Lara Follet (radioinmyhead) wrote in morningstar_mnr, @ 2008-02-21 18:53:00 |
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Entry tags: | au, jericho, lara, lis |
[Alterna] Cafe; noon Thursday; Lara, Lis, and J
The heat just came on in the vent by Lara's cafe table overlooking the river, so she pulled her hoodie off the back of her chair and slipped it on until the air coming out of it warmed up. She was waiting for Lis and J to show up so they could participate in one of their usual lunches, although this one would be more somber than most. It was the day before Gibson Hawthorne's funeral, and stuff still sucked. It was kind of amazing how someone's non-depressing death could make apartment 476 so depressed.
She would have been spending lunch with Stone, but he was doing stuff with Poe, and Lara needed some non-Hawthorne air, anyway. So, it was lunch with her friends. Her girlfriends. Her gal pals. Whatever. As she waited, Lara leaned on the table and dropped her chin into her hand, looking at the water but not really paying attention to it. She really hoped that after the funeral was over and they went away for a while that everything would get back to normal. She didn't like this somber side of Stone and she hated the fact that it all because of Gibson, still causing problems even after his death.
J had already had a busy day so, despite the recent depressing air about as a result of Gibson Hawthorne's death and its affects on both Stone and Poe, J was glad to be meeting up for a trio lunch. She'd dropped Dash off at school on her way to the doctor and then had gone into work to drop off a portfolio of photos that her boss requested four days earlier than their original deadline. That was irritating. But it was time to think about non irritating things since they were going to lunch and it was time to focus on helping Lara since they were flying out for the the funeral tomorrow.
So J had picked Lis up on her way and once they parked in the lot next to the cafe, they climbed out and headed into the place. Once they were pointed in the direction of the table Lara was already at, J and Lis weaved their way through and toward the table at the back by the windows looking out at the water. She glanced at Lis after spotting Lara looking out the window but then put on a smile as she and her stomach bump made it to the table. "Hey," She said before she moved to a seat and set her bag down. "What's the word?"
Lara lifted her chin off her hand and looked over to see Lis, J, and the pregnant stomach. She glanced down at it briefly before looking up at J. "I hear 'grease' is the word," she replied, adjusting her position in the seat.
"Common misconception," Lis shook her head as she sat down next to J. "Grease is actually the time and the place and the motion." She looked over to J for confirmation and added, holding one finger up, "Also the way we are feeling."
Lara made a disgusted noise and looked down at her menu. "I so didn't need that in my head."
"None of us did," Lis shrugged. She reached over and gave Lara a pat on the arm. "How you doin', kid?"
"It's got groove, it's got meaning?" J said as she set her bag down and barely scooted her chair in since she didn't really have room to scoot any closer. She was pretty hungry, however. She looked over at Lara and arched her eyebrows in question once Lis asked how she was doing.
"I'm fine," Lara shrugged, not especially convincing. She was feeling pretty lousy, and she still hadn't even packed for funeral crap. She nodded toward J. "How's the baby?"
J narrowed her eyes slightly and considered skipping the question to keep talking about Lara and how she was doing. She decided against it for now, she'd bring it up later. Instead she sat back in her chair and grinned a little. "You're both going to have to have a celebratory drink for me, we've had official movement. Or at least, official movement that I can feel and holy crap is it weird." She smirked and shook her head. "Woke me up. Felt like a goldfish swimming around," she scrunched up her nose a bit before she leaned over enough to open the flap of her bag. She flipped it open and then tugged two printouts out of her planner and put them on the table by Lis and Lara. "Honestly, I think it looks less like a fuzzy TV screen now and more like an alien."
Lis widened her eyes at J and let out a gasp. "How could you not tell me?" she asked, reaching out to invade J's stomach space. As soon as the ultrasound pictures were busted out, she crossed her free arm over her other and grabbed one. "Oh my God! Do you know if it's a girl or boy yet?"
Lara was thankful for the distraction, and she eyed J's stomach before pulling the other picture over with her finger. She stared at it while Lis gushed about how awesome the baby stuff was. Lara was definitely still weirded out by it. Sometimes she forgot that J was pregnant and then she would remember and it would blow her mind all over again. And now these pictures really cemented the fact that a baby was going to happen. Crazy. She looked up to hear the answer to Lis' question.
