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 Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 4:49 pm
Jett had long since grown into his role as Millicent’s friend, and now it had just become routine to let her make plans and sweet-talk-slash-puppy-dog-eye him into agreeing. Today, the little weasel had garnered him into agreeing to take her to a movie. He listened to her ramble on about it for a while though honestly hadn’t the faintest idea what he’d agreed to. He’d been busy enough between work, school, and gathering energy—television was the last thing on his mind.
After getting sick, he’d been very careful with his health; he was chugging a glass of orange juice with every cup of coffee—and he was drinking a lot of coffee. He pulled into the driveway of Millicent’s house four minutes earlier than he was expected to arrive, though didn’t imagine this would be an issue. Millicent was usually chastising him about ‘being late’ or ‘taking too long’ even when he arrived precisely on time. He shut off his car, pulled out his keys, popped open the door and slid out onto the sidewalk—stretched—and then proceeded to saunter to the front door. He knocked—same as always, fully expecting the little girl to be waiting on the other side, tapping the floor impatiently since she hadn’t already bolted outside and leapt into his car.
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Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 9:03 pm
Millicent, it turned out. Was not on time for once. In fact, she wasn’t even home yet. After a moment or two, the door opened, and Bellatrix stood there, blinking at Jett. “Oh. Hello there…looking for Millie?” Clearly she still wasn’t completely sure how she felt about her daughter being ‘bff’s’ with someone so old, but…hey. The child needed some sort of male role model in her life…her good for nothing father had been absent from the picture since sometime before Christmas, and Millicent had seemed to grow more and more dependent on Jett to fill that void.
“Well,” The woman said, pulling herself out of these thoughts. “She’s at the park right now…she told me you weren’t coming until…” She glanced back at the clock. It was two now, Millicent had said to expect Jett at three. “You’re not expected for another hour…do you want to just come in and wait? She should be home…shortly, I hope. She’s reading over there. I’d tell you just to head over, but, knowing my daughter, she’d have six fits if you tried to take her out with her not getting ready.”
She laughed, then moved aside, allowing room for Jett to enter, if he so chose to.
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Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 10:15 pm
The way Jett saw it, he had one of two options. He could either decline, look like a freak, and go sit in his car while he waited for Millie or agree, look like a freak, and join Bellatrix inside while he waited for the girl.
The male wore a relatively unamused expression. “Three?” he prompted, tempted to pull out his cell phone just to argue that they had agreed on two. He refrained from letting out a scoff so as not to make Bellatrix think he was some weirdo. With a very slight sigh, he reached a hand up to rub at the base of his neck. “…Yeah, if you don’t mind me coming in, I’d really appreciate it. Didn’t realize I was getting here so early, sorry.”
He didn’t apologize because he thought he was in the wrong, but because he didn’t want to come across as an a** to Millicent’s mother who—for all he knew—already had a big enough problem with him. He stepped inside, trying not to look awkward; he had been in the house a few times, though never for very long. He’d been restricted to the living room with only brief glimpses of the house, though he tried to act as though he was comfortable with the situation—and was certainly doing a good job of it.
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 2:43 pm
Bellatrix nodded, heading into the kitchen for moment, returning with a plate of cookies a moment later. “Yeah, that’s what she told me…” The woman made a face, then spoke in a voice that was reminiscent of a child. “’Mom, Jett’s gonna be here at three tomorrow, okay? We have to make cookies tonight so he can have something to eat on the way to the movie!’” She laughed then shook her head. “I must apologize for my daughter. She really is a handful, and if she ever annoys you or anything, please don’t take it personally.”
She sat across from the blonde and nodded o the cookies. “Help yourself to those, by the way.” The woman was debating grilling the boy or something. Even if it was just to figure out why he really enjoyed hanging out with an eleven year old child. “She’s happier now. Now that you two are friends, I mean. Her father stopped showing up a few months ago, and it would have hit her hard, I think. If you hadn’t been around for her.
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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 2:53 pm
Ah, hell. Hello awkward conversations with Mom. Though Jett was not the type of fellow to appreciate a good, homemade cookie, he helped himself to one anyway. He took a small bite, nibbled, and then swallowed so he wasn’t speaking with his mouth full. “She’s a good girl,” he insisted, attempting to reassure Bellatrix that he appreciated her daughter’s company without it being too creepy. “I thought I was a little rude to her when we first met, but kids really don’t appreciate antiques. I was afraid she was going to run around and break things. Not that I regret meeting her, she always keeps things interesting.”
He shifted positions a bit, taking another small nibble. “Do you know what happened to Garethon?” he asked, leaning back against the couch. He had worked for the male for a short while on a school-based internship during winter break, though since then he hadn’t kept in contact with the male. “…Or did he just up and ditch one day?”
There was a sort of bitterness in his voice that he wasn’t able to hide. He didn’t typically make an effort to hide his distaste for deadbeat dads, but neither did he go out of his way to draw attention to the issue.
