I Take It In But Don't Look Down

Apart of Ava wanted to know just when the heck she had become this cyclical. After all, she loved weddings, and she loved the idea of love, but lately, it seemed as though she just had enough of the whole concept all together. And while Ava almost wanted to keep it a guessing game, she was pretty sure she knew why. And moments like these, she was thankful Nova wasn’t here. Her smartass mini-me always did like going straight to the point. She chuckled softly as he thought out loud, agreeing with him as much as possible, “I guess.” She responded, with a small nod, “Every thing happens for a reason, right? Like to believe there’s always better things out there. Or at least, try to, that is.”

  “I know, thanks. I know that you’re always here,” he smiled as a small chuckle escape his lips. “Am coming, am coming,” he added making sure nothing was on and taking his keys with him. “Nah, you go ahead and pick where we should go.”

Connor grinned as he watched his cousin rush over, “Pizza?” he asked before shaking his head, “What I am thinking even asking. Pizza is always the correct answer, right?” he said with a small laugh. “I think I could live on pizza ... if I wasn’t married with a wife watching my diet sometimes.”

Adam smiled at him and nodded. “It’s good to see you, too,” they said. They gave a soft smile. “It’s okay,” they said. “Not to pry or anything, but you seem kinda…upset.” To say the least. “Wanna talk about it?”

Connor gave a small shrug, “Just my father being confusing, really. By which I mean ... actually acting like a father. That’s not exactly his strong suit, not with me, at least.” he explained. His father was always difficult to explain.

Winnie turned in her seat to now face the stranger head on. She crossed one leg over the other and pulled her skirt down a bit. Not skipping a beat before playing therapist and taking this whole situation very seriously. She had an array of daddy issues herself, although very different from the person in front of her. “Material possessions do not mean anything when it comes to a relationship. At least one that matters.” She took a second and planned her words out before speaking again. “Well that’s awful. And in no way your fault. But have you thought about sitting him down and letting him know how he’s hurt you ??” All questions her own therapist threw at her. And she couldn’t say she’s dealt with them. So helping him might be a great way to test-run her problems.

Connor nodded, “Yeah, I know that. That’s just ... I mean, it’s really just how nobody they know every seemed to ... think anything was weird, I guess.” he said carefully. None of their friends had ever seemed to clue in that they treated their youngest child differently, and he assumed that was just everyone focusing on the material things. “Not really? Cause I just ... don’t know what to say to him. I mean, theoretically, I know it might be a good idea. But he’s just never really been my father, you know? My brother, Colin, he was thirteen when I was born. He pretty much filled that role.”

Cadence froze in place as she was called out to, her eyes widening as she stood there awkwardly. It’s not like there was any rule stating that a non-student couldn’t be on campus, but she somehow felt wrong for being there when she wasn’t attending. Still, she wasn’t about to let anyone here know that. “Oh, uh… yeah. The physics building?” she answered nervously.

Connor smiled at the woman and nodded, “Yeah, it’s not far, actually, I can show you if you want?” he offered, “I don’t really have anywhere to be for a while, not even summer classes at the moment actually. I was just here to say goodbye to a professor who’s taking a sabbatical.” he explained. 

“Well if you’re that worried, why don’t you call him back? Make sure he’s okay?” It was probably the most obvious solution, but Grant didn’t know the full situation, so he couldn’t really provide the man with any solid advice. Perhaps if he provided him with more information, he’d be able to help. He seemed desperate for it, after all. It wasn’t everyday you revealed family problems to a complete stranger without there being some motive behind it. “From what you’ve said, that probably won’t be easy. But at least you’ll get some answers.”

“I don’t know if I’d know what to say to him?” Connor admitted. He knew that this was probably incredibly weird, but sometimes it helped to have an outsider’s perspective on matters. “He never ... I mean, he was there, but he wasn’t there. I don’t really even know him, except that he works a lot, is very smart, and apparently really didn’t want a third kid. I was the youngest, by a lot. Definitely not intentional. My siblings raised me, really.” he explained before pausing for a moment, “I’m sorry for dumping this on you, it’s just ... well, I thought it might be easier for someone not involved in the whole mess to understand. Like a ... I’m not seeing the forest for the trees right now kinda thing?”

