Chapter Eight: Reparations
Sadly for Jane, nothing changed very quickly. She kept to herself mostly, for what felt like ages, until Roxy finally intervened a couple weeks before their planned Christmas party.
tipsyGnostalgic [TG] began pestering gutsyGumshoe [GG]
TG: janeyy
TG: its time to stpo moping
GG: I'm not moping.
TG: dirk n jake both said u havent been talking to them or seeing them outside of school
TG: an i know you an jakey kinda got into a fight last month but
TG: rly were all ur best friends
GG: Hardly.
GG: Before the breakup, all they ever messaged me about was each other.
TG: janeyyyy
TG: come onnnn
TG: you cant stay mad at them forever
GG: I'm not angry with Dirk.
TG: good!
TG: come to the christmas party
GG: No offense, Roxy, but I don't quite care for your type of party.
TG: pfft
TG: it isnt that kind of party
TG: not this time
TG: i havent evn been drinkin annymore
GG: Oh?
TG: yee
TG: and this party would jus be the four of us
GG: I'm not sure whether that makes it better or worse to be completely honest.
TG: jane
TG: i am litrally BEGGIN you
TG: at least extend the friggin olive branch or something
TG: i cannot stand all of us bein so sad and apart
TG: an clearly none a you are gonna get together on ur own so CLEARLY its up to rolal
TG: friendship doctor extraordinaireee
Jane was beginning to feel frustrated again. She didn't understand why Roxy was pushing it so much.
GG: Why exactly is this so important to you?
GG: Don't you have college friends to hang out with?
TG: jane :(
TG: i miss hangin out wit you guys
TG: truth is i rly havent made many friends here
TG: jus guys tryin to get something outta me or ppl wantin to hang out at bars
TG: which i OBVI cant do
TG: im like such a bab here in college
GG: You turn 18 in literally 3 days.
TG: yeh i KNOW
TG: theres like 24year olds in my classes
TG: LITRALLY tryin to have sex with me like dude that aint even legal
GG: By the way, I sent your gift.
GG: I'm hoping it gets to you in time.
TG: janeyyy you didnt hafta do that
TG: i know its tough having me and dirk and jakeys bdays all stacked up on you, and right before christmas
GG: Well it's too late now, I've already sent it!
GG: So you may as well be happy about it :B
TG: fiiiiine
TG: but you don't gotta get me anything for Christmas
GG: Roxy.
TG: tell you what, comin to the party can be your gift to me.
GG: Oh!
GG: I suppose that can be arranged.
GG: I just hope things aren't still awkward between me and Jake.
TG: YESSSS okay two down one to go
TG: i gotta go talk to dirkie
TG: hes gonna be the tough nut to crack
GG: Figures.
TG: anyway byeee janeyyy luv yah 3
tipsyGnostalgic [TG] has ceased pestering gutsyGumshoe [GG]
Jane tended to the message that had come in while she was preoccupied talking to Roxy.
golgothasTerror [GT] began pestering gutsyGumshoe [GG]
GT: Hello there jane!
GT: I apologize that weve left things on such an
GT: Unpleasant note
GT: I was just messaging you to let you know i received your birthday package
GT: You're top for sending it even with our friendship on the ice
GT: Jane
GT: I was being a right arse
GT: I can see why you lost your temper with me
GT: I wish i could make it up to you
GT: Jane?
GT: Jesus christopher kringlefucker jane you cant just leave a guy hanging here this is some kind of malarkey!
GG: Hi Jake.
GG: I was talking to Roxy.
GT: Oh shoot.
GT: Is she shooting your ear off about the party
GG: Not anymore, but yeah.
GG: You're going, right?
GT: I told her i would
GG: Well…
GG: Consider that making it up to me.
GG: I should apologize too, though. I kind of lost my cool there.
GT: Its so completely understandable though
GT: I was plain full of codswallop
GT: So no hard feelings then?
GG: No hard feelings.
GG: See you soon :B
gutsyGumshoe [GG] has ceased pestering golgothasTerror [GT]
Jane smiled. It was nice things were getting the slightest bit back to normal. Sure, it was still a bit odd that Dave was living with them, but that was coming to an end. Dave and John were sitting downstairs, John's father helping Dave look over the paperwork he was supposed to fill out in conjunction with Dirk in order for the boys to be able to leave Bro. Dirk was meant to become Dave's legal guardian as soon as he turned 18, which was in a couple of days, just before Roxy's. If that weren't coincidence enough, Roxy and Rose had the same birthday, and Dave and Dirk did as well, so Dave would be able to leave Bro's apartment on the day he turned 15.
