April 13th
Maka sits across the table from her father, drinking iced tea and scowling; she had really considered canceling with her father but she had to pick up paperwork from him and Soul had harangued her into keeping her lunch date. Her Papa had finished his drink and was currently sucking at air, making awful noises to fill the silence. She coughs and he stops, looking a bit like a child sneaking candy; he had always been a little immature.
"So," they say at the same time before slamming their mouths shut. He looks like he's about to speak again but stops again. Neither one of them has gotten a word out since they ordered. She can tell that he's looking at her, hoping that she looks back at him, but she stares out the window. Seven months of not speaking has put a sizeable rift between them.
"So," her father grinned sheepishly, "how is school going? Making lots of friends?"
"Yes, papa, school is just fine," she sips her tea.
"That octopus head isn't harassing you?"
"Soul is just fine too."
"You were always good at chasing boys off," Spirit laughs, "making your Papa proud!"
"I'm not chasing him off."
They sit in silence for a few minutes while Spirit fumbles for something else to say. If she hadn't been consistently mad at him since the divorce, she might have felt bad for him; if there was one thing to say for her father, he did try hard. She had been thirteen when she first realized that her father was a womanizer who couldn't really control himself. She was fifteen when the divorce was finalized; Spirit moved to Oregon and she was shipped off to stay with him every summer against her wishes. She always begged to stay with her mom but it wouldn't fly with joint custody. Spirit cared, he really did, but he had two ways of treating women, as a child, or as an object of affection; he didn't really know how to relate to an adult daughter.
"Looks like the food is here, do you want some of this cake?" Spirit forks a bite of some unnaturally pink baked good and points it at her. "Say 'ah' just like when you were little!"
"You know I don't like sweet stuff, Papa," she sighs and picks up her sandwich.
"Oh, yeah."
"So, what classes are you teaching this semester?"
He rambles on about some American literature class he's teaching, and the books that they were reading. She might have had some opinions about the books, she had gotten a love of reading from both of her parents, but she decides to stay silent on the subject; it's sweet watching him get excited about books, and she doesn't want to ruin his fun by disagreeing with him on the finer points of Steinbeck. They hae enough to argue about as it is. She lets him pay for lunch and drive her back to campus for classes.
"Do you want to get lunch next week again?" he asks, eagerness creeping into his voice.
"I'm pretty busy," she says, it's only half a lie, "but once we move into the apartment maybe you could come over for dinner?"
"Oh," she watches her father's look of dejection turn to pure joy and feels a stab of guilt, "I hoped this day would come."
"I think you'll like Soul if you get to know him," she adds in. He opens his mouth like he's about to say something, but closes it upon further thinking; he's learning at least.
She goes to her last class of the day but doesn't really pay attention; thank god she can multi-task note taking even when not paying attention. She thinks about her dad, and Soul, and about how no two more opposite people could exist; their caring about her might be the only thing they have in common, but that in itself is important.
She's walking down the hallway to her dorm when she spots one familiar boy with stark white hair by her door. She walks up and stands in front of him but he's leaned over, eyes closed, deeply engrossed in the music she can faintly hear from his massive head phones.
"Did you get kicked out by the sex freaks again?" she asks, nudging him with her foot.
"No, I just thought I'd come by and see how your lunch went," he takes off his head phones.
She sighs and slides down the wall to sit on the floor next to him and sighs, "it was fine, kinda awkward, but not that bad."
"Are you going to see him again?"
"I don't think I can really deal with that right now," she looks up at the ceiling, "but I said he could come over for dinner when we move into the apartment."
"Doesn't he hate me?"
"He doesn't hate you, he just doesn't know you," she says, "or trust you."
"Well that's comforting," he laughs.
"Did you want to come in then? Or did you just come by to ask about my dad?"
He shrugs, "whatever you want."
"Can we go do something then? I need a distraction."
"Yeah, what do you want to do?"
She suddenly gets a craving for chocolate icecream, which she hasn't really wanted to eat since she was little, "let's get ice cream."
"Are you sure? I thought you didn't like sweets."
Of course he would remember something like that, along with her coffee order and all the rest of her preferences, the dork.
"I'm just in the mood," she admits, though really it's nostalgia talking. She stands up quickly and smiles, grabbing his hands to pull him up after her.
"Ok."
