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 Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 2:28 pm
Call him a sap, but Mother’s day was one of Jett’s favorite days of the year. It was a day dedicated solely to loving and appreciating your mother for everything she had done for you. Jett always went a little overboard but—hey. His mother deserved it. He’d been perusing the antiques that came in for months, searching for some piece that would have been perfect for her. She didn’t really like a lot of jewelry, but his mother was a very difficult woman to please. She was the sentimental sort, in a way that Jett would never understand. Material objects meant little to her, though she always seemed pleased with the thought Jett put into his gifts.
It probably helped that they were expensive.
This year, he’d settled on a necklace; it was not quite simple and yet far from gaudy, fashionable enough that she could wear it in a casual setting without feeling overdressed. He’d liked the way the amber caught the sunlight, and the ornate setting was quite fetching. He’d followed through with the typical routine—an affectionate, hand written card (no matter how bad he was at those, this mother still loved them), flowers and a homemade dinner.
Everything would have been perfect if his mother had shown up.
It wasn’t her fault, of course; she was supposed to be back the day before but her meeting had taken longer that she’d liked and negotiations weren’t as cut and dry as they should have been. She’d called, early that morning to say there was a chance she might not be home that evening, and then again to apologize. With the way things were working, she’d mentioned it might be several days before she was home again, so Jett simply said he loved her, good luck, and happy mother’s day.
And then there was a bit of a mess to deal with.
He’d already made dinner, and for as much as that boy could eat, he did not particularly care for his mother’s favorite meal. Sure, he’d picked some at the chicken, and it wasn’t bad, Jett just liked beef more. He wasn’t upset that the dinner he made was a bit of a waste, simply packed it up in Tupperware. Jett was almost glad for an excuse to go get fast food, anyway. He had just been about to put the food away in the fridge after cleaning up when he eyed the flowers—and sighed.
They were a pretty enough bouquet, but they wouldn’t last a few days. Jett hadn’t the faintest idea on how to tend to flowers, he just bought them.
And unless he could think of something, they were going to go to waste. Raven was out of town at some weird Edgar Allen Poe convention with her parents, and though he found her suffering a little amusing, it was really inconvenient.
And then a thought struck him.
He couldn’t give the flowers to just any girl, lest he suffer Raven’s wrath—but he knew of at least one way he could get away with it. Pondering for a moment longer, he tucked the Tupperware under his arm, grabbed the bouquet, and snagged his keys.
It was a short trip to Millicent’s house, and shamelessly he made his way to the front door—flowers and food in hand—and knocked.
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Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 4:18 pm
Bellatrix had been doing some cleaning, glad for having a free day to finally get the things done that had been needing to be done for quite some time. She had on elbow length rubber gloves and an old tee shirt on when she answered the door. “Oh. Jett, can I help you? Millicent isn’t here right now, she’s out at a friend’s house for the day and going to spend the night there so I can give the house a good cleaning.”
The place needed it. Right now…since she was in the middle of her cleaning spree, it was a complete mess. The furniture was overturned, there was a large pile of trash, a mop and bucket sat propped up against the wall, and the sound of water running could be heard from the kitchen.
“Um, don’t mind the mess, as I was saying…I’m just cleaning, so it’s messy in the transition of it. About to start on the rugs in a few minutes…” She seemed a little absent minded and glanced back into the house, sighing. Sometimes it just seemed like she had far too much stuff to deal with.
When she glanced back to Jett, she frowned at the flowers, then raised a brow. "I do hope those aren't for Millicent. She is only eleven, you know. And I am far too old for you, Jett. Honestly."
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Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 5:32 pm
Jett blinked up at the woman and then let out a laugh. “Actually, no, they are for you. Technically,” he clarified, “They were for my mother—for mother’s day—but she, ah, had make an impromptu cancellation and isn’t going to be home for a while, and I’m not the type of guy who really likes having flowers sitting around the house. No green thumb.”
