“Worse,” the confession rolled off Rabbit’s tongue before he could even think of holding it back, “it’s my mother.”
“This about the date?” Sila caught on fast.
“There was a date?” Rin’s eyes ping-ponged back and forth between them. “WithBaikal Void?!”
“No, with some composers daughter,” Sila waved his hand in the air and seemed unable to come up with the correct name, sending a questioning look to Rabbit.
“Arlet Zamir,” Rabbit dully filled in.
Sila snapped his fingers, pointed at Rin as if he’d been the one to supply that answer, and leaned back in his seat. He stretched his arms across the whole back of the bench, filling the space easily with his large form and electric presence.
This new version of Sila attracted attention wherever he went, and he didn’t even have to do anything to get it. He was just that charming and charismatic, a far cry from the quiet and reserved person he’d been in the past. Maybe he’d gotten some tips from his brother over the summer and that was why.
Though, Rabbit couldn’t really consider Rin electric. More like…still waters run deep. That was the perfect phrase to describe the put-together younger twin.
“Did the date not go well?” Rin asked.
“Baikal interrupted it,” Sila said.
Rabbit frowned at him, almost certain he hadn’t told him that detail. Must be he’d been so stressed as of late he was misremembering things.
“What’s your mom saying?” Sila tipped his chin toward the still-open message.
“She wants me to go on a redo,” he told them. “It’s already arranged and everything.”
“For when?”
“Twenty minutes from now.”
“What the fuck?” Sila barked out an incredulous laugh.
“Yeah,” Rabbit sighed, “it’s super short notice.”
“It’s not that,” Rin corrected. “He’s surprised she’s telling you to skip practice.”
Sila snapped his fingers again in the affirmative then asked, “You going to go?”
“I don’t have a choice.” According to his mother, Arlet was already waiting for him at the restaurant, someplace downtown in a different area of the city from the club. Different location, the same upscale food that Rabbit couldn’t pronounce the names of.
He barely remembered to feed himself on a daily basis, and that was with a school meal plan.
“Sure you do,” Sila said.
“Some of us aren’t as fortunate as to have that luxury,” Rin corrected sternly.
For whatever reason, this particular comment seemed to hit home, and Sila dropped his gaze.
“I have to go.” Rabbit stood and quickly collected his things. “I’ll be late if I don’t leave right now.”
“Of course.” Rin got up and moved out of the way so he was no longer blocking the exit, standing off to the side as Rabbit got out of the booth.
“She’s on another planet,” Sila reminded, waiting until Rabbit was looking back at him to add in a more serious tone than he’d managed this entire conversation, “Sometimes we have to realize we have to choose what’s best for us, even if that’s not something our parents can understand. You don’t need anyone else’s approval but your own, Trace.”
Rabbit smiled sadly. “Thanks, but with a last name like mine I’m afraid that’s just not the case.” His mother was the infamous December Trace and that meant he had a role to play in her story, whether he liked it or not.
No matter what she had to do or who she had to push to the edge in order to ensure her plans ran smoothly.
A pressure started between his eyes and Rabbit rubbed at it. The sensation was almost always followed by a swift sense of dread, and he frankly did not have the time to deal with all that misplaced energy at the moment.
