Worlds Apart
Chapter 9: You're Loved
-by: SimplyPocky-
Maka tapped her pen against her desk as she stared out the window. She planned on going to ChupaCabra's right after school, but she was starting to wonder if it was a good idea. Probably not. Well, if she came up missing, hopefully Soul would come and look for her. Hopefully.
"Maka!"
Maka's attention snapped to the front of the room where she saw her angry teacher tapping his foot on the floor.
"Could you please come draw a number before the end of class, Miss Albarn?"
Maka flushed as she walked to the front of the classroom, her classmates snickering all the while. Immature jerks. It's true, Maka had never had friends growing up, but it's not like she wanted to be friends with these people. Soul was definitely better company than the imbeciles she went to school with.
Maka reached into the jar and grabbed one of the only two papers left. It said 5. Her teacher, Mr. Barrett, reached in and took the remaining paper and then scanned the room.
"Who did not come up to draw yet?" He called. There was silence, but in the back of the room a hand slowly raised and Maka let out a mental scream.
"Kid, you and Maka will be partners then. You can go back to your seat, Maka. Now, to discuss the project..." Mr. Barrett went back to explaining their project and Maka slinked back to her seat. She flopped down and glanced at Kid, the class perfectionist.
Maka liked order, she liked doing her best and getting good grades, but she was no where on the same level as Kid. If Maka was disliked by her classmates than Kid was despised. He said whatever he wanted, he wasn't afraid to correct their teacher or tell the truth. He had even, at one point in time, called Maka an idiot when she missed a problem. From that moment on, Maka hated him.
"Looks like we'll be partners." Kid whispered to her, but Maka continued to stare out the window.
"Guess so." She muttered.
"I can tell you are not happy about this arrangement, but there's nothing we can do about it. I don't know about you, but I want a good grade, so if we can just get along until the project is over..."
"Hm. Whatever." Maka muttered.
This was going to be a long week.
.
After school, Maka was already en route to ChupaCabra's when a shiny black car pulled up next to her. She half expected it to be Soul and half expected it to be Mr. Kagami here to kill her, but she was surprised when the window rolled down and Tsubaki's head popped out.
"Hey, I caught you just in time. Where are you going?" She asked.
"Um...nowhere. Why are you here?"
"Soul asked me to take you shopping."
"You don't have to, I have clothes." Maka muttered.
"I'm just following orders. Come on, hop in." Tsubaki said and Maka let out another mental scream. This day just couldn't get worse.
.
Scratch that, it could. Maka stood in front of the mirror, dressed in a puffy yellow dress that made her look like she was ten years old. The pigtails did not help.
"Aw, so cute." Tsubaki giggled as she handed Maka a green dress. Maka blushed and took it before returning to the dressing room. "Oh, I like this one too." Tsubaki said and tossed some white dress over the door, landing right on Maka's head.
"Hey, watch where you throw that!" Maka called and Tsubaki giggled again.
"This is kinda fun." Tsubaki said as she went through the racks. She heard the door open and Maka emerged in a green dress that was much too short for comfort. They both looked at each other for a moment before they broke out into laughter.
"Soul's mother would faint if she saw you in that!" Tsubaki laughed.
"This looks like something they made me where at ChupaCabra's." Maka said, wiping a tear from her eye. Tsubaki stopped laughing and turned back to the rack.
"How long were you in that place?" Tsubaki asked and Maka wondered where this had come from. She stepped back into the dressing room to chang, deciding she didn't want to look at Tsubaki as she spoke.
"It was only for a couple of days."
"Did you..." Maka heard moving and soon Tsubaki was whispering right outside her door, "Did you sleep with any of them?"
"NO!" Maka nearly screamed, almost ripping the dress as she yanked it over her head.
"Sorry, I was just wondering. So you're a...virgin?" Tsubaki asked.
"Y-Yes." Maka replied as she picked up the white dress to put on.
"You're lucky, Maka." Tsubaki said as she moved away from the door and Maka emerged.
