Happy Memorial Day to those of us in the USA. This is the unofficial beginning of the summer.
I do not own.
Rex watched Circe from the corner of his eye. She fiddled with her spoon on the table. They sat in the local coffee shop that her mother had suggested. When they put the address into the GPS, it showed that is was just a four hour drive from Providence. Leaving early the next day, because traffic was unpredictable, they arrived early at the destination. After she paced a little outside, Rex suggested that they go inside and wait.
Circe looked like she was going to protest before quietly walking in. Rex followed her inside.
A portly matron smiled as they stood uncertainly by the door.
"How many?" She asked.
Circe was stumped. Should she say 4 or 2? Rex saw her hesitate.
"We're meeting some people here. Can we have a booth near the door?" He jumped in.
"Of course, hon." The lady waved for them to follow her as she grabbed two menus.
Circe slid into one side of the seat while Rex sat opposite her.
"Wait, what are you doing?" She asked him.
"Uh, sitting?" Rex answered wondering if it was a trick question.
"No, why are you sitting over there?" She fretted. "When they come, I don't want them sitting next to me."
"Oh." Rex realized what she meant. He scooted out of the booth and went over to sit next to her. "Better?" He asked.
Circe thought about that. She felt trapped because Rex was blocking the only way out.
"Can we switch places?" She asked.
"Um, sure." Rex got up and watched her slide out. He then moved in while she sat at the end.
"On second thought…" Circe said after a minute.
"Hey, hey." Rex put his hand on her shoulder. "Listen, everything's going to be fine." He reassured her.
Circe took a deep breath. "Yeah, okay." She agreed. Rex picked up the menu. Circe also picked it up but put it down without really looking at it. That's when she started worrying her spoon.
Rex continued to pretend to study the menu while keeping an eye on his nervous girlfriend.
The bell on the door rang. Circe's head immediately snapped to the door. A gaggle of teens entered chattering away. Circe breathed a sigh of relief as her body relaxed. Leaning back, she chided herself for being so jumpy. She had faced EVO's, maniacs, and EVOs who were maniacs. Why is meeting two ordinary people so daunting? Because they abandoned you. A voice inside whispered to her. She shook her head to clear out the thought. Staring at the spoon, her mind wandered. Images materialized in front of her: the look of disbelief on her mother's face when she revealed her "power." Disbelief was quickly replaced by fear and revulsion. An image of her father appeared in front of her mother. Anger and hatred poured from his face as he ordered her to leave. "GET OUT, CIRCE!"
"Circe!" The sound of her name snapped her out of her reverie. She looked blankly at Rex. He pointed at her hand.
Circe peered down. She had mangled the spoon in her hands. She dropped it on the table.
"Oops." She muttered. "Sorry, I guess I need to pay for that."
Rex swept the spoon onto the floor. "Don't worry about it. I'll leave an extra tip."
Circe gave him a wry smile. "What if they pick up the check?"
Rex was at a lost for an answer. Circe laughed at the look on his face. She patted his cheek. "Thanks for being here."
He grabbed her hand. "I wouldn't want to be any where else." He gave her hand a quick kiss. They leaned in when the tinkle of the bell made both their heads turn.
Standing in the doorway was a well dressed couple. The man was a head taller than the woman. His stern face wore a five o'clock shadow. A lady had perfectly coiffed hair and make-up.
"Circe, darling!" She cooed walking quickly to the booth. Circe stood up automatically. She gave a faint smile as the woman came over. Instead of a hug which is what Circe expected, her mother gripped her arms and gave her a kiss on both cheeks.
"Let me look at you," She held her daughter at arms length. "My how you've grown."
"Hello, mother." Circe said flatly. She pulled out of her mother's hold.
If the sudden distance startled her, she did not show it. She smoothly glided into the free seat opposite Rex. Her husband, who was standing behind her, sat down as well.
"This must be the boyfriend." Circe's mother turned her attention to Rex.
