On His Knees by Tabatha Kiss

Chapter 40

Seth

“So, even though I couldn’t hear a thing over my heart pounding in my ears, I still made it through the entire presentation without vomiting or passing out,” my sister finishes, heaving a powerful sigh from the depth of her gut.

I swallow my bite of pizza. “That’s good,” I say.

“So good.”Heidi eyes another slice, but quickly decides against it. “I was so scared, though. I’ve never had to give a big speech like that before — especially not at work. Drew coached me on it for weeks.”

“Why didn’t you ask me to coach you? He learned everything from me, you know.”

Heidi laughs with doubt, but it’s true. That boy wouldn’t have made it through COM 120 without me.

“I’ll remember that for next time,” she says. “Hopefully, there won’t be a next time, though. On the bright side, I got to mark off my number one for this semester’s vision board. The fundamentals of public speaking definitely count for learning a new life skill.”

Ah, yes. My sister and her ridiculous vision boards. But she loves to talk about it, so I’ll throw her some love.

“What else is on your vision board?” I ask as I take another big bite from my slice.

“Oh, let’s see.” She looks up in thought. “Learn a new life skill is always number one. So important. Number two was to find something I love about myself every day, so that’s ongoing.”

“It’s the eyes,” I joke. “Golden Newbury eyes. Easy.”

“Oh, of course.” She laughs. “Four is to enter the Art Fest again. I’m six for six in wins so far. Crossing my fingers for the full eight. Professor Wilson says she’s never had a student win a prize in each semester, so that would be huge for my résumé.”

“Wait, what’s number three?”

She pauses. “It has to do with me and Drew, so I thought I’d shield you from that…”

I nod. No answers required. “Thank you.”

“Number five,” she moves on, “is to put in for a promotion at the museum. Last week’s presentation was a big step in that direction, so…” She takes a deep, soothing breath. “I guess we’ll see.”

I smile, admiring her. Proud big brother over here. “No new tattoos?” I quip.

“Uh, no.” She laughs as she pats her left shoulder. “No, one was enough. Thank you very much.”

My once timid and shy little sister has grown and changed so much over the years. All part of her plan, I guess. Her vision.

Which makes me wonder…

“So,” I casually tap the table, “what’s on Jenna’s vision board this year?”

“Oh, she didn’t make one this semester.”

“Wait, really?” I ask. “I thought she invented that stuff.”

“You’d think that, but…” She shrugs. “No, she’s had some… well…”

I lean forward an inch.

My sister hesitates.

Come on, Heidi.

Some what?

“I shouldn’t say.”

Dammit.

“But she didn’t feel up to making one after…”

Fucking hell, sister.

After what???

“Well…” A shrug of the shoulder. A punch to my chest. “Life happens and some things get pushed aside.”

Vague, but true.

I chew on my last piece of crust to cloak my annoyance. Vision boards are about visualizing your perfect life, or some bullshit like that. The girls have been living by theirs for years. It was practically a religion for Jenna, but now suddenly she doesn’t do it anymore? I can’t help but wonder why.

Heidi, as her best friend, is clearly privy to knowledge I don’t have.

“Well…” I clear my throat. “Thanks for lunch. I’m gonna go grab my tools and get out of here.”

“Thanks again for attempting to wrangle the beast downstairs.”

“Eh, it’s my pleasure, little sister.”

As I enter the hall, I can’t help but picture a line of pink tape down the center. It’s strange to think about now. All that energy we spent hating each other when we could have just... fucked instead.

“I’m heading back to campus,” Heidi calls from the living room. “Lock up when you leave, will you?”

“You got it!” I say.

“Bye, Seth!”

The front door opens and closes.

“Bye-bye, Heidi,” I say to myself as I linger outside of Jenna’s bedroom.

The door is open, just sitting open wide as if to beckon one inside. But that would be wrong, right? Entering a lady’s suite without her permission is—

I walk right inside.

So, this is what Jenna’s room looks like up close. Not entering this place was one of the few rules I actually followed during my stay here, honestly. Seemed the gentlemanly thing to do. Plus, she was almost always home. Too easy to get caught.

I sniff the air. A pleasant scent. The furniture is nicer than Heidi’s, but she comes from far more money than we do. Money can’t buy tidiness, however. Dirty clothes stacked up in the corner. Her desk could certainly use an organizer.

There’s a calendar pinned to her wall above the laptop on the desk. I inspect it. Today’s date, specifically.

No lab today, so that was a big lie.

Where are you, Jenna?

I pull my phone from my pocket and quickly swipe to my message app.

We should finish our conversation. ASAP.

I hit send. Almost immediately, the status switches.

Read 2:23 p.m.

I wait for another minute. Then another. No message bubble. No thumbs up emoji. No nothing.

She left me on read.

She left me on read?

Damn, that is annoying.

Well, if she won’t meet me, then I’ll just have to meet her.

I check her calendar again. I work Tuesday and Wednesday, but…

ART 375 - 9 a.m. Thursday.

I can fit that in.

See you there, Jenna.