Not a Family Person [closed]

This wasn't anything new. She knew she'd hate this project from the second it was announced, and she did, but she didn't let it show on her face. Not anymore than usual, anyways. People always liked to point out that she always glowering, but she wasn't ever going to force a smile, especially in her own dorm. The roar of a vacuum cleaner filled the dorm as Kayla mowed away at the carpet with one hand, cradling the bear with the other. She refused to think of it as a baby. That would've just been insult to injury.

The old adage was to sleep when your baby slept, but these days, Kayla felt like she couldn't sleep at all unless she downed half a dozen pills first, and those were the kind of sleeps that you didn't wake up from, even with an awful screech right in your ear. She couldn't take the chance of it exploding in her arms while she was sleeping, so the simple solution was to just hold off. Sometimes, she'd find herself nodding off, while sitting at the table or lying on the couch, but like clockwork, the bear would start screaming again and make her eyes snap back open. It was almost like a kind of paranoia. Every little light noise made her jolt upright, still half-dreaming that she was fighting for her life, but maybe that was for the best. It kept her from falling asleep for the next couple of hours, at least.

It was too early in the morning to be vacuuming, but she didn't know what else to do. She needed something to keep her hands busy besides taking care of this bear or she'd go insane, so she did something she hadn't done since Lain was a baby. Their carpet was gross, but not as gross as her old apartment. Her dad wouldn't do it out of laziness, and she wouldn't do it out of spite, so it became a pigsty. The whole place always stunk like cigarettes and old garbage. This was a little better, a few food stains and crumbs from late nights in front of the TV, and there was something satisfying about cleaning a place like this herself. Her roommates would've been sleeping, but she didn't care. One might as well have been a ghost, one was actually pregnant, and the other one... well, he could've slept in or woken up or jumped out a window for all she cared.

She flicked off the vacuum and clicked it back into a standing position, stepping away. The bear was silent. Kayla walked wordlessly toward the wall, kneeling down to pull the plug out of the outlet and coiling it around the hook on the back, before wheeling it back into the hall closet where it came from.

Kayla caught a glimpse of her reflection in the window on her way back. Disheveled hair, dark bags under her eyes, faded scars here and there around her face. Her hat was gone, tossed on the table while she worked, and her hair was pulled back in a sloppy ponytail. A ragged, baggy gray gym shirt hung on her lean frame, almost past her hips, with an old pair of plaid pajama pants that she hadn't changed out of in the last few days. She closed her eyes in something a bit longer than a standard blink and looked away, gritting her teeth.

It was better not to think about stupid things like that. She started walking off toward the kitchen, blowing a stray lock of hair out of her face, tiny sparks carried on her breath like frost.

I'm starving...

Two eggs, milk, bowl. She cracked them both open on the rim of the bowl and let the yolks plop in. Kayla tossed the shells over her head and into the garbage without looking and poured in the milk, mixing it with a fork. Skillet. Right, she needed a skillet. The lack of sleep was making her stupid. She dug it out of a cabinet and set it on the stove, flicking a small slice of butter onto the pan as she turned up the heat, and then poured in the mix. Scrambled eggs. It was nice to have something simple.

The bear started crying again, but this was more like a quiet whimper than the kind of wail it'd been giving at three in the morning. "Shush..." she murmured under her breath as she started to lift and poke away at the eggs in the pan. She should've salted it before she put it in. It slipped her mind. Ahh, oh well... Maybe I'll make bacon too...

It cried louder. She didn't react.

The roaring sounds of the vacuum had surpassed the thin dorm walls, piercing into his dreams and causing Preston to begin to stir around the bed. In a dazed, half-waken state, he gazed around the room with blurred sight. He must have seemed like a zombie then, gears in his mind slowly turning as the young man gazed around the room. Cold chill stung his skin where he'd pulled away from his blankets and he'd realized how dark the room was. In fact, with one quick look to the window, the sun hadn't even begun to rise over the mountain horizon.

