Chapter 16 Getting Close

Aria breathed in and out, the action much faster than it had any right to be. She looked around her house, her house that was much more empty and a lot more spacious than before. In fact, the only thing that she had left in her living room was a single recliner. Everything else, from the couch to the TV to the rug, was gone. On some level, the emptiness was a little eerie. It felt so odd looking at this room now, knowing what used to be.

While still heavily breathing, Aria took a seat on the single recliner she had chosen to keep. She got out her phone, looking to see if she had any more offers for the other things she was selling. There was a grandfather clock she had been keeping in her house; surely someone would appreciate that! Alas, her heart sank when she saw that the clock hadn't been claimed yet. Sighing, she leaned back in her chair. Her emotions and mood spiraled out of control, almost like she was on the world's worst invisible roller coaster.

Deciding that she needed to relax, Aria looked back at her phone and went to the video sharing website called WarpTube. She selected a song to listen to, a motivational song that never failed to bring her out of life's deepest ruts. And this time was no different. She managed to smile while listening to it, and even sang along with some of the lyrics. "Today is your day, the world is waiting, for to take center stage. The spotlight's on you, the audience is watching, ready for you to engage." She smiled. Man, this just might one of her favorite songs of all time.

More so out of habit than anything else, Aria started scrolling through the other songs that WarpTube had to offer. Her heart stopped when she saw the one called "Rain in the Light," written by none other than Ludwig von Koopa. Her heart ached so much while looking at it. She didn't say anything, move, or even think as she stared at the song. Not even the motivational lyrics of "Today is Your Day" could properly bring Aria out of her stupor.

After a little bit, she let out a long, heavy sigh. It had only been five days since the fight, yet it felt like just yesterday. But at the same time, it felt like an eon ago. She hadn't seen Ludwig since then, and honestly didn't know if she wanted to. Sure, the memory of their argument still left a significant sting, but Aria wasn't one hundred percent sure if she wanted to apologize. While there were many things she said during the argument that she regretted, there were also quite a few takes that she still stood by. Like, for example, how she wasn't willing to cheat her way to helping Jackie out. She still firmly believed that she needed to do this of her own power. She still was determined to do this in her own way, without Ludwig's help.

With this thought in mind, she closed WarpTube. Deciding that she needed to do something different, something more productive, Aria made her way back into the kitchen. She looked through the cupboards, noticing all the pots and pans that she had acquired over the years. Hmm. Would people want those? She could see some people, probably older people who considered themselves to have decent cooking skills, itching to get a hold of things like this. So, why not give this a shot? Aria pulled the pots out of the cupboard, got out her phone so that she could take pictures of them…

Knock knock knock.

Aria's heart leapt into her throat. Who was that? Was it… was it Ludwig? Unlikely, but… oh, she didn't even know what she would do if it was Ludwig. Swallowing a lump, she made her way over to her front door. When she opened it, her heartbeat sped up.

"Ludwig?" Oh man, she felt so small standing in front of him. How was she supposed to approach this situation?

Thankfully, she got her answer when the person on the other side laughed. "Nope! Not Ludwig; Bob!" He grinned at her. "Remember, we saw each other yesterday?"

Aria let out a breath of relief before putting on a smile. "Yes, yes, I do remember that." She chuckled, noticing while she did it how… forced it sounded. "It's…" her face fell a little. "It's nice to see you, Bob."

Bob chuckled. He moved out of the way, allowing Aria to see who was behind him. She smiled when she saw that it was her sister.

"Hi Jackie."

"Hey Aria." Jackie's voice was as soft as ever, which would probably indicate that she was nervous. However, the smile she wore was one of the most genuine ones that Aria had seen in a while. The sight of it even helped her own mood ascend multiple levels.

"Why don't you guys come in?" Aria asked. She gestured for them to enter. "I don't have a lot of sitting space or food at the moment, but I would love to talk with you."

Bob beamed, coming into the house with the enthusiasm of a puppy dog. Jackie followed behind him, and Aria led them to the living room. She noticed Jackie's eyes grow wide when she saw it.

"Where's your couch?" Jackie asked, her voice an octave higher than normal. She looked around some more. "Where's all your other stuff?"

