Juneau Elicits

XV

"They seem like they still act like that."

"Cause they do. Some things never change."

An older teenager with light brown hair goes up to Ivan next, and Vaughn waits for Tommy's inevitable opinion about him.

It comes a few seconds later.

"He looks like he hits wasps nests for fun," Tommy comments to his left.

"Didn't you say something similar about...Ethan, as well?"

In an instant, Tommy tenses so sharply beside him that Vaughn's caught off guard, but then he relaxes a moment later as if it never happened. The blonde laughs it off, soft and quick. "Yeah, I did...how do you even remember that, man? That was like a decade ago."

Vaughn shrugs, moving on from his friend's behavior. "I just have a good memory, I guess."

Silence falls upon them again for a few moments before Tommy lets out an, "Oh, no."

"What?"

"Just spotted my least favorite old lady. Gotta go, man. Good luck." And then he's making a beeline for Zeke, who stands a few feet to the right of Siara.

Sure enough, by the time Vaughn's turned to look in the other direction, she's right there in front of him, appearing suddenly like an unavoidable apparition. 

Vaughn's sense of smell is the second to be plagued. Cathy Swanson, a relative of Katelynn's and a terrifyingly strong octogenarian, has always smelled of old wooden furniture and wilting, week-old wisteria. She also is known to carry a flask with her wherever she goes.

And then his sense of hearing panics as she opens her mouth. 

"First your father's accountant, and now his wife, huh?" She starts, and at that moment, Vaughn stays quiet, but he has a pretty good theory as to what she's about to say. Here we go, he thinks.

"You really think that's chance? It all has to do with you, boy."

She proves his theory correct.  She always was opinionated about me after the papers.

"You killed the Harrison boy, so now the Harrison's are killing back. That's how I see it."

At least she's stayed true to herself. 

"Are you accusing the Harrison's of this?" He tilts his head to the side. He's getting tired of looking down at her face and her five-foot frame.

"I'm just offering up a plausible idea. But you- you should've just stayed away. You've sent the entire city into a panic."

When she realizes he won't be responding, she walks away after muttering, "Just because you're not convicted doesn't mean you're not guilty."

Vaughn sighs. Sometimes he wishes he was short so he could just blend into the crowd and disappear. But then he remembers it would also involve talking directly, face-to-face, with people like that. At least now he can look down on them.

Vaughn notes that Jasmine did not show, and he tries not to take it personally. But, her actions have been confusing him. First, he shows up at her doorstep and she says they can try to be friends again. Then, she gives him judgmental looks and rarely responds to his texts. And then, according to Tommy, she invites Mikaere, of all people, out to lunch. 

She's mad at him. Why else would she be doing this? Maybe he should just stop trying to understand Jasmine. It took growing up together to break down her walls when they were younger. What would it take, now that they're older and hold more secrets, pain, and memories?