Outer Space

Chapter 7 - Avoiding More Questions

    "Jemma! You're alive." Emmie screeched as her mother and Jemma walked through the front door of their house. She then proceeded to attack the unsuspecting girl by jumping on her and trapping her in an impossibly tight hug.

    After their lunchtime talk, Mrs. Jacobs took Jemma with her to get her nails done so she could get her mind off things. Jemma adamantly refused because she didn't want to be trapped with the older women for any more time than she had to. Although, she was convinced to tag along when she was promised that they would stop talking about her and instead talk about something else. And Mrs. Jacobs stuck to her word, not once asking Jemma a personal question the whole time they were at the nail salon.

    Looking over Emmie's shoulder as she wrapped her arms around her friend to return the hug she had been trapped in, she looked at Mrs. Jacobs. With her eyes she silently asked the question of whether or not what they had talked about at lunch would be kept private. Mrs. Jacobs subtly nodded her head up and down as an answer. And before the women had a chance to walk away Jemma mouthed the word 'thanks.'

    Emmie had led Jemma straight to her bedroom after she was able to detach herself from the hug she had locked her in. The girl forcefully marched Jemma up the stairs and made her sit down on the bed. Here comes another line of questions that Jemma had no interest in answering.

    Quickly deciding that she was too tired for any of this Jemma said, "I'm worn out, we should watch a movie. How about Princess Diaries." Knowing that the specific movie happened to be Emmie's achilles heel there was no way Emmie would say no. Emmie gave her a look that seemed to acknowledge the fact that she knew Jemma was dodging her. But she didn't seem to mind it too much as she searched for the remote in her messy room and turned the tv on.

    Watching the first Princess Diaries movie turned into watching the second movie and by the time the second movie was over the girls were being called down for dinner. As Jemma walked down the stairs, trailing behind her friend she saw what she believed to be a perfect family. There was a mother, Rebecca Jacobs, a father, Peter Jacobs, and even a little brother, Sam. All three discussing their wonder filled days, waiting for the older sister, Emmie, to join the table so that they could say grace and begin their meal. Where they would continue to discuss anything and everything, asking and answering each others questions.

    Jemma felt a tear slide down her cheek, quickly wiping it off and rubbing her eyes in order to try to prevent any others from escaping. She walked the rest of the way down the staircase and as she reached the bottom she was greeted by Mr. Jacobs when he said, "How lovely to see you Jemma, I heard you had quite the day with my wife." The pity eyes. She could spot them a mile away. The one thing she always hated. Why would he pity her though? She wondered.

    Jemma looked over to Mrs. Jacobs and saw guilt written all over her face. She looked back at Emmie who just looked confused as to why she stopped walking to the dinner table. "I should go." She said to Emmie not bothering to acknowledge either of the girls parents. "My dad just got back and he asked me to be home on time for dinner."

    "Okay, I guess I'll see you later. Text me and we can hang out again tomorrow." Emmie proposed without asking questions.

    Tomorrow happened to be a Saturday. And if what Jemma assumed was right then she would probably be to bruised to even move an inch tomorrow. "Sure," she said anyway on her way out the door. She shut the door on her way out but not before looking over her shoulder to take one last look to see the perfect family sit down for dinner.

..........

    Entering her apartment she prepared herself to be screamed at. She may have got away scot-free earlier that day in the morning but that was just because her father was practically dead tired standing on his feet. Although what she saw when she turned around after closing the door was not what she had expected.

    Sitting at the kitchen counter was Maddox Brown and he happened to be talking to her father. They were both smiling. It felt like she was in another dimension because she hadn't seen her father genuinely smile in years and she never expected to see Maddie's face smile another day in her life.

    When both men laid eyes on her for the first time after she walked in they both had completely different reactions. While her father kept the same smile plastered on his face, Jemma could see something sinister brewing within his eyes. But shifting her focus to Maddox she saw a boy in pain, a boy that looked saddened to his core, except he wasn't a boy anymore.

    She began to take notice of how different he looked. His hair was curled at the top and it looked as though he had accidentally grown a little facial hair, not enough to call a real beard. He looked stronger too, he had more muscle. But the one thing that really stuck out to her was his eyes. It was almost like they held a secret, a secret that was locked away in the depths of his mind.

   Shaking away the thoughts she was having, she stared at both of the men sitting in front of her not sure what to say, not sure if she should say anything at all. Though she does not want to get into any more trouble than she is already in for being disrespectful. Confusing enough, as she looked back at her father it seemed as if he wasn't drunk for the first time in his life. Lucky for her.

    Adding on to that luck her father spoke before she had the chance too, taking away the burden of trying to figure out what to say in this impossibly awkward situation. "Jemma! Your friend here stopped by. I told him he could wait for you and we started talking. I was almost positive that you went to an all-girls school, but he says you guys met in math class."

    Even though her father was completely wrong in thinking that she went to an all-girls school she was grateful towards Maddox for leaving out the fact of how they actually met. Her father never takes kindly to anyone that mentions that she had been placed in foster care after her mother's passing.

    Looking over at Maddox she gave him a slight smile to indicate hr thanks. He gave her a bigger smile back as he simultaneously stood up from his seated position at the kitchen counter. He turned to face Jemma's father and addressed him preparing to ask a question. "Mr. Willis," he began. "Would you mind if I took your daughter out for a little while?"

    Jemma internally scoffed. Like she cared about what her dad thought, she was thinking in her head. He barely ever even knew where she was anyway, not to mention the fact that he was never even home, oh yeah and when he got drunk he had no problem using his fists. Nevertheless, her father gave Maddox his approval to take her out. Now she had an internal problem. While her father wasn't drunk now it really doesn't take him long and she would rather not be around to witness it. But her other option was going out with Maddox and she would rather do pretty much anything than be around him.

    Maddox. She decided that she'd rather go with Maddox then spend any time with her drunk of a father. "Let's go then Madd." She said turning on her heel and walking out the door that she had walked in not ten minutes ago.

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Thank you so much for reading! This was really just a filler chapter, but keep reading because Maddox and Jemma's big reunion argument is in the next chapter!

Thanks again, I hoped you enjoyed!

    -Claire