At home with time to kill before class.

Chapter 3 – Putting a Plan Together (continued)

When Jason walked in the door, he was surprised to find the front room empty. Most weekdays his sister was working on her schoolwork by the time he got home from work. He had a little time to kill, so he grabbed some leftovers from the fridge, heated them up in the microwave, then moved to his laptop to get some work done on his school project.

He paused with his finger hovering over the power button, realizing the computer was sitting open once more. “I swear…” He muttered, glaring at the screen as if it would answer him to tell him if he was going crazy or just remembering wrong.

He heard a door close, and turned to see Alex heading from their bedroom into the kitchen. “Hey, Alex.” He called. She didn’t answer right away, coming back into view with a glass of water.

“Oh, hi.” She said, refusing to meet his eyes as she hurried her steps, and disappeared back into the bedroom.

Jason sighed. Was his sister avoiding him? He heard a door opening again and turned with a smile, only to find Kate emerging from her own room with a towel in hand, not his sister.

“Oh, hi Kate.” He said quickly.

“Hiya. Is Alex alright? She usually studies in the living room, but she’s been hiding out in her room since she got home from school today.”

Jason didn’t want to lie to Kate, but the situation with Alex was still pretty complicated, not to mention private. “I haven’t really spoken to her this afternoon.” He said truthfully, “I’m sure she’ll be fine, though. She could just be a little under the weather.”

“Okay, well I hope she feels better soon.” She told him, before turning toward the bathroom.

“Hey, Kate?” He called, getting to his feet.

She turned back, “Yeah?”

“Are you going to the gym?” He asked.

“Yeah, why?”

“I don’t have class on Mondays until seven. I could go with you.”

“Oh.” She blinked then smiled, “Yeah sure. Can you be ready by the time I’m out of the shower?”

“Yeah, I can do that.” He agreed, already closing his laptop without looking. “And I’ll check on Alex while I’m throwing my stuff together.”

“Okay, see you back here in a few minutes then.”

She disappeared into the bathroom, and Jason moved to his own bedroom door. He knocked lightly to give Alex a moment of warning before opening the door a crack, “Alex, can I come in?” He asked, fairly confident she would still be decent, but always double checking. That was their rule.

“Um, yeah, just a second.” He heard shifting in the room, then a moment later she added, “Okay, I’m decent.”

Huh, he wondered what she could have done in the short time since he’d seen her that would have made her need that moment to get ‘decent’. But when he saw his sister, sitting on her bed surrounded by text books and binders, with the hints of dark circles under her eyes, still unwilling or unable to meet his gaze, he didn’t have the heart to push her on it. “I’m just grabbing some stuff and heading out. But if you want I could stay and we could ‘talk’?”

Alex looked up then, but then looked down again, blushing. “No, you go ahead. I’m not… we’ll talk, but I need a little more time first.”

Jason nodded, and approached the foot of her bed, “Want a hug at least, before I go?” He offered, spreading his arms.

She looked up again, the longing in her eyes giving him hope, before she shook her head, his heart breaking for her. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea…” She muttered.

Jason sighed, and dropped his arms. If only he had kept his damn mouth shut.

But there was no sense moping around about it. After changing out of his work suit, he rummaged in his closet and dusted off an old gym bag before searching around to find a pair of sweatpants, a tank top, and a sporty t-shirt that were all new enough to still fit him, and threw them in the bag along with travel size shampoo and body-wash he’d bought for the upcoming weekend trip, and a change of underwear and socks.

He zipped up the bag, and offered a friendly goodbye to his sister, emerging into the hallway just as the bathroom door opened. “Eeep!” Kate closed the door in her own face, though once again Jason hadn’t seen much more than a glimpse of red hair and white fluffy towel.

Jason moved around the corner to stand just inside the living room, out of view of the bathroom door, “It’s clear now!” He called out, hopefully loud enough for Kate to hear without disturbing Alex.

He heard the door open, then a rush of soft footsteps on the carpet as his sister’s best friend went into her room and closed the door. He sighed and moved toward the front door to wait. While he was waiting he glanced at his laptop, and for once was happy to note it was still closed. Then he pulled his phone out of his pocket and quickly checked the MRE app.

Katherine O’Connell

Relationship: Best Friend’s Brother, Roommate

Prominent Attitudes (out of 100): Loyalty 53, Affection 33, Friendship 28, Trust 20, Nostalgia 19 (+1), Protectiveness 18, Worry 9, Admiration 1, Lust -6

Special Traits: Childhood Crush

Alexandra Kelly

Relationship: Brother, Confidant

Prominent Attitudes (out of 100): Affection 90, Friendship 71, Love 70, Playfulness 68, Loyalty 59, Protectiveness 49, Admiration 38, Trust 37, Worry 30 (+1), Lust 14, Submissiveness 13

Special Traits: Fantasy Crush, **** Kink, Taboo Kink

Hidden Traits: Secret Shame

Temporary Traits: Conflicted, Depressed, Lesser Protective Ward

So not a lot of attitudes changed, but those temporary traits made him wish he knew what he could do for his sister. How could he make things better for her? They couldn’t just go back to the way things had been before, no matter how much they might want to.

It was just a few minutes before Kate emerged, dressed in the same dark green hoodie and baggy sweat pants she’d worn to the gym on Saturday. Her short red hair was messy and damp, and her cheeks were still pink around the hundreds of freckles spread all over her face. He stepped away and she led the way outside. “Your car or mine?” He asked her.

“Yours is parked closer, if we’re both coming back home after.”

He nodded, and turned towards where his Accord was parked, and Kate followed close behind him then got into the passenger seat after they’d both tossed their bags into the back. “Just tell me where to go.” He asked, and she directed him to the route she usually took.