Let's be lonely together

Tien frowned a little as Kemuel just seemed to shrug off that his guest had left the table, seemingly upset about the situation she was living with and seeing every day. Now, Tien wasn’t an expert on Alzheimer’s, but she figured that it couldn’t be easy and that something like that could wear one down. It might not be specifically trauma, but the fact that she seemingly stood alone to care for the old lady, might be enough. Plenty of people on this table knew how it felt like to deal with trauma in an everyday basis and right in this moment, Tien felt she had the most sympathy for the girl. She looked over at her mother and back to Kemuel. None of them seemed to get up and check on the girl, so Tien did.

Tien got all the way to the bathroom that Mary-Jane had occupied. The door opened and Mary-Jane stopped in the door. “It’s free if you-” Mary-Jane pointed over her shoulder with her thumb indicating she was talking about the toilet. Tien made a hand gesture, showing that she wasn’t there for the toilet. “Are you okay?” Tien spoke softly and tried to keep eye contact with the girl. Mary-Jane pulled a fake smile for the angel and was on the edge of telling a big white lie. “Do you need a hug?” Mary-Jane took a step back, and raised her arms, almost in a defense, “No, no – I mean, I’m good, thanks,” she quite explosively said before she rushed past Tien, who even tried to catch her – insisting. But Mary-Jane wasn’t caught and ran upstairs to the other toilet instead. Tien simply stood left in the hallway looking after the girl. She pressed her lips together, trying to pin the reasons together. With a soft sigh, she went back to the dinner table. “Sorry… I might’ve pushed it a little…” Tien mumbled and sat down again not looking at either family member.

Up stairs Mary-Jane had locked the door to the bathroom and grabbed the sink with closed eyes. “Everything is okay. Everything is under control. You got it,” she  whispered to herself a couple of times like a mantra. She was trying to overflow the memories and thoughts about how Starla was doing and how she already felt suffocated by Tien’s attempt to comfort her. She nodded a couple of times, biting her lower lip and taking some deeper breath before she looked up in the mirror. She looked fine. Good. She could go back. She unlocked the door once again and if things went smoothly she would walk downstairs and join the dinner once more, apologizing for her short leave.

Now for Kemuel it was the best thing to do, to just let MJ deal with whatever she felt like she needed to get control off, and then ask her later when they were alone if she wanted to talk about it. But not in front of his mother or Tien, he hoped he knew her enough to know that was what she wanted. This wasn’t a moment of not caring, but trying to respect to boundaries that MJ had, some that his sister clearly didn’t want to respect because she couldn’t comprehend that people had different ways of coping with things. Eden looked at Tien as she got up, and for a moment Kemuel just thought she needed to go for the rest room, since she didn’t say anything. But then he realized as he heard them in the hallway. He closed his eyes and quickly got up from his chair, Eden just giving him a small smile, before taking a small sip of her water. At this point she wouldn’t have minded drinking her normal glass of wine, but after Tien was doing so well with keeping herself clean, she wanted to make sure that there was no temptation in the house.

He made it just to see how MJ ran up the stairs, looking towards Tien he pressed his brows together. Letting out a soft sigh, he wanted to tell her off, but she hadn’t known so the blame was lying mostly at him. “I should have explained she doesn’t like physical interactions, which was why I didn’t follow her” he breathed, shaking his head a little “I’ll go check on her” he walked up the stairs, and heard how she kept saying the same phrase over and over. He knocked softly on the door, taking a step back so he wasn’t crowding her when she opened it. “Hey” he said with a small smile on his lips. “I’m sorry, are you okay? And before you start saying something that isn’t true, it’s okay if you’re not and want to go home, I can even drive you if you want” he added, giving her a way out if she just wanted to go back home now.

Tien saw how Kemuel looked at her, and immediately felt blamed for trying to check up on her, but her little brother shoved it away, simply by telling her that she couldn’t have known. “Sorry,” she spoke softly. She nodded a little as Kemuel then chose to check up on her and chose to leave them be and go back to the dining room.