"How so?"
Tsubaki smiled sadly and Maka wondered if she had said something wrong.
"I think that's the one."
"Yeah? I think so too." Maka said, twirling in the mirror.
.
Soul stood outside of morte cittĂ bistro, tapping his foot impatiently and glancing at his watch. It was almost five and neither his mother, nor Maka had shown up yet. He was just about to pull out his phone and call Tsubaki when he heard a baleful voice call out to him,
"I see you are on time for once."
Soul let out a heavy sigh and turned around to see his mother, but also, to his delight, his grandmother too. Soul smiled, ignoring his mother's scowl and went to give his dear granny a hug.
"How've you been, Granny? I didn't know you were coming." He said as he patted the frail woman's back.
"When I heard that Clarisse was going to visit you, I decided to tag along. You never come and see me anymore." She pouted and Soul could only smile. No matter how strained Soul was with his family, he could always go to his Granny if he needed anything.
"Well, shall we go in now? You remembered to make a reservation, right?" Clarisse sneered as she turned to walk into the restaurant. Soul rolled his eyes as he pulled out his phone.
"Yes, Mother, I have a reservation. I just have to make a quick call." He said over his shoulder.
"Save that for later. I'm famished and we have a lot to talk about tonight."
"Oh, Clarisse, don't you start. We're here to have fun tonight." Granny scolded.
"Mother, no one asked you to come along." Clarisse snapped back.
Soul ignored their bickering, since it was impossible for the two to go a single day without arguing and, instead, dialed Tsubaki's number. What could be holding them up?
"Hello?" The young secretary answered.
"Where are you guys? My mom and granny are already here!" Soul hissed into the phone.
"Oh, so Julianna came along? I haven't seen her since the party we had last year for the new building unveiling." Tsubaki reminisced.
"Tsubaki!" Soul nearly shouted.
"We're pulling up now, Mr. Evans."
Soul's head turned up the street and, sure enough, the familiar black company car pulled up to the curb. A valet attendant quickly went up to the car and opened the passenger door. Soul watched as a long and slender leg stepped out, followed by another, followed by the rest of the beautiful girl as she stood up. She patted down the white dress that fell just above her knees and flowed like it was made of air. She looked angelic. She nervously tucked a strand of her pale curly hair behind her ear and she turned to say something to Tsubaki.
She laughed, waved and turned away as the black car drove off. Her gaze landed on Soul and, for a moment, everything else faded away. Soul's attention focused solely on the beauty that walked toward him, but a bothersome nagging voice caused his attention to shift.
"Soul, would you stop ogling at that girl and come along! We'll lose our reservations." Clarisse grumbled as she turned to the entrance of the restaurant. Soul, however, ignored her and walked up the Maka, a sly smile on his face.
.
For a moment, Maka could only focus on Soul. Clad in a red button down shirt, a one-button velvet blazer and some amazingly sexy jeans, Soul looked hot. Hotter than usual. But then a beautiful older woman called out to him and Maka nearly turned away and ran. She was a short woman, compared to Soul, about the same height as Maka, but she stood with such poise and confidence that she might as well have been a young super model. Her hair was a glimmering white, slicked back into a tight bun at the nape of her neck. She had clear gray eyes, almost eerie, and she was pale in complexion. A ghostly, yet beautiful creature.
Another woman stood behind her and she seemed to be looking at Maka curiously. She was quite short, a little hunched back, but still quite lovely despite her old age. Her hair was short and whispy, but it complimented her pretty face. Her eyes were also a clear gray, but looked much warmer than the younger woman's. She didn't hold such a superior air as the woman that stood next to her, but Maka could sense a subtle regalness about her.
Nothing less from the women of the Evans family.
"You finally made it." Soul said as he reached out for her. He took her hand and Maka nearly snatched it away when the younger of the two women narrowed her eyes.
"Soul, do you know this girl?" She asked.
"Yes. Mother, this is my girlfriend, Maka Albarn." Soul introduced. Maka flushed but extended her free hand to the woman.
