Our Endless Numbered Days

Chapter 7-This is Not What You Had Planned

June 13, 1981

I cannot believe I am actually considering this, Josie thought, standing in the doorway of the parlor, watching her mother with a careful eye. Clearly, I am in need of more girl friends. Asking her mother for romance advice was the last thing that Josie ever wanted to do, but she didn't have very many options right now; Donna, Mary, and Lisa were all off on vacation. Donna would return first, at the beginning of July, with Mary and Lisa following sometime in early August. They would have been the first people that Josie would have gone to in a time like this and without them, Josie was at a bit of loss. She didn't have any more close friends with whom she could talk about this…silly crush that had somehow developed. The situation, unfortunately, was getting too out of hand for Josie to consider waiting it out until Donna returned.

Four days. Four days since she had charged out of Sirius' room in a rage. Four days since she realized that she liked the bloke more than was probably acceptable. Four days since she had seen Sirius; avoidance was a specialty of the Flanders family. Four days and she had been trying her best to find a solution to her problems, an answer to her issue, but nothing had come to her. She was desperate to hash it all out, to get it out of her head and move forward; if, to accomplish this goal, she had to ask advice from her mother of all people, then she would.

Easier said than done, Josie thought, applied quite aptly to this situation. Still standing in the doorway of the parlor, Josie couldn't quite bring herself to walk into the room. The parlor was to her mother like the office was to her father; it was her realm. It was not a room one simply walked into, especially without an invitation. Every morning, after breakfast, Flossie Flanders would read the society pages of the paper in this room, sipping on tea, and receiving all the visitors that arrived to the residence. It was a room in which Flossie had complete control, the home field advantage. Venturing into this place uninvited was like walking into the den of a pack of unfed lions; you were asking to be eaten alive.

Florence's eyes never moving off of the newspaper in front of her, she reached out and picked up her teacup, elegantly, gracefully, and brought it to her lips to take a sip. While placing the cup back down, she called out to Josie. "Are you going to come in darling, or just hesitate in the doorway forever?" Flushing, Josie took a step forward, but ventured no further. A couple more minutes passed as Flossie read the engagement announcement of Elizabeth Kensington and Michael Moss. Finishing the last sentence with a proud look on her face, Flossie folded the paper in half widthwise, placed it carefully on the table, and looked up. Seeing that Josie had barely entered the room, she rolled her eyes. "Darling, I'm not going to bite. Come sit," she demanded, gesturing to the chair on the opposite side of the medium sized round table placed in the middle of the room.

Her lips pursed, Josie slowly, hesitantly sat down across from her mother. Looking at her over the rims of her cat's eye reading glasses, Flossie examined her clearly uncomfortable daughter. "So what brings you out of your room to see me today, darling? I have to say, we've all been a little worried about you." Josie shrugged.

"I'm fine mother."

"Oh I know. Mrs. Pierce has informed us of this statement many many times. She tells us you've been sulking and that you'll get over it eventually, but that still doesn't stop us all from worrying about you." Josie crossed her arms over her chest.

"You haven't been worried about me at all. Don't lie."

"Just because I don't knock on your door every five minutes to make sure you aren't dead, doesn't mean I don't care about you." Josie pursed her lips and in doing so, managed to complete the picture of an angst ridden teenager. Flossie sighed. "Don't be like that Josie. If you're not careful, all that grimacing you do is going to give you wrinkles."

"Because that would be the end of the world," was Josie's acrimonious reply.

"It certainly won't make you more attractive." Flossie remarked,

her hand reaching for her paper once more. "Now what did you want to talk about? Because, as much as I enjoy your company, it's not like you to spend more time outside of your room than is necessary." Josie didn't speak for a moment and Flossie began to unfold her paper, getting on with her routine.

"I need advice," Josie finally settling on a decision to speak. Flossie put the paper down and took off her reading glasses, giving Josie her full attention.

"Advice? What about?" Josie heaved a sigh and looked off to her left, out the window that faced the street. "I can't help you if you don't tell me what the problem is."

"It's just…I'm in a bit of a situation that I can't figure out how to solve."

"You're not pregnant are you?" Flossie asked, her demeanor surprisingly calm. Josie blushed.

"No! Of course not!" Flossie shrugged.

"Stranger things have happened."

"Well, that's not what I came here to ask about. You see, I think I may have…well, I like this guy, you see?" Flossie's face lit up at the news.

"Oh darling, that's wonderful! Who's the lucky boy?"

"It's not Matt, if that's what you're thinking," Josie responded, a nasty edge to her voice.

"If you say so. So this Not-Matt boy, has he asked you out yet?"

"No. I'm not even sure if he likes me back. I mean, I only just realized it myself."

"Ah," Flossie nodded her head sagely. "So I take it you like him a lot?"

"More than I probably should. We don't even know each other that well."

"When was the last time you two talked?" Flossie asked, curiously. Josie flushed and answered quietly.

"Actually, the last time we talked was four days ago. We argued."

"So you overreacted." Flossie stated.

"Mom!" Flossie took another sip of her tea.

"Well, I don't see you denying it, sweetheart."

"Okay, so I overreacted, just a bit. It really doesn't matter. I just…I don't know where to go from here."

"Ask him out." Josie eyes widened.

"What?"