"This is bullshit," Dave muttered. John didn't know much about all the legalities Dave was dealing with, but he was sticking around for moral support. There had been a handful of calls to Dirk in the month Dave had been there, but it seemed Dave was mostly just messaging him via Pesterchum. John's dad had been incredibly helpful in dealing with the Striders' lawyer and serving as a third party in talking to Bro, something Dave didn't seem to have any desire to do. John's dad huffed as they all sat at the table, more in chiding at Dave's use of language. Dave was filling out the final forms of paperwork. From what John could read of Dave's shitty handwriting, it looked more to be an account of what happened to him while he was living with Bro.
"Dave, this isn't bullshit," John's dad said. "I know you don't really want people to know what went on, but without an account of the events, they can't really do anything to help besides let you live with Dirk."
"Dirk's gonna be an adult."
"Which is why they can't really stop you two from leaving, but I've spoken with Dirk and he's had to do some official adoption paperwork to be named your legal guardian. This presents the possibility to convict your eldest brother on these charges."
"Charges of what?" John couldn't help but ask. Dave bit his lip, then returned to scrawling on the pages. John's dad took a puff off his pipe, then glanced down at what Dave was writing. He grew very quiet for a moment.
"Dave?" Dave paused writing, looking up at the man.
"Yes… sir?"
"You wrote that he threw you off the roof?"
There was a long silence.
"We used to…" Dave started, his voice trailing off for a moment. "He said it was training. Said I wasn't tough enough. He used to do it with Dirk, too, but Dirk is way stronger than I am. Bro said he was trying to make me some kind of hero, but..." John watched as his father placed a gentle hand on Dave's shoulder, and Dave calmed down a bit. "Things got out of hand once. He pushed back too hard and I slid off the roof onto the fire escape. Mr. Egbert, I don't want Bro to go to jail."
"Hmm. I'll speak with your lawyer. They may just have him pay alimony, so you and Dirk can even afford to leave." Dave huffed a bit, but didn't say anything else. John wasn't sure what to do. Dave didn't like being fussed over, but he was responding well to Mr. Egbert's consolation. Dave sighed again, signed the last paper, then stood from the table. John furrowed his brow at him as he walked to the fridge.
"Damn, Mr. E, are we out of AJ?" Dave said, his voice lighter. John snickered to himself. Clearly Dave's sense of humor was still in there somewhere.
John helped Dave pack that night. Dave hadn't brought many things with him, and had been reusing the same clothes. John remembered his dad seeing Dave wear the same outfit for the third time in a week, and after that he insisted on doing Dave's laundry. Dave protested a lot when John's dad offered to do things, but eventually he always let up. John thought that Dave probably secretly liked being taken care of. He wouldn't admit it, of course, but it sounded like Bro wasn't much of a guardian. Two days later (Dave and Dirk's birthday) John's dad dropped Dave off with Dirk, as they had some legalities to go over with their lawyer, and Dave seemed very hesitant. There was a strong possibility that Bro would be there, and Dave hadn't seen him, to John's knowledge, since the night he'd picked everyone up from the Halloween party. John's phone went off just as they were driving away.
turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering ectoBiologist [EB]
TG: hes here
TG: of fucking course
turntechGodhead [TG] has gone offline!
John frowned. He didn't really know what he could do to help Dave, and the boys went silent for a few days in the midst of finals. John supposed Dave was busy, and he minded his own business.
The kids celebrated the end of finals and the oncoming holidays at Feferi's house. John couldn't help but be impressed by the Peixes mansion, and a small knot of anxiety tugged at him. Everybody had gotten so bogged down by studying, it would be his first time talking to Dave and Vriska outside of classes in a few weeks. John was nervous forDave in regards to his situation, but John was also nervous to talk to Vriska again. He felt like he always kind of made a fool out of himself in front of her, and she seemed a bit off-put by their last conversation, in which John suggested she watch Con Air. At any rate, John walked right into the party and plopped down on the couch between Vriska and Jade. Jade was surfing through the music channels and Terezi had been talking to Vriska, but they stopped chattering when John walked in.
"Hey Vriska," he said, trying to sound a lot more suave than he felt. Vriska smiled at him and he felt his face warm up again. Luckily it was warm inside so his glasses wouldn't fog up.
"Hey, John," she said warmly. John took that as a good sign. "Nice to see you."
