Dirty Little Secrets 9
Distraction
A Transformers Prime Fanfiction
:Warning: Violence and sexual content
"Where is Raf anyway?" Miko demanded throwing herself down on the couch next to Jack.
"He said he had to do something with his family today," the raven haired teen replied, moving over to make room for her. "Abulita is coming for a surprise visit apparently."
"So they'll be cleaning the house from top to bottom like maniacs?" the girl said a bit too quickly.
"That's what it sounds like," Jack agreed, surreptitiously watching her as she snatched the remote from his hand and threw a leg over the arm of the couch.
As he feared she looked worse today. There were bags under her eyes that she had clearly tried to hide with makeup and it looked like she had even lost weight. Her hands and fingers looked free of any new damage at least. Jack shot a look over his shoulder at Bulkhead. The green mech was helping Ratchet with some basic maintenance but his large blue optics were rarely off his charge for long when he was in the base. Jack couldn't help noticing that he was volunteering for more energon scouting missions than usual. It was as if being around Miko and knowing she was pushing him away was too painful for the ex-Wrecker.
The young man let his eyes wander back to his friend. She was laughing at some sitcom, two guys were talking about something and made a crude joke. Jack winced a bit internally; there was a reason he didn't normally watch these kinds of shows. To his surprise however Miko reacted as well; mashing the power button with a word he didn't recognize but he doubted was used in mixed company.
"Wanna race?" she more commanded than asked, shoving the controller into his hands.
Jack accepted it and the familiar pattern appeared on the screen. His attention wasn't really on the game but neither was Miko's. The young man's mind was trying to figure out a way to cheer the girl up, the girl's was somewhere he wasn't even going to try to fathom. Jack was pulling ahead when he tossed down the controller with a snort.
"This just isn't doing it for me Miko. Want to go to the mall?"
"Jasper has a mall?" she asked arching her eyebrows in clear disbelief.
"No," Jack laughed, "but there is one in Hawthorn that's pretty decent."
"Sure okay," the girl sighed tossing aside the game controller. "Your ride or mine?"
"Well since Arcee is out scouting it looks like Bulkhead it is."
The green mech turned eagerly towards the humans when he heard his name and something seemed to twist in his spark when he saw the hesitant look Miko shot him, but it passed in an instant and she was cheerfully calling him over to transform, had he imagined it? The Autobot shook his helm and strode over with a forced grin.
"So, where to?" he asked.
"Hawthorn Mall," Jack instructed.
"Um, where?"
"Just head out to the main highway," the youth explained. "I'll give you more instructions from there. So Miko, How's your project going?"
"What project?" she asked absently, leaning back and resting her heels on the dash.
"Well I suppose that answers that," Jack sighed.
"Come on Miko! Even I know this one," Bulkhead prompted. "The Mother's day project!"
Suddenly the girl yanked her feet back and curled up in a tight ball; head buried in her arms.
"Uh Miko are you?"
"I forgot! Just drop it okay! Today is Saturday. I'll call Mom tomorrow or something. I don't want to talk about school."
Bulkhead wanted to ask what she was so upset about but from the look on Jack's face he was fairly certain the human was at a loss as well so the SUV contented himself with driving along listening to the young man trying to draw the girl into conversation. Miko was obviously trying to match Jack's efforts; responding to the questions he asked with effort, but it was clear she was fighting an uphill battle. When they finally rolled to a stop the girl glanced around in confusion and turned to Jack with a suspicious frown.
"Where's the mall?"
"Right there," Jack responded equally confused.
Miko took a long hard look out the window and slowly shook her head.
"Sorry Jack, I just don't see it."
With a sigh the youth jumped out of the SUV and walked over to the passenger side door. He helped Miko out with a bow and indicated a long low faux-adobe structure. A series of stores were lined up under its old style arches. He pointed to the end of the structure and indicated a fluorescent ice-cream cone with half the lights missing.
"Usually I start my mall crawl with a smoothie from the Shake Shack."
The girl stared at him dumbfounded for a moment then burst out laughing.
"Seriously?" she gasped out.
He pointed up at the rotating billboard that perched on top of a weather worn post. Hawthorn Plaza Mall, was printed in a shade of red that was probably vibrant thousands of fierce sunsets ago.
"Seriously," he confirmed. "Come on, don't be a population snob." He held out his hand and gave one of those slow smiles that lit up his face.
Miko laughed and took the offered fingers in a tight grip. Bulkhead watched the two run towards the first of the stores with a lightening spark. Sure he might be just a touch jealous that Jack could lift the girl's spirits when he couldn't but there was no way he would even try to deny her that happiness he saw on her face.
Jack raced Miko into the near empty store and came to a crashing halt at the counter.
"So, what's good?" the girl demanded eyeing the selection. It looked like the hard ice-cream bar alone had dozens of choices, in addition to ten flavors of soft serve, and a forest of colored syrup bottles crammed into every nook and cranny.
"You'd do better to ask him," the elderly woman in a pink striped apron said pointing a finger at Jack. "I swear that young man has tried every combination of flavors we have had in the past ten years."
"Jack is an ice-cream hog?" Miko demanded.
The woman laughed and held out a single small spoon of a bright pink frozen treat.
"How about you try a few samples to help you decide," she offered.
"Oh yeah!"
The two perused the various flavors eagerly until Jack finally settled on something called a Proton Buster. He ordered a medium and Miko demanded a large. She had a quick moment of regret for her hubris when she saw the size of the smoothie coming over the counter at her. But she accepted it with grim determination and they retreated to Bulkhead's cab to eat the treat. The first bite was a swirl of chocolate, peanut butter, and cinnamon that had Miko digging in eagerly. She was halfway through when she noticed Jack staring at her oddly.
