Nov 29th 2013 WHO: Katherine Graves, Reed Jensen WHAT: B&Es. John Cusack. The Zoo. WHEN: Nov 29th, 6:45am WHERE: Indianapolis RATING: Low STATUS: Closed/Complete
Wind sprints sucked. Royally. But Kat had promised to hurry back to the Jensen home before Mari woke, and hurry she did. The notion of digging a trench coat out of the garage and holding her iPhone over her head for shits and giggles was vastly entertaining, but the chances of finding one was certainly slim. She wasn’t sure she had any appropriately corny 80s songs to chose from in her audio library anyway - what would she have done, blasted “I like big butts” at the back of the house and hope Mari didn’t wake up, look past her curtains and let her interpret as she pleased? Kat snickered as she ran. It’d make for a good story, at least.
She was breathing hard as she rounded the house, but tried to keep her footfalls and general noise to a minimum. Kat stood on sneakered tiptoes and rapped gently on the glass of Reed’s bedroom window, then dropped down on flat feet to wait. Fists closed, she bumped them rhythmically against her quads to keep them loose while she cooled down. Angry texts from Theo were one of the surest ways to get Kat worked up. Running was the easiest way to blow off the steam - nothing new. Kat ceased bouncing on her heels when the noise of the window latch moving drew her attention back upwards.
“Romeo, oh Romeo…” She hissed quietly under her breath. Ok, so the girl was supposed to be the one in the window, but she was doing the best she could with the material she was given. Kat held her hand up, asking to be hoisted up through the window. “Come on, it’s getting really cold now” Running shorts were fine when one was actually running, but early mornings in November in the Hoosier state were brutal.
---
Reed was in shorts too. Boxer shorts. And as soon as he opened the window, he shivered. "Really fucking cold," he said in a whisper, because he definitely didn't want to wake his mother.
Rather than JUST offering his hand, he also used his gravity manipulation to lift her with ease. The hand was just to provide stability while guiding her through the window. "Light as a feather," he teased as he helped her back to solid footing on the carpet. Reed quickly shut the window and shook off the chill that had enveloped him. "Winter sucks. I want spring back." And he quickly rushed back to his bed to climb under the still warm covers.
"So what'd your sister want this time...or would you rather not discuss it and recite some more Shakespeare instead?" Reed patted the bed for her to join him.
---
“Right?” Kat chattered through her teeth. Her feet left the ground entirely as soon as she’d grabbed hold of his hand, and the surprise of it caused a momentary pulse of light to jump through her skin. She laughed at herself as she scurried through the window and made a mad rush for his comforter like a moth to flame. “Har har. Bird jokes. Brilliant.” She grinned at him before disappearing beneath the foot-end of his bedsheets.
“It does. I miss Florida,” she sighed. Her aerokinesis kicked in as soon as she’d settled - she frequently used it to effect the air in a little space bubble around her to keep herself at cozy 70F. That little parlor trick came in handy during particularly nippy NYC winters. Bedsheets shifted around, and she suddenly felt like she was in a sheet fort; a sheet fort with a good-lucking half-dressed Centurion. Sure, they were old friends, but objectively it was still funny. She laughed, but covered her mouth with the back of her hand.
Kat rolled her eyes and dropped her shoulders. The repetitiveness of her communications with her little sister wore on her. “‘Please explain to me how you’re not one of the bad guys if I can’t even spend Thanksgiving with you in your building.’ Verbatim,” she related. Kat cast him a sidelong glance. “Sometimes talking with her feels like a Shakespeare play. At least she didn’t call to yell at me this time.” Talking to Reed about this didn’t feel much better. She often tried to avoid it. “The evil that men do live with them, the good is oft interred with their bones.” There. She could keep quoting.
---
"Next Thanksgiving? We're flying south instead." He gave her a stern look and offered his hand. "Deal? No more of this Hoosier holiday crap. I'll fly my parents down there as well if they want to see me so bad." Because it was cold enough to make his man parts shrivel! He followed suit with Kat's actions though and forced warm air from the heat vents to waft in his direction.
Reed was impressed with her quotation. While he enjoyed reading, he wasn't good at memorizing literature. Besides, most of the fiction he read was of the super nerdy variety. Science fiction and such. The rest of his kindle collection consisted of actual science. "Alright, one...you get an A plus for quoting Shakespeare. Two...ignore your sister. Give her a few years to really understand shit, and she'll see that it's not so black and white. There's a shit ton of grey, and I'm not talking about those trashy novels...one of which I saw on the bookshelf in my parents' office." He cringed. So gross. So very very gross.
---
“Music to my ears.” She shook on it. “Deal.” Her Mom and Step-father even had a place in Miami they could invade if they wanted to vacation on the cheap. All assuming, of course, that Blair didn’t find out about her little Hoosier holiday and lock her in her apartment next year. Kidding. Mostly.
