Chapter 2
Goings On

Adrien

The day after the funeral Dad packed up for New York, telling us that he suspected his business would keep him in the city for a very long time. Like usual. He was gone by noon. While Mom spent the day in bed, Aunt Lucy was over an hour after Dad left to enlist Kate and me to help her pack up the apartment and haul everything across the street to our house. Soon to be her house. Not to imply that I minded at all.

Kate was sulking, either still mad at me about last night, or mad at life in general for dealing her such a sorry hand. At least with the two of us barely talking, the work was going quickly. We were halfway done by three o'clock, when Jess bustled into the apartment. Kate and I were in the kitchen. I was on the floor, trying to stuff all of Aunt Lucy's odd appliances into a box.

"I'm borrowing your car," Jess said, jangling the keys above my head. I sat back on my heels and looked up at her warily. Jess didn't have her own car because none of us were exactly confident in her dubious driving abilities.

"Why?" I asked, hoping to find a reason not to let her.

Jess impatiently tapped her foot against the linoleum floor. "I need to go shopping."

"Need," I repeated. Kate coughed from her spot on the floor beside me. I glanced at her just in time to see her tip her head down. Her hair fell forward and curtained the smile she was trying to hide.

"Don't be cute, Adrien," Jess said, crossing her arms and glaring briefly at Kate. "There's a chance Matthew might propose tonight. That is if I look hot enough. So, yes, I do need to go shopping."

Matthew Wright was Jess's über-rich-but-hopelessly-stupid boyfriend. Jess was well aware of his idiocy, but it didn't seem to bother her. I hadn't quite decided where I stood on mercenary marriages yet, but I figured I was probably against them.

But I was wasting my time trying to stop Jess. Besides, forbidding her from borrowing the car was hardly going to stop the whole thing. I sighed and went back to trying to jam Aunt Lucy's food processor in beside the juicer.

"Fine, take the car."

Jess squealed and was instantly skipping out the door. "But let Manda drive!" I shouted after her. It was questionable whether that registered or not. It was also questionable whether I would ever see my car again.

"You are such a push-over," Kate teased. She looked up at me, grinning, and pushed her hair behind her ears. Kate had impulsively cut her hair a month ago, so that now her brown waves ended abruptly at her chin. It made her eyes look bigger.

It was also weird that I was noticing things like that.

"Nu-uh, I just know how to choose my battles," I defended myself.

Kate snorted. "Yeah, I know a thing about that." She was obviously now referring to last night, but the grin was still firmly implanted on her face. So I guessed she was kidding.

"You hold a hard grudge, woman," I said, lobbing a nearby oven mitt at her. She acted affronted when it hit her on the back of the head and then tossed it back. It landed limply in front of me.

"I don't hold grudges. I just pretend to," Kate said. She was straight-faced, but her eyes were laughing.

With a final shove, I finally managed to fit the food processor into its designated cardboard box. "You throw like a girl," I replied.

- - - - - - -

Later, Kate and I decided to celebrate the moving of Aunt Lucy from the apartment to the blue bedroom with pizza. Kate said she didn't understand exactly what we were celebrating. After all, even I couldn't pretend that having Aunt Lucy just down the hall was going to be a bowl of sunshine.

"We're celebrating because I don't have to carry any more boxes," I said, pulling into the Pizza Hut parking lot in my car, which Jess had miraculously managed to return unscratched. Jess, for the record, was out with Michael Wright now, probably getting proposed to.

"Hey, I think I helped," Kate said seriously. We walked into Pizza Hut. Kate told the long-haired behind the counter our number.

I said, "A little, but I still carried the large majority."

Kate leaned against the counter and smiled up at me. "That's because you're so strong and manly," she said in a girly voice, widening her eyes for effect. The guy came back with our pizza. I paid him

"Well, I did at least carry some boxes," Kate continued, returning to her normal Kate voice.

I rolled my eyes. "The light ones. Here, make yourself useful and carry the pizza."

We went home and crashed in front of the television with a movie. Jess came home halfway through The Manchurian Candidate and burst into the room. "Who wants to see the fruits of my labor?" she asked, holding up her hand without waiting for an answer. She was sporting a new diamond ring.

Kate chewed on her pizza crust. Her mind was clearly working. I found myself wondering what was going on in there. Kate didn't often choose to express herself. I wished she would just tell me what she was thinking. I suspected she told Johnny.

"Congratulations," I said to my sister. Jess smiled proudly. Michael Wright was quite a conquest, after all.

"Care to join us?" Kate offered benevolently. "We're already celebrating." She gestured to the pizza and the TV. After bestowing a disdainful look upon Kate, Jess glanced at the screen just in time to catch Denzil Washington strangling somebody. She wrinkled her nose with distaste.

"Oh gross," she said. "I don't' understand why you guys watch these things." Although she used a plural noun, she was looking only at me. I hadn't completely convinced Jess to acknowledge Kate's presence yet, but I was still working on her.

"Okay, well, you watch your lovely film, Adrien, and I'll go show Mom the rock," Jess said. She flashed us the ring on more time and skipped out of the room.

"She's happy," Kate observed after Jess was gone.

I shrugged. "Jess is always happy." It was true. I was still trying to figure out how she did that.

"Mmm," Kate murmured. "That's something to envy."

I grabbed another slice from the box in between us. "We're ruining this movie," I said. As far as I was concerned, I was happy enough. And either way, it wasn't as if I had a lot of time to dwell on the subject.

We were quiet for a while, but it was obvious that neither of us could concentrate anymore. After a moment Kate said, "I think it's going to be a long summer, Adrien. What are we going to do with ourselves?"

I stopped the movie. It was no use anyway. I angled my body towards Kate, committing with my body language to a conversation. "We can plan Jess's wedding," I suggested. It was a joke. I really already had enough on my hands.

Kate laughed and shook her head. "How about we start smaller. We should probably rent out the apartment."

- - - - - - - - - - -

To: Kate Pierson
From: Johnny Mansfield
Subject: Re: Your absence and other related topics

Don't worry, I'm not doing anything terribly dangerous. That is, I've been trying to stick to marginally dangerous these days.

Adrien says that he's already found someone to rent the apartment to. Pity, since I was considering renting the place myself. Not that I have a keen desire to live across the street from the fam, but I thought it would make an interesting statement.

I also hear that dearest Daddy is off for awhile. Perhaps it is time for me to make an appearance after all.

And as far and you and Adrien go, may God bless the union.

Don't wait up for me, darling.
Johnny