Chapter 4
The Mansfields, A Second Look

Scott

Ah, the Mansfields. What can I say?

I have to give them a little credit—they were more interesting that I expected them to be. More complex. You want to hear my first impressions? Well, here they are, as good as I can remember them.

Aunt Lucy appeared to be the family busybody, matchmaker, and pain in the ass all rolled into one. She insisted on me calling her Aunt Lucy before she was even sure she liked me. And over the next day and a half, she tricked me into several forgettable conversations about Amanda's eligibility. Aunt Lucy was under the impression that I was renting the Mansfield's apartment this summer in order to find a spouse.

She was mistaken. I had very little interest in spouses. More importantly, I had very little interest in the younger Miss Mansfield.

"Amanda is surprisingly mature for her age," Aunt Lucy assured me for the fifteenth time.

"Oh, I can tell," I answered, with as much sincerity as I could muster.

I really wasn't worried about Manda's age. Five years between us wasn't that bad. Or at least, I could think of several occasions where the age gap between me and the girl had been a little more scandalous. I did, however, have my doubts about Amanda's maturity level. Especially with the way she was constantly battling Jessica for my attention.

To give you an example of the kind of passive aggressive warfare I'm talking about, let me tell you about the second morning we were with the Mansfields.

They had invited Rachel and me over for breakfast. Jessica had managed to wedge herself in beside me at the table—impressive, seeing as she had a fiancé she certainly should have been taking care of—and was rather flirtatiously acquainting me with the ups and downs of her life as a Mansfield. The only downs seemed to be that Adrien wouldn't buy her a car and Kate Pierson's mere existence. Jess really didn't like this Kate character. She thought both her brothers liked Kate too much. As far as I could tell, that was only reason behind the intense loathing.

Anyway after a half an hour or so of the flirting, a neglected and jealous Manda poured her coffee in Jessica's lap. Accidentally of course.

So you can see why I had questions about her maturity level.

Anyway, the summer wasn't about me. It was about Rachel, and what Rachel needed was for the Mansfields to like us. I knew what I needed to do to make Aunt Lucy like us. She wanted very much for me to like Amanda. I pretended that I did, and Aunt Lucy was naturally charmed. It was a small price to pay.

Mrs. Mansfield, the mother, didn't seem to be much a presence. Jessica informed me (with surprising censure) that her mother did not often choose to leave the sanctuary of the houses' upper levels. And even when she did, she was generally on too many antidepressants to be coherent. It apparently fell to Kate to take care of her.

And Mr. Mansfield was not at home.

Thus, with Aunt Lucy being already won over, Rachel and I were easily admitted in the Mansfield's social circle. Two days later we were practically part of the family.

Like I said, the Mansfields were interesting.

Or rather, the sisters were interesting. The oldest brother—Johnny or something—he wasn't around and I got the feeling that he rarely was. And while I have infinite respect for mature and responsible people like Adrien, I find them rather boring and they typically find me rather shallow.

Actually, maybe what I mean is that Jessica was interesting. Aunt Lucy had done her best to assure me that I was more than allowed to fall in love with Manda, and Manda herself was certainly ready to be fallen in love with. But the mere fact that I had permission made the whole thing a bit uninspiring. I have to admit, the off-limits sign Jess was wearing around her ring finger made her an infinitely more intriguing prospect.

Besides, Jess quickly made it clear through her not-so-subtle come-ons that though she was engaged, she was definitely not too engaged to be interested, and that Trophy Wife was more of a career goal anyway. She was a wholehearted bitch, Jessica Mansfield. She knew it too, and it didn't seem to bother her. I have to say I admired her for that. It was really kind of beautiful, almost an art. If you met her, you'd know what I mean.

Anyway, I was grateful to be interested. I'd expected the summer to be nothing but tedium. We were staying here for Rachel of course, who also hoped to be able to write "Trophy Wife" on her resume some day. She regarded the Mansfield brothers as a wonderful opportunity.

So since this was Rachel's summer, I should probably be talking about how she and Adrien were getting along.

Adrien belonged to that special class of people who are just very good. You know, he was the kind of guy that you hate for being so good. And I hated him for it, but at the same time I couldn't help but resentfully admire him.

Rachel was getting on fine with Adrien, but she hadn't kicked it into high gear or anything. My sister wasn't the kind of girl who was attracted to good. I suspected she was holding out to see if Johnny would make an appearance. I wanted to see if my suspicions were correct.

"So what do you think?" I asked her that night, invading the room that she'd claimed for herself.

"Adrien?" She didn't look up from the box of clothes she was unpacking. "He's alright." She shrugged. The gesture lacked enthusiasm. "He's hot, at least. I like his hair."

I sat down on her bed. "But a little too moral for you, huh?"

Rachel wrinkled her nose. I laughed. It's probably not the nicest thing to enjoy your sister's hardships, but who doesn't?

