On the Ropes
It had been a month since Tyr's proclamation and Little Abbie was running scared. With his help (and that of his family) she'd rebuilt her life and started the arduous task of filing a lawsuit against her former landlady. It had clearly been established that she was at work during the window of the fire, so only Lila or her awful daughter could have set it. Abbie refused to speak with the woman in the aftermath of the fire, not wanting to sabotage her case.
Instead, she shopped, careful to keep her receipts and records. She had a spreadsheet with a running total of her expenses and it was already in the thousands. Not just her clothing needed replacing. Somehow she caught back up with her Etsy business and her other pursuits. It turned out that Tyr's mother and sister were quite the fashionistas of the family. They refused to let the girl walk around in just anything. They'd introduced her to places like Laura Plus, Torrid, and Addition Elle so that she could clothe herself appropriately. And she'd needed all the help she could get - it also turned out that the poor woman couldn't dress herself. Yep, Abhaya had the fashion sense of a blind aardvark on acid. With the ladies' help, she was looking the very best her bulk would allow.
She also had added little touches to her new home. Lamps and curtains and a set of down comforters… The girl had tapped into her savings - which the man learned was substantial - and was making the most of her situation. Tyr was proud of her. He was also frustrated with her but accepting of the fact that she was still running from him. She was nervous in his presence; maybe he shouldn't have come on so strong.
"Relax," he whispered against her ear, catching her when she tripped into his arms with her latest find, a cute little glass elephant. She jumped out of his arms as if he was on fire and he sighed as he grabbed the nicknack before it smashed on the floor. "Abbie… I'm not going to hurt you."
"Will you stop?" she whimpered, snatching the trinket away from him. "You have to stop this."
"I'm not doing anything," the man said with a smile. "What exactly is making you uncomfortable, Bliss?"
She looked around desperately, finding no help from the confused patrons in the store. "That… that's… Forget it." She put the elephant back where she found it. The last thing she needed was something breakable in the house the next time he scared her. This was getting ridiculous. Something about his sexual presence was actually rattling her. And she'd spent her life around sexual males. What was it about this male that made her behave like a love-struck teenager? Feeling the need to get away from him, she tried to say something, anything to take the sexual temperature down, and he was suddenly right in her face. He pushed a braid behind her ear and smiled charmingly.
"Are you ready for work Monday? Or did you need a few more days to adjust?"
Clutching at the lifeline, she visually relaxed at the questions. "Bethanie has been more than generous about this whole situation. It's certainly not what one generally expects to hear when taking a sick call. 'Hello, I can't come into work today. My home burned down.' It makes for a good joke, but for the life of me, I can't see the punchline. I think the worst part is going to be the people asking over and over why I've been MIA. I'll get through it. Thanks to you and your family I've got a full complement of work clothes and Esperanza's kitchen is fully stocked so I can make myself a good lunch. At least it's not a day shift to start. I hate those."
"Your schedule is peppered with them, right?"
"Yeah, but it's nothing I can't handle. Most of the time they're just weekend shifts. But every few weeks I have a slew of five in a row of them. It gets to be a bit much. I don't know how Marigold and Sisko get through them week after week."
"I'm sure they're used to it by now. They've both been working like this since the unit opened."
"This is true, I guess. But I've been with the unit since it opened and I'm still not used to my rotation. I actually tried to drop my FTE, but they were having none of it."
"You wanted a 0.5 line?"
"Hell no! I can't make rent on that. A 0.8 would be about perfect, I think. I would-"
"Come to dinner with me," he blurted out suddenly.
"-love to- Wait, what?"
"It's Sunday dinner with my family. Abuela is cooking. I would like you to come with me."
"But, it's a family dinner. I'm not family. I couldn't-"
"Mom loves you and so does my sister. And hasn't my dad been instrumental in your court case? You're practically family in your own right, Bliss. It's only a meal. At my parents' house. Please say you'll come." The twenty-four year old felt caught. On the one hand, she was already in love with his family. But a family dinner was a big deal. It was all but a declaration and they both knew it.
