I didn't know- NaNoWriMo project 2015 - Chapter 6

Six

On Sunday Fey slept in and then proceeded to enjoy her day off by making a pot full of spiced tea and grabbing 'The Necklace of Loch Lohair'. She'd just settled into the pillows when her cell phone started ringing and cut the blessed quiet short.

She checked the screen to see who was calling and answered cheerfully.

“Hey brother dear!”

“Hello little sister! How are you?”

“I'm good, how about you? What did you have to do to get the Sunday off?”

Her brother Alex laughed. “How do you know I'm not actually at the hospital saving countless lives?”

“You're calling from your cell phone and the reception at the clinic is horrible, don't even try to fool me.”

“Ha! As if I ever could.”

“So what do you want Alex

? Why are you calling this fine Sunday morning?”

“I did genuinely want to know how you were doing, but there is something else I wanted, you're right. Our cousins Diana and Noah are in town and they're staying with our parents until they find an apartment. Diana is thinking about changing universities because the uni here has a great reputation for architecture. And Noah's doing an internship in my clinic, I think I told you about that, didn't I?”

“Yeah, you mentioned it. But what do you want from me?”

“Okay, so Diana doesn't only want to change universities because of the reputation. She just had a pretty bad breakup and apparently her ex works as an assistant for one of her professors. So a change in scenery would be nice for her and also maybe some other distractions? And it wouldn't hurt to take Noah along as well, because that guy has had his nose in his books far too much in the last years. I thought I was a nerd in college, but he tops me easily.”

“You want me to show them a good time and maybe set them up?” Fey almost squealed.

“I knew you'd like the idea. So mom invited me and Sarah over for coffee this afternoon. Want to come as well?”

That instantly put a damper on Fey's mood.

“Do I really have to?”, she whined.

“Come on, I haven't seen you in so long. And you should sometimes show your face at mom and dad's as well, you know. Noah and Diana will be there, Mom will cross-question them about their lives, she'll hardly notice you. And I'll be there.”

“Ugh.” Fey rolled her eyes at the blatant manipulation. “Alright, I'll come. But just because I haven't seen you and the cousins in forever and I have to see what I'm working with if I'm finding them someone new. I might already have someone...”

“Great, I'll pick you up at 2pm. And would you... no, forget it.”

“What is it?”

“I was gonna suggest you don't wear a fandom shirt but then I thought you'd probably do it in spite.”, he laughed.

“You're right I would have. How on edge is Mom right now?”

“She has her sister's children staying with her until further notice. And you know how relaxed she is with guests around.”

Fey sighed.

“I'll wear something decent then. Won't do to ruin everybody's mood, especially mine, just because Mom can't keep her comments about my clothes to herself.”

She could feel her brother's relief even through the phone.

“Thank you. See you in a bit.”

Fey through her phone across the couch into the cushions. 'Puff' went her plans of a nice stay-at-home-read-until-her-eyes-hurt-Sunday. But she owed it to her brother to try and be civil and if there was any match-making-potential for her in it, she didn't mind too much. After her parents had cut her off he'd let her sleep at his place and made sure she ate on a regular basis. And when she had gotten a job and apartment he had accepted her decision to make her own way readily. She always felt that he cared for her without trying to make her into something she wasn't, something she missed in her relationship with her parents. They and her falling out about her exit from college was just the inevitable climax to years of unfulfilled expectations on her parents side and the constant feeling of not being accepted the way she was on her side. That she was talking to her parents on a semi-regular basis and still being invited to family gatherings was exclusively thanks to her brother.

She spent the time until Alex would pick her up with reading and changed shortly before their arranged time. She picked dark jeans and a black shirt under a burgundy sweater and hoped her mother would just refrain from commenting on her appearance.

Alex rang her on her cell phone to announce his arrival and she hurried down to meet him. She spotted his VW by the curb and quickly slid into the back seat.

“Hey Sarah, good to see you again!” Her sister-in-law was sitting in the passenger seat beaming at her.

“You too! You changed your hair again, I like it. Very in this season.” Sarah was working as an interior designer for a lifestyle magazine and was naturally always up to date on the latest trends not only in interior design.

“Hey muffin! Looking good with the orange, I don't think you've had orange since that horrid Christmas with aunt Matilda.“

“Thank you two. Oh god, don't remind me of that Christmas. I shudder thinking of it.”

Sarah and Alex laughed and they reminisced about horrible family gatherings and holidays for the whole drive to their parents house.

The spacious house Fey and Alex had grown up in was located on the outskirts of the City, allowing both their parents to commute to work easily. It had a large garden with towering old spruces and was of course perfectly kept by a gardener.

Alex parked the car in the long drive way and they all got out. Fey looked up at the light yellow facade that held the rooms of her childhood. There had been so many rooms to play hide-and-seek with Alex, but never enough to hide from her mother's nagging.

