Remus lived a rather uneventful life. He traveled to and from campus, teaching up and coming young minds about the reasons of the universe through works like Shakespeare and H.G. Wells. He was rather fond of the poetry and made sure to include it in any class he taught. Remus was regularly spotted by students at local poetry slams and known to perform a few, when bravery struck, which was rare. As a result, he maintained a list of excellent works that he updated yearly. When he was done with his lectures, he would go to a local coffee shop near campus and host his office hours. The staff was wonderfully accommodating and he would regularly buy coffee for anyone who came. Most of the time, however, the students offered to pay and in the end, they would cover their own costs. When his hours were over, he took a bus to the local library. Worked on his thesis tirelessly. He would stop and get takeaway from the Indian restaurant around the corner and take the bus home to eat. The only other thing that he did was drink tea with the little old lady who lived in the apartment down the hall from him.
Remus was fond of the time that he spent with Rosa. She was a loud woman with strong opinions, something Remus struggled with. His parents were plain and rather average, they didn't pay him much mind. Didn't really teach him to express himself. In fact, he was shut down when he tried to show them the drawings he made or talk about the books he had just read. They proved to have no interest in their own child. He did have the nanny to look after him. She was so kind and gentle and loud. He hates to admit it, but Rosalinda reminds him very much of Marg. He went to her funeral a few years ago. Her family had called him to let him know and it struck a chord with him. He knew part of the reason he spent so much time with the old woman was out of guilt. But she didn't have anyone. Her family fought many years ago and they had yet to make up. She had one son who visited her once a month, but even that slowed down. They really only had each other and today was no different.
Remus was grateful that he had spent some time learning Spanish in his free time. He was able to watch the telenovela with enough ease that he didn't have to bother her with too many questions. Rather, Remus made the two of them earl gray and plate the lemon tea biscuits he made a few nights ago when he felt a craving for something sweet struck him. Rosa was sitting on the aging, floral couch, her fingers working quiet magic on the broken hem of a blouse. Remus lowered a cup in front of Rosa and she set her work aside to grab the cup, eyes still glued to the television. He placed the tray on the glass coffee table and took a seat on a leather recliner and took casual sips. The young heroine in the show just met the new man of her dreams. Her previous engagement got killed by a shark in the middle of their honeymoon. The new love interest was just as handsome and made for really good television as far as he could tell.
"Tell me boy," Rosa said, taking a moment to look over at Remus. "When you and Tonks getting engaged?"
"Oh, we haven't really talked about it." She laughs through sips of tea. "What's so funny?"
"You said same thing last year." She said. "You not getting married like this."
"Well it's just never the right time. She has been so busy with her field research and I have my lectures. I only ever see her in person a few days out of the year."
"You need to be more like Lucas" She said, turning her attention to the telenovela on the screen. "He so in love, he no care. He tell her that they get married."
"Life isn't a telenovela, Rosa" Remus said, biting into a biscuit. "And we are all better off for it."
"Seguro?" She asked.
"I'm sure." But deep down he questioned his own answer.
They spent the rest of the night watching as the heroine ran from her evil step mother who is trying to poison her and take the new love interest for her own daughter. He finished his tea by the end of the episode and took his leave. She gave him a tin with some cookies that her son brought her that she didn't want. He made his way across the hall to his apartment and went inside.
Remus found himself thinking about what Rosa said. He didn't think he could have any regrets with Tonks. They had been dating ever since they met at an AC/DC concert. The sweat dripped from his face as he swung back and forth in the mosh pit. By the end of the night, he found himself stuck to a girl two years his junior. Bright pink hair plastered to her face and a look of awe that he couldn't seem to look away from. With the rush of adrenaline, he asked for her name. She whispered it into his ear so that he could actually hear her. She had pulled a sharpie from her bra and wrote a number on his hand. Remus had never been so giddy in his life. It was surreal. He was lucky he wasn't so close to the speakers or else he would never have heard her say Tonks. He called her the very next day and they went on a date.
She was everything he wasn't. Loud and beautiful and unwilling to let anyone tell her what to do. Tonks was fiercely independent. She put herself through school, working full time just to cover expenses. She studied zoology. She was an activist in every sense of the word. Has gotten arrested countless times at protests. She was like a breeze. She danced with the wind in ways Remus could only dream. There was a point in their seven years of dating that he thought he was holding her back. They lived together, they moved across the country together, they graduated together. Their lives were deeply intertwined and Remus began to grow more insecure. That was it. It was insecurity.
Something deep inside Remus told him that they wouldn't work long term. She wasn't comfortable being in one place. He didn't mind that. It's part of why he returned the ring he bought her when she said she got an offer to work on a wildlife preservation in Australia. Tonks was so excited and he supported her one hundred percent. He chickened out. It was too much to ask her to marry him right when her life was just starting. It didn't help that into her second year there, she wanted to open up the relationship. Remus wasn't exactly the jealous type. No, it simply made him feel guilty. They both agreed that it was for the best, but he wished that he could be there for her. They have talked about the few people they slept with during their time apart, but Remus had very few relations outside of Tonks visits to the states. On the other hand, Tonks had a consistent partner. They had met once over their daily skype call. She was a nice young lady, rather quiet and well kept. Her name was Jude and she was a veterinary tech at the facility Tonks worked in.
Remus tossed the cookies in a cupboard and opened his laptop that sat on the kitchen counter. His thesis stared back at him. He watched the blinking line sitting at the end of his last sentence and considered a life where the two of them lived together in Australia. He could make her dinner every night and they could curl up on the couch and watch movies till morning like they used to during their graduate program. He opened up internet explorer and looked for teaching positions near Palmerston City. Maybe, he needed to be the one to make a big change.