11/4 Instance: Sticky Spider Friends

[tears~fall~like~glass]

Timelined shortly after [Instance]Stew.


<@Miles> Miles finally spotted her and decided it was time to deal with it. "You remembering anything yet?" he asked her, forwardly, as he came up to her in between two of the fiction shelves.

<Jessica> Jess yelped and dropped the pile of books she was holding on the floor, instinct taking over and causing her to jump straight up and stick to the ceiling. She blinked confusedly from her spot at the boy below her. ".... What just happened?" And now how did she get down? Oh wait... "Octopus... I know you..."

<@Miles> He blinked. "Octopus?" He tried to think of where she was getting that. "Yeah, you do know me. I've been told to take things slowly with you. So here it is: I'm Miles. I liked you. I think you liked me, but you're as easy to read as sanskrit." He shrugged. "Point is, I wanted to date you, you turned me down. Then you disappeared, got taken-- apparently --, and I turned 18. And I lost my V-Card." He shrugged.

<@Miles> "So. That's what's happened."

<Jessica> Jess cocked her head on one side while she took that in. "Congratulations?" she tried, then looked at the ceiling she was stuck to. How was she even doing that? She pulled at hand off and inspected it. Weird. Very carefully she removed her two feet from the ceiling too and dangled for a moment before dropping back to the floor and landing in a crouch. Woo! No broken limbs! She grinned and straightened up feeling proud of herself.

<@Miles> "You look like you just did that for the first time."

<Jessica> "Okay.... now that I'm the right way up.... I remember you playing with a giant stuffed octopus... at the zoo... where I gooooot..." she hurried to where she'd left her stuff and dug through her backpack and pulled out the plush spider, "This." She gave him a blank look at the statement, "As far as I know I did."

<@Miles> "Oh." Ooooooooh, damn. How'd I forget that? Then he realized the only thing he had been thinking about was her ass in those jeans. He officially realized he hadn't been doing such a good job wooing her.

<@Miles> "Okay, let me start by saying, I've been pretty bad and I've changed a lot of my ways. I always want you to know that... I'm not hurt or offended by your decisions from earlier, in fact they make sense. I do want to apologize... even if you don't remember what for."

<Jessica> "I... don't even know which decisions your refering to..." she gave him an apologetic look, hugging the spider to her. "But I do remember you..." she offered him a smile, "I remember.... cotton candy... and a kid with a flipflop stuck to the floor... that was at the zoo too..." she paused and thought back to anything else she remembered about him.

<Jessica> Dancing... she could remember dancing... was that real or was that Circle Pines? She decided to check, "Did we... did we dance at all?"

<@Miles> "I dance... A lot. All the time." He said, half-smiling. "But... I didn't think you really cared about that. Honestly, I felt like I'd been caring more about what I liked to do, 'cause you were so unaware of certain things. I was imposing all my interests onto you."

<Jessica> "Oh no... I love to dance... or well I do now..." she frowned, shaking herself, "Doesn't matter. The point is I do like it... and I remember enough about you that I know I cared about you... I don't remember anything that makes me sad with you in it..."

<@Miles> He found himself genuinely grinning. "Good. Well... then I'll have you know the V-card comment was insanely un true and directed at making you jealous. " He frowned. "I'm still a pathetic kid."

<Jessica> She laughed a little, "You don't have to make me jealous... why would you want to do a thing like that?" She eyed the books she'd dropped and decided she should pick those up. She set the spider down on the desk, petting it fondly before she turned to collect the books from their undignified heap. Poor abused and traumatised books.

<@Miles> Miles instantly felt like an ass for not picking up the books once he saw her eye them, and he went to do so at the same time as her.

<Jessica> Jess gave him a smile for the help. "Thank you." She headed back to the table with her armfull at a slower pace so he could walk with her. "Did anyone tell you what happened in Circle Pines?"