'Speaking of the devil', Fey thought, as her mother opened the front door to greet them. Her straight blond hair was perfectly styled as always and her makeup was in perfect sync with the petite gray costume she was wearing.

“Alex, Sarah, Fiona! How nice to see you!”

With measured gestures she beckoned them inside.

“Hi, mom, good to see you too!” Alex had to only lean slightly down to kiss his mother on the cheek.

“Sarah, you look well!” She accepted a kiss on the cheek from her daughter-in-law with grace.

“Hello Fiona, I see you have changed your hair color again. Didn't you have a similar color the last time aunt Matilda was with us?”

“Hi mom, nice to see you too.” She moved in to hug her mother briefly.

She did love her mom, but had never been able to bond with her about the major interests in her life which had led to a strained relationship between them. Both her parents and her had felt their separation deeply though and made an effort to never let it come that far again.

“Your cousins and your father are in the living room. Go on ahead, I'll bring out the coffee.”

“Let me help you with that.” Sarah offered and handed Alex her coat.

They hung up their jackets in the foyer and started moving towards the chatter they could hear through the open doors.

“Ah, here they are. Alex, Fiona, great to see you. Where did you leave Sarah?” Fey's father got up from the light brown couch where he was chatting with Diana and Noah. The siblings had a few characteristic features that showed their shared genes, but were differed in many areas. Diana had curly brown hair to her shoulders with a subtle auburn touch about it, a slim face with a few freckles around her thin nose and an athletic build. Her brother was just slightly taller than her with darker hair and skin that showed their Italian father. He shared his sisters elegant nose and cheekbones as well as her dark blue eyes. As Fey and her brother entered they both got up to greet them.

Alex hugged his father briefly and moved on to his cousins. “Sarah's in the kitchen helping mom. She should be here any moment. Hi Diana, Noah! I haven't seen you in so long. I don't remember if you've met my lovely wife Sarah?”

Perfectly on cue Sarah came in from another door and set down the tablet with coffee and elegant gold-rimmed cups. Mrs. von Wimmstein followed her closely with a perfect Sacher torte that she set down next to the porcelain.

“I think you weren't able to come to the wedding. Hi, I'm Sarah, so lovely to finally meet you.” Fey looked with fascination at the hustle of greeting and small talk that ensued. For a moment she felt completely disconnected until her father brought her back by finally noticing her.

“Fiona come here, don't you want to say hello to Diana and Noah? Oh, you changed your hair again, how nice!” He waved for her to come over from where she was standing by the door. She sidled closer and embraced both Noah and Diana quickly.

“Fey, it's been far too long. Didn't you want to come visit us this summer? How have you been?” Diana looked her level in the eyes, not much taller than Fey in her heeled half-boots.

“Oh, you know, working my dream job while simultaneously disappointing my parents. Same as always I guess. How about you? I heard you were thinking about moving here?”

Everybody around them started sitting down, Fey's mother handing out cups of coffee and slices of chocolate cake and Fey settled down next to Diana and Sarah, avoiding the shop talk of the men about medicine. Unfortunately this left her open to her mother's questions about her well-being as well.

“Fiona, did you hear that Diana is moving here? She's already looked at several apartments and she's been talking to the professors as well, because the semester has already started, which makes everything a bit complicated. But with the recommendations from her advisers that shouldn't be a problem, right, Diana? And Noah is starting his internship next week, Alex has already shown him around, he's quite excited about it.” She took a sip of her black coffee. “Oh, I met Mrs. Maler the other day, she told me to say hello and to tell you to call Rebekkah when you get the chance, here's her number in case you don't have it. Rebekkah's getting married in February and you two were such close friends in high school. She wanted to invite you even though you haven't seen her in nearly seven years, isn't that nice of her?” Fey's mother didn't talk fast, but there was a certain quality to her speech that forbid her audience to interrupt her. “Mrs. Maler asked me how you were doing and if you were in a relationship, but I honestly couldn't tell her. Are you?”

Fey choked slightly on the piece of cake she'd been chewing.

“Sorry, mom, I don't think that's any of your business?” She hated how insecure she sounded at that moment. “And if it were could you maybe not ask it in front of everybody?”

“Nonsense, we're all family, aren't we? And the men aren't paying attention anyways.”

Diana looked uncomfortable in the midst of the discussion and Fey remembered that the topic was probably a bit sore for her. Before she could steer their conversation towards safer waters, Sarah came to her rescue.

“The men are being awfully rude, aren't they? Alex! Why don't you join us over here? Have you shown your mother the pictures of our new bathroom? We're redecorating, and it's been so tiresome, but so rewarding. Here, look.” Sarah easily engaged her mother-in-law into a debate about the best way to go about renovating a bathroom and Fey and her cousin had room to quietly talk among themselves. Fey shot Sarah a thankful look before she turned to her cousin.

“Alex told me you had a bad break up and that's why you wanted to move.”

