Apartment Above Lukes, Friday Afternoon

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy was prepping for Pride over the weekend. Most of the merchandise she was planning for the booth had already been boxed up at the store, but she was folding pamphlets and making bracelets out of embroidery floss and beads that she'd picked up from Hobby Lobby when she'd taken a trip over there to discuss which store was going to hand out the birth control. The bracelets all corresponded with the various Pride flags; it was like an eighth grade craft project up in here.

But it was fun and relaxing and made for nice breaks between constant pamphlet folding while still letting her feel like she was being productive. Win/win.

Comments

[vdistinctive]

Eliot's current horrified expression was due to picturing Mr. Li giving anyone the Talk.

[spin_kick_snap]

"I had sex ed," Kathy said immediately. "And Mom explained the 'you're a woman now' stuff."

And now she was blushing, because she could tease Eliot about sex stuff whenever, but biology? That was awkward.

[vdistinctive]

"Well, at least I don't have to worry about doing that."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Though you may want to workshop your 'How to ask if your daughter is pregnant' conversation," Kathy said, snickering into her sandwich.

Which was amazing, by the way. She was going to eat, like, three.

[vdistinctive]

As though there were any doubt.

"Wasn't askin', was I. You were all set to be defensive about your big secret. Ain't my fault it wasn't that you were pregnant."

[spin_kick_snap]

"No you weren't asking," Kathy said, laughing so hard she messed up her knotwork. "You were already convinced I was!"

[vdistinctive]

"Not until you seemed to know what I was talkin' about!"

[spin_kick_snap]

"You were so vague it could have been anything! You just said you knew I had a problem I was dealing with or something! Which I was!" Kathy protested, her arms around her sides because her stomach hurt from laughing.

[vdistinctive]

"Right, and you were totally forthcoming."

[spin_kick_snap]

"In fairness," Kathy said, raising a finger, "I was pretty fucked up."

Beat.

"Still am. Less than I was, I think, but still am."

[vdistinctive]

"Less is good," Eliot said. "Less is real good. Anything in particular botherin' you? Or is all the same giant lump of overwhelming?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"I still feel like I'm just treading water," Kathy said, setting her bracelet down entirely to clasp her arms around her knees. "I don't have a direction. I don't even know what direction I should pick. I was looking at pamphlets and stuff for local colleges but I'm not sure if I was doing that because I wanted to, or because I thought I should, or because it was a distraction from everything else."

[vdistinctive]

Eliot nodded. "That's hard for anyone to untangle. There a reason why you gotta figure it out right now?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"I feel like it'll...give me something to focus on that's not...dwelling," Kathy said, trying to put her nebulous feelings into words. "I was always going forward, before. Now I'm just...paused. Maybe if I had a forward trajectory to follow, I'd have a way to tell how I'm doing."

[vdistinctive]

Eliot nodded. "There's value in learnin' how to just be," he said. "But there's nothin' wrong with setting yourself goals. How much into the future do you think you wanna be looking?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"I don't know," Kathy admitted. "I kind of get panicky thinking more than a week or so in the future. Anders and I are supposed to go on vacation, but we keep not scheduling it because scheduling means planning means I freak out."

[vdistinctive]

"Puts kind of a damper on picking a direction," Eliot said. "Alright. It's Friday. How about picking something you want to get done by next Friday?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"O-Okay," Kathy said, trying to think about something.

The only thing coming to mind was a favor she wanted to ask of Eliot, though. "So, umm, sorta related, but it's not something I can get done by next Friday," she said. "But an ongoing thing? Would you teach me how to play guitar?"

[vdistinctive]

Eliot nodded. "Sure, no problem. I never taught to anyone before, so you'll have to bear with me." He smiled as a thought occurred to him. "How 'bout we do the first lesson next Friday, if you're available? Then each week, we can decide when to do the next one when we meet up. No plannin' in too far in advance, but still somethin' to look forward to."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'd like that," Kathy said with a happy smile. "I've noticed that learning things makes it easier. I have something I can focus on and direct all my thoughts towards so they don't scatter and turn ugly."

[vdistinctive]

"Maybe you should look into the community center classes, if we've got any in the fall. Learnin' doesn't have to be directed towards a degree. Might be good right now to just try a bunch of stuff casually, see what really hooks you."

Something else occurred to him.

"Do you have a guitar?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Not yet," Kathy said, shaking her head. "Getting one seemed like I was committed to it. "

And there was still that whole 'needing to talk to Dante about it' because she was still a little weird about things. More hesitant and worried and afraid.

"I'll probably go and get one some time this week, then, if we're gonna meet on Friday?"

[vdistinctive]

Eliot smiled. "Would you look at that, two goals for the week."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy picked up another sandwich--her fourth of the afternoon. Looked like her appetite was picking up again, too.

"Not gonna lie, I feel a little bit twitchy about it."

[vdistinctive]

"The trick will be workin' past that and doin' things anyway."