Vincent Kinsington

After lunch, I parted ways with Chet and began my walk to my next class when my phone rang. I recognized the cafe's number. When I first started to apply to jobs and I got calls, I would get excited believing that it was a call to hire me, but after so many rejections I just felt dejected when I got the calls.

"Hello," I answered. I tried to make my voice sound pleasant instead of the trepidation I felt.

"Vincent. This is Jessica. I interviewed you last week."

"I remember," I said. "How are you?" My heart beat rapidly against my ribs.

"Good," she said. "I spoke with the head manager..."

This was where she was going to say I didn't get the job.

"...and he would like to interview you himself. Can you come in now?"

My feet stopped. I blinked a few times not quite believing what I heard. "Yes," I said. "I can come now." I didn't want to miss my class, but I really needed a job and this was the only place that had ever called me in for a second interview. "I can be there in about ten minutes."

"Great," she said. "See you then."

I sent a quick text to Chet to let him know. I didn't expect him to respond right away since he was in class, but my phone beeped to tell me I got a message soon after.

My Heart: That's great news. Good luck. Let me know how it goes.

I smiled and rushed to the cafe. I steadied myself before I went in and took a deep breath. Jessica was behind the counter making some kind of coffee drink. I waited. She smiled at me to acknowledge she had seen me and then went back to the drink. When she finished, she grabbed another employee to take over for her.

"Hi, Vincent," she said as she walked over to me.

"Hello," I said.

"Come on back into the office," she said. "It's small, but that's where the head manager wants to talk to you."

I nodded and followed her to the back. The last time I had come, she had interviewed me at one of the tables in a quiet corner. She knocked on a closed door, but didn't wait for an answer before she opened it.

A man about my father's age sat at a cluttered desk. There was one chair in front of the desk. The man stood when we came in and stretched his hand out to me. I shook it.

"Vincent, it's nice to meet you," he said. "I'm Will." There wasn't another chair, but Jessica stayed in the room with us. She leaned up against the wall.

Will indicated I take the seat in front of the desk so I did. He sat down behind the desk.

"Jessica wanted to hire you right after your interview. When we called your references, they only said great things about you, but when we called your old employer..."

I swallowed hard.

"...they didn't have anything nice to say. In fact, they said you stole from them."

"I didn't," I said before thinking about it. I was so shocked anyone in Kinsington Plastics would say that.

"And then your brother called us and he confirmed what Kinsington Plastics told us."

My heart dropped. I had really hoped Aiden wasn't involved in this. My eyes pinched closed.

"You've got to understand that no matter how great your references say you are, they didn't actually work with you so we have to take into account what your past employer says."

I nodded. I wasn't even sure why they called me back in. They should have just told me I didn't get the job.

"I wouldn't call you back in if Jessica didn't vouch for you," he said.

I looked at her and she gave me a small smile.

"She says you've come in as a customer a few times and she's noticed a change in you for the better and I trust Jessica over strangers. So. You say you didn't steal from them." He paused. It took me a moment he wanted me to say something, but wasn't going to ask directly about it. I wanted to explain this without it reflecting badly on my family or the family business.

"I didn't steal from them. I worked my hardest at Kinsington Plastics and I learned a lot. I'm sure you noticed my last name is Kinsington. I recently moved out from underneath my family," I said. "I'm taking care of myself now. I didn't do anything illegal. We just had a strong difference of opinions."

Jessica leaned over and whispered something to Will that I couldn't hear. He nodded to her and then to me he said, "When can you start?"

I blinked at him for a moment, not sure I heard correctly. "Immediately," I said. "Except, I do have classes I would need to work around."

He handed me a piece of paper and a pen. "Write down your class schedule," he said. "You don't have anything else we need to work around? We are open 24 hours so are you okay working nights or the very early morning shifts?"

"Yes," I said as I wrote. "I'll work whenever you tell me too."

I passed him my class schedule. He looked it over. Jessica looked over his shoulder. "Can you start tonight?" Will asked me. "Midnight?"

"Yes," I said.

"Good," Will said. "Darren will be the manager tonight. He can get you started with everything. Welcome," he stood up and extended his hand to me again.

"Thank you," I said as I shook his hand.

Jessica walked me back out. "The main reason I vouched for you was because you apologized to me that day and I know that isn't easy to do. It seems like you've changed a lot since you started dating that guy. Prove me right."

"I will," I said. "Thank you."

Since Chet was still in class, I took the bus home without him. It wouldn't be long until both him and Kannika would be home. If she had a friend drop her off after school as she did sometimes, she'd make it back before Chet.

I inserted the key into the door lock, but it turned too easily. It wasn't locked. There weren't any cars in the driveway and I didn't think Kannika would be home yet. Maybe someone forgot to lock it when they left. I walked in and closed the door behind me, but something felt off. All the bedroom doors were open and someone was inside Nat and Nate's room. He came out and into the living room, but froze when he saw me. He had a large bag slung over his shoulder and it was bulging with stuff.

I had never seen him in person, but he was a perfect blend between Nat and Nate. There was only one person it could be. Kiet. He was the same height as Chet, but thinner. Almost sickly. I didn't know what to do.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Vincent," I said. His brows furrowed together. My name meant nothing to him. Why would it? He didn't know who I was.

He looked me up and down before he said, "Why are you in my house?"

The bag was partially open and I could see my laptop in it and Chet's. Kannika's new e-reader she received for Christmas was inside too as well as Nat's laptop. What was I supposed to do? He wasn't my brother. He didn't know I lived here. He didn't know I had adopted his family as mine.

"I don't think you can call it your house," I said.

He took a threatening step towards me, but I found him more pathetic than frightening.