"I sold it," Aria said matter-of-factly. "I needed to reach my goal somehow." She paused for a minute. "But like I said before, that doesn't leave a lot of places for someone to sit." She scratched the back of her head. "Sorry, my intention wasn't to make you guys fight for the one chair…"

"Oh, that's okay," Bob said. He looked over at Jackie. "You get the recliner, sweetie. I'll sit on the floor."

Jackie blinked. "You'd be comfortable doing that?"

"Sure!" As if to prove his point, Bob sat cross legged down on the floor. "It's more fun this way." He chuckled. "It kind of reminds me of something I read, where little kids will have this thing called 'circle time' when they're in preschool." He chuckled. "I don't know about you guys, but I think that sounds pretty epic!"

Both Aria and Jackie snorted back some laughter at his choice of words. "If you say so," Aria said. All of a sudden, she got an idea. "Hey! I haven't sold my mugs or my teapot yet. Would you guys like some tea?"

Bob's face lit up. "Sure!"

"Would be nice," said Jackie.

So, Aria went to the kitchen. She heard Jackie and Bob talking about something as she walked away, although she honestly couldn't tell what that something was. Oh well. She immediately got to work when she got to the kitchen, filling the teapot full of water and putting it on the stove. After she did that, she stared at the teapot for a minute. Her mind once again took her back to the fight with Ludwig. She hadn't even been separated for him for that long, but she still missed him. Oh, how she missed him.

"Hey."

Aria turned to see Jackie coming into the kitchen. "Hey." She chuckled. "Gave your seat to Bob, did you?"

Jackie chuckled as well. "Yeah. Seeing him sitting on the floor like that made me feel a little guilty." She looked toward the teapot. "What kind of tea did you have in mind?"

Aria's excitement levels rose instantly. "Oh, you're gonna love this." She reached into a drawer and pulled out a little box. "It's Power Up Tea! It's made from Super Mushrooms, Ice Flowers, and Super Stars all combined together."

"Ooh! That does sound neat." Jackie's face fell. "But I've heard that power ups don't taste the best…"

"You know, I heard the same thing." Aria looked back down at the box before shrugging. "Oh well, that's what sugar is for, am I right?"

Jackie chuckled to herself. Aria, smiling, set the box down on the counter. She kept her eyes on the tea for a minute, eagerly anticipating when it would be ready. Sure, a watched pot never boils, but… oh, Aria just couldn't help herself.

"So, you sold your stuff?"

Aria nodded. "Yep. And I plan on selling more." She looked toward Jackie. "I want to help you find a nice house."

Jackie smiled. "Well, thank you." She hesitated. "Uh, how much money have you made so far?"

"About eight thousand coins," Aria responded. She ran her fingers through her hair. "Which means I'm about two thousand away from the goal."

"Hmm," Jackie said with a nod. "That's pretty impressive."

"Thanks." Aria went right back to watching the teapot. As a consequence, there was a silence in the room. It wasn't exactly an awkward silence, but it wasn't exactly pleasant either.

After a little bit, Jackie cleared her throat. "Hey listen, Aria, there's something that I wanted to ask…"

Before she could finish, Aria's phone chimed. Aria pulled it out of her hammerspace, and her face lit up as soon as she saw what the notification was for. "Yes!" She did a fist pump. "Somebody wants the grandfather clock!"

Jackie blinked. "You have a grandfather clock?"

"Mmhm!" Aria gestured for Jackie to follow her into the other room. She pointed to the clock, situated on the wall near the dining room table. "It's an antique! I managed to get it for cheap at a flea market." She giggled. "But I managed to sell it for a whopping one thousand coins on Shellbook!" She squeed, the sound overflowing with joy. "Oh, I'm so close to the goal I can taste it!"

Jackie nodded. "That's good to hear."

"It certainly is!" Aria gave her sister the most excited of excited looks. "Which mean you won't have to live with your aunt and uncle anymore! You can live your own life, free of any worries! Doesn't that sound wonderful?"

Jackie hesitated. "It does…" Her hesitation grew stronger, more noticeable.

This caused Aria's cautious alarms to go off in her head. "But?"

Jackie squirmed a little bit. "But don't you think you're going a little overboard?"

