A.N.: I really appreciate the reviews guys. Like it's disgusting how I crave them lol Oh well on chapter 7 I was asked for longer chapters. I hope this will do. The next few chapters are pretty long... As far as I remember anyway. THANKS FOR STICKING WITH ME!
When Butterflies Die Chapter 8
Today, was probably not going to be a good day. Seeley's head hurt, and he was still gloomy from the loss yesterday. He looked at the clock. 10:13a.m. Sunday, October, 17. A good time to wake up, he supposed. He shuffled downstairs looking for food. Heading to the fridge his foot hit the edge of his bookbag, displacing it. He bent over to pick it up and put it back when he realized he hadn't even started reworking the problems and he was supposed to meet Temperance today. He quickly grabbed a bowl of cereal grabbing his bookbag and heading back upstairs. He got upstairs and made calling Temperance his first order of business, to confirm time and place. He couldn't even explain why he was nervous.
"Hello?" A female voice answered. He knew it was hers. Wasn't pretty enough. In fact it was gravelly. And not the sexy gravelly. The kind that sounds like you've been smoking too long.
"Uhm. Hello? May I speak to Temperance?" He waited for a response.
"Yeah, Hold on" The voice said. She sounded almost irritated. He heard her call for Temperance and the muffled sounds of her handing over the phone and telling her to make it quick, in a recognizable irritated tone.
"Hello?" She said. It was amazing how different people sounded over the phone sometimes.
"Hey, I was wondering if we could still meet up somewhere?" Silence.
"Yea, sure, where would you like to meet up?" She asked hoping for somewhere far from where she was at.
"Where do you live?" He asked. He heard her stammering and quickly amended. "So we can find somewhere maybe in the middle?"
She told him her address and he couldn't help but marvel at how close she actually was to him. About a 15 minute bike ride. "There's a park, Evans, Do you know where it is?"
"Yes.." She said tentatively.
"Well I just figured you know, The sun is out, it looks nice out, and it doesn't seem like there's any wind. It would be nice to just sit and absorb the Great Outdoors. We always go to the library."
"Ok. " She conceded, "A change of scenery would be nice."
"I haven't been outside yet but, maybe just a hoodie or something will be fine." He heard thegravelly voiced woman say something.
"What time?" Temperance asked.
"12:00 is that good for you?"
"Yes, See you then." He barely had time to say goodbye before she hung up.
Even as he settled down into doing his problems he still couldn't focus. His mind would wander, to pretty much anything other than math. The bus ride to the game. The game. Just Temperance. His scholarship and how fragile it is. Everything but math.
Finally about 11:30 he just gave up and told his grandpa he was heading out to meet Temperance and told Jared he'd be back later. He made it to the park at 11:53. Sitting at the table for parents here to watch their kids. It was an unusually warm day for October. He just chocked it up to Global Warming. He heard her footsteps and turned to greet her as she sat beside him.
"Hey." She said reaching over for his packet. No time for small talk apparently. Her brow furrowed as she looked it over. When she looked up her expression was tepid. "Did you even try?" She asked. Well, straight to the point.
"I tried, I just couldn't focus." He said, feeling slightly wounded. Of course he tried. She asked him to walk him through one of the problems so she could show him how to correct the step he was missing. As he was reworking the problems she watched carefully over him.
"How was the game?" only diverting her eyes momentarily from the worksheet. If he could care about her, even if it was just an illusion as her brain told her it was, she could return the favor. He looked up at herm the pencil stopping mid character. His jaw clenched minutely.
"We lost. By 1 point." He said. She felt the need to apologize.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to upset you…" She said awkwardly.
"No, it's ok. It's just that it was my fault." She didn't know what to say. He was opening up to her and it was a new, and quite frankly, scary. When she didn't say anything he went on dismissing it. "It wasn't an important game or anything, it just sucks. Losing, you know?" No. She didn't know. She had never lost at anything. Not when she put her mind to it. She wanted to apologize again, but the first attempt was poor enough. She opted for smiling sadly at him when he looked at her. She hoped it looked apologetic. "My pops you tried to comfort me on the way home but… it kind of didn't help."