J laughed and leaned back, moving her arms out of the way for Lis. "Because I was saving all good news for the official lunch meeting?" She smirked and glanced down at Lis' hand, arching her eyebrows. "You won't be able to feel it yet," She informed Lis with a shake of her head. "Don't be too jealous." She smirked. "And I didn't ask so make whatever conclusions you like from the pictures." She shrugged. She looked across at Lara and suppressed the urge to ask if there was anything they could really do to make her feel better like, say, actually talking about stuff. But Lara was not a talk about stuff person. "Besides, that'll give you more things to bet about." She added instead.
"I do like betting," Lis smirked, still keeping her hand on J's stomach because duh, of course the baby would make itself known to her. She was Lis, for God's sake. She looked down at the picture and pointed to part of the baby blob. "I think it's a boy," she said, tapping the picture.
Lara leaned over and looked, squinting at it. "How can you tell?" It didn't even look human, let alone like a boy with boy parts.
J laughed and rolled her eyes just a little at the hand still on her stomach. She looked down at the photo and squinted. "I think that's a hand...a hand that's possibly in a very naughty place for a fetus..." She smirked. "See...the little tiny fingers?" She reached out to trace them. It totally looked like an alien.
"A hand?" Lis asked, skeptical. She leaned closer to the picture and then conceded with a shrug. "Okay, yeah, maybe those are fingers."
Lara furrowed her brow and picked the picture up out from Lis' nose. She held it close and stared at it. "That's the hand?" she asked, pointing where Lis had just been pointing. Okay, maybe it was a hand. She looked at J's stomach. "I can't believe that's actually growing inside of you," she shook her head.
"Miracle of life," Lis grinned.
J laughed and nodded. "Oh yeah...quite a miracle - the feeling of a goldfish moving around in my gut." She gave a thumbs up. And just after she said it she had to shift in her seat. "See. Goldfish." she looked at Lis and arched her eyebrows. "Didn't feel that, didja?" She smirked a bit and then looked at Lara. "It's all very bizarre. And the part when they let you hear the heartbeat?" She added as she looked between them both. "So...incredibly crazy."
Lis definitely looked disappointed when she couldn't feel anything even though something was definitely going on. She reluctantly took her hand off J's stomach and grabbed both of the pictures to get another look. She glanced up when J mentioned the heartbeat and grinned. Someday, Lis would have a baby. She was sure of it. But first she needed a boyfriend, so it was taking her some time to fulfill this destiny.
Lara raised her eyebrows a bit at the mention of the heartbeat. "That's so weird," she shook her head. "How's Cotton doing with it?"
J smirked and shrugged a bit. "He's irritated." She replied. "About not being able to feeling the moving stuff. Otherwise he seems like he's okay." She added. It was a little overwhelming but they were dealing pretty well at this point. She looked at Lis. "And you'll be able to do all the stomach groping you want in a couple of weeks, don't pout."
"Good," Lis smirked. "In the meantime, I'll go commiserate with Cotton about it."
"Sounds like a fun playdate," Lara commented as their waiter came by to get their drink orders. Once he disappeared again, Lara picked up her menu. She still hadn't decided what she wanted to eat yet, and that kind of thing was important. At least someone in the Follethorne apartment had to keep up a normal eating schedule.
"You do that," J nodded at Lis and smirked before it was drink order time. She glanced down at the menu but she knew this place well enough to know what she was going to order so she sat back and let Lara and Lis look over the menu while she tried to think of what useful questions she could ask Lara to get her talking about what was going on. After the drinks came back and their food orders were taken, she went for the kill. "How're Stone and Poe?"
Lara was watching after the waiter, but she turned to face J after her question. She arched her eyebrows up a little and let out a small breath. "Not so great." She didn't even know who was doing worse, either. It might have been Stone, and he didn't even like Gibson.
Lis shared a look with J before asking Lara, "Not so great in what way?"
Lara shrugged up her shoulders. "Name a way and you'll probably be right."