"I-It's nice to meet you." She stammered out with a nervous smile. The woman wrinkled her nose in distaste and turned away. Maka was appalled by her blatant rudeness. Rich or not, this woman couldn't just stick her nose in the air and treat Maka like some untouchable.
"Ahem."
Maka looked down and saw the frail woman holding out her hand.
"Julianna Evans, please excuse my daughter's behavior. She was born with a stick in her posterior." The woman joked and both Soul and Maka laughed.
"Maka, this is my Granny. The ill-mannered woman over there is my mother, Clarisse."
"It's really nice to meet you both." Maka said with a bright smile, one that Granny returned.
"It's nice to meet you too, dear. I believe you're the first girl that Soul has ever introduced us to." Granny chuckled.
"I believe you, Mrs. Julianna."
"Oh, please, Granny is fine with me."
"Oh. Okay...Granny." Maka said bashfully and Soul squeezed her hand. She looked up to see him smiling at her, a twinkle in his eyes. The look made her melt and made her want to jump him, but a voice stopped her,
"Would you all hurry up. We have been standing out here forever now, I would like to eat sometime soon." Clarisse called as she walked up to the hostess and gave Soul's name. She retrieved a few menus and led them inside the quaint restaurant.
"This is going to be a long evening." Soul sighed, but Maka didn't want him to elaborate.
With company like Clarisse, she could already tell.
.
This night was going horribly, absolutely horribly!
Upon sitting down, their waitress asked if the group would like to start off with any drinks. Both Granny and Maka asked for a cup of Earl Grey tea. Clarisse asked for a cup of the house wine and Soul asked for a scotch on the rocks. Both of them were now nearing their third glass and their food hadn't even arrived yet.
"I just don't understand you, Soul. Your father and I spent so much money on your schooling, on those music classes, on that Kuhn-Bösendorfer piano. Do you have any idea how much that cost, Soul! Your father went mad when he found out that you had destroyed it."
"I didn't even ask for that damn piano. I already told you that I didn't want to play anymore but, instead of listening, you go off and buy that thing. I sold the crystals if it's any consolation."
"You're such an ungrateful child. I don't know where I went wrong with you! Wes turned out so great, toping the charts in classical music at such a young age. Such a gifted child." Clarisse said, a sad smile on her red lips as she swirled her wine.
"Please, Mother, Wes is the last thing I want to be talking about tonight."
"Oh not this again. Your damn inferiority complex." Clarisse sighed in frustration.
Maka and Granny had been sipping their tea quietly, listening as the two went back and forth. However, at the mention of the inferiority complex, Granny had to speak up.
"Clarisse, that's enough. You haven't seen your son in six months and you want to spend the evening arguing? There are so many more topics we could be discussing." Granny said.
"Mother, you just don't understand! You only had me to worry about and I was a girl. You can't even begin to fathom how difficult boys were, especially when they were so competitive. It was exhausting." Clarisse rubbed her temples and took a large gulp of her wine.
"True, I probably can't. I mean, I only had one child and she nearly drove me over the edge." Granny grumbled quietly and Maka giggled.
"Oh and you, how exactly did you manage to lure in my son? Are you the daughter of a CEO or something?" Clarisse said suddenly, turning her focus to Maka. Maka straightened her back as she replied,
"No, I'm the only daughter of Kami and Spirit Albarn."
"And who exactly are they?" Clarisse asked in an exasperated tone.
"My father is a salesman and I don't know what my mother did, she left when I was small."
"Hm, do you have mother issues now? I hear that girls that don't have a proper woman figure become insecure and maybe even turn out to be alcoholics or bad mothers themselves." Clarisse sneered.
"Hey!" Soul suddenly shouted, standing up in his seat. Clarisse looked up at him, clearly surprised. Even Granny looked a little alarmed. Maka, however, was used to Soul's outbursts. She, instead, glanced nervously around the room, hoping they wouldn't be kicked out. This was a nice restaurant, she hadn't even gotten her food yet!
