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"No way, I totally had that!" Fatin cries as Kemar bests her out for second with a green shell while Ahmad takes first on Rainbow Road. She holds back the petty sentiment that this track is homophobic and instead frowns at Toad's victory lap.
"We warned you about Daisy," Kemar grunts as he flops back on the couch, swatting Fatin's hand away when she pokes at his stomach.
"Oh, yeah?" She wiggles her fingers, but he's too slow to react.
He shrieks when she proceeds to tickle him, "Alright, I take it back!"
Fatin mercifully stops and grins down at him.
Ahmad, sweet as ever, sits next to Fatin and offers "You were still really good, though."
"Not as good as you, my guy," She ruffles his hair and smiles as he giggles.
When she stops, he takes her controller and then Kemer's controller before proceeding to put them away In the charging dock.
Kemar sits up and looks hopefully up at Fatin, "Can we ride our bikes outside?"
Fatin pretends to ponder it, dragging it out and waiting for the boys to amp up their pleading looks, before agreeing, "Alright, but only if you wear helmets and get back inside before Mom and Dad get back at eight."
Fatin [6:33pm]: my brothers just beat me on fucking rainbow road. truly homophobic.
Leah [6:33pm]: You played as Daisy again, didn't you?
Fatin [6:34pm]: fuck you
Leah [6:35pm]: I keep telling you to play as Peach or Baby Peach but you don't listen
Fatin [6:36pm]: fuck that blonde ass bitch too
Leah [6:36pm]: You're cranky when you lose
Fatin [6:37pm]: shut up, you love me
Leah [6:37pm]: Yeah...maybe I do
Fatin sends back a kiss emoji, imagining Leah with a dopey smile on her face, and shoves her phone into her pocket to go find her brothers in the garage. After they put on their helmets, Fatin opens the garage door for them and watches as they ride down the slope of their driveway.
Fatin reminds them, "If a car comes, make sure to get closer to the sidewalk and stop to let them pass, okay?"
Her brothers give her a thumbs up and she walks along the sidewalk as they ride on, chatting about their classmates and video games. When they turn the corner to the cul-de-sac, Ahmad comes to a skidding halt and gets off his bike. Fatin picks up her pace and jogs to catch up to him, Kemar in tow.
As Fatin approaches, Ahmad's crouched in front of something on the sidewalk. When she gets close enough, he's petting a cat. Black all over, except for the white chest and paws. She crouches down next her brother, "Whatcha got there, Ahmad?"
"A cat." Ahmad scratches under the cat's chin. "A nice cat. Can we keep it?"
Fatin shakes her head, and points at his neck, "There's a collar. Look, he has a name tag too."
Ahmad attempts to read the name, "Pat- Patro- Patro-clus." His eyebrows crease and he says it again, "Patroclus?"
The cat meows and flicks his tail at the sound of his name.
Kemar pops his head over Fatin's shoulder, "He's cute."
"Handsome, too." Fatin coos at him affectionately. Patroclus proceeds to lie on his back and expose his belly. Fatin smiles as he swats playfully at their hands, "And supes friendly. Guess we made a new friend."
"Hi Pat-roclus, my name's Ahmad. This is my brother Kemar and our older sister Fatin. We live up the street. Maybe we can see each other again." Patroclus rolls back onto his feet and starts strutting away. He meows one last time before disappearing behind some hedges. "Nice meeting you!"
Fatin stands and looks around, notices the sun lower in the sky, "We should probably head home. Mom and Dad are gonna be home soon."
Ahmad and Kemar take a lingering glance at the hedge that Patroclus disappeared into before each taking their bike by the handle bars and walking their bikes the way they came.
"Thanks for watching us today, Fatin." Kemar says, ringing the bell on his bike. "We really didn't want to go visit with everyone at Mom's event. They're still really weird about you being away on retreat."
Fatin sighs. The retreat is code for the island, at least for now, until the trial goes public. She's already caused a nightmare for her brothers before the island, and she's surely not going to do that now if she has the chance to hold off for a little while.
"Yeah, well, me neither. And it's hardly watching you if we're hanging out, right?"
Her brothers smile brightly at her, and they continue back to the house.
Ahmad breaks the silence when they get to the garage. "Hey, Fatin?"