Mary-Jane heard the knock and jumped a little on the spot. Slowly she opened the door for Kemuel. She gave him a hint of a smile as he greeted her. She was about to open her mouth to tell him that she was good, but family business was simply a little sore. After all, Iris still wasn’t home, and things had been a little hectic in the start of the month. She closed her mouth as he told her not to lie. She nodded a little and took a greater breath in. “Home might be good,” she mumbled and let her arms wrap around herself. She licked her lips a little and finally looked up towards his eyes. God, it must be difficult for him to keep up with her and her personal space. Or maybe, this was just something she imagined. She imagined that the taller the person was, the greater distance they needed from her, but maybe it wasn’t true. “You got a driver’s license?” she spoke softly and with a look on her face that clearly told him that she thought it was, not weird, but unusual for her.

He nodded understanding when she told him that home might be good. Then he gave her a brighter smile when she asked if he got a driver’s license “Yep, had one since I was seventeen, one of the few things I actually got at an early age” he said a little proud, and then turned around to walk down the stairs. He popped his head into the dining room where his mother and Tien was sitting. “I’m just going to drive MJ home, could you save the rest of my plate?” he asked his mother with a soft smile. Eden nodded and got up from her seat and walked with him to the hallway. She kept her distance, but smiled warmly towards MJ “Get home safe, and I would be very nice to see you again if you want to” she said sincerely, also to let the young woman know that she hadn’t done anything that would exclude her from coming in the house again. If anything, this was a family that knew about other people’s boundaries.

Kemuel gave her mother a soft smile of gratitude before he grabbed his jacket and the car to the jeep that he drove the most. "See you later” he waved goodbye and opened the door so MJ could get out first before he walked towards the car and opened it. Placing himself behind the wheel and started the engine.

Mary-Jane raised her brows as he mentioned he had had a drivers license since he was seventeen. “Woah,” she expressed. One who didn’t know Mary-Jane might believe she wasn’t impressed, but she was. She was very impressed. She didn’t even have a driver’s license. After all, most of Killian’s cars were voice controlled and if she had to go anywhere, and wanted to take something without Killian’s permission, she simply had to change her voice to Killian’s. It was too easy. But she couldn’t drive. The cars drove by themselves.
She followed Kemuel downstairs and let him tell the story. Mary-Jane didn’t really pop her head into the dining room, but she just stood with her distance with her arms around herself.
“Of course,” Tien replied to Kemuel wanting his plate saved, even though their mother nodded. “Sorry, again,” she said, not getting up from her seat, knowing she was the one who had pressured the poor girl too much.
Mary-Jane looked up at Eden and pulled a greater smile for the mother, even though she didn’t fully feel like smiling that much. “Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind,” she said and nodded a bit. “Dinner was delicious,” she complimented, still keeping her distance. Even though Kemuel grabbed his jacket, she didn’t put her sweater back on, she felt too hot to get that back on, but maybe she would do it later. “Bye,” she said and followed Kemuel outside to the big car. She blinked a little, clearly thinking it was impressive that he could drive a jeep. She got into the car and put on her seatbelt and scratched her cheekbone a little. “I think it’s quite impressive that you can drive,” she said and looked over at him afterwards. “Do you mind if I watch you drive?” she wondered. She had no idea about how cars worked, despite of some being automatic and some manual, and that the manual seemingly was a bit more difficult.

Eden gave Mary-Jane another bright smile and nodded, knowing that the girl had some things she needed to get help with. But right now, she wasn’t the one to help her with it. Hopefully there was help to find, in the girl’s own home. When both her and Kemuel stepped outside, she walked back into the kitchen and walked over to Tien, placing a hand on her shoulder, before Eden squatted down and placed another hand on her thigh just above her knee. “Hey, you didn’t do anything wrong” she said with a soft smile, rubbing Tien’s back a little.