Their air pocket warmed up quickly, to her relief. “A+. I only know three, but sure. I’m a regular erudite.” Kat nodded, the sheet moving over the top of her head with the motion. “Thanks. Easier said than done, but you’re right.” That he said as much was appreciated. “Aaaand. That’s not something I really wanted to know about them.” She grinned. “Did it have really terrible cover art? Breathless women are required to grope bare-chested Fabio clones, otherwise it doesn’t count.” Kat nudged his shoulder with hers, amused. “It’s not that bad as far as scarring parental memories go, seriously. My Dad taxidermied my pet Raccoon for me when I was thirteen. He gave him too me with a bow around his neck for my birthday. Tractor accident. Looking back on it, it was kind of hilarious. But … ah, poor Sean Coonery. That was disturbing.” She shrugged.
---
Reed didn't even know if he'd be reprimanded for this trip, or, more specifically, his 'date'. Would Woo be upset? Would he question Reed's loyalty? Brian and Colin had thought it was a bad idea, but this was the first time he and Kat had talked about anything remotely work related. And it wasn't like they were swapping secrets. They were on vacation! This trip was just about having some fun together over the holiday. Nothing more.
"No, it was that actual book. The really popular one with all the bondage. Shades of Grey." He made a face of disgust. "I can't say I've read it, which makes it unfair of me to criticize, but it sounds really bad based on reviews. Give me free porn instead." But no porn for his parents. Because, again, gross.
"I don't know what part of that story is the weirdest part. The fact that you had a pet raccoon, that your dad stuffed the damn thing, that it was killed by a tractor, or that you named it after your favorite Bond." He chuckled and flipped back into his pillow, feeling warmer now. "I had a frog that ate mice. I named him Darwin. Scandalous for the heartland! Do you know how many cars have Jesus fish decals on them in this neighborhood?"
---
Kat wasn’t expecting her loyalty to be challenged for her choice of Thanksgiving vacation buddies. The only person who knew where she’d gone was Theo, and she’d been thrilled. Apparently, hanging out with Centurions was going to cure Kat by osmosis … or something like that. She just wanted to have a little fun away from work.
“Oh … really?” Kat wrinkled her nose. She’d taken Mari as the sort to appreciate better literature than that. Or at least a more original dime novel choice. “Well, peer pressure maybe?” There was always the hope. “I flipped through the first couple pages at a Barnes & Noble last year. It was horrendous. Did you know she used the word “gasp” over 250 times in the first book alone? Tells you all you need to know, really.” Kat was full of useful information. And Shakespeare quotes, apparently. The joys of a backwater homeschooling education.
“Sean Coonery was awesome! He was born in the mailbox, his mom ditched him, and he liked to eat my Dad’s popcorn. He was a kickass Raccoon.” She stopped before she could defend her choice of favorite James Bond and squinted at him as he dropped back on the mattress. “A frog that … ate mice? Really?” Weird. “Awesome name for a Frog that’s moving up the food chain.” Kat pulled her knees up to her chest and leaned back against the footboard. Reed looked cozy, but she had boundaries. That is, when she didn’t need a ‘drunk-off-my-ass’ nanny. “Weirdest thing you’ve ever seen in/around/about church. Go.”
---
"Again, actual porn would be better. Although, a chick gasping for air over and over, in a clearly fake way, might not be." He was thinking about this too much. "Okay, no more discussion of the trashy novel my mother apparently owns. I won't be able to look her in the eyes for the rest of this trip."
Reed blinked a few times. "I don't know why, but I keep forgetting what a hick you are," he teased. It wasn't meant in a mean way. But Kat's upbringing was vastly different from his own. No one would ever guess though with how she looked now.
"They call them Pac-Man frogs, because they're basically just big mouths that eat anything and everything. He bit me a few times while I was feeding him. Crazy amphibian." But a cool pet. Reed had a lot of pets as a kid, and still had his cat, Batman, who was likely sleeping on the heating vent under the living room couch. It was his favorite hideout. Reed wished he could have a pet at Willowbrook, but he settled for visits with the kitty that still resided here in his parents' house.
"Uhh, I mean, what's NOT weird in a church? Magic water, wine and crackers for meals, nearly dead dude hanging on a cross looking all morbid and bleeding, and people mumbling the same shit over and over." Reed always felt out of place at church. It was bizarre. He thought about the rituals and beliefs in a critical way, analyzing them to death, and decided all religion was super weird.
---
“I’ve actually never seen porn, so …” She worried her facial expression into something like embarrassment. “That makes me sound horribly sheltered and totally lame, I know. But I was always really freaked out that I’d look it up once and it’d like … borg-mind my computer or something and the pop-ups would never go away. And I didn’t have skin-a-max.” She shrugged. Oh well. She partly got the appeal, but not enough to think about it much.
Kat snickered and dropped her face against her knees. “I know. It’s horrible. I never had a chance.” She lifted her head. “I started in Grabill” she pointed up towards the ceiling as if that somehow gestured north towards Ft. Wayne, “then ended up in Kentucky and nowheres-ville Florida. Hopeless from the start. At least we had cool pets. I even had a fox once.” The fox was her favorite, as cool as Sean Coonery had been.