Fatin's helping them put their bikes up onto the upright rack. She grunts as she locks Ahmad's bike into place. "Yeah, bud, what's up?" She turns to look at him, subtly checking him over to see if he's hurt before proceeding with Kemar's bike.
"Are you ever going to bring that girl over from that one time?"
Fatin almost drops a whole bike on her foot when she processes what just asked.
Kemar helps catch it before it could do any damage. He helps her hoist It into place, "Oh, yeah, the really pretty one who waved at us from her car! Is she your girlfriend?"
Fatin's glad she doesn't have another bike to store or else she'd have some serious injuries by now. She's also forgotten how curious and observant her little brothers are. "Yes," She says with a fond smile, "her name's Leah."
"Does she know about us?" Kemar asks, holding the door open for her and Ahmad. "It kinda feels like we don't know much about her. And you don't bring her up if Mom and Dad are around."
"Is she a secret?" Ahmad asks in a low voice.
"No she's not a secret. But, yes, she knows all about you two." Fatin answers, but willfully avoiding saying anything about their parents. They never ask so she never bothers. Her brothers are different, though. Her brothers care about her and the people in her life, even after being gone for more than two months. So, she bites back the panic and humors them because one of her favorite things to do is talk about Leah, "What do you wanna know?"
She sits on the couch with them, letting them pick whatever they want to play on her Spotify account as it fills the living room speakers, as they fire off questions about Leah Rilke.
The boys eventually tire and fall asleep after Fatin rattles off stories, with heavy omissions, about Leah laughing at a piñata, about Leah performing a song with Rachel, about Leah's inability to hide a surprise party, about Leah, Leah, Leah. When she looks up, she notices it's almost 10 and her parents aren't home yet. It figures they wouldn't text. She carries her brothers up to their rooms for the night.
Fatin [10:43pm]: did I ever mention that my brothers are obsessed with you?
Fatin [10:43pm]: can't say I blame them
Fatin [10:44pm]: I missed you today
Leah [10:50pm]: I missed you too. Hope you had fun with your brothers
Leah [10:50pm]: See you tomorrow?
Fatin [10:52pm]: count on it, babe
***
It surprises Fatin how much of a rapport she can upkeep with the girls even though they're spread out all over the country. Amazing what technology can do when she misses them. For obvious reasons, she talks to Leah the most by sheer proximity and the fact that Fatin may or may not be a little obsessed with her girlfriend and the way her brilliant mind works.
Fatin hardly ever calls Rachel on her own, but sometimes Rachel calls her and they talk through the immense pressure of perfection and how to break that all down with the most absurd solutions. 'Leah said I could be a carpenter. A hot one, at that. Maybe we should try that.' Rachel laughs and Fatin doesn't fight her on it because fuck if she knows. Otherwise, Leah usually facilitates the calls with Rachel, and by extension, Nora. It's awkward the first few months as everyone deals with the role Nora played in the island, in the wretched experiment. The cause was noble, no doubt, and Gretchen for sure manipulated her, but the betrayal runs deep considering all they went through on that island. Fatin tells Nora she needs more time, that they all will, but that she's happy that the twins are at least talking and working through it all.
Sometimes she checks in on Martha and Toni, usually together. After a couple of months of consistent updates, they tell her about how Martha's mom, Bernice, got them a dog named Bruno who's some kind of shepherd mix. 'After Bruno Mars,' Martha explains before listing off all of his best qualities (which is all of them) and how he's in training to be a service dog. 'Dog's fast as hell,' Toni supplies, revealing that she's been taking up running as a legitimate hobby. Fatin obviously demands pictures and shows them all to Leah, even though Leah also gets them through the group chat. They occasionally share news about Shelby and relief floods her to know they're still in contact with the girl from Texas.
(Relief that they're all trying-- even if it's hard and even if it's complicated.)
