Chapter 20
Transitions
Kate
A moment after Adrien shut my car door, Johnny climbed into the driver's seat and closed the door behind him too. We were shut inside.
"That was harsh," I said.
"Leave me alone," he complained, glaring at me but not with any real malice. Johnny knew I was talking about his treatment of Adrien. "I told you," he said, "I have to make my point."
I rolled my eyes and then my gaze drifted to the side mirror. Through it, I watched Adrien standing next to Rachel as we pulled out of the driveway. He looked so forlorn. My heart went out to him.
"How can you not be kind to him?" I asked Johnny. "Just look at him."
"Oh God," Johnny grimaced. "Stop gushing. You're making me sick."
I grunted. Gushing wasn't a thing I typically did—it wasn't a thing I really ever did—and if I was doing it now it was only because I was so sad. I was compensating. Gushing was better than crying, I figured.
Johnny continued. "Besides, I was 'kind' to him." He made air quotations with one hand as he said kind, making fun of my so-called gushing. "I told him I'd see him later."
I raised my eyebrows. Johnny's idea of being kind was apparently different than mine.
Johnny noted my skepticism. "Adrien's deeply analytic," he explained. "He'll read into that."
I found reason to roll my eyes again. Since we clearly weren't going to agree about this, Johnny changed the subject. "So what's the news?" he asked.
Not wanting to talk about Adrien and Rachel, or about Scott and myself, or about how nervous I was about leaving for college, I tried to think of something else to tell him. Finally I said, "Well, your sisters are back tomorrow."
"And I'm sure you're sorry you're missing that."
I smiled. "Devastated actually."
Johnny laughed, and then he asked, "Okay, so where am I going?"
I pulled out the Mapquest directions I'd printed off yesterday, and we drove. Away from the Mansfield mansion. Away from Adrien. Away from the only life I'd ever known.
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To: Don Yates
From: Amanda Mansfield
Subject: Back from the European Tour From Hell
Am now being held prisoner in Jess's new house/mansion. I know I said I didn't know what I was going 2 do w/ the rest of my life, but I'm pretty sure being 3rd wheel 2 Jess's marriage was not at the top of my list. Arg. Is not my fault she didn't marry a husband she likes.
Fortunately Adrien is coming up 4 the weekend (becuz at least I like him). Unfortunately he's now dating Rachel (gag). More unfortunately Scott is coming w/ them 2. For the record, I HATE Scott becuz: (1) He is a man-whore. (2) After hearing your more detailed version of the Adrien-Johnny fight I have concluded that it was Scott's fault – if he hadn't been screwing around w/ Kate, my brothers would still be talking. And (3) he rejected me for Jess when first got here, which I still haven't completely gotten over. :oP
It's got to get better than this, right? Life has got to get better than this.
Love always.
Manda
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To: Amanda Mansfield
From: Don Yates
Subject: RE: Back from the European Tour From Hell
Honestly, I don't see why you care about Scott rejecting you anymore. I'm so much hotter than him. Life's getting better already, love – Johnny's driving Kate to school and shit so I'm coming to you. Don't worry, I'll wait till Adrien leaves. How's Tuesday sound?
Your ultra-hot boyfriend,
Don
- - - - - - -
Scott
It annoyed me that I couldn't stop thinking about Kate. I couldn't stop mulling things over—wondering if I should have made an appearance at her departure, wondering if I should have suckered her into a long distance thing instead of basically forcing her to sever all connections. The fact that I couldn't just blow her off was proof enough that I'd done the right thing by calling things off. I wasn't into commitment or relationships or any of those words that girls tried to pull on you when you let things go to far, and things had obviously gone to far if I was still thinking about her a week after we'd stopped talking.
Why couldn't I just blow her off? It pissed me off.
So I was happy, the day after Kate left, to have something to distract me. Jess was back, and we drove up to her new house the next morning, a three hour trip from the Mansfield place. If I were Jess, I would've moved farther away than that.
When we arrived, the sisters greeted us at the door. While Jess strapped on her Ice Queen (which I assumed was for my benefit), Manda was on the opposite end of the emotions spectrum—completely freaking out about how she was oh-my-gosh-so-glad that Adrien was here. I couldn't remember Adrien and Manda ever being particularly close, so I assumed her enthusiasm was the result of having to baby-sit Jess's marriage for the past month. She was tired of it. She probably would've been glad to see anyone at that point.