Pac-man frogs. Clever. She nodded her approval. “Safer than Triceratops, I think. Less goring. And risk of trampling.” Honestly she’d anticipated a more clever response from Reed on the subject of religion. “What, eating bread and pretending you’re cannibalizing God seems weird to you?” She scoffed, as if taken aback by this. “I saw a church spaghetti board outside Jacksonville a few summers ago while I was back home for break. It had bastardized Katy Perry Lyrics. ‘I kissed a girl and I liked it. There’s no cherry chapstick in Hell’.” She paused for dramatic effect. “Seriously. Katy Perry. At least they were keeping up with the times.”
---
"It would be totally weird and completely inappropriate if I sent you links for safe sites, wouldn't it?" Because he had a few trusted sources of free internet porn. The internet was awesome like that. Then again, maybe the Syndicate had strict internet usage rules. Come to think of it, did the Centurions know what he was wanking to? Shit.
"A fox would be cool. Did you call him Mr. Fox?" He teased with a grin and nudged her leg with his foot. What? She was stealing space in his bed! He had every right.
"Dude, a pet dinosaur would be so badass! I was talking about it with some coworkers the other day. I want one. Gonna see if any of the Animorphs are capable of it." Because holy awesome! More awesome than actual holy stuff. Well, allegedly. "Katy Perry should stage a girl on girl kissing protest outside that church. Because, yeah." Hot. "Also, I'm pretty sure te only references to homosexuals in the bible are dudes with other dudes. God's cool with lesbians. All dudes are cool with lesbians, and we were created in his image...soooo..." He nudged her foot again. "Don't forget to call me when you get all freaky with another chick."
There was a light knock at the door before it cracked open, and his mother popped her head in. Awesome timing at always. Reed in bed with a semi sweaty Kat, talking about lesbian action. The woman was beaming, clearly happy with the site. "Oh good, you're up. Just gonna make some breakfast, but no hurry! You two stay in bed as long as you like!" Her voice was sing-songy. Reed was surprised she didn't give them a sexual pep talk.
"Mom, get out!" He glared at her, but his protests were worthless. They fell on deaf ears. She was still smiling like a loon.
---
“Oh come on, why is that inappropriate? We’re adults.” She didn’t really get the whole ‘prudish’ thing. Maybe she should have, as girl with such a good Christian upbringing. Pft. “Not inappropriate, I think, but I still don’t want to share your porn stash, nevertheless.”
“No, he didn’t get a swanky name like Sean Coonery. I was in a serious Harry Potter binging phase at the time and thought naming him Ron Weasley was the coolest and most ironic thing ever. He was red, but he definitely wasn’t so lowly as a Weasel. Yeeeah. I was pretty cool.” At least she could laugh at herself. Reed nudged; she nudged back. There was absolutely no way she was being forced out from under the warm covers, at least not for another ten minutes. She needed to be able to feel her frozen calf muscles first.
“Oh no way! That would be amazing. Get one of them to be dinosaur for a day and ride around campus on him … or her.” She laughed. What a sight that’d be. She missed all the ridiculous school hijinks sometimes. Talk quickly shifted from James Bond to Dinosaurs, to Lesbians - it was like hitting every guy’s ideal conversation bullet points in rapid succession. “Die hard church-ies go out of their way to pickett Planned Parenthoods. I think that would be the end of Katy Perry’s career. And her life.” This nudging was becoming a pattern. “Yeah yeah. I’ve got you on Lesbian alert speed dial. Promise. Is there any criteria I should be following here? Blondes, Brunettes, Redheads? Do we have a preference?”
Awkward timing much? Kat could not even bring herself to poke her head out from beneath the covers at the sound of Mari’s voice, which in hindsight a few seconds later was probably a bad idea. Who knows what she’d assume Kat was doing out of sight. She was reading E.L. James books, Lord knew she had enough exposure to kink. The door closed behind Mrs. Jensen and Kat stared at Reed, her blue eyes wide as saucers. “That happened, right? That happened. That wasn’t post-workout high. We have to eat breakfast with her.” Kat blinked, then curled into a ball at his footboard. She was shaking she was laughing so hard. “Shit. She’s going to be smiling like the Cheshire cat. When’s our flight back to New York?”
---
"I'm not gonna send you links to my favorite videos! Just the sites themselves. Or not. Never mind." Because it was getting weird. Kat was his friend. That was all she had ever been. They hadn't really discussed anything more, even if sometimes the feelings had been there. The timing was wrong. Always. Even now.
"Ron Weasley is an awesome name for a fox. I was always jealous of him. He got the hot smart girl. Basically a unicorn. Super smart girls are rarely hot." Sad but true. Though Hermonie was really bossy. She was probably the sort to tie up her dates and spank them. Nope, not saying that out loud. Ever.