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Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 3:18 am
Bellatrix sighed, leaning back in the chair she was in. “Well, that’s my daughter’s job, keeping things interesting. She gets a lot of that from me. The over dramatic to the point where she gets just what she wants, and somehow manages to just miss crossing the line to become an annoyance. Yes, she’s a good girl, but such a handful at times.”
The woman’s lips pursed at the mention of Garethon, and she gave a shrug. “I don’t know. He was doing fine, keeping up with visitations and all that, then he just vanished. Again. This happens quite often, to be honest, and I hate how much it hurts Millicent. It’s not fair. If he wants to be in her life, he better damn well man up and actually be in her life. Not just come in when he remembers that his sperm went into making her. I’m getting sick and tired of his games.”
It was clear she was angry, but…there really wasn’t much that she could do about Garethon, not now that the man had gone completely MIA again. Was she supposed to just go to his office and demand that he spend time with his daughter? Or was she just supposed to let Millie continue to be hurt by his negligence. “I will say something though, Jett. She hasn’t cried much at all this time, and I do think that’s thanks to you. She really looks up to you…and…I really do think it’s good for her. Her father is like a bad radio, he just comes in and leaves without any warning, and when he’s here, all he does is try to buy Millie’s affection. It’s not healthy in my opinion.”
That was one good thing about Bellatrix. She almost always, always had an opinion.
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Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 1:27 pm
Bellatrix had gone through an array of motions when she began speaking, and while Jett didn’t want to speak up and address anything she’d said, he listened quietly and let her work through it all. He nibbled on the cookie so he didn’t look as though he was just awkwardly sitting there, though he refrained from breaking eye contact.
He made it through Bellatrix’s talk of Millicent. He made it through the mention of sperm. He had almost made it through Bellatrix badmouthing Garethon—and then she had to bring him into the picture. He nodded just slightly, glancing away to look at one of the pictures of Bellatrix and Millicent. Millicent, however odd it was, had wormed her way into his life enough for him to consider her a friend, and the idea of some father half-assing his job so much that it made his kid cry just pissed him off.
“Yeah, well, I’m glad I could be of some assistance. I’ll try to be a positive role model or something,” he said, not quite what else he should be saying. He still hadn’t decided exactly what to make of Bellatrix. Leaning back against the couch, he looked the cookie over as if it were something interesting while he mulled over his next words. “I haven’t heard Millicent speak of him in a while. I think the last thing she said to me about him was when she wanted to go see Star Wars.”
His eyes narrowed just slightly, still locked on the nibbled cookie, and he tapped on the arm rest of the couch when he concluded, “I figure it’s gotta be hard on her to deal with him not in her life. Gotta be hard for any kid to have a parent just walk out on them like that, so I hope she’s doing all right and he either picks up his slack or stops coming around to mess things up.”
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Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 2:57 pm
“I’m hoping that he just stops coming to mess things up.” She sighed heavily, rubbing her forehead. “I swear, If I never have to see that man again, it will be far too soon.” Bellatrix gave a little laugh. “Well…”
The sound of the front door opening was heard, followed quickly by a shout of “Mom, why didn’t you call me? Jett’s here already! Mom I’m getting ready!” And then the sound of feet running up the stairs.
The woman laughed again. “It looks like Millie’s home now. It was nice talking with you, Jett. If you ever want to come over, I suppose I don’t mind. I’m glad Millie has you as a friend…” She stood up and gave a little wave, before walking back into the kitchen.
The boy wasn’t so bad. And Millie liked him, so…Bellatrix couldn’t be too harsh in her opinion of him anymore…even though she still couldn’t really fathom why a boy of his age would be hanging around with an eleven year old. At least Millie was happy. That was all that ever mattered.
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Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 9:08 pm
A little smirk drifted onto Jett’s face when Millicent came running in; he couldn’t help but be amused by the girl’s antics at this point. It helped, exceptionally, that the girl had managed to break the almost-awkward moment between him and her mother. He wasn’t sure how much more he could speak with the woman before it got awkward. Sure, he could badmouth someone in an instant, but it was a bit different when it was someone he used to work for.
Bellatrix wasn’t a bad woman, even if Jett was now entirely convinced she thought he was insane. Despite her kind words, he could only imagine what else she was thinking about him. Popping the rest of the cookie into his mouth, he figured he should enjoy it, at least. It wasn’t bad, just not his cup of tea. Jett stood, then, and brushed his hands onto his pants in an attempt to dispel any crumbs.
When Millicent came down the stairs again, he ruffled her hair and gave her a playful little push, warning her that if they didn’t get a move on they’d be late for her movie.
Speaking with Bellatrix had reminded him of one thing—of how shitty it was to be abandoned by the person who was supposed to take care of you. Not that Bellatrix seemed to be doing a bad job as a single mother, but from his own experiences, he knew that it wasn’t an easy task. And if it meant people thought he was a freak for hanging out with some eleven year old girl? Well, ******** them. If he could at least make her feel a little less unwanted, he didn’t care what they thought.
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