J's eyebrows arched a little during that shared look but she let Lis ask the follow-up. Her brow furrowed at Lara's response. "I ran into him the other day in the elevator on the way to the lobby. The day after it was all over the news - and the radio too, I think every time they played that cucumber song, they started talking about it," J rolled her eyes. "Anyway, he didn't even say anything about it. I actually thought he didn't know for a few minutes, but then he was off to the Mocha and I was running late so I couldn't follow for a chat."
Lara frowned slightly and looked down at one of the salt and pepper shakers. "He's not really into chatting about it." Or acting like it affected him at all, which it so obviously did. She couldn't blame him because she would probably be doing the same thing too in his situation, but that didn't make it any less craptastic for her as someone who worried about him.
"I only talked to him for a couple minutes," Lis frowned, looking between Lara and J.
J looked from Lara to Lis and wondered where else to go question wise from there. "How was he acting when you talk to him?" She asked Lis.
"Probably the same as with you," Lis nodded toward J. "He was acting like he was fine. I could tell he wasn't, though." She looked at Lara.
"He's really sullen," Lara said after a moment. "He's not eating a whole lot. He's not talking a whole lot...he's not being very him right now." She frowned further and sunk back down in her chair.
J frowned a little but tried to stop herself at least. She tilted her head a bit. "Well, a huge douche bag asshole or not, his dad did die," She paused for a moment as she looked over at Lara in thought. "I would think it would be harder to let go of someone like Gibson if he were my dad and he died. Y'know, since he was supposed to be one thing but wound up the complete opposite." In the sense that he was supposed to be a father and wound up a sadistic crackpot. "I think I'd feel cheated, among other things."
"Yeah," Lara said with a nod as she looked down at her wrist and started tugging on a small strand of thread on the cuff of her hoodie. "I can get that." In theory, but she was pretty sure she wouldn't feel that way if her own father died, considering he wasn't exactly a father figure either. But he didn't leave her with a string of traumatic childhood beatings or anything, so it was different. "Is that how he's feeling, though?" she asked her wrist. "I don't know. He won't tell me. He brushes it off, but he's doing really bad. He's not talking about his feelings and I don't blame him, but I kind of want him to so I like, know, but I don't want to push or bug him about it. And it's stupid 'cause I'm his wife and I should be attuned to his feelings and whatever and know what's wrong, but I don't and I'm just left staring at him and not knowing what to do or how to make him better."
Lis' eyes widened and she looked over at J. "I...don't think there's anything you really can do right now," she said, arching her eyebrows for some kind of confirmation. Lara had stopped looking down at her wrist and instead looked back out the window.
J's eyes landed on Lara's fidgeting and she glanced at Lis before keeping the rest of her attention on Lara as she spoke. She took a slow breath and attempted not to jump when it felt like the goldfish did a flip in her gut, instead just resting a hand there and nodded at Lis' advice. "Does seem like that's the case, that there's not much you could do right now. Maybe after the funeral things will be different. It's a time kind of thing, I guess." She glanced out the window and then at Lis again before looking at Lara. "And just because you're married doesn't mean you should be attune to everything he's feeling. I mean...your parents didn't be-," she stopped with a quick glance around and then added. "Didn't do all the shit to you that his did to him, right? None of ours did, so I don't think there's a viable way we could be attune to anyone's feelings in that kind of situation. Poe, maybe, could be. Have you tried talking to her about him? Presumably if he's severely protective of her, she's got some level of protectiveness towards him right?" She arched her eyebrows a little.
Lara turned her eyes to J when she almost let out that slip. She shook her head at her question. It was something she hadn't even thought about doing at all. "She's upset about everything too. I don't want to make her have to talk about it, especially not to make her worry about worrying about her brother, who's already worrying like crazy about her." She took a deep breath and sat up, quickly continuing, "But it's okay. I'll wait. After the funeral's over there'll be less to worry about it." She didn't want to wait, though. It was kind of hard to sit there and do nothing when Stone was obviously distressed.
J considered that for a minute. "She might be worried about him already though. And hey maybe the two of them are talking about it with each other anyhow." She stopped for a moment when Lara sat up and went on so she could listen. "Have you asked him in any way other than asking the default 'are you okay' or 'how are you doing' kind of way?"