"I promise I won't push you, Bliss. Jubilee and I have friends over for dinner all the time. I just haven't been able to go a lot lately with my work schedule. This is my last chance to do it before we start work again. I don't want to go alone. And Esperanza won't be there to cook for you if you-"
"You really don't know how to cook for yourself, do you?" the woman shook her head.
"Well, abuela taught me some basic things, but why would I cook for myself when I pay her to do it?"
"Fair enough," Abbie nodded, beginning to look around for more things to buy at Pier 1 Imports. Most of it was decorative at this point and she wasn't sure if she could justify these purchases. But there was no reason not to try. "For those of us that don't have a personal chef, it's not much of a threat to say I'll have to cook for myself if I don't come to your dinner. But… If you promise to dial it back, I'll come to your dinner."
"I won't propose over the hor d'oeuvres, if that's what you mean," he smiled charmingly. Before she could put some space between them again, he grabbed her hand and kissed it tenderly. "Thank you."
"I-I-it's just dinner," she stuttered, pulling away from him as usual. "You know, I don't think I want anything from here. It's purely decorative; I doubt the courts will pay me back for it."
"Would you like to learn to drive?" he asked as they left the store.
"I don't have a car, so there's no point," she told him, sliding into the Jag when he opened the door for her. It was a curiosity about her; she didn't drive and seemed to expect her door to be opened for her all the time. It didn't quite match with her 'independent woman' persona.
"Then you should get a car. You have enough for the newest model middle class car. Hell, you could probably afford a high-end car like mine if you were willing to put all your savings into it. But I know you're not willing to do that at this point."
"I- yeah," she jumped in lamely. "I want my own house, Anasazi. Houses cost hundreds of thousands. I still have enough for a good downpayment, but not if I go for frivolities I don't need, like cars."
"If you put in for a licence, you could have one by next year. And I can teach you to drive, no problem."
"I was deemed a lost cause when someone attempted to teach me to drive. I'm just too nervous behind the wheel of a two-ton killing machine. I have no feel for the road or my lane position. I-"
"That person gravely underestimated you," he said firmly, touching her arm softly to stop her nervous explanation. She was chafing her arms as if chilled. She shivered and stopped when he touched her. "I am a very patient teacher. We would start slow, but with a whole year to build your skills, I could teach you how to drive. I could also help you lose weight if you wanted."
Abhaya was staring at the man in horror. "That would mean more time together, not less."
"Indeed it would," he said, smiling as he relished the idea. "But it would give you practical life skills. And I'm up to the challenge. What do you say? We could always stop the lessons if they become too uncomfortable."
"I don't know…"
"Think about it this way. Not knowing how to drive is what got you into this mess in the first place. If you hadn't been taking the bus home at ungodly hours of the night, I wouldn't have felt the need to intervene. Why not eliminate that vulnerability while you have the chance?" She looked afraid suddenly and he had to wonder at that. "Abhaya. Abbie. Let me do these two things for you. I swear you won't regret it."
"O-okay," the woman said at last.
"Thank you," he said in relief, much to her surprise. She would have expected him to be gloating; for a woman that was determined to stay away from him and his charms, she'd just yielded an awful lot of ground to him. In fact, her stupidity had just netted him victory on all fronts. But looking at him, she knew that she wasn't going to buy a house while he was in the picture. And she was getting sick of living in this fat suit she'd condemned herself to all those years ago. Maybe it was time for a change.
Tyr turned on her music, having learned over the past month about her eclectic tastes and watched as she sang along. For all of her tastes, she seemed to favor love songs, and it amused him to watch her blush and fumble when one came on.
Every little thing that you have said and done
Feels like it's deep within me
Mmm mmm mm
Doesn't really matter if you're on the run
It seems like we're meant to be
I don't care who you are
Where you're from
What you did
As long as you love me
Who you are
Where you're from
What you did
As long as you love me
The girl cast a nervous glance at the driver, but he continued to drive as if nothing were amiss. All the while he added this to the list of her songs that expressed his feelings for her perfectly. Apparently the Backstreet Boys knew what they were talking about. The next song had her reaching for the dial. Wondering who this Fantasia was and her exquisite choices in lyrics, he grabbed her hand when she went to change the song.