The nudging only stopped when Mari appeared and then disappeared. "I'm feeling super uncomfortable right now. Discussing you making out with lesbians...porn...dinosaurs... all while we huddle under the covers." He looked down at himself. Boxers. That was it. Yeah, uncomfortable. "This could only be worse if we had actually been DOING something." Or was it worse being caught looking like they were? Shit. He would never hear the end of this. Reed pulled the covers down, making their makeshift tent disappear. "What the hell am I going to say to her now? We're here until Sunday!"
---
“Nevermind indeed. You brought it up.” She’d thought it was funny, but Kat’s sense of humor was as off-kilter as she sometimes was. He was right though, specific videos was way beyond an unnecessary over share. Besides, she felt like there was an odd line defining whether talking about sex was a normal thing, or whether it was just … prohibited territory for them.
“Well thanks. He did, but it took him freakin’ seven years. Kind of lame.” Ron was a good guy though. All left feet, but a good guy. “He was probably the best fictional friend ever, though, so he gets big points.”
Kat was having a really hard time stopping her laughter, and finally realized that it had turned into a defense mechanism against extreme embarrassment. The tent collapsed, but she didn’t emmerge from beneath the tail end of their ruined hideaway for another few seconds. Her cheeks were pink from the effort of forcing silence. She coughed to clear her throat, sat upright and crossed her legs in front of herself. “This has completely surpassed the time the Janitors caught me streaking on St. Patty’s a few years ago.” At least she hadn’t been alone then. There had been other idiots to share the scrutiny. And they hadn’t been required to have breakfast with the Janitors afterwards.
“I’m really not sure about that. She wouldn’t have stayed to comment if there’d been something she’d … been interrupting.” Kat grimaced. So awkward. She stood and brushed her hands down her legs, despite the fact that there was absolutely no reason for it. “Well, now that my family-freak-out morning run has turned this weekend just a bit crazier, I ought to excuse myself. Shower. Something.” She looked up from the intense scrutiny of her sneakers to meet his eyes. “Sorry.” Maybe it wasn’t a big deal, but family dynamics were sensitive. ---
"Totally an awesome friend. Colin's sorta like that. Brian too. They were both weird about you coming with me, and I get it, but whatever." It hadn't changed Reed's mind. He was glad he'd brought Kat with him. Despite the weirdness with his mom. "Ron tried talking Harry out of stuff all the time, but still stood by his side. I like that." Colin and Brian would remain loyal too.
"You went streaking?" He asked with a chuckle. "With who?" He probably didn't know them if this happened after she left Willowbrook. Though maybe it happened while he was away at Purdue, and she had just failed to share the hilarious story with him. Not cool!
"Same here. Uh, the shower, and the apology. She's gonna be unbearable now." And no amount of explaining by Reed would make her understand or believe that nothing sexual was happening under the covers. "You may as well sleep in here the rest of our trip. She'll complain if you don't."
---
“Yeah, I have two friends like that back at Seagram. They call me on my crap. But not too much of it. Still have to have some fun.” They didn’t know where she was spending her holiday though. She deliberately didn’t give that any additional thought.
“No one you hung out with, I think. It was 8th year, about ten of us figured we’d rather live it up and go out with a bang in the last three or four months. In hindsight, we were just being idiots. But it was a blast. You know Taylor Stokes, the 40-something Vet? Mostly takes care of the pool? He gave us crap for it for the rest of the year. Thought it was funny, though.” How had she neglected to tell him that? It had probably been one of those months when he’d gotten into some new girl at Purdue and she’d called to check in less frequently. Who knew.
Kat headed for the hallway door, but paused to throw a skeptical look over her shoulder. “She can complain, but as long as it won’t offend her …” She wrinkled her nose, then turned and pressed her back against the door, her hand on the knob. “Ok, so what’re we doing then?” Kat could manage either way if need be, but this was Reed’s family. He had to deal with the aftermath. “I can stay in my room and we can be obstinate about it. Or I can stay in here and you can tell her it didn’t work in a few weeks and be done with it. It’s your call.” She felt guilty for sneaking through his window and setting this whole situation up perfectly. ---
"No wonder you ran off to join the Syndicate. Had to flee from your shame!" He joked. "You'll never be able to look at Stokes again. Not without blushing." It probably had been around the time he was seeing Elizabeth. It didn't last too long though. His relationships rarely did. And that one in particular, because Reed knew he would be graduating soon. While he had expected to start his doctorate, he also expected to do so in New York if possible, because then he could be closer to Kat. Weird how things worked out. He was planning to return while she was preparing to leave.
Reed groaned and rubbed his face. "I suck at lying to her. I can't tell her we're...whatever. We're not. We couldn't even if we wanted to," over share much? "What do you want to do about it? She's going to assume no matter what. I could try to explain it was nothing, but she won't believe me. Or if she does, she'll be disappointed." It seemed easier to just not say anything at all. His his mom believe what she wanted, not argue with her, and have Kat sleep in his room to avoid further drama. It wasn't lying, exactly, it was just omission.