At first Sage wasn’t sure the male was speaking to her. But his sudden eye contact assured her he was. She listened as the man rambled about the alternate universe nodding her head, her eyes a bit bewildered by the sudden conversation. She was a familiar with the feeling, her own father doing the same, once upon a time. “Uh- pretty sure this is not a hallucination” she mumbled. “Well unless I’m a figment of my own imagination..” she replied sarcastically, in her usual joking tone,  as she reached out her hand and pinched the males forearm. “Well, did that hurt?” she questioned.

Connor was a little surprised at the woman’s reaction, but he couldn’t help but laugh slightly, “Yeah, okay, I guess you have a point there.” he said as he softly rubbed the spot on his arm, “Maybe he’s hallucinating. Or he wants something.” he added after a moment, frowning at the thought, “I think the most likely answer is probably that he wants something. I just have no idea what. He’s never exactly been the kind of person to ask for favors.”

     Amari wasn’t unfamiliar with starting conversations with strangers. It was part and parcel with the job, and besides all that, striking up a little chat with a stranger was usually pretty entertaining if nothing else. So when they were stopped by the man, it didn’t take long for them to become engaged in the conversation. “I–I don’t think you’re hallucinating,” they responded, though auditory hallucinations weren’t impossible. “That sounds like something fathers do.” Even though Amari had deduced that this man wasn’t used to such behaviour. They let out a short chuckle at his expression. “Sounds like your family’s going through some pretty big changes, huh?”

Connor shook his head at the response, “Exactly, though.” he told the woman seriously, “It sounds like something father’s do. Which means it makes absolutely no sense for him to be doing it for me.” he explained. He legitimately couldn’t remember the last time the man had shown any kind of concern for him ... maybe back when he was sick at some point? “It’s not exactly changes ... unless him suddenly caring enough to call is the change. Or unless you count that they moved to the same town as me. We’ve just, ah ... never gotten along. Like at all.”

Emma had been moving in a state of reverie for some time, like a sleep walker trying to cling to some semblance of life. She clutched her coffee as if it was a life line, standing off to the side of the cafe door and watching the cars drive by on the semi-busy street. A voice broke her concentration and she expected it to belong to her watchful nurse, but it wasn’t. However, the delighted surprise at having more company was masked by her rather blank expression. “You’re not hallucinating, but we could be in an alternate timeline. I have a lot of theories about parallel universes and the like because… uh. Well, I’m a nerd who likes that stuff.”

Connor’s eyes lit up a little at the other’s words even in the seriousness of the situation, “Yeah, exactly! Isn’t that stuff cool? But yeah, I think that muse be it. Alternate universe where my dad doesn’t suck. I mean I suppose it’s possible for one of those to exist somewhere.” he said with a small shrug, “I guess now I just have to figure out if I actually trust this alternate-universe-father enough to call him back.”

Adam blinked, trying to place him. And then they remembered, their brain clearing from the surprise this conversation had foisted upon them. “Oh, right, that’s right,” they said. “You were talking about wanting to help kids, too. I’m Adam.”

Connor grinned, it was always so convenient when people offered their names again with out him even having to explain that his memory was legitimately crap. Things like names were always hard to note down in a way that let him connect them to a person - and he couldn’t exactly pull out his phone to go through notes in those situations. “Oh, yeah! And I’m Connor, it’s good to see you again. So for the ... rambling earlier.”

Ava nodded, calmly, as the male entered his own thoughts. Ones, in which, Ava did not by any means disagree with. In some ways, Ava didn’t even want to be all that judgement about the subject. Because they understood that not only was it a good thing that it haven’t made it official, therefore much harder to get out of, once this happened, but also people were allowed to change their minds. What got her was that there was so many better ways the groom could’ve gone about this, even time periods. Instead, it was at the alter. “Maybe.” The blonde spoke, a second later. “I don’t know, I guess, I just wish for the sake of this wonderful bride, that he had gone about it a little differently. Maybe not have strung her along for so long.” She shrugged, not even sure what she was getting at anymore. “Guess I wish I could just take some of the pain off of her, or something.”