<@Miles> "I've been filled in for the most part, yeah. I was there when a bunch of you broke out, remember? From what I hear, it was a paradise that was actually a prison. Sounds hell-ish. You accepting the truth yet or you one of the fighters?"

<Jessica> "A large part of me wants to go back and forget everything again, I'll admit...." she sighed, sinking into one of the chairs at the table. "I've not come back to a very good life... and the small glimers of hope I allow myself have all kind of been snuffed out... one after the other..." She bowed her head and squeezed her eyes shut as she tried not to think about the latest one.

<@Miles> "Well... keep in mind the life you had was a faceade, so whether it was good or not, it wasn't worth it 'cause it wasn't real. Making your own dream real makes it worth having..." He figured that made enough sense, right?

<Jessica> "Everyone says that... that it doesn't matter because it wasn't real... but the only part of it that doesn't matter is that." She ran a hand through her hair, lifting her head to fix him with sad eyes, "Real or not... I still lived it... I still had all those feelings and I still loved the people that were pretending to be my family... I have all these memories of being raised by two parents in a happy home... and, God... I wish they were real..."

<Jessica> "I know they're not... I know it was just me and my dad because my mother died when I was young but that's so painful... and everything that happened after that was mostly horrible... the lie is so much better...."

<@Miles> He didn't know what to say to her. "Then go back to it, if that's what you want." he said, lamely. Crossing his arms and sighing (with a bit of a snort) he looked off.

<Jessica> "How can I? That's not an option anymore... and what would be the point? I'd be back at square one..." she frowned a little, looking down at her lap and chewing her lip. "Besides... I'd never make it that far even if they'd still be there..." She heaved a sigh, scrubbing her face with her hands before running her fingers through her hair.

<Jessica> "Everyone in Circle Pines had someone waiting for them when they came out... a relationship... someone they'd known for a number of years that could help them remember or pick them up when they felt lost... I don't have that... I had a relationship in Circle Pines and now I don't... I had a job, now I don't... had a family... you see where this is going..."

<@Miles> "Well, clearly the people in this life aren't as important as your fantasy one, right? Because there, they were perfect." He wasn't sure why he was being cruel, but he just knew he felt hurt.

<Jessica> "It's not about that!" Why didn't anyone get it?! "I just want to feel like I belong somewhere! Like I have a place to be and people that care about me... that I can make proud of me... somewhere to call home..." She got up from her seat, picking up the spider plush and moving to the window to stare out at the snow while she hugged it. "I want to feel like I have some kind of reason to carry on existing..."

<@Miles> "Sorry I let you down, then. I figured this school was enough. Seems to me like you're upset you got put back into a place you think no one cares enough about you, like you think we don't want you to carry on existing. In fact, you're more than wallpaper to us."

<@Miles> "But, please." He got up to go. "Continue being a Mary-Sue. See if I care. I realize this is difficult, but telling me, or any of us even, that your fake life we had to rescue you from? The one you were forced into? If that's what you wanted over the real friends and real people who love you? Then go back to Stepford, by all means."

<Jessica> "Oh God, please don't leave..." She looked over at him, "Please... everyone leaves..." She sniffed, closing her eyes and turning back to the window so he didn't see her cry, "I'm sorry... I know I sound so ungrateful... I don't mean to... I'm just so scared... and I feel very alone right now..."

<@Miles> Miles turned back, unsettled. He didn't like girls crying, especially ones he really liked. "It's... It's fine, I won't." He sat back down. "Look, I get it. You're upset. You need to understand that no one here gets it more than us. We're all in the same boat. We all lost family or lost our place in society, we're all wretches of some sort. We're all stuck here, but we're stuck here together."

<@Miles> "What you need to realize is... you're not alone." He put his hand over hers.

<Jessica> She turned her hand over, closing her fingers over his, "Thank you..." She attempted to dry her eyes with the help of the plush spider. "I feel like all I'm doing lately is crying on everyone and complaining..." she sniffed, "I'm trying to be optimistic but it's not easy when things keep going wrong or I remember something else horrible that happened."