"Wha?" she demanded around a mouthful of caramel.
"Nothing, nothing," he reassured her, returning his attention to his own smoothie.
It took a bit of effort but she finished the last of the smoothie. This time it was Bulkhead who called out Jack.
"You are definitely staring at her," he said curiously.
The young man laughed and shook his head in disbelief.
"There is a tradition here that the winning high school quarterback get's a free large Proton Buster after the state prelims and he shares it with his date. I've never even heard of them actually finishing one. Where do you put it?"
"It was good," Miko explained with a shrug. "What's next?"
The two wandered down the line working through each store. Bulkhead noted with pride that Miko only got them kicked out of two. The last was an antique shop. They wandered through laughing at the old fashions and wondering over mysterious contraptions. Jack caught the girl admiring a blue crystal pendant. When she walked off to go to the bathroom he picked it up and walked to the counter. A bit of haggling brought it down into his price range and he slipped in into his pocket. He met Miko out under the yellow glow of the street lights. The sun had set and the small mall was getting crowded by the workers coming off shift.
"Well I had a great time Jack," the girl said with a yawn, "but I think our carriage is going to transform into a pumpkin soon."
She glanced at her friend with a smile but stiffened when she saw what he was holding out to her.
"I saw you looking at this," he said warmly as he held out the pendant, "and since I don't know when your birthday was I just got it now."
He moved to put it around her neck but stopped when he saw the utterly blank look on her face.
"Miko?"
"I thought this would look pretty on you," the middle aged man said almost shyly as he snapped the gold choker around her slim neck. His black hair flecked with grey hung over watery brown eyes.
"Thank you!" the girl gushed tossing her long hair back, hating the feel of the cold metal on her skin, hating the feel of his fat fingers feeling of her even now. She looked into his leering face and gave a heart melting smile. "It's just what I wanted!"
With a gasp Miko snapped back to reality. She was leaning against Bulkhead clawing at his handle. The parking lot was too crowded she realized; there were people watching curiously even now. The green mech was whispering soothingly into her earpiece as he popped the door open and helped her into the cab. She took a few deep calming breaths and gripped Bulkhead's interior as the world spun around her. She became aware that the SUV was talking to her, trying to calm her down.
"Where's Jack?" she asked suddenly, why hadn't he followed her, she wondered a bit frantically, he always followed her.
"I locked him out!" Bulkhead growled. "I don't know what he did to you but until he apologized he can wait outside!"
Miko forced a cheerful laugh.
"Seriously? Bulk, the only thing he did was convince me to eat that gut buster! I just feel a little sick is all. Not his fault!" She clutched her stomach dramatically.
Bulkhead reluctantly opened the door. He wasn't entirely convinced Jack was innocent but her explanation did make sense.
Jack climbed in and immediately began to apologize but Miko cut him off with a swift punch to the gut.
"You'd better apologize," she growled mockingly, "convincing me to eat that whole thing!"
"Wait, what?"
"I think I need to get back to base and take a Tums or something," she said airily, "other than that I'm cool."
Bulkhead noted that Jack looked unconvinced but let the matter drop.
"Now you got something for me?" Miko asked with a grin that was just a bit too wide.
The young man smiled sheepishly and held out the necklace to her. The girl snatched it up with an appreciative squeal and held it up to her neck.
"What do you think Bulk?" she asked.
"It's uh, pretty," the mech responded uneasily, "I like the color, like energon."
"Yeah, so thanks Jack," Miko gave him another friendly punch and settled back into the seat. "Home Bulk!"
The SUV wrapped his seatbelts gently around Miko, gave Jack just a little too much pressure still not convinced of his innocence, and rolled out for the base. When they squealed to a stop in the main silo June was talking to Optimus and a clearly agitated Bumblebee.
"What's up?" Jack asked as he climbed out.
Bumblebee whistled in distress and Bulkhead's jaw dropped.
"Why would they do something like that?" he demanded.
"Who do what?" Miko asked.
June sighed and stepped towards the girl with a fixed expression.
"Raf's mother called me this afternoon after work. Apparently a woman claiming to be a social worker showed up asking about you the other day. Mrs. Esquivel was suspicious and didn't tell her anything. When she checked with the officials after the woman left they denied sending anyone out."
"What does that have to do with Raf not being allowed to hang out with Bumblebee?" Bulkhead demanded, though he was immediately distracted by an odd whimper from Miko.
He glanced down at the girl and was shocked to see tears welling up in her eyes.
"Miko?"
"It's not Bee," she whispered. "It's me. She doesn't want Raf hanging out around me."
"She wants to talk to you Miko," June interrupted. "The woman fed her a pack of lies and Mrs. Esquivel is no one's fool. She wants to hear your side of the story."
"It won't matter," Miko spat, "what kind of mother lets their son hang out with a whore?"
Jack looked at the girl in shock but June merely arched and eyebrow. The slim Asian gasped and covered her mouth but the words had already escaped.
"Was that what she was saying about you?" Jack demanded angrily. "Who would believe that load of scrap?"
Miko looked at June desperately but the woman held up her palm to the girl, what happened next was her choice and hers alone. The truth, a lie, or hysterics? Her eyes darted around the silo and came to rest on the cerulean optics of Optimus Prime. He was gazing down at her with a look of such compassion and understanding that something within the seemed to break. She couldn't lie to those optics and they somehow filled her with such peace that running again seemed pointless. With a sigh she turned to Jack and looked him straight in the eye. The Autobot's didn't really count in her mind; they probably didn't even understand the concept, it was his judgment she was truly afraid of.
"Anyone who knew the truth Jack," she said flatly.
June smiled sadly at the stunned and confused look that spread across her son's face.
"I think we should all sit down," the woman suggested, "this is going to be a long story."