The Sight (bxb)

Since both of his parents had their own tactics for handling the situation and changing the atmosphere at home, Evan decided to come up with one of his own. His mom kept ignoring him and trying to avoid him, so he made sure to do the exact opposite.

He always tried to have breakfast with them, and the same went for dinner.

When the weekend came, he quietly joined his mom as she watched a movie on TV. When she didn't get up and leave the room, he took it as a success.

Another change he made was starting to do his homework in the kitchen. Sometimes that meant half the table was covered with textbooks while the other half held his father's work papers, but his dad never complained. Quite the opposite, actually.

Monday was no different. Although Evan had planned to meet up with the Saunders and Angie that evening for a run, after he got home from school, he automatically made his way to the kitchen. Neither of his parents were home yet, but that didn't mean he couldn't wait for them downstairs.

He started with his English assignments and had no problem with them. But when he got to the math ones, he quickly realized he was stuck. So, he decided to ask for help.

"Whenever I think the topic is over and we're going to learn something new, it's always some new functions or equations. As if there aren't enough letters in math," he complained to his favorite cousin.

They just had a regular call instead of a video call, since Evan was using the calculator on his phone.

Riley chuckled. "They have to teach you everything. You never know what you'll need in college."

"I plan to study art," Evan reminded him.

"So you need mostly geometry?" Riley pointed out another part of math.

"Touché." With a sigh, Evan went back to counting.

He spent more time on some problems, less on others. On some, he managed to talk to Riley about his day and other topics, while on others, he listened intently as his cousin tried to explain to him what he was doing wrong. Gone were the days when Evan liked math, but thankfully it wasn't as bad as his beef with Social Studies. He still thought they were useless.

As he started working on one of the functions, his dad walked into the room. He was quiet, probably to avoid disturbing him, so it wasn't his voice that echoed and cut through the silence of the kitchen.

"I have to go. Sam will be home from work in a minute. I'll call you later?"

Evan quickly lifted his head so he wouldn't miss his father's reaction to Riley's voice. There was no doubt he recognized him. And even if he'd had any doubts, Evan quickly banished them.

"Of course. Thanks for your help, Riley."

"Anytime," his cousin laughed, unaware that those few words had sparked a whirlwind of emotions in the person who felt guilty because of him. "Bye."

Evan returned the greeting with a "Love you." Those two words rolled off his tongue with no problem. Maybe because he was used to saying them so often to Ryan, and maybe because he'd had years of making up for when he wanted to say them to Riley but couldn't. However, Evan couldn't remember the last time he'd said them to his parents.

The call ended, and Evan returned the calculator to the phone screen so he had it on hand.

His dad was still silent, so he decided to give him some time and went back to solving the function. He quickly found he couldn't concentrate, though — not when he wanted so badly to know just what his dad was thinking.

"Don't you want to sit down?" he asked as he lifted his head to find that he was still standing in the same spot he had been since he'd walked into the kitchen.