Kemuel looked towards MJ as she explained she thought it was impressive that he could drive. “You don’t know how to?” he asked a little curious, now he knew that a lot of kids his age and a little older didn’t have a driver’s license. Mostly because they didn’t need it, but for him it had given him freedom to go wherever he wanted. And he had done something for himself. Besides, it had been one of those things that his father had paid for, because he felt guilty about not being around. It was nice at first, but it quickly turned boring and lonesome because all you really wanted was just a father that was present and showed that he cared in other ways than buying and giving gifts when he knew he had fucked up. “Yeah sure, not that I know if there is a lot to watch, maybe one day we can find the time and you can try yourself, there isn’t really much to it” he laughed flipping the turn light, as he was about to turn right. “Much like learning how to ride a bike” he tried to compare it too “Just, this can easily kill someone, when you drive into them, not so much on a bike” he added with a smile on his lips, as he shortly looked at her before on the road again.

Mary-Jane shook her head as he asked if she didn’t know how to drive. Now, Mary-Jane did have the money to get a driver’s license if she wanted to, but she certainly didn’t believe she needed it, but somehow, she could see why one would like it, but yet again, she could always take her father’s driver’s license and make sure that he got a cut in card. Now, it wasn’t like she just went driving all of the time, but it had happened a few times and it had gone quite well with the voice activated system, but she didn’t know how to do anything in a normal car.
She nodded a little as she gave her permission to look at what he was doing when he was driving. Now it might seem a little silly to him, but she was learning things so quickly just by watching, and it was just something so different sitting in a passenger’s seat rather than from a limo seat or the back seat where she was placed the most. She had already linked how the lights worked, that up was right, down was left, that you could move on an outer brick to change the lighting from parking to heavy rain or fog, and then there was the long light.
She hummed a little as he compared it like riding a bike, but she pulled a wide smile as he mentioned how easy it was to kill someone in a car, compared to a bike. “Do you ever like… In your own mind play some kind of game?” she corrected a bit on how she sat, “Like, when you’re about to stop for a red light, and there’s like… An old lady or some bullyboys crossing the street… You just imagine that, if you ran them over, you would get… I don’t know, ten or fifty points?” she explained with an almost playful smile, even though she hadn’t really played it herself, she knew she herself had played such games when she was simply driving her bike.

He let his eyes wonder to the side, as she asked if he had ever in his mind played games. Well, he did, but there was a lot of ways to do that. Like when he had riding on his bike, he had in his mind picture that if he didn’t get over the junction before the traffic lights turned yellow, it would be a bad day. Stupid things like that. When she elaborated on what she meant, he couldn’t help but start laughing. Okay, well wasn’t that a quite common game? “Well, sure?” he laughed “like, if I drive down someone on a bike its like fifty points, or a whole group of kids it’s a hundred” he joked, not that he would ever do it. But being morbid seemed like something that was a part of the daily life of just being alive in this day and age. Then one could start to wonder, why there was even the need to let out these urges through games. Because if one really thought about it, it was quite sickening. One thing was thinking about it, joking about it and doing it in games. Another was that some people actually did things like this, and found joy in it. "why?" he asked her with a soft grin on his lips, as he had both of his hands on the steering wheel.