---
“Oh you have no idea. Every time we passed him on the quad … saw him anywhere, really, he’d just grin at us and shake his head. It was like living that horrible nightmare where you think you’ve shown up to class without your clothes.” Not that that had anything to do with why she’d ‘run off’ to Syndicate, but she definitely hadn’t missed being subjected to that uncomfortably knowing grin.
“It’s a good thing that you suck at lying to her,” she offered. It just didn’t help them much here. Kat arched a brow. Hold up. “Couldn’t even if we wanted too? And that means…?” Her brow knit, but her eyes were amused. Honestly, she was lost. Couldn’t because she was part of The Hellfire Club and he was one of the X-Men, because they talked about porn as objectively as Academia, because he’d gotten so used to calling her Kitten he couldn’t take her seriously, because he suspected she secretly was a closeted lesbian, or … what? Once friends, forever friends, perhaps. It didn’t really matter, she supposed. “Nevermind. You’re my strictly-friend Ron.” Or something. She felt slightly bristle-y. Or just more awkward.
“If staying in here is going to prevent additional awkwardness, fine.” but this is the strangest family holiday I’ve ever been a part of.’ She held her tongue.
---
Was all of the above a possible answer to this multiple choice? Because yes to all and then some. "It doesn't mean anything. Forget it." Why did he open his big, dumb mouth? It wa too early for confusion and weirdness of that variety. And, there was the answer he needed from her. Strictly-friend Ron. Yep. Ron Weasley may have gotten the girl, but Reed wasn't Ron Weasley. Besides, hadn't JK Rowling said something about how Harry really should have ended up with Hermione? He thought he heard that recently. It made a hell of a lot more sense.
It was going to be awkward no matter what. They just had to grin and bear it. "I've got a sleeping bag in the closet. You can have the bed. I'll sleep on the floor." There. Problem solved.
---
Kat was absolutely a closeted lesbian. Sure. Spot on. “Yup. Forgotten,” it came out a bit more sharply than intended. Kat frowned. She didn’t like it, it was unlike her. “Sorry. This morning is starting out …” She glanced upward, as if hearing something in the distance. “Yup. I’m fairly certain that’s the Twilight Zone theme song…” It all made sense now. Kind of like how Hermione really should have ended up with Harry. Ginny was boring. And kind of creepy-stalker-obsessive. To the point;
Kat nodded. “Alright, that’ll work.” Maybe it wouldn’t be as awkward as she’d previously assumed. It’d just be like a funky sleepover. Or amusingly reminiscent of those bundling bag situations from the 18th century. “Here goes nothing,” she shrugged, lifted herself from her support against the door and cracked it open. “I’m off to wash all this shame away. See you at breakfast.” Kat slipped through, closing the door behind her.
---
Reed wanted, no, he NEEDED some alone time to clear his head. Among other things. Way too much awkward. So he just gave a nod to Kat and let her exit his room. Hopefully, she wouldn't be assaulted by his mother in the hallway.
With her gone, Reed set about getting out of bed, showering, and dressing for breakfast. He was fairly quick about it, despite the shower being slightly longer, and made it to the kitchen table before Kat. His mother was practically skipping about as she made a massive meal. "Mom, really, cereal is all I want."
"Nonsense. I'm sure you're famished," she responded with a wink. "And you need protein. Fiber too, but mostly protein."
Reed just sighed and flopped his head down into the table. She was exhausting. "I'm not famished," he mumbled, because his face was smoothed against his crossed arms. "I didn't.." No, he said he wouldn't try to convince her that nothing happened. "Fine. Give me a heaping plate of bacon. And eggs. The dippy kind." His term for over easy. It had been since he was a kid.
---
Kat was five to ten minutes later making it to the kitchen. She came out of the guest bedroom in a tee-shirt, jeans and her sock feet, still tying a pile of damp blonde hair behind her head as she walked. Her skin was slightly pink from the hot shower following such a long run in the blistering cold, but her expression looked a bit sullen despite all the healthy color. What a mess.
“Good Morning, Mari,” she greeted, walking past Reed’s mother to snatch a pear from the fruit tray by the fridge. “The coffee smells wonderful, what is that?” She retrieved a mug from the cabinet she’d been directed too following the same query the morning prior and poured herself a cup, listening to the brief description of the brew’s South American origins. It added character, she supposed, but coffee was coffee. Anything to keep Mari away from the subject of their earlier shenanigans.
Kat sat down at the table with her coffee and fruit, trying her darnedest to be casual. She couldn’t bring herself to care too much, she had too much on her mind and a pear to chew on for distraction. Hunter came into the kitchen and looked momentarily confused by Mari’s not-so-subtle, excited thumbs up before it’s meaning dawned on him. Kat suppressed a groan. “Morning,” she offered before taking another bite to avoid the need to converse.
---
"Morning, sweetie," Mari cooed, and yes, she went about explaining in great detail about the coffee. Which included information about how it was free trade, animal safe, sustainably grown, and so on. Mari was very proud of all these things. "I hope you're not going to be grumpy like Reed here."