Fucking Christ. The Autumn grumbled under his breath and flopped back into his bed. What in the hell anyone was doing up in that hour, he couldn't begin to fathom, and so he didn't bother to try. Pres shut his eyes and let himself drift back to sleep. Or so he tried, anyways. The loud whirring of the vacuum stayed resilient up until the moment he'd realized he was wide awake, staring up at the ceiling. Almost mockingly, a few birds began to chirp outside and he looked over at the dim red and white clock on the wall.

It was too early to be alive, but he couldn't bring himself to get comfortable again and felt his stomach begin to growl. "This is bullshit..." He muttered, sitting himself up and clutching at his chest. The majority of his wounds had healed, but few bandages annoyingly remained. He was thankful he at least didn't need any giant cinder block on his leg anymore, so long as he took things easy.

Annoyed, tired, and starving, Preston made a slow walk for his bedroom door, opening to see the rest of the dorm lights on. It was strangely quiet, aside from the sounds in the kitchen, someone shuffling plates around. The smells of fried eggs and sudden cries from an all-too familiar bear left him conflicted, enticed by the food but repelled by the cries. He pulled himself together, for his stomach's sake, and walked into the small kitchen.

He leaned against the doorway, crossing his arms and looking Kayla over, who seemed to be wavering where she stood - weakly poking at her food. "There's my baby mama," Pres mused, mustering up a small, crooked smile. "What are you making us? And the little gal?" Holding back a yawn, he went up to the bear. Thankfully, he hadn't had to spend much time around it - or so it seemed. She'd never bothered to try handing it off to him and he never bothered to volunteer.

But he could try to shut it up for the moment, scooping it up in his arms and bouncing it nimbly against him. "What the hell do you have to cry about?"

There he was. Of course. Couldn't she get a few moments without him? Baby mama. Lightning flickered across her shoulders. She didn't answer at first, only moving the eggs around in the skillet. It was too early in the morning for that, obviously. Kayla didn't have the energy. "Who said anything about you?" she muttered back weakly as she took the pan off the heat. Simple enough. Kayla only looked up when he got closer, almost flinching when he reached out to grab the bear from her hands.

She almost resisted at first, but getting in a tug-of-war would just make it explode, so she loosened up and let him scoop the stupid thing up into his arms. Kayla shuffled further to the other side of the stove to get away, rummaging around for bread. "Didn't anyone teach you to not insult the person who makes your food?"

Of course, he showed up to ruin her day, as always. It was almost as if the two of them lived right next door to each other. Preston laughed lightly under his breath. "Well fuck, you already woke me up with your damn vacuuming, and probably the rest of the dorm. A little courtesy breakfast wouldn't hurt." It was strange, her words lack the usual bite and fire behind them. Now that he could get a better look at her, she looked like a dead woman standing. His eyes traveled over to the empty coffee pot. Perhaps it would do them both some good.

"A lesson you clearly haven't learned. You must have called me every name in terms book at this point." The bar's cries started to grow ever slightly louder. God, could they have picked a more annoying wail? Despite the sharp twinge of irritation, he bounced the little "baby" harder, walking over and turning the pot on. Pres leaned back against the counter, watching her fumble around for the bread. "Where'd you leave the bottle and shit, Pikachu? I think me and Elesa are going to need some quality time today." There were a lot of girls getting extremely into their bears, he figured he might as well go on with his own to try and impress them all with his gentle, fatherly skills.

He thought so, huh? Kayla clumsily took off the clip from the bag and popped two slices of bread into the toaster, not raising her head. She wandered over to the fridge and cracked it open, but for a few moments, she couldn't even remember what she was looking for. "You deserve it, though." Right, bacon. Kayla shook the sleepy fog from her mind and dug out the package. Ahh, it'd been too long... She closed the fridge and turned around, rubbing the back of her neck. "The bottle...?" she muttered. Where did she put that fucking thing? It hit her after a few moments, racking her brain. "On the... the..." Kayla snapped her fingers a few times, weak sparks shooting out like a lighter, before the name came to her tongue. "That thing." She pointed. "Coffee table."