"Ask him out for lunch." Josie continued to stare at her mother in shock. "What? I didn't think my suggestion would get such a reaction, particularly not from you."

"But what if he says no?" Josie asked, her voice filled with insecurity.

"Then he says no. In fact, he's doing you a favor by being up front about the fact that he's a waste of time." Josie didn't respond, but a warm feeling settled into her chest at her mother's advice and she smiled brightly. Her mother either didn't notice or didn't care to comment. Instead, she poured herself another cup of tea and returned to her newspaper, flipping the page from engagements to obituaries.

"Thanks," Josie said a few moments later, getting up and making her way towards the exit. Flossie waved a hand, indicating that she had heard her, but gave no other acknowledgement. As Josie exited the parlor into the foyer she was feeling slightly more confident and a whole lot lighter about her situation. The feeling didn't last long as she walked straight into Sirius a moment later. "Ow!" The impact made her slightly unsteady on her feet and she wobbled, almost falling down. Sirius grabbed a hold of her shoulders, making sure she didn't fall.

"Thanks," Josie mutter, wincing slightly.

"You alright?" Sirius asked her, concerned. She nodded.

"Only thing that's bruised is my ego. Sorry about that. I should have been paying attention to where I was going." She looked down at the floor, feeling distinctly embarrassed. Her face felt warm and she was sure it was the color of a tomato. Sirius shrugged.

"No harm done, Flanders. In fact I was just looking for you." Josie's head snapped up.

"You were? What for?"

"Listen, I have to leave for a bit. I've got a meeting to go to. You all should be safe while I'm gone; I'm going to put wards on the house. But that means you can't leave." Josie forced a laugh at Sirius' level gaze.

"I think I can manage to stay indoors. Although my budding social life will certainly take a hit." That was good, Josie thought. That wasn't flirty or forward, but at the very least, she didn't make a fool out of herself. Sirius nodded.

"Good." He looked like he was about to say something else, but decided against it.

"Oi! Black! Stop flirting and let's go." Josie was sure she had never blushed so much in her life, let alone one day. The man her father had a meeting with the day she arrived home—Mr. Moo-something, Josie couldn't quite remember—had joined them in the parlor. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Whatever you say, Mad Eye." Without another word, not even a glance towards Josie, Sirius and his companion disappeared with a loud crack. Josie jumped and stared for a long moment at the place where their two bodies had been before. With a sigh and a shake of her head, Josie decided that she would never get used to this magic thing.

While Josie may have made a joke about her lack of a social life so far this past summer, it wasn't a false statement. With her friends out of town, her rift with Matt, and her hiding in her room these past four days from embarrassment, confusion, and an assortment of other feelings she hadn't quite named yet, she was feeling more than restless. Part of her longed to ignore Sirius' instructions and just go out for a bit; because, really, just how dangerous was it? There certainly hadn't been any reason for her to worry so far. Frankly, Sirius' presence seemed excessive. She stared out the window, her hand holding back the curtain, watching the coming and goings on the street. It'd be easy, to sneak out. She could go out for a couple hours, sneak back in, and no one would know the difference.

But she didn't. Letting the curtain fall back against the window, Josie wandered around the house, not quite sure what to do with herself. Henry was sitting on the floor of the living room as she walked past, the TV on, the volume loud, and watching some obnoxious cartoon. She watched her little brother for a while, leaning against the door frame. His attention was glued to the television, his sandy hair ruffled and his clothes crumpled, like he had been running around earlier. The vision brought a smile to her face and without anything better to do, Josie entered the room and laid down next to him.

"Hi Henry." He made a noise of acknowledgement, but didn't say anything. Something in the cartoon was funny and made him laugh. Josie wasn't paying any attention to what was on the TV though; her focus was solely on Henry. "Henry, can I ask you something?" He nodded. "Why were you so concerned about me the other week, when I wasn't feeling well?" The little boy shrugged.

"I didn't want you to go to the hospital."

"But why, Henry? You know that sick people go to the hospital to get better, right?"

"Not always." Henry responded with a whisper.

"What makes you say that?"

"Sarah Morton."

"Sarah Morton?"

"Uh-huh. Sarah's my friend from school. Her mom got sick earlier this year and had to go to the hospital. She died though."

"When was this?" Josie asked, concerned. She hadn't heard anything about this—surely her mother would have mentioned something.

"March. Sarah didn't come back to school for a month. And when she did, she was really sad and didn't want to play or anything." Josie reached out and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Well, buddy, I'm not going anywhere. Even if I'm sick, even if I go to the hospital, you're gonna be stuck with me for a long time."

"Okay," Henry said, "Can I go back to watching TV now?" Josie giggled.

"Yes yes, go ahead. Clearly cartoons are more important than your older sister." She joked, but Henry had already turned back to the screen. Watching Henry, Josie lowered her head onto the floor, her hands providing a slight pillow.

It wasn't until hours later, when she woke up, still on the floor, with her brother curled up next to her, that she realized that she had fallen asleep.

A/N: So it's short. And not that good. I'm so sorry. But the good news is that things should start to pick up a bit from here. Sorry for the filler, but it was necessary. I did my best you guys, and all things considered, it's a miracle I was able to get this to the point where I think it's okay.

See you all in 2011! I'm off to Russia in a week and will not be updating until after the new year. I hope you all understand.

NaP