"Yeah… you look really nice tonight." John mentally smacked himself. He always thought Vriska looked good, but he felt like he was getting redundant in his compliments. He decided to change the subject. "Did you have a chance to watch that awesome video I linked you to?"
"What video?" Vriska asked. John was vaguely aware that Tavros had just come into the room, but he continued focusing on Vriska.
"You know… the one about the renegade hero who busted loose from the slammer to save the day."
"John, the way you describe movies makes them sound extremely stupid. Why would I want to watch this crap?"
"Just do it, you won't be sorry. I mean, when you are not so busy or whatever."
"Uh, hey, guys," Tavros said, clearing his throat a bit. Vriska shifted on the couch, turning to face Tavros. John adjusted as the couch settled, slightly nudging his knee next to Vriska's.
"Hey Tavros!" John managed to spurt out. He didn't want to make it seem as though he was ignoring him.
"'sup, Toreadork?" Vriska said, in sync with John's greeting.
"I, uh… got this. For you," Tavros stammered, shoving the present into Vriska's hands. John blushed. Why didn't he think of that?! Christmas present, duh! Now Tavros had a leg up on him, so to speak.
"This oughta be good," Vriska said, her voice a bit smug as she dug through the tissue paper. She wadded one piece up and tossed it lightly at John before she revealed what was in the bag. A small box of dice. She held it up and smiled a bit, and John couldn't help but be the slightest bit angry with Tavros, jealous that he'd thought of that. And then, Vriska's posture seemed to change. John couldn't quite tell what she was thinking, but her smile faded and her shoulders drooped for a moment, and then she laughed. It was a sharp, short laugh, and she was back to her usual self. John watched as she turned on Tavros
"Nice present, Toreadork. Like I don't have plenty of dice."
"I just thought, uh, I…" Tavros was at a loss for words.
"'I, uh, um…' Please, Tavros, spare us all from your pathetic whimpering for a change."
"But-"
"What's your deal, anyway? I don't see you hauling in presents for anyone else. I know I'm special and all, but if this is your way of showing me that you like me, then forget it." John was standing up. He hated to see Vriska treat someone that way, but he couldn't find his voice for a moment. Tavros was redder than John had ever seen anyone, and he was questioning a little bit how that was physically possible. In that moment, John found his voice.
"Vriska!" Vriska turned sharply to face him, a flash of embarrassment crossing her face. Tavros' wheels squeaked as he rolled himself into the bathroom. "What the hell are you doing?" John wasn't sure where that was coming from.
"What?"
"You're being really mean. He was only trying to be thoughtful."
Vriska softened a bit.
"I didn't…"
"'sup, everyone?" Dave's voice came from the entry way. John turned towards him and Vriska took the chance to leave the room for a moment, pushing past Dave a bit. John moved to follow, but Dave put his hand on John's shoulder, stopping him. "Nope."
"But I-"
"Nope. Pop a squat, Egbert."
John groaned, but did as he was instructed and sat down at the kitchen table.
"So how're things going?" John asked.
"Hmm?"
"With the lawyer and the move and Bro?"
"Keep it down, dude, I don't want you shouting my issues to the whole world," Dave hissed a bit. "We got it all worked out. He has to send Dirk a couple hundred every month, but Dirk's had a stash for a while. Got an apartment across town. Oh, and they instituted a restraining order."
"Why?"
"So the dude who's been using me as a workout can't show up at school." John winced at his on obliviousness. "He apologized. Said he didn't realize how hard he was pushing me. He wants me to forgive him." The boys were quiet for a moment. "We left after that. Never answered."
"Do you think you could?"
"What, forgive him? No way in hell. Can we talk about something else?"
"Yeah, sorry."
The boys chattered idly, John noticing when Vriska came back into the main room, but choosing to give her some space. That seemed the best way to proceed after their previous conversation.
Jane was glad she'd decided to go over to Roxy's. The group dynamic seemed to be slowly repairing itself, though she noticed the continual tension between the boys. Well, it was to be expected. She was just glad things were relatively back to normal.
"Oh! Guys! I forgot to tell you," Roxy beamed excitedly. "I've been sober for almost two months!"
"ROXY!" Jane shouted. "That's incredible!"
"Mmmhmmm, yeah it is! I had Rosie go through all my stuff, since I didn't think I could empty everything without emptying it into myself."
"Nice job, cuz," Dirk drawled.
"I say, Dirk, how is everything going with your brothers?" Jake asked.