He started laughing and she folded her lips trying not to laugh with him. She was used to play it cool. She didn’t have to be afraid that he wasn’t playing games like she did. Things were alright. He seemed to feel like it was something everyone did. A true smile spread on her lips as he mentioned how different things gave different points, and she couldn’t help laughing as he mentioned a group of kids. “Oh my God,” she laughed. Her laughter died a little as he asked why. She almost swallowed her laugh, “Well, I just wondered if I was the crazy one all alone,” she said, laughing a little and turned her gaze towards the front window. Now, it wasn’t really because she wished to change subject all the time, but things just seemed to pop into her mind now that she didn’t feel that she was in a pressured situation. “No offence, but you sister seemed quite worried about, you know… Worried that you might push my boundaries,” she said feeling a little heaviness in her chest as she spoke. “I might just be the weird one… But I usually don’t worry that much about peoples sexlife and-” she furrowed her brows a little, “What I’m trying to say is… Why do you think she was worried?” she looked over at him with almost apologetic eyes. She didn’t think at all that Kemuel would pressure anyone to do a thing like that, but for some reason, she couldn’t help but worry that his sister might’ve wished that someone had asked her? That even though she might’ve seemed to be okay in a relationship, she might’ve hoped that someone had asked her about her boundaries. Now, Mary-Jane knew nothing about Tien and her situation, but it just felt like it was because Tien had some familiarity in the experience. But on the other hand, Tien might’ve reacted in the same ways as Mary-Jane and believed that it was a stupid question and no one should worry about another’s boundaries, unless you were the one who were pushing them. It was many complicated thoughts that was running though her mind.

She couldn’t help but chuckle as she mentioned that she just wanted to make sure that she wasn’t the only one that was crazy. Didn’t everyone think they were all alone in how they were thinking. Only to someday finding out, that they weren’t actually alone? That was why people found each other in difference hobbies. Because you found common ground.
“Don’t we all think at one point or another, feel like we are a little alone in how we think or feel?” he asked with a soft smile forming on his lips, as he kept his eyes on the road. A more sober expression folded over his face as she mentioned how his sister had reacted to everything. He breathed out, placing his hand on the gearshift even though he didn’t need to use it. As it was automatic. But he liked having something else to take a hold off, moving his hands around, keeping himself sharp.
Now Tien had never really told him anything that had happened to her. But he wasn’t blind, and he wasn’t stupid. Even if he hadn’t really explored much in his sexual life. Or had been having a whole lot of girlfriends. He hadn’t even had one. He wasn’t as oblivious as his brother seemed to be at times. “She just wants to make sure that you aren’t being pressured into doing something you don’t want to” he decided to explain he shrugged “Maybe it comes from having a younger sister, and sometimes Tien just speaks without really thinking about the consequences her words have on a person” he added to his explanation. “To be fair, I don’t really know what is going on in my siblings head half of the time, if we don’t include my twin in that” he said with a more teasing tone.

Mary-Jane shrugged one shoulder while looking towards him. Maybe he was right about how people felt a little alone in how one’s thoughts evolved. She didn’t mind that he kept his eyes on the road, it was simply nice to know that he didn’t want to get distracted.
She noticed how the smile faded a little. She knew things with his family’s reactions could be a little odd sometimes, and she wasn’t to judge at all, but she was curious. But of course, curiosity killed the cat. The blue eyes also picked up on how he held the gearstick, almost as if he sought some kind of comfort. She listened as he responded about his sister. His reply might be obvious, but Mary-Jane had sought after a deeper meaning for Tien’s wish to protect others. She pulled a light smile as he explained how he didn’t know what was happening inside of his siblings’ head. “But you’re a telepath,” she replied back, joking obviously. “I guess we all just walk around with some mysteriously fucking odd thoughts and opinions,” she sighed and turned her eyes towards the road. She puckered her lips together and let them move a bit from side to side while she thought for a little.
“Kemuel?” she spoke a little softer. “I’m quite sure that I’m not going to stop at the academy,” she said softly, “I’ll make sure to find some more challenging subjects. Like could probably practice some of the sports… Like track and swimming,” she mentioned. It would always be a good idea to keep up her speed, and, well she wasn’t the most experienced swimmer, she just knew the basics. She could of course also choose a language and learn that – Or drama class to evolve her acting skills? There was plenty of possibilities.

He couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle through his nose, as she added that he of course was a telepath. And therefore, he should be able to know what was going on in his siblings’ heads. “I know, what was I thinking, I should just read their minds” he placed a soft hit against his forehead, with the lower part of his front hand. “Stupid me” he said giving her a big smile, before turning his attention back to the road. “Well don’t we all” he hummed, when she stated that everyone walked around with mysteriously odd thoughts and opinions. Maybe one just had to remember, that no person was the same. Which was made the whole thing so magical, it would be really boring if everyone had the same opinions.
“mmh?” he hummed as she said his name, keeping his eyes on the road. But what she said next made his head turn towards her for a short period of time. “You’re sure?” he asked, because even though he had acted badly it hadn’t been about her stopping at the academy, just that she hadn’t said anything. “Well, I guess I reacted rather badly at the fact that you might be leaving, but it mostly was the part where you hadn’t really expressed that you had thought about it, you know?” he tried to explain and then shrugged a little, once again holding because there was a red light. “But I do think it sounds like a good idea, trying something that you might not have done before, something you think that you would never really use, but it would be fun just to try” he added giving a slight encouraging smile.

Mary-Jane kept a small smile as he laughed  a little with her. She felt like this specific moment was something she was going to remember for the rest of her life. Him driving her home, talking about everything and nothing. Speculating, giving perspectives, and discussing.

She noticed how he looked at her for a little while, and she looked up as he questioned her decision. Now, it wasn’t bad that he was questioning it because it simply made her rethink her decision and think it through. She believed that she had more than enough years to live to do what she pleased, even though, of what she knew of, that she wasn’t immortal. She felt a lump of… Was it guilt? She didn’t know what it was, but it formed in her throat, and she could feel that the curve on her lips felt heavier for a little moment. It had been the first time she had told anyone about the idea, and she understood why he had been reacting the way he had, but on the other hand, she had still been so unsure, that she had kept it in her head. Of course, she would have asked Kemuel about it as soon as she was questioning it more. It was complicated. “Mhm,” she hummed very softly. Maybe it was a good idea to just open her mind a little earlier, because if he expressed how he had felt about the idea, when she theoretically would have explained her idea, then the pressure on her might have been lighter. Who knew.
Her eyes traveled up to his face as he explained that he believed that it was a good idea to try something new. She pulled softly on the corner of her mouth. “Agreed,” she mumbled and interlocked her fingers. She corrected her seat, so her back was fully connected with the back rest, “That’s what I’m gonna do,” she said determined, but in a low mumble.

He nodded a little and started driving again as the light turned green again. After that there was a comfortable silence, mostly because he didn’t really have anything more to add. He had never been the talkative guy when it came down to it. Which had been one of the reasons why he had used, and still used so much time gaming. Putting himself in another world where he didn’t need to interact with people. The same thing with his art, he didn’t need anyone to do that hobby. Well, to be fair there was a lot of different hobbies where you didn’t need other people to do them. But wasn’t as good as getting friends, or making people interested enough in actually talking with him. When he had been to the party where he had met Taylor, it had only been because she had gone to him, they had even started talking.
After twenty minutes or so he could finally drive into the small neighbourhood where Mary-Jane lived. He parked in front of her father’s house and looked towards the giant and luxuries house. It reminded him a little of the house that he and his family had lived in in moonlight falls before all just seemed to be falling apart. “Alright” he said with a smile turning towards her. “We should do that again, without the awkward interrogation of course, but, yeah you know what I mean” he said with a soft smile “get home safe” he said with a soft chuckle, and leaned back in the seat.

They reached her father’s home and she couldn’t help but sigh a little. She looked forward to go for a little walk with Bruce. That was probably the only thing she was excited about. She looked from her father’s house to Kemuel as he said something. She couldn’t help but chuckle a little as he said they should do it again, but without the interrogation. “I know what you mean,” she said and winked at him. “You too. Drive safe,” she in a soft voice before she opened her seatbelt and following the door, where she crawled out of the big car. She turned around, holding the door as she got out, “See you,” she said with the monotone voice crawling back up at her. She gave him a small smile before she closed the door and walked up to the house and inside.

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