He shrugged. “Girlfriend’s out of town, so I can’t drop them off by her place, and flowers aren’t the sort of things you can return. So, and don’t think you were my last option, I just figured you were my best one. So, sorry if this is bad timing or something, but.”
Jett pursed his lips and offered a shrug. “Well. I guess I didn’t want today to be a waste. And I won’t eat this, sooo,” he drawled, glancing down to the Tupperware container before he held the items out. “…Happy Mother’s Day?”
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Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 5:40 pm
To say that Bellatrix was surprised was just a bit of an understatement. She hadn’t expected such a thing from Jett, her daughters ‘best friend’, though was very pleased. “I see. Well, they’re lovely. Thank you very much.”
Millie had given her some flowers as well, but the two of them had celebrated Mothers day a bit early, choosing to do it on Friday night rather than Sunday, just because it was more convenient for the both of them. The woman took the flowers and the Tupperware container and smiled. “Do you want to come in for a while? You could help me with the dishes, I could use someone to dry them for me. “
She held the door open for him, laughing and moving aside to let him pass. “You don’t have to, but you’ve made it sound like you have nothing better to do today.”
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Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 7:08 pm
Jett’s idea of fun was not exactly doing dishes, but he figured it wouldn’t kill him. He wasn’t exactly looking forward to going home to an empty house, anyway, and maybe it would serve him well if he gave Bellatrix some time. He figured the woman couldn’t exactly think very highly of him given the circumstances of their meeting, and she’d made it fairly obvious that she wasn’t sure what to make of his friendship with Millicent.
To be fair, he wasn’t really sure what to make of it either.
“I could handle doing that, sure.” He stepped inside and tried not to glance around; he figured if she was cleaning then things were going to be in a sense of disarray. “You’ve been busy,” he noted. “I gave the house a scrub down yesterday. Wanted it to be spotless when Mom got home.”
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Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 12:30 pm
She laughed, nodding. “I have been busy. I don’t know what’s come over me…but it just seemed like it was my time to really give the house a good cleaning.” The woman walked over to the sink, sighing at the dishes, and beginning to wash them.
“That was very thoughtful of you to clean for your mom…what kind of work does she do? I’m sorry you can’t spend today with her.” That sort of stunk, to be honest. Mothers day should be spent with one’s mother, and clearly Jett had put in the effort. But, work did come first, even when someone was trying to surprise you…she of all people knew that. More than once she had missed something or another due to having a meeting with a client run for too long.
Bellatrix handed him one of the plates she had just washed, then just sighed, continuing to do the rest of them. “My mom and I had a lousy relationship, so, it’s really nice to see that this isn’t the case with everyone.”
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Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2012 12:41 pm
Jett took the plate with ease and lifted the hand towel that was on the counter in front of him, assuming that’s what she must have wanted him to dry the dishes with. “She does a lot of business negotiations. She used to be a secretary for the guy in charge, but after he retired, he wanted to make sure she still had a good job. And she was always good with people, so he just kinda worked her over in that direction and got her settled. It’s long hours, but I think she likes working.”
He shrugged, not sure how much he wanted to talk about his mother with Millicent’s, but while they were on the topic he elaborated—so as to make sure she didn’t sound like she didn’t want to be around, “Mom came from a household where they didn’t really expect much of her. She went to college, found a guy she liked, the got married, was a stay at home mom.”
There was a rather large skip in his story, as he concluded with, “She’d have been content with that, but we couldn’t live off a stay at home salary so she applied for just about the only position that would take her. She took it very seriously. I think it did her good, too. Got her mind off of things. But, now that she’s so invested in it, it keeps her busy. She tries to spend holidays here, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out. It's nothing new.”
He didn't seem particularly distraught; he was apparently just stating a fact. Jett was hardly the type of person to get all emotional about something, and even if he was in a situation that upset him, he was damn near the last person who was going to admit it.
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Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 8:37 pm
She nodded, thinking, then sighed. “She sounds like a very good woman. I’d like to meet her. She raised you all on her own, then? That’s impressive. She had done a very good job too, from what I’ve seen of you, Jett.” Bellatrix smiled, then handed him another plate she had just washed. “She should be proud.”