"Dave and I have our own place now. All the way across town from that fucker," Dirk's voice dripped with contempt. "Can't believe Dave didn't think he could come to me. We've always strifed together, and I knew Dave struggled but I never considered it to be abusive."
Jane furrowed her brow. "Did you ever see any of these incidents?"
"Only the time Dave slid off the roof. Kid didn't have good footing. Man," Dirk looked down, his head slowly sinking into his lap. Roxy leaned across the table, placing her hand on Dirk's back.
"What's wrong, Dirkie?"
"I'm a shit older brother. I should have known this was happening. Should have done something to help."
Jake leaned over a bit, resting on Dirk's shoulder. "You're helping now," Jake muttered. Dirk looked up sharply at Jake, their eyes lingering for a moment before looking away from each other.
Later that night, after she'd returned home, Jane's phone buzzed with messages from Dirk.
timaeusTestified [TT] began pestering gutsyGumshoe [GG]
TT: Hey.
TT: I never actually apologized to you.
GG: You don't have anything to apologize for.
TT: Yeah well.
TT: I still think I've been pretty lousy to you. I had my head up my ass for a while there.
TT: By the time this get-together came around, I was kinda freaking out about Jake.
TT: I thought I had the situation under control. But I didn't. Not just with Jake, but with respect to pretty much everything.
GG: I understand.
TT: I yelled at him last week.
GG: Ah.
GG: I had a similar meltdown with him a while ago. I'm not going to lie. It felt really good.
TT: Heh.
GG: At least, it did at the time.
GG: I don't think I really have feelings for him anymore though.
TT: Jane, you know,
TT: We probably should have talked about this Jake stuff a long time ago.
GG: Tell me about it.
TT: I don't know if I was kidding myself all that time that there was a conflict of interest between us, or what.
GG: Same.
TT: Maybe I was just pretending your feelings for him weren't a factor because my pursuit of him was already overcomplicated enough.
TT: Or maybe it was more like I was aware of them, but on some level decided they shouldn't matter, because I felt like you had a natural advantage over me.
TT: Cause you know. You're like.
TT: Not a dude.
GG: But I always felt you had the advantage over me too!
GG: Because you're…YOU.
GG: You make things happen, and I don't.
TT: Yeah well. Turns out maybe that's not such a good quality if you wanna make a relationship last longer than three seconds. At least not in my case.
TT: I know I ripped into him pretty hard.
TT: But the truth is I was pretty goddamn overbearing.
TT: Sometimes I look back on stuff and think I might have essentially bullied him into a relationship with me.
TT: While fighting with myself about what to do. Part of me knew I was wrong.
TT: My instability scared him right the fuck off. There were times when I basically treated him like shit without even realizing it, and I regret it.
TT: I should probably tell him that, but given how I called him an asshole last time we spoke, I'm probably the last person he wants to hear from right now.
GG: Clearly we both used some poor judgement.
GG: Looking back, it seems crazy to me that we both jeopardized our friendship over a mutual infatuation with, let's face it, one spectacularly goofy kid.
TT: Can we both at least agree we may have overrated the allure of Jake English?
GG: YES.
TT: Maybe if we could have talked to each other about him it would have helped. Like talked about why we felt that way about him.
TT: At least maybe it would have helped up knock English off the ludicrous pedestal we put him on.
GG: Yeah. That might have saved us a lot of grief.
GG: It's not like I hate him now. He's still my friend.
GG: But the extent to which I centered my whole life around a childish fantasy about him is just painfully embarrassing in hindsight.
GG: I wonder if I'll ever be able to look at him without feeling miserable about myself?
TT: So does that mean we're both totally over him now? I can't really tell.
GG: Me neither. :\
TT: I guess the real problem is our clique was too small.
TT: Poor Jake was the only viable romantic target. I mean, considering our respective orientations.
TT: Maybe we just never knew enough people?
GG: Perhaps.
GG: Or maybe we just don't need anybody.
GG: As anything other than friends, I mean.
TT: In the interest of appeasing the bitterness gods, let's go with the latter.
TT: Though I have to be honest.
TT: If he were to ask me to get back together I'm not sure I would say no.
GG: That's fair.
GG: I think you two could be a good couple if you work on some things.
TT: Yeah like not fucking self-destructing any time he doesn't answer a text within 5 minutes?
GG: Yes, like that kind of thing.
TT: Noted.
timeausTestified [TT] has ceased pestering gutsyGumshoe [GG]