Lara's brow wrinkled some more. Before she had been worried she was doing something wrong, but now she was pretty sure she was. "What other way am I supposed to ask him?" she asked, holding her hand out as she looked from J to Lis. "I'm so bad at this kind of thing. The talking thing. After the 'are you okay?' and 'how are you?' shit I just go straight to cribbing generic lines from movies because I don't know what to say. And that fails horribly so I stop and then that's it. I don't know how to do this. When Poe was sick last year we...well, it was different. I knew exactly why he was upset then." Lara shook her head and waved her hand. "I really shouldn't be whining about this to you guys. Let's talk about something else."
"You ever think," Lis began, adjusting herself in her chair, "that maybe part of the reason why you feel so clueless about this talking thing is because you're always trying to brush people off when they try to do the talking thing to you?"
Lara gave Lis an incredulous look. "No. This isn't amateur psychiatry hour." She turned to J. "And I really don't want to talk about this anymore." Well, she did. But she also didn't.
She wasn't doing something wrong, in J's opinion, but it was Lara so of course she thought that. Lara and Stone were way more alike then they probably thought they were. "You're not bad at anything. Relax. I just mean maybe he's expecting you to ask 'are you okay' and 'how are you doing?' So, I don't know, try something else - instead of asking, tell him you're worried. If you want him to tell you how he feels, then tell him how you feel?" She looked at Lis and then scrunched her eyes up and shook her head. "Well, tough, we're going to talk about it because reactions like that are the kind of reactions your husband is giving you and you're trying to get around that, yes?" She arched her eyebrows and looked back and forth between both of them. "Don't let him get out of it just because maybe he feels uncomfortable - of course he feels uncomfortable, wouldn't you?" She shrugged.
Lara gave J a look asking her if she really had to answer that question. Of course she would be feel uncomfortable. She already did feel uncomfortable. She let out a breath and glanced at the table briefly. "Yeah, all right, but this is Stone. If I tell him how worried I am, it's only going to make him feel guilty and then he'll feel even shittier about everything so then he'll try even harder to act like everything's okay. I know him."
"It's a vicious cycle," Lis said, "but walking around the whole thing isn't going to help anyone."
"Okay so a good way to try and curb that would be to tell him you know he's going to do that too? Your options are kind of limited to either follow along with his 'I'm all right' schtick, talk to Poe, or talk to Stone. And yeah walking on eggshells doesn't seem to be working, right?" J asked.
Lara considered this and then nodded. "Yeah. I guess I can try that. Talking to him with a 'don't feel guilty' disclaimer." She just hoped it wouldn't backfire. But even if it did, what was the worst that could happen? Stone would know she was only bugging him about it because she cared.
"Good," Lis said, holding both of her hands out. "And after the funeral you're going on your billionth vacation in the past twelve months, so your bunny instincts will kick in and everything will once again be right with the world."
J nodded. "Hey, yeah, did you decide where you're going to go yet?" A lighter topic was in order for at least a little bit after all of that serious talk. "Is Poe going with you?" She asked before she lifted her glass to take a drink.
"The Bahamas," Lara answered, picking up her glass as Lis shook her head. "Poe says she can't go 'cause it'd be taking too much time off of school. So probably not."
"Ahhh, nice. How many times have you been there now?" J smirked. "And that sucks, about Poe." And then she tilted her head and looked at Lis. "And when, exactly, are you using vacation days, hm? How many of them did you lose last year? All those restful days to waste..." She shook her head. "For shame."
"Just like twice," Lara shrugged. She looked over at Lis and and waited for her answer.
"It's only the beginning of the year," Lis scoffed. She gave J a sweet smile and said, "I'm saving them for baby hangouts once the time comes." She smirked and sipped her drink. "Going somewhere on your own isn't fun anyway. We need to all do something."
"It's the beginning of this year," J corrected. "I meant last year." She smirked back at Lis. "But I'm glad you're saving up for babysitting duty. That's convenient." She grinned. "And I'll agree that we all need to do something." Before she was way too big or way too busy, ha.
