Page 38 of Made for Cyn

Pam is the spitting image of my dad but taller and thicker. She shares our dark features and graces me with a yawn as I sip my water.

“John told me you came in late. I know you girls are seniors and want to have fun, but we want you to be safe, too.”

“I know, I’m sorry.” I trace the swirls in the counter, the weird interaction and the way John made me feel bubbling on the tip of my tongue.

“Don’t worry about it. Frankly, I worry about Iris more than you,” she says with a dry chuckle.

“Good morning,” John says with a smile, padding into the kitchen and kissing Pam on the cheek.

I stiffen and watch warily as he chirps, “Rain, I hope I didn’t worry you last night. I was just tired and grumpy.”

“Oh, yeah. No, it’s fine,” I murmur, lifting my lips into an approximation of a smile.

“Good. We only care about you girls, you know?”

Thankfully, Iris barrels through right after, taking the attention away from me. I’m not sure how long I could sit here without it getting awkward, and I don’t know how to respond in the face of John’s simple words this morning.

Maybe I did imagine his weirdness last night, but I’m still uncomfortable.

“Hey,” Iris says. “C’mon, Rainy, let’s go to the mall.”

“Iris, you know there are rules—”

“Yeah, I know,” she says with a sour expression.

“Iris,” her mom says with exasperation, but we’re already out of the kitchen.

“Go get dressed. I’ll wait for you in the car,” she mutters.

???

“What’s the deal with last night?” she asks before we’ve even pulled away from the curb.

“I don’t really know,” I say, visions of Cyn’s cold, closed-off face dancing through my mind.

“Really? Cynster Callahan drove all the way to the Burg to pick you up, and you don’t know?” She looks at me with her brows arched over her eyes.

“Well, no. Wait, Cynster?”

“Yeah, that’s his name,” she says impatiently.

Oh. I thought Cyn was a nickname. Maybe I’m not the only one with hippy parents?

“Well?”

“Look, he took me to someplace called the Point and ignored me while he had sex with some chick named Shelby. You tell me.”

“Huh.”

“Yeah, at any rate, you were right. I think he just wants to, you know, pop my cherry or whatever.”

“Hmm. Well, I’ve never seen him go out of his way for a girl. But whatever. They’re all dicks,” she says with a sullen frown.

“What about Saul? I thought you liked Bastion, Iris?”

She glances at me with a scowl. “Yeah, well, Bastion doesn’t like me.”

“But Saul . . . he’s kinda creepy.”

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