging the end of one lock. I thanked him quietly, watching silently as he moved about the kitchen, picking up a few things: a granola bar, carton of milk and peanut butter, which he disappeared back upstairs with.

Americans are strange.

He returned nearly thirty minutes later fully dressed with the remnants of his weird breakfast, lugging a suitcase behind him.

“Get dressed, I’d suggest wearing your trunks, ‘kay?”

I nodded slowly and headed back up to my room to change. A half hour later my bags were downstairs, calls had been made to Turner to feed the kittens while I was gone and I was heading out to the dock with Gallagher.

“So um . . . what are we doing?” I asked slowly.

“You’ll see,” he responded with a small smile, helping me into the boat before stashing our luggage and hopping on himself. Once we were free of the dock, silence fell as Gallagher navigated toward the main island. I wondered offhand if we were going to see some show or taking a weekend trip to California for some reason. I’d heard there was some interesting musical playing, but my memory on such things was never assured. By the time we reached the docks, my mind was practically made up we were doing something like that, so when my brother helped me out I wasn’t expecting him to tie a blindfold over my eyes.

“G-Gallagher? What are you doing?” I felt myself starting to become nervous, arms arcing through the air, trying to find something familiar to hold onto.

“Shh, it’s okay.” Gallagher’s hands found my waist and mine dropped on his shoulders. “Do you trust me?”

“Y-Yes.”

“Then trust me, it’ll be fine.”

With that, he turned me around and walked me through the maze of boats. I couldn’t tell if he was purposely taking a roundabout path to confuse me or if I was really that confused by the whole situation that I couldn’t tell. What felt like twenty minutes passed before I felt myself beginning to walk upwards and then back down.

“Watch your step,” Gallagher murmured just as I figured out it was stairs. He maneuvered me around a bit more before pushing me down onto what felt like a plush couch. What? Another twenty minutes or so passed with me attempting to figure out exactly what was going on before the blindfold came off.

The sun was nearly blinding, and I had to rub my eyes and blink repeatedly before they adjusted to the sudden inpouring of light as opposed to the darkness behind my eyelids. I looked around once I got the hang of seeing again and gasped, realizing we were out on the water yet again, but this time in what appeared to be a yacht. Gallagher laughed at my reaction and I spun around, looking up at him, mouth agape.

“What—when did—what?”

A small smile came to Gallagher’s lips and he stepped forward, pulling my hands into his and looking back at me seriously.

“I’m sorry.”

“W—”

“I got so caught up with what Brian thought of me that I didn’t realize what we wanted. And that you can’t just fall out of love at the drop of a dime. I will always love you, Kola, noting can change that. And no matter what our family thinks, we’ll always be together, from this day forward. I never want to be without you again.”

My teeth clamped down on my lower lip and I could feel my eyes welling with tears as I looked back at my half-brother. Slowly, I nodded in agreement, throwing my arms around his neck.

“I’m sorry too,” I whispered. “I love you. I love you so much.”

“I love you too.”

I closed my eyes and inhaled his familiar scent, never wanting to let go.