Lis nodded. "But now the question is...should boys be allowed?" She posed this question to J, since she already knew what Lara's answer was going to be. God forbid she and Stone spend a week apart. "Or should this be a girl's club only trip?"
J's eyebrows arched. "Does that imply that you have a boy to include, or are you being courteous?" She asked as she glanced at Lara and then looked at Lis again adding, "And in light of recent events I'd say boys allowed, unless you're both against that," Before she waited for Lis' answer.
"I was being courteous," Lis said. She was very far from having a boy. There was no time for boys. She looked over at Lara at J's last point, and then nodded. "Oh yeah."
Lara had been a little zoned out, but she came back again when she realized the two of them were waiting on her response. "Oh. Yeah. I'm so not going to be ditching Stone for a while." She looked down at the table for a moment or two and then looked back up. "We're going to be in Nassau for a while, it sounds like. Like, not as long as the honeymoon - hopefully, 'cause I've got work - but Poe's going meet up with us sometime after we get there. I'll have to talk to Stone about it, but you guys can come down toward the end of the trip, and then we can all come back together or something. If you want to go to Nassau. And if Stone's okay with more company. Which, when the company is you guys, shouldn't really be a problem."
J's brow furrowed a bit as she watched Lara and waited for her to come back from zoning. She glanced at Lis after Lara's mini-ramble and then nodded. "I think that sounds like a good idea if Stone's okay with it," She arched her eyebrows at Lis. "You're not gonna punk out now are you?"
Lis cringed a tiny bit. "Depends on how soon this would be," she said to J before turning to Lara.
"A few weeks?" Lara suggested.
Lis nodded slowly as she thought about it. "Okay. I'll probably be able to do it. But I need to know the dates right away."
"Okay. I'll ask Stone about it right after lunch." Lara would have called, but she would rather talk about it with Stone in person.
J looked back and forth as Lis and Lara as they both spoke and then gave an approving nod. "Fantastic." She declared. "When are you guys leaving for the funeral?" She didn't want to move the conversation back to the depressing stuff even though it didn't completely move off that topic anyhow.
The food arrived, and Lara glanced up at the waiter as he started placing the plates down on the table. She thanked him and then looked at J. "Tonight. I haven't even packed yet. Which I guess I should do, since there's that whole trip we're doing right after it."
J gave a grateful nod to the waiter once all the food was down and then started preparing her food for eating while Lara answered. She nodded. "You should probably pack, yep. Then again. so long as you pack enough to get there, you can take care of the rest once you're there." She smirked. Well it wasn't like it was a lie or anything what with Lara being married to a billionaire and all.
"Yeah, you really don't even have to bring anything at all," Lis said with a grin and an eyeroll as she put her napkin on her lap.
Lara rolled her eyes right back. She was planning on packing everything she needed, of course. "It shouldn't really be that much stuff that I have bring anyway. Bathing suits? Lounging clothes?" she shrugged and picked up her fork to start twirling up her pasta.
"Are you guys not going out anywhere at all while you're there?" J asked after Lara's comment. Hey, she was curious. She was sure Stone and Lara had picked a place they wouldn't necessarily have to leave but they would stand the chance of getting cabin fever, wouldn't they?
"Well, I'm going to bring normal clothes too. At least it'll be warmer so I won't have to layer up as much." And no scarves and hats and such. She'd also have to pack some clothes for the funeral, but she wasn't going to go too out of her way for that. Black pants, black jacket, done.
J nodded as she started to dig in, despite the flutter of the baby movement in her stomach. She glanced and Lis and arched her eyebrows as she tried to think of what topic to move to next. Hm. "How's Poe been? After all that crazy stuff happening, is that worse now because of this?" What? She couldn't think of a good non-depressing question.
Lis looked back at J and shook her head. These conversation topics were so cheery. But that didn't mean Lis wasn't interested, because she was. She turned to Lara, who was still twirling that same chunk of pasta around her fork.
"She's upset. Obviously." And it had to be so bizarre to mourn your dad when you were still recovering from the wounds he had given you a few months before. "She's quiet."
