Page 66 of Driftwood Daffodil

“Nothing,” Kato said way too quickly.

My sister sighed and turned around to face us, “Kato…”

“Shut it, Veda.”

This was ridiculous.

“I’m almost fifteen,” I pointed out. “Whatever it is, I can handle it.”

“Exactly, you’re still a kid.” Kato walked away and grumbled, “and you should stay a kid.”

Did he have any idea how frustrating it was to be referred to as a kid.

“I’m not a little girl.” I said to Veda, who smiled and swept my hair off my forehead.

“I know. But Kato will always see you as a little girl.”

Great.

“Now,” she straightened her back and smoothed her hands down the skirt of her dress. “How do I look?”

“Beautiful,” I grumbled.

She always looked beautiful.

My head tipped when she glanced out of the room into the hall. I’d watched my sister get ready and go out so many times, but this was the first time I’d seen her look… nervous?

“What’s wrong?”

Pink tinted Veda’s cheeks as she let out a heavy breath. “I really like this guy.”

“Didn’t you just meet him.” She barely knew him enough to like him let alone really like him.

“Yeah,” she nodded. “But he’s perfect. Charming, sophisticated, and handsome.”

Sounded too good to be true if you asked me.

“He called this morning just so he could hear my voice. It was very sweet.”

“Or he's stalkerish. But what do I know, I’m not allowed to date.”

Veda returned my exaggerated eye roll with one of her own.

“Don’t worry,” she wrapped her arm around my shoulders and steered me out of the bathroom. “Kato will let up.”

“When?” I asked while shooting my brother a dirty look as we walked in the kitchen. “Or do you intend to keep me locked up in this apartment forever?”

“You can date,” Kato folded his arms over his chest and leaned back against the counter. “When you’re thirty.”

Figures.

One of these days I was going to punch him in the nuts so hard his junk wouldn’t work. If I wasn’t allowed to even kiss a guy then why should he have fun.

“Well I guess it’s good for you that Drea’s dad didn’t make her wait until she was thirty.”

Kato’s face dropped while Veda gasped. Don’t know what she was so surprised about. The walls in this place were paper thin. I could hear them breathing at night.

My brother opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a knock at the door.

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