Diana smiled morosely. “Yeah, you could say that. You're just as direct as I remembered, I missed that. Everybody's just tiptoeing around me and saying how changing uni is such a great idea and a good opportunity and so on. Worst of all my family, although they all know I just got dumped in a pretty bad way.”

“I'm sorry to hear that. Hey, I'm single and not looking for anybody, but I know how to have a nice time and maybe take your mind off things. I'm sure my mom has already given you my number so if you ever feel like you just need to go out to dance, call me. Or if you just need to get out of this house, believe me, I know the feeling.” Fey looked pointedly at her mother and rolled her eyes overly dramatically, which made Diana chuckle in sympathy.

“Thank you, I appreciate it. Right now the apartment-hunting and all the formalities for uni are pretty exhausting and enough to keep me busy, but I promise I'll text you when I'm in the mood for company.”

“Sounds great. How's Noah? I have barely spoken a word to him, he seemed in too deep talking with my dad.”

“Oh he's fine, excited for the internship and for the change in scenery. Not so excited to help me move.” She giggled.

“Oh right, whenever that is, just so you know, I'm certainly busy or suddenly sick, sorry.” Fey laughed as she adjusted her glasses innocently. It felt good to talk to family lightheartedly.

“Don't worry, your parents will probably force a moving company on me, if mine haven't already.”

They continued talking about this and that, remembering the summer weeks they had spent together as children and making vague plans for Diana's and Noah's stay.

“Hey, do you know if Noah has a girlfriend right now? Or boyfriend?” Fey tacked on as an afterthought.

“No, I don't think so.”, Diana answered unfazed. “At least he's never brought anyone home to introduce to the family. There might have been a few short relationships, but you know how tough med school can get when finals come around. I don't think he would have accepted the internship here so readily if there was anyone at home he was with. Why do you ask?”

“Well, partly just out of curiosity, but partly because I have this friend I just made and she is awfully shy. So I thought I could set her up. And if not, it would be a good idea for her to practice talking to people she doesn't know, preferably nice people, like you and Noah. I'll have to pitch the idea to her first of course, but would you be up for that?”

“Sure, why not?”

“Thank you.”

Mr. von Wimmstein interrupted them, “Fiona! I've neglected you all afternoon. Come over and tell me and Noah how you're doing.”

Fey excused herself from Diana and joined her father on the other side of the sitting group.

“I know the point is moot, but would it really be so much trouble to call me Fey?”, she sighed as she sat down next to Noah. “Hey cousin, how are you doing?” She boxed him gently on the arm.

“Thanks, not too bad. I was just talking to your dad about the chief of medicine at the clinic, they went to med school together. To be honest, I'm kinda nervous. It's gonna be the first time I work with kids.” He leaned closer to her and whispered conspiratorially. “I think they're scary.”

“Noah and I were talking about what a great opportunity this is for his career and so naturally Noah wanted to know how you are doing, careerwise.” Her father had passed over her remark on her given name completely.

“Did you now? If you must know, I'm still very happy with my job, although nobody in this family appears to believe me.”

“It's just such a pity you're wasting your potential like that.” Mr. von Wimmstein was like his wife close to sixty, but unlike his wife actually looked his age. He had a graying mustache he defended against all fashion trends and a slight belly. He'd always encouraged his children to make the most of themselves and was still sorely disappointed about his daughter's failure, as he saw it.

Fey chose not to comment. A discussion wouldn't yield a different result than the hundred that had already taken place between her and her father about this exact matter.

“Your mother and I just want what's best for you and you throw it in our faces.” He twiddled with his mustache and huffed out a breath. “No, I'm sorry. We've been over this. Let's not make this pleasant afternoon uncomfortable.”

Fey sat up at the apology her father had given her, not knowing if he had ever uttered the word 'sorry' towards her.

“Thank you.”, she said with emphasis.

After that their talk steered clear of Fey and concentrated more on the upcoming conference her father as a chief of medicine was hosting for colleagues from all over Europe. Soon, though not nearly as soon as Fey would have wished, Alex and Sarah both stood and announced that they should get going. Fey almost uttered her 'thank goodness' out loud, but caught herself in time. She offered to get the coats to avoid any last well meant commentary on her appearance or career choice. Alex and Sarah took their jackets from her and they all filed out the front door to the car.

The afternoon hadn't been too bad, but she knew that was mostly due to her cousins and Sarah's and Alex's appeasing presence. The dark and cool car was a welcome contrast after the bright house and the scrutiny she had felt from her parents even when their attention was elsewhere, at least that's how Fey had felt.

It was quiet inside as Alex drove along the familiar roads towards Fey's apartment. She looked towards the lights of the city. The stark difference of her feelings about the concept of 'home' became clear to her once more. Her parents' house was where she had been raised and had lived for most of her life, where she'd started inventing herself and where she was from. The apartment she was looking towards now was where she lived, where she was inventing a new self every day and where she could just be. At the thought a feeling of sheer happiness washed over her, filled her from her middle on outwards and overflowed in an involuntary smile on her face.