It seemed as though Jett and Millie really did have more in common that…whatever they had in common. If they had both been raised by mothers alone, then…well, then they had the void where a father should have been. Well. No matter. She couldn’t stop her daughter from seeing the boy, and it was starting to look like she really didn’t want to. He was a very good guy, and he had a very good head on his shoulders. He wouldn’t hurt Millicent, not even if he wanted to, she hoped.
“Well, she’s trying her best. I’m very sorry she couldn’t be home with you today, but…she’ll be home soon. Maybe the four of us could do dinner some night, do you think you’d be interested in that at all, Jett?”
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Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 2:02 am
A faint smile flickered onto Jett’s face; it was habit more so than raw emotion. He was bitter that his mother couldn’t make it, and though Jett could always sympathize with his mother, he was not a man who appreciated disappointment. He had invested a good amount of time and effort into ensuring tonight would be a good night—and his mother wasn’t even there to appreciate his efforts.
He wasn’t mad at her—how could he be? Jett adored his mother, through thick and thin. He was frustrated at the situation and had never coped well with disappointment. If ever he got his hopes up, he expected things to proceed seamlessly. Tonight, by that logic, had ended horribly. He didn’t whine or gripe, however, just stomached the disappointment in the way Jett was so keen to do.
And washed some dishes.
“She’d love that,” he said as he ran the hand towel over the plate one last time and, deciding it was dry enough, set it on the counter in front of him. “She'd probably like to meet you after all this time, too. I mean, for as much as she loves Millicent. She always wanted a little girl, herself.” He bit the inside of his cheek before adding, “If she’d had more luck with getting pregnant, she might have, but with my father—” spoken bitterly “—out of the picture and her not interested in dating, I doubt that’ll ever happen. But, who knows.”
He shrugged; there were plenty of options. She could try In Vitro, or adopt—or remarry and try again.
Jett nearly scowled at the thought; he was quick to brush it off and drift back to Bellatrix’s question. “It’d be nice to get her out of the house for something other than work or errands. I don’t remember the last time we went to someone else’s to eat—or had anyone over for dinner.”
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Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 6:03 pm
Bellatrix smiled. “Wonderful! Then, perhaps sometime next week. Millicent adores your mother, and she talks about her often, When she’s not talking about you, all I seem to hear is ‘And Jett’s mom said this, and did that, and Jett’s mom is soooo cool’.” She laughed, finally handing the male the last dish and turning the water off. “I’m glad I finally get to meet the famous, ‘Jett’s mom’. I’ll cook something nice.”
The woman turned to the boy and grinned. “Well, thank you very much for all of your help. That got done a lot faster than I had expected. You’re a lifesaver…though…” She gave him a look. “I’m giving you one chance to get out of here, before I start recruiting you to help me clean the rest of the house. I’m quite sure you’re not in the mood to do that much.”
Then again, who would be, really. Even her own zeal to clean was quickly leaving. What a bother.
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Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 3:05 am
Jett laughed slightly, in a good mood despite the weirdness this situation could have presented. In many ways, it pleased him to hear that Millicent was willing to sing praise for his mother; it was nice to know that, in at least some small form, she was getting the attention she deserved.
"Maybe next time," he promised, setting the hand towel down and wiping his hands on the front of his pants. "I actually want to run out and get some fast food before I head home and do some research. We had a few weird pieces come into work today, so I was kinda looking forward to popping in a movie and seeing if I could scrape up some information about them before I go in tomorrow."
Jett probably could have handles cleaning more; it wasn't like it was a terrible issue on his behalf, but coming up with conversation topics for him and Bellatrix seemed like it might prove a bit of a challenge. "--Anyway, I'll get out of your hair for now. You have a happy mother's day, I'll see you around."
He offered a smile--a nice smile, just slightly different from all the charming, charismatic, flirtatious smiles he was so prone to flashing--and waved to the woman before showing himself to the door.
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