Shelby usually calls later at nighttime when Fatin assumes Shelby's parents are asleep, her voice in a near whisper. Shelby's hair is growing out from what Fatin can tell from the dim lighting in Shelby's room. Fatin asks about Shelby's siblings and listens as the Texan shares how she took them out for ice cream without their dad noticing or the pranks they pull on her when she least expects it. Fatin relays the same when Shelby asks about Ahmad and Kemar. They don't outright say it, but they find comfort in someone who can understand parental pressures-- in coming home and finding that their mom and dads won't look at them the same way even if their siblings welcome them home like nothing's changed. They muse aloud about how one day they could all live together if they were close enough and Fatin confesses that maybe she wasn't kidding about LA and Dot being her live-in muscle. 'I need to visit Dottie sometime and maybe we could find some place to live together in the meantime.' Shelby says with a smile one night and Fatin smiles right with her.
Fatin and Dot talk the most frequently, despite the time difference, the distance, and the most innocuous topics. They're each other's first best friends, after all, and it's nice to know that doesn't change despite everything.
One time, Fatin had called Dot to ask her which of the girls would win X Factor. Mostly because Leah's fair answer of 'it depends, doesn't it' isn't what Fatin's insistence that there'd be two vastly different girl groups that would form. The sight of Dot having a zit that looks too similar to the one she had on that godforsaken island, affectionately Dot Jr., distracts Fatin and all they could do is devolve into giggles.
Other times, they talk about the more stressful things in life.
Like one time Dot called because there's no handbook for dealing with the aftermath of a parent's death and Fatin stayed up all night with her she rifled through her father's things. She smiled and listened as Dot mused about the memories of her late father. Fatin so deeply wished that she could've done more for Dot then.
(Leah assures her she did, informing her that Shelby dropped by the next day to check on her.)
Fatin's pacing her bedroom floor when she calls Dot because societal rules are screaming at her to introduce Leah to her parents and brothers already. It's one of those important pillars of a relationship. But after everything they went through on that stupid island, Fatin's pretty sure they're well past that stage. She hates the formality of it all. Not to mention, things were never the same after exposing her dad for his sleazy ways and it certainly has not gotten better after the island. That they sent her to, she thinks bitterly.
Dot cuts through her train of thought, "Dude, you know you don't have to introduce her to your shitty parents, right?"
Fatin opens her mouth to argue and then shuts it. She instead blinks at the camera, at a complete loss for words.
"I mean, that is an option, isn't it?" Dot's head bobs like she's shrugging. "Fuck, It should be, anyway."
Groaning, Fatin drags a hand across her forehead, "It feels wrong when I've met her parents plenty of times, even before Leah told them we were together. Shouldn't I, like, return the favor?"
"There's no rulebook that says you have to introduce Leah to, arguably, some of the worst people in your life right now. It can wait til maybe they're not so terrible." Dot snaps her fingers, "Or you could, like, never introduce them, if you really want. We both know Leah would understand." Dot continues on, "Or like just introduce her to the important people. That's a good a gesture as any."
Fatin rolls her eyes, "You and the rest of the girls are the important people and you guys are way too familiar as is."
Dot laughs, "that we are!" She thinks for a second and asks, "She hasn't met your brothers?"
"Not formally." Fatin recalls the one time Leah dropped her off and her brothers stopped playing soccer on the front lawn to get a better look at who could be dropping off their sister. She recalls the more recent memory of Ahmad bringing her up out of the blue, leading to her spilling her guts to them about the girl she's in love with. "I guess I never considered introducing them separately. But, they asked about her because they saw her, literally once, and now I can't stop thinking about it."
"Ah, so they prompted this." Dot nods, finally piecing it together. "Well, that saved me from suggesting that you introduce her to a neighbor's cat." Dot chuckles, "But, you know Leah loves shit like that."
Fatin's eyes light up. That's it. "You, Dorothy, are a genius."
Dot sighs, in the way she does when Fatin gets an idea she probably shouldn't have, "Fatin, please tell me you're not gonna find some poor--"
"I'll explain it all later. Love you, bye!"
***
Leah climbs into Fatin's car and leans over the convoluted middle console to give Fatin a kiss on the cheek. "What's up? What was so urgent I had to ditch my parents for movie night?"
"Okay, one, I said kinda important." Fatin watches the way Leah gives her a teasing smile, and she continues, "And, two, I said that you'd be late to movie night...and that I'd also be crashing said movie night. Get it right, bitch."
Fatin grins at the exasperated eye roll she receives and puts her car into drive.
Leah continues to press, "Well, you didn't answer my question. What are we doing?"
"I'm gonna introduce you to someone important." Fatin pauses and elaborates, "Well, someones."