“Oh, that’s amazing. She’s going to be great. Yeah, nice to meet you too.“ He shook the other’s hand. It was nice for someone to offer him the basic decency of a hand shake. “I think I’ll pack up for night. Landford tends to die once it gets dark.“

“You wanna grab some food or something? I’m on my own tonight since Harmony’s rehearsing and I’m always up for making some new friends.” he offered with a small shrug. “And I mean, the cat and the dog are pretty good company, but sometimes people are a little better.”

  Alexander walked out of the room all dressed and ready and listened to his cousin. “I know you get the whole asking how you’re doing, are you okay,” he answered with a sigh. “I don’t even know where to start, I remember the important details slowly but I can’t remember some other things. Like random holes but anyways lets not think about that.”

Connor nodded, “Yeah, that’s fine. I just wanted you to know I’m here and I get it if you ever do want to talk.” he told the other man. “Alright, come on, let’s go! Food awaits!” he said with a grin as he headed for the door, “If you hurry up, I’ll even let you choose where we go.” he added happily.

“Don’t say that like I never make time for things,” Lucian responded with a slight shake of their head, although they weren’t annoyed by the comment, just slightly bemused. “That works, though… I’ll make some time.” It probably wouldn’t be for a little time, they couldn’t just take time off out of nowhere, especially not when you had two jobs —- it made it twice as difficult.

Connor laughed, “I’m just making sure!” he insisted, “I can’t risk you deciding you’ve found someone more entertaining to hang out with then me. I mean, it would be a mortal wound to my ego, you know?” he teased his cousin. “Awesome! I’m excited alright, I know it’ll be great. And it will be fun to do some stuff just us, you know?”

An amused, reassuring smile lifted the corners of Sutton’s lips. “Of course, alternate universe,” she noted quietly as Connor continued talking. At this point she pulled out a chair and took a seat, setting her book atop the table’s surface. “It may be a long shot,” the blonde began, leaning forward just slightly, as if telling a secret, “but perhaps he called because he does miss you. And to explain the move. Maybe there’s no trickery involved at all.” Sutton shrugged, nails tapping against the book’s cover a few times as she leaned back. “Or, perhaps we have entered an alternate universe. Do you think they have flying fish here? Underwater breathing? We should try and do back flips. See what happens.” Once a short laugh had subsided, Sutton shrugged. “Are you going to call him back? Ask for an explanation?

Connor laughed a little, glad that the woman was taking matters just as lightheartedly as he really needed to himself in order to process this, “But see, that would require some basis of an actual relationship with him ... I would think? I don’t know, it’s super weird.” he explained with a small shrug, “And I would definitely be up for the backflips thing, except that if I hurt myself I’ll get lectures from my brother, my sister, and my wife, and it’s not worth that.” he said, shaking his head in amusement. “I guess I probably should. Or maybe field the question by Colin or Chloe first, they might have an idea what’s going on.”

Nathalie let out a frustrated sigh, releasing the wrench as she moved to stand up straight. “I’m not really sure if we’re actually dealing with a car or a demon,” the brunette gently kicked her flat tire, mentally willing it to somehow just fall off the car. “I swear, the last time I had to change a flat it took twenty minutes, if that.” Nathalie didn’t think it was possible that she had somehow managed to screw the lug nut on that tightly, though apparently, that seemed to be the case. “All I need is an extra set of muscles and I can probably take care of the rest,” Nathalie squatted back down, gripping the wrench as she looked up. “You think you can just pull the wrench this way while I try and push from the other side?”

Connor couldn’t help but give a small smile there, “Evil car, I can get behind that idea. Certainly not out of the realm of possibilities, in my opinion.” he said before shrugging softly, “But yeah, I can do that. Hopefully it’ll be enough. Honestly, I think I really do probably need to figure out some basic car stuff myself. Seems kind of sad to be almost twenty-four and still clueless there.” he said as he moved to help the woman.

“You’ve actually read this kind of stuff?” he asked bluntly, his voice equal parts surprise and distaste. It hardly seemed scholarly - or even remotely helpful - and he’d assumed it was just the kind of book people gave out because the title sounded religiously-minded. 

“I’m pretty sure that one was ... my cousin? After Jonah died. She seemed really earnest about thinking it would help so ... I mean, I read it mostly for her. Most of the other ‘grief books’ I actually read were school related though, I’m psych student.” he explained.