"Driver is the DJ," he told his lady firmly, pushing her questing fingers away from the controls. "Yet another reason to learn to drive." Instead of putting her out of her misery by changing the song like he normally would, he started it over. What an inspired song!
I put your picture on my mirror
Start to blush when somebody says your name
In my stomach there's a pain
See, you walk in my direction, I go the other way
I start to stutter when I speak
Try to stand, but my knees go weak
What's happening to me?
Anybody, can you tell me what it means?
I lay my head on my pillow
Got me staring out the window
Wish on a star for a sign
See, that's the reason why…
You're always on my mind
When you come around, I get shy
When I see you, when I see you
Never know when you might walk by
So I gotta be right on time
When I see you, when I see you
"I like your choice of music," he said neutrally, refraining from bursting into laughter at the pained look on her face by sheer force of will. The girl was actually starting to turn red in her embarrassment, an impressive feat considering that her skin was the same honey brown hue as his. He didn't repeat the song like he wanted to, just let the music play. She seemed to be restraining herself from going for the dial when certain songs came on, something he carefully noted whenever it happened. As he suspected, it was certain romantic songs that made her the most nervous. Smiling happily at her discomfort, he pulled up to the Mount Royal College campus to pick up his sister.
"Ooh, I remember Ralph Tresvant!" the younger woman exclaimed as she fastened in, humming along to 'Sensitivity'. "Where do you find all this wonderful music, Abbie?"
"Oh here and there. Some old songs I search out, like this one. Others I stumble across by accident. I'm a slave to the beat. but I don't like to limit myself to one genre of music. I-"
"How was class?" Tyr cut in rudely, annoyed that this was the most Little Abbie had revealed about herself all day. Why was it always like pulling teeth to talk to her, but she shared her life so easily with his sister or mother? Both women gave him dirty looks at his rudeness, but Jubilee answered her brother anyway.
"Eastern Philosophy is kicking my butt. Hinduism is especially daunting. I mean what are the Vedas anyway? The professor tried to explain but he got so far up his butt about it that he lost the whole class. I-"
"But the Vedas are only the ancient texts that Hinduism is based on. Most Hindus will agree that those texts are the truth of their philosophy, kinda like the Bible is for Christians and the Torah is for Jews. Most Hindus believe anyway. There are-"
"Woah, you know Hindu philosophy? Could you tutor me?" Abbie blinked, seeming to realize her mistake.
"It's… it's been a long time since -"
"Oh, come on. You jumped right in with that Vedas thing right away! Look, I could really use the help. If I fail this course, it's going to drag my whole GPA down. Can't you help me out? Please?"
"She's coming over for dinner Sunday for dinner. If I bring her by a little early, maybe you two could study together," the man supplied helpfully. Abbie gave him a dirty look, but held her peace.
"That would be so perfect. If you know anything about Bhakti, I'm not taking no for an answer."
"The way to God?" Abbie asked in confusion.
"YES! Oh, God, Abbie, you have to help me!"
"Alright, alright, I'll help you," she said in shock, flinching from her sudden yelling and flailing. "Jeez, it's not that hard. There's a-"
"No, you don't understand," the student said frantically, calming down at a harsh stare from her brother. "I have a paper coming up that's worth about forty-five percent of my grade. I could really use your help; I can't make heads or tails of this stuff."
"Alright! I said I would help you."
"Oh, thank you, sis. This is so great!"
"Hold on, I'm not your-"
"Now I know I'll pass this course for sure! This is so awesome!"
"Jubilee…"
"What?" she asked, already dreaming of acing her course.
"...Nothing," Abbie sighed in defeat, turning to look out the window. If she hadn't turned, she would have caught Tyr's tiny smirk of triumph. Understanding that pointing out that she wasn't her sister would have ruined the jubilant mood of the car, she still hadn't denied that Jubilee had an older sister now. It was progress; a month ago his lady wouldn't have cared either way. 'Baby steps,' he told himself, looking at her with longing. Baby steps would get him what he wanted.
It's always fun when I get to show off some of my philosophy knowledge! Yep, little Abbie has it bad, and she's right; she just ceded a LOT of ground to her suitor. See ya next week to find out what happens next! :D
Backstreet Boys - As Long As You Love Me
Fantasia - When I See You