"I'm not grumpy," he said in a grumpy tone. Okay, so maybe he was. But he managed a nod and a grumbled "Morning" to Kat as she joined him. Reed's father wasn't far behind, and he just rolled his eyes at Mari's antics.
"Hunter, you can clean up the guest room. They don't need it," she chirped.
Hunter raised an eyebrow and eyed his son. Reed just shook his head, because he didn't know how to respond to any of this. Apparently, he was now boning Kat. Sucked that he had to put up with all this attention and not actually get laid before hand.
"Why don't we leave the guest room as it is and stop discussing sleeping arrangements," Hunter suggested.
"Brilliant idea, dad!" Leave it to Hunter to be sensible. He usually was.
"We're all grown-ups, Hunter. I don't see what the big deal is. Patty...you know her, sweetie, she's in my bridge club, she gets so upset that her daughter, Andrea, is living with her boyfriend. Says they should be married. Well, I mean, that's great and all, marriage, but I'm a modern gal. I get it. I know things are different for you kids. It's fine by me if you want to take a test drive or two."
Reed wanted to die. Right then and there. He wanted to stab himself with his fork. He stabbed at one of the eggs instead, making the yolk ooze out onto the surrounding bacon. "I don't care about Patty. Or Andrea. Or test drives. Can we please just talk about something else. Fuck, politics would be better!"
"Don't curse, sweetie," his mom said, ignoring Reed's discomfort as she finally sat down at the table. "Although, spring is not far away, so if you were thinking of popping the question, maybe around Christmas, we won't have a lot of time to plan a wedding."
---
She realized after he spoke that she’d not said a word to Reed since entering the kitchen. Kat smiled stiffly and nodded in response, apparently more interested in her coffee than conversation. Hunter’s response to the whole situation seemed mercifully logical compared to Mari’s, for which Kat was silently grateful. Her mind backtracked to the text conversation she’d had with Reed the week prior about traveling for the holiday. She wondered if, in accepting his invitation, she’d been briefly insane or had just been so pitifully desperate not to spend the Thanksgiving weekend alone that she’d chosen to pretend so for the course of their conversation. Or perhaps she’d just missed her friend so much that she’d utterly abandoned good judgement in favor of spending time with him. Regardless, she felt she was now swallowing a painful dose of comeuppance for her stupidity and oversight. Oops.
Kat had drifted from the kitchen banter, her eyes searching the dark depths of her coffee for either meaning or salvation. Neither came. Only talk of spring weddings. Kat blanched and looked up, her expression confounded. Mari couldn’t be serious. She just couldn’t. Had she really been reading this much ‘Shades of Grey’ that she could even think this way?
Kat and Reed had discussed just stomaching the awkwardness for the rest of the weekend, but Kat just couldn’t handle this. Not for another two days. It was dishonest, and not even the beneficial sort. She would snap under the weight of it.
“Reed and I didn’t sleep together,” she interjected suddenly, her voice flat and matter-of-fact. If they were all adults, then saying so shouldn’t have been an issue. “I was out for an early run and climbed through his window because he was awake. I didn’t want to wake anyone up while tiptoeing back in through the front door.” Her eyes passed between Hunter, who seemed to be working out what to make of all this, and Mari, who looked utterly crestfallen and was hardly attempting to hide it. Kat was sorry to see that she was disappointed, but this was just absurd.
“I’ll still be sleeping in the guest bedroom, but thank you.” Now, if the three Jensens didn’t mind, she very much wanted to drown herself in her coffee.
---
It was all too much. Mari took an idea, a hope of hers, and ran with it. Honestly, wedding talk? She went from thinking her son had slept with his travel buddy to planning their future over breakfast. It had all left him dumbfounded until Kat spoke up. Regardless what they'd agreed upon minutes prior, he was grateful for her words.
Mari was not. She looked like a kicked puppy. But for once, she was silent. Small blessings and all that jazz, or so Reed thought. But he felt bad for her. As much as he didn't want her going off on marriage and baby tangents, he also didn't want her feeling disappointed in him. "Mom, I'm only 32. I know you were a lot younger when you had me, but that doesn't mean I'm a lost cause."
She got up from the table and went to the kitchen to pretend she was working on something, but it was just an excuse to hide herself away.
Reed sighed. He couldn't win. But he had to try. He got up and followed after his mother, wrapping his arms around her. "Just give me some time to find the right girl," he said softly. But would he know the right girl when he found her? Would he act upon his instincts or let her slip through his fingers? "Don't be upset over this. Kat's great, and we're both here to have fun with you and dad. So can we please have fun?"
Mari didn't hug Reed in return, but she nodded silently at his question. In her mind, Kat very well could be the right girl. She was beautiful, friendly, and seemed to make Reed happy. "Don't overthink it, Reed," Mari said in closing. Reed wasn't sure what she meant, but Mari didn't give him the chance to question her. "Hunter, I need to go run a few errands. Think you could clean up the kitchen for me?" She asked as she pulled away from Reed.