Aria stood still for a second. Her mind jumped back to the fight with Ludwig, which in turn caused the anger she felt before to return. "No."

Jackie still hesitated. "Well, that's good. I mean, it is a lot of stuff you're selling, and I know some people have trouble departing with stuff like that…"

"Jackie," Aria said, her voice stern and firm. "It's fine." She took a step closer. "It's just stuff. Material things, things that won't matter to me in twenty years. What will matter in twenty years, however, is the quality of the relationships I have with people, as well as said people's mental health." She looked Jackie right in the eye. "And I hate… absolutely hate how your aunt and unce treat you. An environment like that wouldn't do anybody any favors, but considering it's YOU who is facing that…" Aria sighed. "I'm okay with selling my stuff."

Jackie hung her head. "Okay," she said, her voice eerily quiet.

Right at that moment, the tea kettle started to screech. Aria went back into the kitchen, with Jackie following right behind her. As Aria began preparing the mugs, she decided that she needed to elaborate a little bit.

"And besides, most of these things I can replace." She went to the fridge and got some half and half. "A couch, a bed, a TV… all of that isn't as consequential as some people might have you believe." She poured the creamer into the three mugs. "So, I'm more than happy to depart with them."

Jackie hesitated. "That's fine… but…"

Aria started to grow frustrated. "But what?" she asked, trying to keep the frustration out of her tone.

"But… a grandfather clock?" Jackie asked. "Something like that doesn't seem so immediately replaceable, nor so reasonably insignificant." Jackie stood up straight and tall. "Aria, I don't have any problem with you helping me. In fact, I'm thrilled that you are, and I'm really excited about potentially leaving my current house. But don't you think you might need to step back?" Aria gripped her hand into a fist as she leaned over the counter. "Don't you think you should find a more practical way to…"

"NO!" Aria turned around, almost knocking over one of the teacups as she did. "No, Jackie, it's fine! It's all fine!" Jackie backed away a little bit as a horrible, horrible silence filled the room. It was after a minute had passed that Aria realized what she had just done. "Oh. I… I'm sorry." Her taile tucked between her legs as her face grew hot as a desert. "I shouldn't have done that, I'm really sorry…"

Jackie nodded. "It's alright." Even as she said that, she couldn't hide the tear that was building in her eye. Aria noticed this almost immediately, and it caused her to feel even worse.

"Let's…" she handed one tea mug to Jackie before picking up the other two. "Let's just try to forget about this."

…

As Jackie and Bob left the house later that evening, Jackie's stomach felt like it was twisting into knots. She recalled how Aria had snapped at her, the sheer amount of anger in her eyes when Jackie told her to take a step back. While Jackie was used to people being angry at her, this time in particular felt… wrong.

"Well, that was fun," Bob said as they began their walk back to Bob's house. "Sure, the tea was grosser than gross, but I still enjoyed the visit." He looked toward Jackie. "Oh hey, did you get to ask Aria what you wanted to ask her?"

Jackie froze, and instantly started to groan. "No." She put her head in her hands. "No I didn't…"

"Oh." Bob went up and put his hand on her shoulder. "Well, maybe you can ask her tomorrow?"

Jackie sniffled. "Maybe…"

Bob's frow immediately furrowed. "Jackie, are you okay?"

Jackie hesitated, not knowing how exactly to say all this. "Aria is… she's doing a lot for me, and I really appreciate it. But… but how she's doing it… it concerns me." She looked Bob right in the eye. "She is doing some really questionable things, selling really expensive stuff. And… she isn't willing to listen to any nay sayers." She dried a tear from her eye. "On some level, I respect that. On another… well, it scares me."

Bob nodded. "I can see that. I'll admit, seeing how empty her house is now doesn't really sit right with me."

"Me neither." Jackie wiped her entire face. "But I don't know what to do about it!"

A silence settled over the scene, one broken only periodically by the sound of crickets chirping. Bob put his hand to his chin, clearly taking the time to think about this too. After a little bit, he smiled at Jackie.

"Tell you what. Why don't we go back to my house and try to come up with a solution of our own? One that won't cause you or Aria this many grievances?"

Jackie thought about this before nodding. "We can do that." She actually managed to smile. "I think that's a great idea, actually."