"Soul, what's gotten into you?" Clarisse asked, feighing ignorance.
"She has, Mother." Soul said, pointing to Maka who looked at him in horror. "I'm in love with that girl and I won't sit here and let you talk about her like that. Apologize. Now."
"Apologize, Soul, you cannot be serious. You would put some girl over your own mother?"
"If I ever thought of you as an actual mother, maybe not. You've been the cause of a lot of grief in my life mother, but I've finally managed to get away from you. I left home, I put myself through business school, I started my own company. I'm doing great now. I thought I had finally escaped you and Father's influence and yet you two just seem to pop up everytime something good is going on in my life."
"Soul, how could you say that! Your Father and I care about you very much!"
"No you don't. You care about what I could have become. The Evans have always been musicians and you couldn't stand it that I finally broke the tradition."
"Because you did it for such a silly reason! All because you didn't like Wes!" Clarisse snapped.
"It's because I was always being compared to Wes, Mother! I wouldn't have minded being a pianist, even though I never really liked it, I was always trying to make you and Father proud, but it's like you were disappointed that I wasn't on Wes's level yet, even though I was seven years younger than him. Mother, I will never be Wes." Soul finished. He lifted the glass on the table and shot back the rest of his drink.
"I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm no longer in the mood to "chat". I'll be returning home now. Granny, it was great to see you again. Maybe we can have lunch some other time." Soul said, kissing the old woman on the cheek.
"I understand, Soul." She said with a nod. Soul smiled and reached down to Maka who had been stunned into silence. He grabbed ahold of her wrist and pulled her out of her seat.
"By the way, if you ever speak ill about my girlfriend again, Mother, I swear that I will break all contact with you. And I mean it this time." Soul said coldly and pulled Maka away.
Maka glanced over her shoulder where the waiter had shown up with their meals. Granny easily began to eat hers while Clarisse sat there, staring off blankly at her plate. The waiter seemed confused about the empty seats, but still placed the foods down, unaware that the two would not be returning. It really was a shame.
.
"I didn't even get to taste the tortellini. Not to mention the peach melba Granny and I were going to order." Maka muttered to herself as she and Soul drove in the back of a cab together. His elbow rested on the window seal and he stared out the window as he spoke,
"Sorry, I'll bring you back another day." Soul responded mechanically.
Maka looked at him and let out a sigh.
"What was all that about?" She finally asked.
"I don't want to talk about it."
How childish.
"I'm not going to force you or anything, but you shouldn't keep it all bottled in." She said as she placed her hand gently on top of his.
"What's there to say that you didn't hear from our argument?"
"I want to know which of it was actually true."
"It's all true."
"I seriously doubt that."
Soul groaned and finally turned to face the girl.
"Fine. My brother, Wes, was perfection. He was the first-born, he was smart, he was nice, he was cool and everyone loved him. And then I came along. I was seven years younger than Wes and it just wasn't possible for me to catch up to him. I was always in his shadow. Even when I did something right I wasn't first or it wasn't as good as Wes!
Finally I got into playing the piano, something Wes couldn't compete with me in because I was an interpreter. Wes could play every note perfectly on his violin, as if he was the composer himself. I, however, didn't follow the sheet music perfectly. I changed music to fit my character, my feelings and that's what set me apart from Wes."
Soul looked down at Maka's hand, which still rested on his and he interlocked their fingers together as he seemed to ponder on some deep thought.
"I thought I was finally happy. I thought I could finally rub it in his face, but Wes just told me that he was proud and to continue doing what I loved. I was...shocked to say the least. I was half hoping he would get pissed and hit me or something. But Wes's attitude just showed me how stupid I was. I didn't particularly like the piano, I wasn't in love with music like he was, I was just doing it because I knew I could finally surpass him.
I gave up on music when I was around 14, started looking for other ways to get my parents attention. I turned into a problem kid but I hated the way Wes looked at me as if I were an idiot. So when I got into high school I went down an academic path instead, it led me to where I am today."