Fuck.

Kayla rubbed at her forehead and turned back to the kitchen counter, ripping the package open. "Why the hell do you care anyways?" she asked. "I thought you wouldn't want anything to do with it."

The smile slowly fell off of Preston's face as the slither around the kitchen in her zombie-like state. Perhaps he might have found her state funny in another circumstance, but watching her lumber around the way she did proved to be a more concerning sight than anything. "Right..." He murmured, glancing back into the living room. Sure enough, on the surprisingly clear table sat the tiny plastic bottle. With almost no hesitation, he strode over, scooping the toy up and 'feeding' it. Elesa shut up quick enough.

"You can't think a man can't care for his own child?" The Autumn let out a melodramatic sigh, sweeping back into the kitchen and rocking the stuffed animal as she fed. "I thought I might take her for a stroll, to the lounge, or the courtyard? That's where all the eligible mothers hang out, I hear." He laughed under his breath. "You needn't worry your pretty little head, Pikachu."

Typical. A spark popped out over her head, but she just bit her tongue and and grit her teeth, silently getting to work frying up the few slices of bacon she'd laid out on the pan. Was that it then? He just wanted to use it to win over some naive airhead, and then he'd dump it back in her hands once he was done playing the facade and forget all about it. More sparks crackled in her hair. The worst part was that she wasn't even sure if he was joking. It sounded too cliche and too horrible to take seriously, but she wouldn't be surprised by him. If anything, she expected it. Gross...

"You're an idiot," she said back, almost indignantly. "They've been dealing with these things longer than you have. Do you think they're gonna be impressed?"

The bear had stopped its whimpering.

That was good enough.

"Fine. Whatever. Take the stupid thing." She wanted it out of her hair, didn't she? "Just stop talking like that." The last thing she needed right now was for him to keep calling himself a dad and taunt her with their pairing.

It wasn't long until it was all finished. She scraped the eggs onto a plate and draped the bacon on top as the toast went popping out, slightly burned. Kayla pinched both slices by the corners and dropped them on, shambling away from the stove and to the dining table. After she sat down and set the plate in front of her, she realized she hadn't grabbed a fork. The drawer seemed so far away.

She reached out to the counter where one was lying, electricity arcing between her fingers. The fork jiggled, shook, bent, and then went flying toward her... and over her shoulder, slamming into the wall behind her. Kayla let her hand fall limp to her side and slouched forward, not even looking to where it went. She could hear it clatter against the tile, and that was enough.

Kayla turned that tired frown on him and the bear, dark bags under her eyes. "Well? Are you gonna eat anything?"

Preston snickered as he propped the bear up, holding it more tightly in his arms, lest it slip through his loose grasp as the thing was feeding. "There has got to be a few first time mothers I can woo with my paternal instinct. Like you?" He sent a wink her way, pushing at her buttons, if she even would bother to noticed in her dazed state. He wasn't entirely spouting bullshit to get at her. The Autumn had two siblings, far younger than him, whom he'd helped raised when others couldn't look after them. He couldn't even sat that he minded children, only that this bear creeper the fuck out of him. At least he could tolerate it enough to make a decent impression.

He barely managed to hold his tongue as she finished scraping that ungodly mess of food she called breakfast together onto her plate. The bread was burnt, the eggs were cooked unevenly, and that bacon looked greasy enough to clog anyone's heart in an instant. It was almost cruel she considered it edible. For a moment, Pres had expected the fork to go flying straight into his fast. Instead it went shooting past her, slamming into the wall and clattering uselessly on the floor. Although he was spared for the moment, he winced all the same. "Soon enough, once this thing shuts up." He was paranoid the moment he pulled the bottle away, the bear was due to start screeching in his ear again.