J nodded slowly, eyebrows arching again as she chewed her mouthful of yummy food. She washed it down with a sip from her water glass. "Is she eating and all that? Or talking to Stone or anything?" She asked while trying not to think about things like how she and Gilly and Dash would deal if their father died. Then again, their father didn't beat them, so.
"Neither of them are eating very much. Or talking very much. But, like, he's talking to her more about this stuff than I am." Obviously. He was her brother, after all. Lara finally lifted up her fork and took a bite.
"It'll probably be better once you guys get out of here. And do the funeral thing," Lis shrugged.
J poked at some more food and was relieved when Lara actually ate. She lifted her fork to take a bite as Lara answered and Lis offered her own opinion. She nodded her agreement. "It's all about taking time to deal," She shrugged and with people like impatient Follethornes, well that could get a little irritating she guessed.
"Mmhm," Lara nodded at her pasta. Lara had no idea how long it would take to deal with the death of a guy who had been making them miserable all their lives, but she was hoping that said dealing wasn't going to take some huge toll on them. It really sucked how Gibson was still ruining things, even from beyond the grave. But at least he wasn't able to ruin anything else after this.
"Well, thank God he can't attack anyone else at the very least," J said with a nod before she took a drink of water. "And on a completely unrelated note, I need to take a trip to the rest room," She smirked. "I shall return - triumphant and with a happy bladder." She nodded and wiped her hands on her napkin before sliding her chair out and standing up so she could head in the direction of the restrooms.
Lara widened her eyes a little and nodded to her pasta at that. She looked up when J stood and gave her a little nod.
"Good luck!" Lis smirked at J. Once she was gone, Lis attempted to distract Lara by asking about the Bahamian weather and what she was planning on packing for the trip. Lara was only about half-engaged in the conversation. Better to get her exhaustion and mopiness out now, so she could be back to being quasi-upbeat for the Hawthorne kids.
On her way to and from the bathroom, J tried to think of less depressing questions for the remainder of the lunch outing, but really there were only so many questions one could think of, right? So upon her return she attempted to get info on what she missed while emptying her bladder and alo about other mundane things like who was looking over the stores while they were gone and who was going to watch Slate and other things of the like. It was definitely one of the more awkward and drawn out of all their lunches.
Which was why Lara was dying for it to be over. She wasn't particularly looking forward to being back at the apartment where everything was weird and depressed, but she didn't want to talk about it all at lunch anymore. Finally the checks came, were paid for, and it was time to leave. Thank God.
"So Poe will just hand the Slate reins over to me when you goes with you guys, right?" Lis confirmed as she stood up.
Lara nodded. There was really no need for anyone to watch the cat for just the funeral stuff, especially since Poe would want to hang out with him again once she came back and the Follethornes went to the Bahamas.
J pulled her jacket on after standing up and lifted her bag up onto her shoulder. "Well, call us if you need anything - and don't ignore that offer," She said as she started buttoning her coat up.
"I will," Lara nodded as she put her jacket on over her hoodie.
Once they got outside it was time for hugs and goodbyes, since they wouldn't be seeing each other until they - possibly - came to visit the islands. "I'll call you guys later after I talk to Stone about the visiting thing. Let you know," Lara said once Lis let go of her.
J gave a salute and then gave Lara a hug once Lis let go. "Good deal," She agreed with a nod. "We'll be around." She added for lack of anything better to add. This was all very taxing on them conversation wise.
No kidding. After the second round of goodbyes, all three girls headed off on their separate ways. As Lara got into the car and waited for the heat to warm up, she pulled out the list of stuff she needed to do before she left that night. So far most of it was completed. Work stuff, lunch, some extra stuff to pack, calling her mother (ugh), all done. Now she just had to talk to Stone about J and Lis visiting, talk to the Manor mailroom about stopping their mail, and sadly, call up the roller derby captain and quit the team. For now, anyway. She had been missing too many practices and games since all the hoopla started in late December, so there was no need to leave them hanging with a deadbeat alternate, especially one who was going on vacation for an undetermined amount of time. She wasn't going to mention that stuff to Stone though, that was for sure. She made the call and then pulled out of the parking space, ready to head back home and do the rest of the stuff she had to do.