"That's not a word." Leah corrects her, but Fatin pays her no mind. "So, multiple people?" Leah looks genuinely curious, though thankfully not nervous, "Who's so important that I haven't met them yet?"
"That's the surprise."
It doesn't take long for Leah to recognize that they're driving to Fatin's neighborhood. "Oh, god, Fatin. You're not taking me to meet your parents right now, are you? Not when I look this."
"Leah, relax." With her free hand, she grabs Leah's hand before it can go up to her eyebrow. She instead intertwines their fingers. Rubbing her thumb over Leah's knuckles, she reassures her girlfriend, "You look great and I'm pretty sure you could show up in a literal paper bag and you'd still impress."
Leah glares at her, and she can't help but cackle.
"Also, you're not meeting my parents."
"I'm not?" Leah looks at her skeptically, but overall seems relieved.
"And to be fair, you've met two out of three of them in passing." Fatin pulls up to a cul-de-sac and turns to Leah, grinning, "The third is a surprise."
"What, did you guys move down the street?" Leah muses as she looks out the car window. "Buy out the whole block?"
"God, I wish." Fatin says as she climbs out the car and joins Leah on the sidewalk. "What I wouldn't give to have some distance from them."
Leah takes her hand and squeezes. Fatin leans up to kiss her. Leah smiles, "So, where are we meeting your important mystery someones?"
"Mrow!"
"Ah, right on time." Fatin detaches her hand from Leah's and kneels down to say hi to Patroclus, who saunters up to her outstretched hand, "Hey, you."
Leah also kneels down and watches curiously as Fatin scratches under his chin. Leah asks, "So, you two know each other?"
Before Leah can get an answer, they hear voices coming from up the street, "Waaaiiiitt!"
Fatin turns around and grins, "Ah, and there are the other two."
Kemar reaches Fatin first. Ahmad has a whole burst of speed for the last 20 feet that Fatin has to catch him and spin him around.
"Fatin! Put me down!" Ahmad giggles as Fatin sets him down.
Leah hasn't moved. She watches Fatin with a soft glint in her eye and a softer smile to match.
Kemar, being the older one and having a little more confidence, strides right up to Leah who's still knelt down next to Patroclus and sticks his hand out, "My name's Kemar." He beckons for his little brother to stand next to him, "And this is Ahmad. We're very pleased to meet you."
Taking his hand and shaking it awkwardly, she nods, "I'm Leah. Nice to meet you at last. Your sister has told me all about you."
"Fatin's told us all about you too!" Kemar exclaims.
Leah bites her bottom lip, trying to tamper down a smile. She briefly makes eye contact with Fatin above their heads and all Leah can see is Fatin's smile before addressing the boys. "Can you tell me who this little guy is?"
Ahmad moves so that he's sitting next to Leah on one side where Patroclus is casually lounging while Kemar sits on the other side.
"His name is Patro-clus." Ahmad says, the name still sounding foreign on his tongue. He smiles at the cat and then gestures to Leah, "This is Leah. She's Fatin's girlfriend."
Leah offers her hand, her face in silent concentration so as not to scare their cat friend. Patroclus meows and headbutts the palm of Leah's hand, "Hi, there, Patroclus. You literally have the coolest name."
Ahmad's brows furrow and he admits, "I've never heard a name like that before."
"I like it. It sounds so cool." Kemar supplies, reaching out to scratch behind the cat's ear.
Leah smiles as she watches Ahmad be as gentle as possible with the cat. "Do you know where that name comes from?"
Both of them shake their head, and Fatin knows Leah's got their full attention. And that's how they all end up sitting on the curb in a line, Leah sitting in between the two Jadmani boys and Fatin on the far end of Ahmad. Patroclus circles them a few times before laying at their feet. Fatin almost melts because she mentioned once that her brothers love stories and Leah unprompted practically goes into a PG retelling of the Song of Achilles. They have so many questions and Leah handles it like she wrote the myth and the novel herself. At some point, Patroclus climbs into Leah's lap and she just holds him as she tells the story of his namesake with a very, very captive audience.
(Fatin included.)
And introducing her brothers to Leah was one of the best things she could've done for herself and her brothers. That's how Leah becomes their favorite person aside from Fatin in the span of an hour. And now she'll never hear the end of how much shorter she is than Leah.