"Pops?" She asked, opening up a whole new can of worms.
"Pops. My grandfather. He took us in after my dad bailed on us a couple of years ago. My mom was having a hard time. It was best." He said, trying to explain.
"In China, it's common for 3 generations to live in the same home" She said. He didn't know where it came from but, somehow, it helped. "You have siblings?"She queried, thinking back. He had said 'us' She looked a little sad.
"One. A little brother. His name is Jared. A real pain in my ass." He chuckled a little and she smiled.
"What about you? Siblings?"
"Russ. He's 20 now. I haven't seen him in a while."
"Oh, so you're pretty much an only child now" He had no idea. "Your mom seemed… nice enough… on the phone." He said, having trouble finding words to describe her. Temperance suddenly got up. She couldn't sit anymore. She was becoming restless. She went to the swings and sat. At least it would give her legs something to do. She thought briefly of just going 'home' but she'd rather be here, in this uncomfortable position, telling this boy she hardly knows something she hasn't told anyone else, than be at home getting 'slapped around', she had heard a social worker call it once. She needed, wanted, to tell someone. Him, to be more precise.
He sat on the swing beside her, his mouth moving to speak but she cut him off.
"She's not my mother." She said, her eyes misting over. "I haven't seen my parents for almost a year. One day they went out, they said they were going Christmas shopping. But they never came back. By New Years I was in foster care." Now it was his turn to be speechless. So he did the only thing he could think of, reaching across the gap to her lifelessly hanging hand and held on to it. She lifted her head and looked at him a minute. Then turning away and wiping her tears away. "Sorry." She apologized." I.. I" She stammered. Struggling for words. Finally she settled on "I'm sorry" again.
"Hey." Said getting up and kneeling in front of her and hooking his finger underneath her chin, forcing her to look at him. "You have absolutely nothing to apologize for." He said adamantly. "We have stuff handed to us that we have to figure out how to handle as we move forward."
"I didn't need to burden you with my problems." She said pretty sheepishly.
"I told you something today that I have never told anyone before, so, we'll just call it even, ok?" Thinking back he really had no idea why he did. It just felt right.
"Ok." She smiled a little, only slightly watery. He moved behind her and she felt him grab the chains and pull. "What are you doing?" she asked. Her voice holding a little panic.
"Just swing. Trust me." He said pulling her a little higher then pushing her forward. Repeating until she started pumping herself. He ran out from behind he and got on his swing, catching up to he height quickly. He betted her he could go higher than her. Hoping she would accept the challenge. She did. Laughing. And he did go higher than her, until his chain slacked and he plopped to the bottom, his face conveying nothing but a perverse, enjoyed terror. Her laughter washed over him as they both slowed to a stop. He gave her a mock glare which only made her laugh harder.
Clutching her stomach, gasping for air she stuttered out "You. Yo. You. should have s-seen your face!" 'Face' dying out on a snort. He couldn't help the laugh that bubbled out of him too. They sat there laughing like 5 year olds until he saw his papers flapping slightly in the wind and her remembered they actually had a goal today. He got up from his swing and pulled her hand. He looked at her. She looked better than she did 20 minutes ago.
"You feel better?" He asked, and she nodded, still chuckling a bit. He nodded with her adding a "Me too."
She looked at him as they sat. It was weird she was so at ease with him. Maybe he was as at ease with her, she thought. He told her something no one else knew. He trusted her with that. Her mind had drifted, she hadn't even noticed his work was ready to be checked again until she felt him staring at her. She looked down from the spot over his shoulder and caught his eye. It was another moment, just like the one in the library, where she just couldn't look away. "Thank you, Seeley." She said although she doubted he knew the extent of her thanks.
He smiled, a charming smile, but not a charm smile. This was no place for an ego. "You welcome, Tempe." He said handing over his packet, still holding her gaze.
A.N: just one quick question. I'm scared of dialogue because Temperance Brennan is one hard character to get a grip on. But I need to know if we need more dialogue or if we're good?