Hunter nodded, though he did look concerned. Reed looked hurt now, like he'd done something wrong. But he returned to the table with a light thud when he sat. Mari disappeared into her bedroom, and Reed poked at his food some more.
---
Kat hated lying. It went against everything she’d been taught as a child and made her feel like her chest was caught in a vice - somehow just wrong, deep down to her core. There were moments when she wished that wasn’t so. Their current situation was one of the more uncomfortable examples of that. Had speaking up been the lesser of two evils? She couldn’t tell. The look on her friend’s face and the tone of his attempt to console an uncharacteristically silent Mari only made Kat feel worse. If she’d thought going home early would have helped, she would have offered to do so, by herself, right then.
When Mari didn’t seem to warm to the notion that she had to wait for her son to find the right girl, Kat ground her teeth before taking a long swig of coffee. Everyone deserved that patience. It wasn’t something to be rushed. She was so grateful that her brother had gotten married, had kids already and taken the pressure off. With any luck she’d never deal with this craziness from her mother, Sofia.
Kat tried to smile when Reed sat back down in the wake of his mother’s departure, but it didn’t come out quite right. She just looked like she had a horrible upset stomach. That wasn’t entirely untrue.
“Sorry,” she breathed, feeling defeated.
Pushing her seat back, Kat stood and passed Reed on the way to the sink. She gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze but said nothing. The sound of the faucet as she rinsed her coffee cup was much louder than it ought to have been. She felt like she should be dancing the Charleston and singing a chorus of ‘I’m sorry’ to drive the point home.
She couldn’t have gone with Mari to help with errands. Reed was busy murdering his food. She wasn’t sure she wanted to sit with Hunter, having just upset his wife. Maybe some space was best. “I’ll be in my room for a while,” she said, turning for the hall.
---
Reed stayed at the table for a little while, eventually chatting with his father, who did his best to make Reed feel better about the whole situation. Reed hadn't done anything wrong. So why did it feel as though he had? Mother-inflicted guilt. So fucking evil.
He cleaned up his dishes and sulked off to the guest room, knocking lightly. "Kitten?" He called in a soft voice. "Can I come in?"
---
Any concept of time had been lost in multiple layers of quilts and comforters. They seemed to act like a buffer between Kat and her current max-capacity awkwardness. She’d been sitting on the carpeted floor with her back propped against the guest room bed, watching the trees move gently outside the window a few feet away. It helped a little. Or maybe it was just the old cedar smell of the quilts.
“It’s open,” she answered, just loud enough to be heard. The ghost of a smile twitched over her face at the sound of her stupid nickname. Kat lifted her head to look back over the top of the bed when the door opened. “I probably should have been a lesbian this weekend. Stuck with the original idea.” She sighed. Kat waited till he’d gotten close enough to dart her hand out of her quilt pile, grab his and tug him down towards the floor with her. Sitting there alone sounded unappealing now. “Mad at me?”
---
Reed slipped inside the room and noiselessly shut the door behind him. His socks slid just as quietly over the carpet until he was tugged down onto the floor to join Kat. He stole some covers. It wasn't actually cold, but blankets provided comfort. He needed comfort.
"It would have been a lie though. Lies suck." Though the truth sucked too. They couldn't win. "She'll get over it. At least where you're concerned. I'll continue to be a disappointment." Reed slumped enough until he could rest his head on her shoulder. "I don't think I could ever be mad at you. I'm sorry for all this stupid shit. You shouldn't have to put up with so much crazy on vacation."
---
“Yeah. They do.” Kat shook her head while Reed settled into the quilts. “She’s not disappointed in you. Moms don’t do that. She’s just concerned and hopeful … I guess. And kind of thinking of herself,” she added hesitantly. “Normal. But it sucks.”
Kat twisted a bit till she could drop her chin atop his head. It was a comfort thing. They probably looked like a human Jenga head. She was amused by the thought. “I’ll try not to abuse that too much. Don’t be. I’d rather be here with you than back in New York staring at my apartment walls.” She tried to keep it down, but a quiet laugh escaped “Even if you Mom’s been looking at me like a broodmare.” Partly joking. She lifted her head upright again. “It’s really okay.”
---
Reed shrugged. Logically, he knew Kat was right, but it didn't feel like it. He felt like he was a fuck up in his mother's eyes. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. She was extraordinarily proud, but she still wanted to see her little boy settle down, and she really wanted grandchildren.
He managed a laugh as well. "Think of it as a compliment. She wants YOU to give her grandchildren. She thinks you're worthy. Desperate as she is to be a grandma, she still wants quality. I think she's this broken up because you exceeded expectations." Kat was gorgeous after all, and so very kind. "So, if I don't find the right girl in a few years, I might give you a call."
---
She cast him a skeptical glance, one eyebrow cocked higher than it’s counterpart. “I can try too. But that’s terribly twisty, compliment or not.” It was a compliment coming from a mother looking out for her son, but no less uncomfortable. Kat rolled her eyes when he spoke and dropped her head back against the mattress behind her, grinning at the ceiling. It probably managed to look sarcastic, even in profile.