Fatin leaves Leah to wait with Patroclus, stopping to press a kiss to Leah's head before she walks her brothers back to their house. Her brothers fire off every question that pops into their brains all the way back:
'Do you think we'll be as tall Leah? She's gotta be taller than Dad. That would be so cool!'
'Do you think we'll have girlfriends as pretty as Leah?'
'Can we hang out with Leah again? She said she was going to tell us about the witch that made that really epic sea monster.'
'We won't tell mom and dad, but Leah's so cool! Even Patroclus likes her!'
(As if Fatin would have it any other way.)
On the way back to Leah's house, it's mostly quiet until Fatin parks in front of the all too familiar house that's starting to feel more like home than her own. Fatin turns off the engine, but they don't immediately get out. She finally says, "Thanks, by the way, for being so cool with my brothers. I'm sorry for springing that on you. They're a lot, but I love them and I wanted them to meet the girl I love."
(They wanted to meet the girl their sister loves, and that means more to Fatin than anything.)
"They're a lot like you, you know." Leah thinks out loud.
Fatin looks down at her hands in her lap, "Better than me, hopefully."
"The best of you." Fatin scoffs and rolls her eyes, but lets Leah take her hand anyway. "They have your capacity to care. They ask questions that seem trivial, but they care about the answer. They're smart and they're kind and they're fun."
"They also love you." Fatin says with a crooked smile.
"I just met them." Leah says matter-of-factly before admitting, "But, I love them, too. I hope they turn out like you."
Her heart skips a beat when Leah smiles at her. Fatin swallows the lump in her throat, "I hope you're not mad that I didn't introduce you to my parents. It's-"
"Complicated? Yeah, I know." Leah supplies, and Fatin is reminded that Leah's been through all of Fatin's post-island breakdowns just like she's been there for Leah's. She's aware of Fatin's hesitations to go home to parents that willingly signed her up for trauma, aware of how much that weighs on Fatin. The guilt. The anger. The turmoil. "But, don't feel like you have to rush that part for me. I know I'm important to you. We're important to each other. All of us on that island are, whether we like it or not. " Fatin knows that statement is directed at Rachel, more than anyone else. Leah presses a kiss to Fatin's knuckles, "You're allowed to make decisions about your parents based on how they treated you, regardless of what you've done."
Fatin feels the weight lift off her shoulders and suddenly the tears come spilling out. She leans against Leah's chest. She mumbles, "I don't think they deserve to meet you. But it's not that simple, ya know. I haven't decided what that means just yet, but when I do, I'll tell you."
"Good. We'll cross that bridge if it ever comes to it," She can hear Leah's heartbeat when Leah speaks, "And if they ever threaten to ship you off to Oregon or anywhere else, I'm gathering the girls for an emergency ambush and I will break his kneecaps myself. Then you're gonna live with me til we go off to college."
Fatin wants to tell her it's unnecessary, that she doesn't need them to do anything. But, hearing how fiercely protective Leah is of her heals something within Fatin that it threatens to bubble up to her throat and consume her. Hearing that someone (including the other seven girls) will come to bat for her is exactly what she needs right now.
"We can stay here as long as you need." Leah strokes her hair and murmurs, "My mom's already made you that fancy popcorn you like so much."
"It's literally kettle corn and they come in microwaveable bags." Fatin laughs, remembering the time Leah almost burned down the kitchen trying to make it on the stove. She lifts her head and then pulls Leah in for a kiss. They break apart, and Fatin revels in how dazed Leah looks just now. She lowers her voice and announces, "Let me catch my breath real quick, and then I'm gonna get my popcorn on."
Leah shakes her head, fond and adoring, before she wipes away at Fatin's tears all the while. The finally climb out of the car and Leah leads her to the door, kisses her on the porch, and whispers that she loves her before leading her to movie night where Fatin gets as warm as a welcome as her brothers or the rest of the girls from that island give her.
And she decides right then and there, that maybe family is the people you choose. Out of all of Fatin's doubts, fears, and mistakes, Leah's the one constant that makes sense. If they can be certain of anything, Fatin is Leah's and Leah is Fatin's. And she'll figure the rest out with Leah holding her hand every step of the way.