"And Wes, what does he have to say about that? Is he proud of you? Do you two still talk?" Maka asked, but frowned when Soul shook his head slowly.
"It was my senior year of high school. Wes was coming home from my graduation party, it was raining..." Soul trailed off and Maka let out a gasp before she clasped her hand over her mouth.
"I-I'm sorry." She said blinking back tears.
"No, it's been six years. No point in crying about it now, especially when you didn't even know the guy." Soul said as he swiped a tear that escaped down Maka's cheek.
"No...it's just that...You look so sad Soul." Maka whispered. Soul pressed his lips together as he rubbed his thumb over the back of Maka's hand.
"Maka."
"Yeah?"
"Thanks." Soul said with a crooked smile.
"For what?" She asked, tilting her head in confusion.
"For listening. Not even Granny was willing to give me a shoulder to lean on. Everyone took his death pretty hard and I think that's mostly what caused the rift, as if everyone wished that I had died instead-"
"That's not true, Soul!" Maka exclaimed.
"Maybe. But I can't forget how at the funeral everyone was looking at me as if I killed Wes. Granny wouldn't talk to me for almost a month. I guess she felt bad after a while, but people just don't forget."
"Your Granny loves you, Soul."
"I know she does, she's like a mother to me. But I also know I'm not loved as much as him."
"I love you."
"You never knew Wes." He said with a laugh.
"But Wes is gone, Soul. You're alive so shouldn't you just be happy? I don't think Wes would want you to continue kicking yourself over this so many years later. It's like your family can't move on. You shouldn't forget him, but you all can't keep mourning over him like this." Maka said.
Soul stopped his stroking and glanced up at her, "You're right."
"I know I'm right."
"I don't know if it'll be as easy as you say for everyone else, but I don't mourn over Wes's death anymore. But the topic always comes up when I'm with my family, particularly my mother. It's like she wants to open up old wounds."
"You shouldn't let her get to you."
"I won't. Trying to hurt me is one thing, but I nearly flipped the table when she turned her anger on you." He said with a soft chuckle.
"You're such an idiot." She whispered and leaned in to kiss him gently. "I'm here for you. So it's okay to get mad or be sad and to do what you want to do. You don't need to impress me and I won't judge you for your past. I only know this Soul, the one that saved me from that brothel, took me in and made me fall in love."
"How poetic." He teased and Maka lightly punched him.
"You're so unromantic." She huffed and Soul laughed before leaning in to whisper,
"How about I show you how romantic I can be when we get home?"
Maka didn't respond to that, her cheeks flushed red and she lowered her head, but she squeezed Soul's hand as if to convey that she would very much like that.
"D.C. Condos, we're here." The taxi driver announced as he pulled up to the curb.
"Thank you." Soul said as he handed over some cash, "Keep the change."
He opened the door and helped Maka out and the two walked hand-in-hand into the condo. There were people standing in the lobby that gave both of them curious glances as they walked toward the elevator, but they ignored the looks.
They quietly walked back to their quiet room and shut the door on all of the doleful events from earlier. Both of them deciding to fill the void of emptiness left by the loss of someone close with the realization that they had gained something new: An immeasurable amount of love for each other.
To Be Continued...
This was written very quickly during a free class period I had so please excuse any grammatical mistakes. I introduced Kid in this chapter, not to mention Soul's mother and Granny who will serve as a link to Soul's past. I corrected an earlier chapter (I think chp. 2) where I mentioned Wes as still living. I also gave hints at Tsubaki, who I am hoping will become a womanly figure to Maka, as having a bit of a darker past.
I do not mean to leave such a long AN, but I feel it's necessary to warn you that I am pulling a bit away from the whole debt situation, though that is the foundation of the story and everything, in the end, will be linked to it. Sorry if i gave away too much . I think there was something else I wanted to say, but I forgot. I'm sure you all will find something to point out in the lengthy chapter, but don't hesitate to do so.