“Oh no, Rube. If you think I’m waiting around for you to exhaust your options, you may be too delusional to fly that jet of yours. I hear that sort of thing requires a clear head.” She rarely used his nickname. It always sounded like something the guys would say, exclusively. “We Syndicate girls marry our work anyway, haven’t you heard? We’re evil nuns for J … Marcus Blair.”
For the length of several seconds, she just looked at him like she was trying to sort out a MENSA puzzle. Reed her friend. Reed the Centurion agent. Reed the Purdue graduate. Reed the ’we couldn’t even if we wanted to.’ And fucking Purdue. He’d had a wonderful time while he’d been at Purdue, she knew. Kat hadn’t been so thrilled about it. She turned her eyes back to the window. “Does Hunter have any plans for the day? Mari can’t be gone for too long…”
---
Realizing after she responded that he'd said something rather dickish, Reed reddened and sheepishly apologized. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that." He looked over at her and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. " You know you would never be my last option." Hell, he'd thought of her as his first option many years ago, but Kat was with someone else at the time. Now, feelings simply didn't matter. Logistics did. Seagram and Willowbrook were literally and figuratively miles apart. There was no way of rationalizing a relationship between agents on opposite sides.
"I don't know dad's plans. Or mom's. What do you wanna do? And don't say shopping. I'm not dealing with the Black Friday crowds." He considered some other options. "I think the zoo's open. Wanna go visit the penguins and pet a few sharks?" Yes, it was cold out, but the zoo had some indoor exhibits. "I know one of the keepers. She's a Willowbrook and Purdue grad with zoolingulism as her primary power." Convenient now that she worked with animals for a living.
---
“I’m not an option at all,” she corrected. Kat scoffed; “ah, politics,” in an attempt to make light of the awkward turn in the conversation. It was a weird thing to talk about. They were just sneaky West-Side-Story friends who had to meet clandestinely now, nothing else.
She could see Reed moving in her peripheral before he pecked at her cheek. Curiosity whispered in her ear as it had on previous occasions; the little devil on her shoulder. She wondered, wanted, to know what universal catastrophe would occur if she just turned and kissed him. Just to see and be done with it. But she didn’t, because Kat had a long established habit of thinking of others before herself and bad ideas never stopped being bad. That momentary impulse would hurt someday. Maybe not today, but tomorrow, but a week, a month, a year from now. It wasn’t worth it. Misguided curiosity killed kcats.
“Pft. No. Not shopping. I’d like to remain untrampled, please and thank you.” But the zoo? “YES.” Her eyes brightened. “That’s perfect, let’s do that.” Kat was perhaps talking a bit faster than was necessary, but she was genuinely on board with spending the afternoon at the zoo. She hadn’t been in years. “Jealous. I’d love to be able to do that. The pigeons in New York probably have the best stories. They’re everywhere, see everything.” She grabbed her phone from the nightstand a few feet to her side and tapped into Safari, checking for zoo hours. “As long as we can have Arby’s for lunch. It’s tragic that they’re only a midwest thing.”
---
Reed let it drop for now. Her politics comment drove home the point that she wasn't an 'option' at all. One or both of them might be skinned alive for giving something like that a try. Their timing had always been shit, and now the time was up. Period. Missed opportunities and all that shit. C'est la vie.
He laughed at the idea of talking to pigeons. "No way would I want to talk to the flying rats. They probably witness murders and mobster crimes. It would be dangerous knowing what the pigeons know. Not to mention all the gross stuff they probably see." He made a little retching noise. No thanks.
Getting to his feet, he offered his hand and pulled her up as well. "Get your shoes and coat on. We're going. I'll just make sure it's okay with dad if I borrow the Jeep." He headed out of the room then to check in with Hunter, who had no plans for the day. Good news. Then Reed shuffled off to claim his own shoes and coat. When he was done, he sought out Kat once more. "Ready for an animal adventure?"
---
Better they dropped it permanently. Spilt milk went sour if left around long enough. So forth and so on. Besides, the topic of chatting with pigeons was much more entertaining.
“Oh come on. If you ignore the stuff you don’t want to know, you miss all the good stuff with it. They see kids making friends in the park, street performers messing up and being ridiculous, Central Park weddings that go wrong and turn into soap opera episodes. They’re probably hilarious. And I bet they’d sound like Joe Pesci if they could talk. Or Stewie from Family Guy.” She thought about this for a moment, eyes momentary cast upwards. “Nope, definitely Joe Pesci.”
Kat hoisted herself up with his help and went about collecting her sneakers with haste. No time to dally when there were penguins to be seen.
Sufficiently bundled, Kat waited by the entrance to the garage. She was quietly grateful when Reed came walking down the hallway by himself. She liked his parents, but a little break was in order. “Can you really pet sharks? I don’t think that was allowed the last time I went.” She opened the garage door and held it out after her. Buckled into the passenger seat, Kat fiddled with the heat knobs as soon as the Jeep’s engine turned over. Ready to go.