So Manda dragged a slightly-bewildered Adrien inside, and Rachel trailed along after them. Which left Jess and me at the front door, all by ourselves.
I inquired after Matthew Wright, and she informed me he was not at home this weekend. I didn't ask where he was because neither of us cared. He was more like a piece of furniture than an actual person anyway.
"Your house is bigger than your old one," I remarked.
"Do you think I'm stupid?" she asked blankly. What she meant was: did I think she would marry a man she didn't even like if there wasn't a bigger house in the deal?
"I don't think you're stupid," I said, not unkindly.
Jess seemed almost startled. At any rate, definitely unsure how to respond to a remark from me that wasn't laced with an undercurrent of cruelty. "Thank you," she stuttered. Me, I didn't know why I suddenly felt like being nice to her. I didn't even want to sleep with her again.
Oh God. I was going soft.
The problem with being nice to Jess was that things got awkward very fast. We stared at each other for a few second and then she said, "Right. Let's go," and turned on her heels. I followed her inside, and we found the rest of the group in one of (I assumed) the many living rooms.
"Good room," I remarked to Jess.
She glared at me. I was rubbing it in too much, that all she'd gotten for selling her soul was this house. A nice house, but I in the end, just a house. Of course, I should've left her alone about it.
"Shut up," she said, and stalked over to Adrien and Manda and Rachel. I sat down by myself at the other end of the room and waited to see who would come to me. Inexplicably, it was Manda who drifted in my direction.
"So why are you even here?" she asked.
The only other conversation I'd ever had with Manda had been at Jess's wedding—when she'd been grousing about Johnny's absence and I'd called her on the Yates thing and then she'd asked me this exact same thing: why are you even here. Once again, I didn't have much of an answer.
I shrugged and instead of answering returned the question. "Why are you here?"
She just stared me like I was stupid, and I thought: maybe I was. But while I could've spent considerable time thinking about that, Manda was suddenly off on a completely different track.
"Heard you been screwing around with Kate," she said.
Obviously, Manda hated me.
"Where would you hear that from?" I muttered, hoping that if I got her on the defensive about Yates she would let the subject of Kate drop. She, however, ignored the attempt.
"You going for some kind of record?" she asked, one hand on a hip, the other twirling hair around her finger, and suddenly I hated her back. "How many girls in one house you can screw up?"
"If you're trying to make me feel bad, it's not going to work," I interrupted. And then, smirking, I added, "Besides, you're just pissed I passed you over."
With the look she gave me after that comment, I knew I'd just solidified our positions as eternal enemies. Why was I a little frightened by that? Without another word, she flounced right past me and out of the room. This left me again sitting conspicuously by myself. I glanced at the others across the room and considered joining them. But in the end settled for staying where I was and counting how many times I could catch Jess sneaking glances at me, which was more fun anyway. Then Adrien got a call and left the room to take it. Then things got more interesting.
Rachel and Jess both watched Adrien leave the room. I looked at them, and I remember thinking that the two of them left alone together like this was an explosive combination. I remember thinking that some kind of cat fight was bound to break out. I'm just pointing this out because I want you to remember, in case you've forgotten, that I usually am good at judging a situation, whatever I may have miscalculated with Kate.
In this case, it happened just like I thought it would. Jess turned to Rachel as soon as Adrien was out of the room and with her characteristic bitchy-ness she said, "Adrien misses Kate."
See? Things were already more interesting. I casually stood up and moved myself into a full-hearing-range position. It wasn't that I really wanted to listen to another damn conversation about Kate, who I was trying so desperately to forget existed. But if Jess was going to take on Rachel, I was sure as hell going to see who came out on top.
Rachel was so far managing to maintain her cool. "Of course he does," she shrugged. "She's like his sister."
Jess looked at Rachel, blank-faced, and completely deadpanned, "No she's not. I'm like his sister."
That conveyed a lot of meaning. The score seemed to stand at one for Jess and zero for Rachel, and Rachel couldn't come up with a reply cutting enough to dig herself out of her hole. Eventually, she just narrowed her eyes and asked, "What are you saying to me, Jessica?"