"It's not that I don't like Adrien," she explained seriously. "He's lovely. But one doesn't want to commit to anything until one's properly considered one's options."

"Off course," I said solemnly, mocking her tone. She glanced back at me and knew from the smirk I was wearing that I wasn't buying her bullshit.

Rachel scowled at me and went back to unpacking. "I'm giving the older brother two weeks to show up. After that, Adrien will do." She held up one her sluttier tops and sighed. "Until then, I suppose I should avoid appearing indecent." She balled the shirt in her hands and threw it back into the box.

I was still laughing. It was poetry really—I was enjoying this Mansfield thing and Rachel wasn't. I rose to my feet.

"In which case, you may have to buy a whole new wardrobe," I suggested as I exited the room. Rachel chucked something at me, but I was already out the door.

In the meantime—while Rachel waited to see if Johnny would show—she remained perfectly in good-girl character, determined to keep the Adrien option open. Good being, of course, a relative thing for Rachel. Adrien undeniably liked her, but he seemed to think he was too busy to like anyone. Which was the only explanation as to why, in all these years, nothing had ever happened between him and Kate, the Attic Ghost. At least, that's what Jess said.

I haven't talked about Kate yet. Allow me to digress.

Kate. Kate Pierson. Kate, Kate, Kate.

Don't you think you should get a couple forewarnings in life? I mean, not that many. Maybe two. It just seems like once in a while you should be allowed to look ahead and see where something is going to take you. I would've used one of my forewarnings on Kate. I'm not saying that if I'd had I necessarily would've behaved better, or that things would've turned out differently. Sometimes there's only one way a story can end, and I think this might've been one of those cases. But it still would've been nice to have known what I was getting myself into.

Kate Pierson took me completely by surprising.

In the beginning, I didn't like her at all, and who can blame me? Kate was boring. She was quiet and mousey and only spoke when spoken too. I mean, sure, she was pretty enough. But she definitely didn't know it, or do anything about it. Some guys might think that's cute, when a girl doesn't know she's pretty. But it's really not cute. It's like having a car you never drive. If you've got a good thing, you'd better use it.

Actually, it wasn't that I didn't like Kate. I just didn't notice her. She was easy to miss. I can only remember having one conversation with the girl during the first week or so we were at the apartment. I was passing her in the hallway. I said, "So you're Kate, right?"

Kate looked startled and then uncomfortable and then like she didn't know what to say. I was tempted to point out that I'd just asked a yes-or-no question which really shouldn't have been all that difficult. But in a newfound spirit of generosity, I kept my mouth shut. Kate finally pulled it together anyway and said, "Um, yeah." Then she scampered past me down the hallway.

That's it. That's all she said to me. Um yeah. Don't blame if I didn't have her all figured out right then.

After that non-conversation, I wrote Kate off. I decided she wasn't worth wasting my time on. Rachel, on the other hand, decided she needed to make friends with the girl. It was apparently something that would impress Adrien. Rachel was already giving up on this Johnny fellow. Or maybe she was just starting to like Adrien after all. Either way, she announced to me after a long day with the Mansfields that Kate Pierson was going to be her new best friend.

I didn't even look up from the paper when she said it. I just snorted and said, "Have fun with that one."

Rachel shrugged and said nonchalantly, "I'm sure she has amazing depth of character."

Depth of character. Now there was something I really, really wasn't interested in.

I set the paper down and looked up at the clock on the wall. I tapped my index finger on the end table beside me as I waited for the time to change from 10:59 to 11:00. Then I stood.

"I'm going for a walk," I told Rachel.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Off course you are," she said sarcastically. It was a wonder why I even bothered with the lie. I decided the best route was not to dignify her response with a response. I left the apartment without another word.

Jess met me outside, in between our houses. We kissed before we spoke. Kiss, of course, putting it lightly. Jess pulled away first.

"Hi," she said breathlessly. "We're getting good at this." And she leaned in for round two.

I wasn't sure what she was referring to—the sneaking out or the making out. Either way, I guess she was right. Had we done this before?

Yes.

Would we do it again?

Of course.

Was I sleeping with an engaged woman?

Not yet. But it didn't seem to be that far off.

A/N: Sorry the last chapter was short, everyone. I consciously made this one longer. Oh, and you guys are seriously the best bunch of reviewers ever. I really don't mind y'all telling me a million times that Kate started out a bit OOC. I know you're just trying to keep me in line. ;o)

Jill: I love you, you're brilliant. You make my stories better. Thus the phone bill haggling was indeed a shout out to you, o beloved reviewer.

And one last note, because it's just something I'm wondering 'bout. So I got like sixty something hits on the last chapter and nine reviews. Does this mean 50 people read the last chapter and hated it, or liked it and were just to lazy to review, or just didn't feel anything striking about it at all. Please review guys. Reviews make me happy. Endorphins make me right faster.