<Jessica> She heaved a sigh, looking out of the window again and frowning. "I have to pull myself together... I can't be like this all the time around Lorna... that's not fair... especially not now..." Crap she was trying not to think about that. She swallowed over the lump that rose in her throat, "I have to just... move on..."

<@Miles> "Yeah, I heard about Professor Drake. Messed up. I'm going to be tutoring my cousin soon, for math. And uh... yeah. If you need any help, let me know. I'm around."

<Jessica> She gave his hand a gentle squeeze then decided a hug couldn't hurt - it was sure to help her on her way to feeling better anyway. "Thank you..."

<@Miles> He returned the hug. "Anytime."

<Jessica> Hugs were fantastic. They were her new favourite thing... assuming she had a favourite thing in the first place to replace it with. "Okay..." she straightened up, "How about this...?" she dried her eyes with the end of her sleeve, "It was all a lie... but there's nothing to stop me living my life like it wasn't, right?"

<@Miles> "Well... you still should try to keep your abilities. They're sort of important to who you are." He said. "Plus, we have similar abilities. So that's a plus."

<Jessica> She shook her head, "I don't mean like that... even though a lot of them suck." She gave a half shrug, "I more meant my attitude..." She played with the legs of the spider plush absently, watching the wind outside blow the snow around, "I know what it was like now... to grow up in a normal stable home... it was nice... and it made me feel... like I deserved... something..." she frowned, "Does that make sense?"

<@Miles> "It does. But you can get the normal, stable things and still be who you are. Just don't change, is all I'm asking."

<Jessica> "Miles... I'm not going to have some huge personality overhaul... at least I don't think I am..." she gave him a small smile, "I just think I can at least come away from all of this with something good... I had a horrible life before... and a very poor outlook because of it... I did bad things because I didn't think I deserved anything more... maybe I don't, I don't know... but it shouldn't stop me from trying..."

<Jessica> "I have this residual self-worth from Circle Pines... I want to try and keep it... I have to keep something good for myself..."

<@Miles> "Well... I'll keep out of your hair then and try to keep the flirting and attempts-at-a-date out of your way 'til you know what's going on." He shrugged. "I'm classy like that."

<Jessica> "You don't have to stay out of my way... actually some company now and again might be good for me... I've made more enemies out of old friends than anything else since I got back... Except for Kevin and Bobby..." And now Bobby was gone. She looked away again. "I'm, um... staying at the boathouse though... for now... just until I get used to my powers again... it's quieter there..."

<@Miles> "Yeah... I'm not going near a grieving wife and mother." He shook his head. "You want to hang out with me, it'll have to be on official school property." He smiled brightly.

<Jessica> "I can manage that... Lorna suggested I make Thanksgiving dinner this year... I have absolutely no idea what that entails so that's half of why I'm here... the rest is catching up on what I missed.... mostly the quiet is for sleeping..." she took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh to try and rid herself of the last of the tension.

<@Miles> "... Dinner should be interesting." Miles said with a smirk. "You going to want help? I can find my way around a kitchen for the most part."

<Jessica> "I don't know yet... I guess I'll see... you can help me research though... if you want, I mean... it might go faster with two... but if you're busy or have somewhere better to be then, by all means...." she chewed her lip.

<@Miles> "Nope. Nothing better to do. Tutoring my cousin is... a favor. Of sorts. I am repaying her for doing something for me."

<Jessica> She smiled, going back to her seat and setting the spider plush on the table top. Once she'd arranged her notebook and various materials around herself she looked over at him again, a look of pure gratitude on her face, "Thank you for coming back..."

<@Miles> "I can't imagine a time where I wouldn't." He flashed a very cunning smile.

[Ult_Sm86]

Oh look, it got posted!


One lest thing for me to do! YAY!