Jessica. I'd never heard that one before. Jessica replied, "I'm saying, stay away from my brother, bitch." Two points for Jess.
Rachel replied, "Stay away from mine." They both looked at me, and I looked at them. I shrugged. Hell, it wasn't like any of us didn't know I was listening.
Jess turned back to Rachel and said, "Tell him to stay away from me." What her tone suggested was that I had started things back when they were happening, that she could care less about me anymore, but that she was so irresistible it would take some effort on the part of the universe to keep me from again becoming the moth to her flame. Of course, that was all complete bullshit, but it was a good strategy on Jess part.
But for some reason, I didn't feel like being nice anymore. Maybe it was all this talk about Kate and Adrien that put me in a crap mood, but for whatever reason, I said, "Oh don't worry, I don't do married people."
And Rachel, who was so intent on winning her war that she'd abandoned all loyalties added, "That's right. Besides, he only does Kate Pierson these days."
That pretty much tied up the score.
I couldn't believe she'd said it. To make things especially awkward, Adrien had emerged in the doorway just in time to hear that announcement. So now, I had two Mansfields staring at me in shocked, horrified silence.
Not that I could care less about the Mansfields. What I was pissed about was Rachel implying that I liked Kate. I did not freaking like Kate.
Of course I liked Kate. God.
"Shut up, Rachel," I hissed.
Adrien had collected himself by this point and said, "That was Dad. He said to say hi to my sisters."
Rachel quickly ducked out of the situation and headed over to Adrien. But Jess, the sister, was still staring at me. I couldn't hold her gaze. I wanted to, but I couldn't. Because we were supposed to be the same, Jess and I. Hard as nails. Cold as ice. And here I was caring about a girl, which was bad enough in itself, but a genuinely and irreproachably nice, harmless girl. There was no denying that Kate wasn't my style, and I knew Jess was about to figure out what this meant—what I was trying to deny it meant—that I was loosing my edge.
What I didn't count on was that Jess had already lost her edge. She had lost it over me.
"Kate Pierson," was all she could say, shell shocked as she was. The look on her face was like the one when I'd broken up with her, that moment when all the walls had been down. This had to have been a blow.
Just because Jess was vulnerable at the moment, didn't mean I was going to be. I tried to blow it off. "It was just a thing," I said. "I got bored, you know, and—"
"Kate the Attic Ghost," Jess interrupted.
"It's not like I'm into her."
And then it happened, just like I remembered it happening before. Her face hardened. The walls were up again. She said, with a toss of her hair, "Well, she's too good for you."
So in the end, it was Jess who sent me after Kate. I didn't go because I couldn't forget about her. I didn't go because I had nothing better to do.
I went because I wanted to prove Jess wrong.
- - - - - - - - -
From: Adrien Mansfield
To: Kate Pierson
Subject: Current Events
I don't understand my sisters. You'd think, at this point, we would all be over the infamous Scott Harrington (sorry, I know you thought you were done hearing about him) but apparently we're not. Manda spent the whole time chatting him up until she disappeared into the dark recesses of Jess's ginormous house (believe me, it even dwarfs the monstrosity we live in). And as for Jess, well, you can imagine.
How did we all turn out this way? Sometimes, I really think Johnny got it right, getting out of here (and I am being serious).
Maybe if we could get over the whole telling-him-never-to-come-back debacle, he'll let me join him on the road. (And here I'm not being serious, about joining him on the road, I mean. I still feel horrible about the telling-him-never-to-come back part basically, you know, all the time.)
Will call you later to discuss these matters further.
Adrien
PS. Also: don't understand the Scott Harrington appeal. Perhaps you could enlighten (?)
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From: Kate Pierson
To: Adrien Mansfield
Subject: Why Mick Jagger Can't Get No Satisfaction
According to the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility (utility satisfaction), a person receives less satisfaction from each successive unit of a good he consumes. For example, if you are eating pizza you receive lots of satisfaction from the first piece, then less satisfaction from the second, and even less form the third, etc, etc. Apparently Mick Jagger has just consumed so much stuff that he reached a point where he just doesn't receive satisfaction from anything anymore. The song is about economics.