April 19th
She wants to get ice cream the next week too and of course Soul goes with her, loyal thing that he is. She gets salted caramel because it's not as sweet as the other flavors; Soul gets some chocolate monstrosity.
"Hey, isn't that Kid's girlfriend?" Soul gestures over to the counter where she sees long blonde hair.
"Oh yeah, hey Liz!" She waves over at the counter and Liz waves back.
"Did you mean to call her over?" Soul asks in a hushed voice.
"Yeah, why not?"
"Hey guys," Liz says and sits down with her icecream, "how's it going?"
"Pretty good, we just signed a lease for next year!"
"Oh that's awesome! I'm going to move in with Patty, our dorm roommates were both not that great."
"Oh that'll be fun, moving back in with your sister," Maka smiles, "how are you and Kid?"
"Oh," Liz looks surprised, "you didn't know? Kid and I split a couple months ago."
"Oh my god," Maka gasps, "I didn't, I'm sorry to have brought it up, I thought I saw you together across the field recently."
"Oh, we're still great friends," Liz explains, "we just realized that we were not compatible relationship material; we still hang out all the time and everything."
Soul catches her eye and raises her eyebrows at her, Maka just squints back at him.
"So, Soul," Liz turns to him, "how's the music going? I heard that you play the piano."
"It's going well," he responds, perking up, "mostly I have a lot of theory classes, I don't have to do a recital until next year."
"Oh yeah? I was talking with Kirikou about you, he plays the drums and was saying he wants to get together to jam sometime, you know I play alright guitar."
"That sounds fun!"
Maka's not sure if she's seen Soul be so excited about something; she knows he loves music more than anything, but she also thought he liked sharing that with her too.
"Yeah, we should schedule something sometime," Liz beams, "oh also, you're into Jazz right?"
"Oh yeah, it's the focus for my composition requirements."
Maka wishes she could contribute something to the conversation.
"Cuz there's this lady from USC who's coming up to do a concert, Sarah Gazarek, have you heard of her?" Liz leans over the table
"I haven't, but that sounds fun."
"It's next monday, hopefully I'll see you there!" Liz stands up, her icecream finished, "well, I gotta head out, it was good running into you guys."
"See you!" Soul calls.
"Bye Liz," Maka says in a quieter voice.
"Well, that's too bad about her and Kid," Soul leans back in his chair and winks at her; what the hell is that supposed to mean?
"I guess, though if they're happy with the decision it doesn't really matter," Maka responds curtly.
"Doesn't it, to you?"
"God, do you think I still have crush on him? That was such a long time ago, it's so irrelevant," she snaps; it really is, she has someone else to pine after at this point.
"No, but I thought it would still be interesting to you."
"Whatever."
"Man, that concert sounds fun though, we should go."
"I think she was just inviting you," Maka eats another bite of ice cream.
"Why would she say it to both of us then?" Soul asks, totally clueless.
She just shrugs in response and gets up to throw her napkins out, "she's awfully pretty though, isn't she? You should go out with her."
"What the hell? Why would I go out with Liz?" Soul falls back into place from his leaning, his chair hitting the floor with a slap.
"You're not dating anyone now," she says matter-of-factly.
"Neither are you, so why don't you go out with Liz?" He sounds annoyed, which may be justified; she knows she's being a bit of a brat but she can't help herself.
"I don't want to go out with Liz."
"Well, neither do I," Soul counters, still looking taken aback by the questioning.
Maka sighs and picks up her phone and keys, "let's just go watch some stupid TV."
"Fine," he answers shortly and grabs the motorcycle helmets from under the table, "let's go."
She wraps her arms tightly around him on the motorcycle as a safety rule, but she leans against the wall rather than against him when they watch the movie. She punches herself mentally for being so stupid and possessive when she has no right or reason to be, but she's always been a bit impulsive.
She hates to think of something taking him away from her, even if he isn't hers to take. She doesn't know at what point her feelings became so possessive and needy, but she craves his closeness and it scares her. She's been trying for so long to contain herself, make herself independent, not put anything on other people, but she can feel herself starting to depend on him. And while he's certainly dependable, to say the least, and she isn't afraid of him shirking her off, she can't stand the thought of being a burden, least of all him.
If things are going to work between them as friends, she needs to keep it under wraps.