Mutual Fondness [the professor & mary ann] ✔️

two- oxford shirt

Oxford Shirt

On the flight home to Kansas, Mary Ann's mind was occupied with other things rather than thought of stepping onto her family's farm and smelling the familiar mulch, hay and  dirt. She also pictured what each of the castaways might have been doing that exact moment or what they would be doing once they returned home. But what took up most of Mary Ann's headspace was the Professor's friend Rose Henderson and them flying home to Ohio together. Something about the way Rose had hugged the Professor back in Hawaii and the way she said his first name "Roy" made her rip the ends of her straw to shreds.

If Rose was close enough with the Professor to call him Roy, then why hadn't Mary Ann ever called him that? She and the Professor were close, but she never referred to him by his name. On the island, no one did. He was just the Professor. That's all she knew; it suited him. But she wondered what it'd be like to call him Roy instead of Professor.

Sitting next to her mother on the plane by the window, Mary Ann took the chewed up straw from her mouth. She set it next to her napkin on the fold out table, then bit her lip. As she looked out the window, Mary Ann opened her mouth and muttered "Roy" softly to herself in different tones to see how it'd sound off her tongue. Roy. Roy Hinkley. Professor Roy Hinkley.

A grin poked out of the corner of her mouth. She liked the way his name sounded when she said it so she said Roy a few more times. The last one was louder than she expected, which made her mom turned her head. Mary Ann covered her mouth, jerking her head towards the window. As she watched the clouds pass by, she smiled to herself. Mary Ann fell asleep peacefully the rest of the flight.

•••

Mary Ann expected stepping foot onto her farm in Horner Corners Kansas to be more satisfying and fulfilling. She thought being off the island and in the place she grew up she'd get to breath normally—exhale and not feel isolated. But when she stepped out of the car and onto the dirt path that led to her home she felt just that—isolated from the castaways; her second family.

Of course she missed her mom and dad and the farm; she hugged them so tight when she saw them for the first time in three years. But at the same time it felt strange not being around the castaways; she felt like they never properly said goodbye, even if they had spent a few days in Hawaii together after the rescue. She expected something out of spending three years with the same seven people all day, everyday. Mary Ann felt attached to them—like she couldn't be without them. Especially the Professor. Now she had to get use to life without them around everyday.

"Honey, why don't you freshen up and I'll unpack your stuff for you," Mrs. Summers said when they entered Mary Ann's childhood home.

"Thanks," Mary Ann called over her shoulder as she made her way to the bathroom. Standing in front of the mirror, Mary Ann stared at herself before sighing. She turned on the water, splashing it over her face. Afterwards, she felt her stomach grumble so she went to the kitchen to fix that.

A few seconds into scrounging around in the fridge for something to satisfy her hunger, her mom called her into the living room.

"Mary Ann, what is this?"

Mary Ann walked in with a pickle in hand. She noticed her mom had pulled out a light blue button up out of her suitcase.

"Since when did you have a blue Oxford shirt?" Mrs. Summers questioned, raising the shirt up in the air by the sleeves so Mary Ann could see.

Mary Ann took a bite out of the pickle and with her mouth full she said, "Oh um, that's the Professor's. He let me borrow one of his for sleeping."