And yes, this is the kind of stuff I'm learning in class.
The Scott Harrington appeal is too complex to explain. And besides, you don't have enough estrogen to understand it, even if I tried. Just kidding. No, I don't know. He can make you believe anything he says. I think that's a big part of it.
As for your sisters, they are YOUR sisters. Don't ask me to understand them.
And Johnny will come around.
Expecting a call,
Kate
PS. What is with the excessive use of parentheses?
- - - - - - - - -
From: Adrien Mansfield
To: Kate Pierson
Subject: Leave my parentheses usage alone
So what your saying is… Harrington's appeal is that he's a good liar? Correct me if I'm wrong.
Call to come,
Adrien
- - - - - - - - -
To Adrien Mansfield
From: Kate Pierson
Subject: Sort of, the point is that you don't know he's lying
You just answered my last email in three minutes flat. If you really have nothing better to do then sit around at the computer and wait for me to reply, call me now.
- - - - - - - - -
To: Kate Pierson
From: Adrien Mansfield
Subject: Heh
Look who's talking. Dialing as I press send.
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A/N: Sorry if this chapter was a little choppy, with all the emails and the short perspective sections. We'll check up on Kate over at college in the next chapter, so there's something to look forward to next time. Anyway, reviews love, so please review!
Jayley: That was a longer update (I think) but hopefully it'll speed up after this. I was kind of having writers block during this chapter, but now that that's passed I'm really going to try to get some chapters out.
Rapsody's Song: Poor boy could use a good sock in the head! Eh, Adrien's a slow mover. He'll get there eventually :o)
WhiteCamellia: I've been watching The Sound of Music this last couple days. Now I want to go twirl on Austrian mountaintops too! Yay! Glad you liked the chapter :o) Hope you liked this one too.
slam a revolving door: Hurray! You like Adrien! You know that makes me happy :oD As for Scott.. I dunno, does he care? Sometimes I'm not sure myself how deeply he really cares or not. He is conflicted though, I can say that.
embracing: Oh God. I always look forward to your reviews so much. Hurray! Johnny needs to grow up! I have to admit that that was my favorite moment in your review, because as much as I love him, he really does doesn't he? Lol. But I'm glad you still love them all the way that they are ;o)
Notredamegirlie: Glad you're liking the Johnny/Adrien stuff. It's become one of my favorite aspects of the story, and I didn't even know it was going to happen this way. Lol. Thanks for reviewing!
Alex: With any luck, the next update will be even quicker. Lol. At least every is finally starting to like Adrien
fyre-anjel: Glad your back! The Edmund-going-to-fetch-Fanny part of the plot line will DEFINITELY exist in my version of the story. I think it's one of the most important points of the story to, kind of like the turning point for them. So yeah. It's definitely going to happen :o)
fictitious character: Hurray, a new reviewer! Thank you for reviewing. Also, thank you for saying my characters are intense. That's like the best compliment. I've worked really hard at them. Hope you liked the chapter.
a: I wonder what Johnny and Rachel were doing? I leave you to your own speculations. :o) Yeah, I felt like Johnny needed to be the first one to give in and break the silence, although they are still a long way from reconciliation. If you find Team Adrien shirts, buy me one two ;o) Cheers!