As a small courtesy, he leaned forward, tucking the bottle delicately under his chin and reading forward. In a far smoother and more graceful manner, the fork soared perfectly up into his fingers. He held it out to her, his smirk growing. "Madam."

Her face twitched. She couldn't help but wrinkle up her nose, turning away from him at the wink. What a fucking slob... If anyone was naive enough to fall for such a stupid routine, then they deserved all the heartbreak that came afterwards. He really was a dirtbag when you thought about it, not that she hadn't known that already. Kayla sat at the table, staring at her plate, when she heard the fork zip through the air again. Pres was holding it out to her with that stupid smirk on his face.

She stood up, snatched the fork out of his hands, and tottered over to the kitchen, flipping the fork dismissively into the sink on her way. "That one was on the floor," she said flatly, a burst of electricity flashing over her head. Kayla yanked the drawer open, making all the silverware rattle, and dug out two clean ones. "Maybe I should take that thing away from you after all," Kayla said as she slipped back into her seat.

The smirk fell off his face once again as he stood up straight, raising an eyebrow and watching her flip it over into the sink. And here he was simply trying to be a perfect gentleman. "Since when are you the picky one over a few little germs?" He muttered, watching her grab her new silverware and clamber back over to her seat at the small table. "Yeah, we wouldn't want our stuffed kid sick, now would we?"

He could have rolled his eyes then, opening a cabinet and grabbing a small glass cup. He served himself some back coffee delicately with one hand before going back and finally joining Kayla, taking the seat beside her. From up close, it was easy to see the frizz in her hair and the dark bags under her eyes. "Why don't you just go to bed already? I can take care of the bear just fine. Isn't that right, Elesa?"

Preston took the bottle out of it's mouth, setting it down on the table. Thankfully, it must've gotten enough to eat, as it didn't make a sound. He smiled again, bouncing the thing on his leg and making it's little arm's wave. "That's right, Pop!" The words escaped the corner of his mouth in a squeaky high tone.

She just hadn't wanted him to get so cocky over picking up a fork. Even if that meant having to get out of her seat, the missing smirk made it worth it. Kayla stabbed into the eggs and brought it up to her mouth. Bland. Her gaze drifted over to Pres as he sat down beside her, playing with the stupid doll. Aghhh... It was too early for this. She narrowed her eyes and looked back to her plate, picking listlessly at the bacon. "Yeah, sure," she said. Eager to get rid of her, huh? So he could whisk off and turn their health project into a fireworks display? The Autumn leaned back in her chair, nauseous. "I'm not tired, so don't worry about it. Don't you have some girlfriend to harass?"

He sniffed, ignoring her question and propping the bear up against his shoulder and leaning forward onto the table, as to get a better look of her face. Preston blinked, looking rather bored. "Bullshit," He said in a dull, simple tone. He'd been roommates with her for several years now, and was a master of pulling all-nighters. There was no fooling him into falling for some dismissive, bullshit statement like that. "Will I need to carry your ass into bed myself?" He asked, his smile turned coy again. He had all day to toy around with the ladies, there needn't be a rush.

As if to prove that, the bear started screaming in his ear. Pres flinched, his smile turned sour. What the fuck could be wrong with it now? He'd just fed the stupid thing!

She flinched, but it wasn't from the sudden siren blasting in her ear. Yeah, yeah, she remembered all too well what he'd done all those months ago. Kayla shot him a venomous glare, baring her teeth. "You could try," she spat, sparks shooting out of her hair. He might've been joking, but she knew him well enough that she had to take him seriously. In a one-in-a-hundred chance, she'd got landed with one of the only idiots in this school who could stand to touch her without getting fried. If he really wanted to, he could.

Kayla dropped her fork and held out her arms, still glowering, but her expression had softened. "Just hand it over." Then he could bail out of here and do whatever he did when he wasn't home.