The front door opened and Kannika came in. She smiled when she saw me, but her expression fell when she saw Kiet.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him breathless. The color slightly drained from her tanned face.

"Why aren't you asking this guy that?" Kiet indicated me. "Who is he?"

She came and stood by my side. She wrapped her arms around one of mine and said, "My brother."

He looked back and forth between the two of us trying to figure it out. She looked at his bag for the first time. "My e-reader," she cried out and tried to grab it, but he turned so the bag was away from her. Her bottom lip stuck out in a slight pout. I had never seen Kannika cry before, but her brown eyes became moist. She blinked the tears away and steeled herself.

Kiet walked passed us towards the front door.

"You can't leave with our stuff," Kannika cried out. She tried to grab Kiet's arm, but he brushed her off.

The front door opened right before he reached it and Chet stood there with the sunlight trailing in behind him, lighting him up in that golden aura. He looked at Kiet who had frozen when he saw Chet. Chet looked down at the bag and then back up at Kiet's face.

"You're stealing from us again?" Chet asked in a flat tone.

"Just move to the side and let me leave," Kiet said.

Chet grabbed the bag strap and had it pulled off Kiet's shoulder before Kiet could react. Chet went to the couch and opened the bag. "You're stealing my boyfriend's laptop?" Chet handed me my laptop.

"Boyfriend?" Kiet asked in surprise and looked at me different. Not with disgust or anything, just different.

"And my laptop." Chet took it out and put in on the arm of the couch. "And Kannika's e-reader that she just got for Christmas." Kannika eagerly rushed forward and took it as Chet pulled it out of the bag. She held it close to her chest. "And mom's laptop. And the necklace dad gave her for their twenty fifth anniversary? And the necklace grandma gave her?" Chet pulled out everything as he mentioned it, but there was more jewelry that he left in the bag.

He walked into our room and came back out with the shoebox. "You can take this instead," he said and pulled out the money he had saved up for our trip. It was now a total of $200. He stuffed the bills into the bag. Then he went to the gaming console and games and began to set aside certain games. "You can take this one and this one. Not this one, Vincent and Kannika like it. You can take this one." When he was through he stuffed the games into the bag and handed it back to Kiet.

"Don't come back here, Kiet. Next time I'm going to call the police, brother or not."

"Mom and dad let your boyfriend live with you?" Kiet asked.

"It doesn't concern you," Chet said. "Nothing in this family concerns you anymore."

And I saw the brief sadness that flashed behind Kiet's eyes before he walked out the door with the newly stuffed bag. I was sure Kannika and Chet hadn't seen the sorrow in Kiet. Kannika only looked at Chet. Chet brushed passed the two of us and went into our room slamming the door behind him.

That was when Kannika started to cry. Not just crying, but racking sobs where she collapsed to the floor and great tears fell to her cheeks and dripped down her chin. I knelt down next to her and held her. She buried her face in my shoulder and cried. Her back heaved as she gasped. She still held the e-reader close to her. I patted her hair. I looked at the closed door to our bedroom and wanted to go to him, but I couldn't leave Kannika like that.

After several minutes, she began to calm down. Her sobs lessened, her breath came a little easier. She pulled away and wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"Thank you," she said. "I'm okay now. You can go check on Chet."

I didn't need anymore encouragement. I went to our bedroom and quietly slipped inside. Chet sat on the bed staring at the window, but the blinds were closed so he wouldn't be able to look outside. I put my laptop on the desk as I passed it. I sat down next to him on the bed and watched him. Tears were on his cheeks, but he wasn't sobbing like Kannika had been. I wrapped my arms around him and held him close. He buried his head in the crook of my neck. His arms came around my waist. There was a moment of silence, of stillness and then his shoulders racked and he gasped loudly. Tears wet my neck. I held him tighter and stroked his hair like all those times he had done it for me.

Eventually his sobs quieted. His tears stopped, but he held me longer. "How's Kannika?" he asked while still holding me.

"She was crying," I answered honestly.

He pulled away from me and looked into my face. "I'm sorry," he said. "I'm sorry my brother tried to steal from you. I'm sorry he was even here. I'm sorry I broke down and cried."

I wiped away the remaining tears from his cheeks. "You don't need to be sorry for any of that," I said.

"Our fund money for the trip is gone," he said.

I shook my head. "We can save up more."

"Let's go check on Kanni," he said.

We stood up and held hands as we went back into the living room. Kannika was curled up on the couch mindlessly watching something on t.v. She wasn't sobbing, but silent tears still fell onto her cheeks. She wiped them away when she saw us. Chet sat next to her on the couch and I sat on the other side of him.

Chet put his arm around Kannika's shoulder and she curled up into his side.

"I'm glad you came when you did," she said to Chet.

"Me too," he said.

I put my arm around his shoulder and kissed the side of his forehead.

Kannika smiled when she saw it. "I know I tease you guys about being too mushy," she said, "but I secretly think it's sweet."

We turned our attention back to the t.v. We sat there for several minutes before I remembered that I had news.

"I got the job at the cafe," I said.

Kannika and Chet sat up straight and smiled. "That's great news," Chet said.

"It really is," Kannika said. "I'm happy for you."

"When do you start?" Chet asked.

"Tonight at midnight," I said.

They were both surprised by this.

"How are you going to get there?" Kannika asked.

"The bus," I said. I had already checked the bus schedule.

"You should get some sleep now before you need to leave," Chet said. He patted his lap. Kannika rolled her eyes, but since she said she secretly thought it was sweet, I didn't think it really bothered her. I stretched out over the couch and put my head on Chet's lap to get some sleep.