Jill: Random anecdote before I get on with reviewing your review: the other day I go to the video store with my brother, and I'm supposed to have absolute movie picking power because of the Lord of War thing. So I tell him that I really don't care what we watch, as long as it involves male bonding. He just looks at me and goes: "I don't care if I have no veto rights. We are so not watching Brokeback Mountain." I tried to explain true male bonding to him using Jack and Sawyer, but he didn't get it. My brother so doesn't understand me. Anyways, your review for this chapter was far more stupendous than the chapter deserved. I know that you love abhoring Scott more than just about anything, and I know that you probably don't need much help in doing so. But because I love you, I offer you this bit of analysis: Scott's ultimatum was not for Kate's benefit. It would have been for Kate's benefit if they'd still be talking, but at that point he'd already called things of. So it was kind of like ripping the bandaid off the wound to reopen communication just to say the shit he said. Completely selfish. Completely in character and yet, completely following the Mansfield Park plotline. Mostly, this is what I'm proud of. But anyway, now that I've helped you in your eternal abhoring or Scott, I will not allow that he deserves castration. Remember, this is the father of my future children you're talking about. Anyway, on to Kate and Adrien in the basement. Speaking of walking on eggshells, that pretty much describes how I feel every time I have to write a Kadrien section, so I'm glad this one generally worked out without any serious reviewer backlash. One of my favorite lines of your Review A Thon here had to be: So, about Adrien seeing the light? That was only a beautiful dream. It's kind of humorous how Adrien's general denseness has become a major plot point in this story, but honestly, I think Mansfield Park only works if you make the Edmund character seriously oblivious. How else would he not get that the Fanny character has been pining over him the whole freaking book long? Anyway, I know you love the piano room encounters, so don't even try to deny it. Secretly, there is a Scott fan deep inside of you just waiting to emerge along with his creative endevors. It will happen just like it happen with Becka. Just wait. (Hey, I can dream, right?) Okay, so this was one of my favorite moments in the chapter: Adrien saying that Johnny and Kate have always been ... friends. Heh! Not only was it a million times awkward, but it also set me up for all the good what-if-she's-in-love-with-Johnny angst that I've recently thought about adding in here. So, while I'd usually agree that being "your-my-best-friend"-ed (or can-we-be-freinds?-ed, in Shannon and Sayid case) is usually the great killer of all things romantic, I think in this case it was a step in the right direction. I mean, at least it was an acknowledgement from Adrien that their relationship is something important. Although, if I were Kate and Adrien had just told me that, I think I'd be ready to kill myself. And now for Adrien's section. I'm glad you liked the opening monolouge here because I worked especially hard on that. Basically, I think everyone's life is at a turning point in MP (as Adrien is noting here). And really, Adrien's life is too, with him starting to date Rachel.The fact that he still feels like he's not moving in any particular direction just says he knows that he's not turning in the right direction.Anyway, yes, Rachel is the master manipulater, which kind of makes me respect her. I still don't understand your massive crush on her, but to each his own. You will never understand my massive crush on Scott. Here, she attempting to create a wedge between Adrien and Kate making her seem so selfish for needing to leave like right this instant. I apologize for unintentionally bringing up stepmother angst. Hopefully this latest chapter was stepmother angst free. So then the Johnny section. At first, I was going to make Johnny overtly hostile here. But then I thought that Adrien would really be more agonized if Johnny was just completely impassive (because hate isn't the opposite of love; apathy is - or at least, I read that in some book some time). I actually hadn't planned for Johnny to be wearing his "Team Kate" shirt. It just came to me as I was writing. But it might have ended up being my favorite part of the chapter. So anyway, I was basically trying to bring on the awkward for the rest of this section, so I hope that happened adequately. As for Kate and Adrien's final parting, what is wrong with "Call me?" Yeah, I know, it's a little anticlimactic. But I'm trying my best not to be too melodramatic this days, because people get on my ass when I'm too melodramatic, and I probably reached my melodrama limit somewhere during "Shaking It Up." Besides, it's not like Kate and Adrien are parting forever, and since they're still living in their delusions (speaking of delustions, I've been thinking about it and I definately think Johnny would've been the one to say, "I don't know where you get your delusions, lazerbrain" if Star Wars hadn't stolen that line before I'd gotten a chance to creat it) and pretending they're just freaking friends, they have no RIGHT to be melodramatic either. Besides, it's Johnny and Adrien's parting that got me more. I mean, "See you, little brother." How awww-worthy is that? Now I'm breaking my own heart. Anyways. I hope this chapter was alright- it seems a little disjointed and a little space-filler-ish to me. But it was important, because everyone must have theircomplex motives for their actions, you know. Also, I hope Kate and Adrien werecute in their emails withoutbeing too flirty. You know it freaks me out writing Kadrien stuff.Seriously.Oh, and also: yesterday my multi-tasking movie of the day two days ago was Sense & Sensibility. Which REALLY put me in the mood for some good old Caleb the Sponge. So get on that, woman! Just think – now we only have one to two chapters between us and Johnny's near death experience. Yes!