"Yes, ma'am." Rex held out his hand. "My name is Rex and it's nice to meet you." Circe's mother took Rex's hand in a limp handshake. He held his hand out to Circe's father, who grabbed his hand in an almost painful manner, crushing his fingers. Rex pulled his hand from his vice grip and gently massaged them under the table.
"Oh, don't call me ma'am. It makes me feel so old. You can call me Calista and him Jason." She said amicably.
Jason's frown deepened, however. "You call me sir." He corrected his wife. His deep voice held a note of irritation.
"So, mother, father, I see you are doing well." Circe interrupted them.
"Oh yes, we are." Her mother answered politely.
Then there was awkward silence.
Luckily, a waitress came to take their orders.
"Oh, we're not ready yet." Calista fretted.
"Would you like some drinks while you look through the menu?" The waitress suggested helpfully.
"Oh, yes, I'll have the dark roast with sweet and low." Calista said.
"Coffee, black." He said curtly.
"Orange juice." Rex said.
"I'll just have water." Circe told her.
The waitress wrote down their drink orders and left.
Calista and Jason picked up their menus. A few minutes later the waitress showed up with their drinks. She took their food order before leaving. When she left, the awkward silence resumed.
Rex cleared his throat. "So what have you been up to?"
Calista and Jason looked at each other. "We've been keeping busy." Calista said slowly.
"Yeah? Doing what?" Rex took a sip of his juice.
"Well, Jason is in real estate." Calista said. "I do interior designs. What about you? What have you been doing?"
"Well, Circe and I are in college." Rex started saying.
"Oh, is that where you met?" Calista interrupted.
"Um no. We actually met in Cabo Luna." Rex said truthfully.
"Oh, you went there for Spring Break?" She interrupted again.
"Something like that." Rex didn't want to get into the details.
The food came fairly quickly. Rex was grateful for something else to focus on. He wasn't sure why Circe wasn't participating in the conversation. In the next second, he wished she hadn't spoken.
"So why did you kick me out?" Circe asked suddenly.
The fork was half way to her mother's lips when she placed her fork down. Her eyes nervously darted to her husband. He took a large bite of his omelet. He did not seem fazed by the question. When he had swallowed the bite, he wiped his mouth with his napkin before placing it back on his lap. He looked unflinchingly at his daughter.
"You were an EVO and EVOs are dangerous. You saw what an EVO did to your friend. You saw the devastation it brought to our town." Her father stated matter-of-factly. "We had no idea what you would do."
"So instead of trying to help, you threw me out in the streets so that what? I would be someone else's problem?" Circe's voice became hard.
"What help? No one knew what was causing this… this disease. No one knew anything about it. We can only see the results of these monsters." Her father narrowed his eyes.
"And… and you had changed." Calista added weakly. "You use to be my sweet little angel. You did what we told you… then you started being defiant and angry. We thought surely the change had warped your mind. We didn't know what you'd do to us."
"Right. And what about after the cure? Why didn't you try to find me then?" Circe asked angrily.
"We didn't know where to start. We thought… we thought you had died." Her mother's words ended in a whisper.
"That's bull…" The clatter of a plate drowned out the last word. Circe looked coldly at them. "As far as I'm concerned, you can consider me dead, because you are dead to me. You were never my parents. You never wanted me. You just wanted a compliant doll. And the second I needed you… you abandoned me. Well, screw you!" With that, Circe tossed her napkin on her uneaten plate, got up, and left.
Rex saw the stunned faces of her parents. He was a little surprised himself but he had a job to do. It was a good thing Six gave him extra cash. He tossed several twenties onto the table.
"This should cover everything. It's nice to meet you. Please excuse me." He said as he downed his juice. He quickly got up to follow Circe. He came back and grabbed his toast before turning to leave again.
Sorry for the really slow updates. I haven't abandoned anything. I've been sick for the last few weeks. It makes it hard to write. I hope you enjoy.