─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
MJ groans as her alarm goes off. It's extremely too early for this. Then again, she's never been an early riser. Her sisters have, though, which means that inevitably she was bound to wake up at ten or eleven, which is early for her.
It's nicer when there aren't two younger siblings running between four walls. Not that she doesn't love them, because she does, but the age gap is wide and her younger sisters can be . . . wild. She's got a brother, too, but he lives way out and they're not even technically related.
Needless to say, while living alone is nice, albeit lonely sometimes, she doesn't mind it. But it's not so much fun when she has to wake herself up in the mornings.
She gets up and throws some clothes on, brushes her teeth, etc. The normal morning routine. She grabs her purse and her work bag (she's seriously doing what she's always dreamed of doing . . . revolutionizing journalism. How awesome is that?) and walks out the door, locking it behind her.
"Work time," she sighs. "but first . . . coffee."
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
The bell above the door chimes as she walks in, accidentally bumping into a man on his way out. "Sorry!" she calls when he grumbles. Then, under her breath, "rude."
She makes her way into the shorter line. She's not running late, but New York traffic is unpredictable and an hour-long subway wait and another hour-long ride doesn't ever sound particularly fun to her. Ever.
She drifts around, eyes flitting from one place to another while she waits in line. The bell above dings ever so often. Then, in her ear, "What can I get for you today, ma'am?"
She orders her coffee, pays, tips, and makes6 her way out of the line as the person behind her stands up and starts to order.
MJ finds a table next to a window and gazes out of it, nearly dropping her coffee as she sees a familiar face walking down the sidewalk . . . a face she hasn't seen in years. Abruptly, MJ stands up, a couple gasps making their way across the shop and some people making their way to the window she's standing at, looking away awkwardly and shooting her weird glances as she gapes. A few "ma'am, are you alright?"s make it to her ear, but shoot right out of the other one.
"Excuse me," she says to a man in line. He politely scoots back and lets her through to the back, where she makes it out of the door.
"You've gotta be kidding me," the familiar voice says in exasperation. "Okay, kids. New plan. Back in the car."
"But dad!" a small boy's voice whines.
Kids? Dad?
"What did you want to get in there anyway? You can't even have coffee." he smirks. "Wanna know a secret?"
"Yeah!"
"Daddy doesn't like coffee anyway."
MJ doesn't hear anything after that, running back inside and ordering what she remembers to be Peter's favorite coffee. He's lying so those kids don't feel guilty.
The boy laughs, but the other kid, a girl, is watching her from her place in the back seat. "Daddy, why is that lady staring at us?"
"There's not a lady staring at us. Now come on, I'm gonna be late but at least you guys won't be late for school."
"Ewww," the boy says. "school sucks."
"Yeah!" the girl agrees. "Daddy, the crazy lady is still staring at us."
YOU ARE READING
the one-way ticket (petermj)
Fanfiction"The best thing to hold onto in life is each other." - Audrey Hepburn ─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ─── Peter and MJ meet years later. Peter is a single father in between jobs, has moved back in with May and is extremely stressed. MJ is a successful write...
