Isolation: Chapter Seven: More Plotlines

[Ema]

Adrian and his mother let Amarantha sleep on their couch. It wasn't the most comfortable thing to sleep on, but it was better than the sidewalk, so Amarantha took it gratefully, waiting until she was sure both of them were upstairs asleep before she lay down and fell asleep herself.

She woke the next morning to music of some sort and the smell of food coming from the kitchen. There was laughter. She stood up slowly, stretching before she stepped into the kitchen, watching for a moment. Adrian sat at the kitchen table, holding his phone. A small speaker sat on the table in front of him, and that was where the music came from. His mother danced around the kitchen, cooking as she did. It smelled like bacon and eggs.

Adrian looked up to see Amarantha in the doorway. He stood up, waving her in. "Hey, come on!" he said, "Mom's making breakfast."

"I can see." Amarantha said. She didn't move. She was feeling better about the mother and son now, but not well enough to move from her spot. Adrian seemed to accept this, simply shrugging and changing the song to something louder.

"Did you sleep well?" Adrian's mother asked, scraping scrambled eggs from their pan onto three plates.

Amarantha nodded, yawning a little, Those eggs looked really good... "Yes, I did. Thank you."

A plate was put in front of Adrian, followed by an order to turn off the music. Another plate set down in front of an empty chair, then Adah herself sat across from that. It was as open an invitation to join them as Amarantha could possibly get. No one said anything, as the music stopped; the mother and son started their breakfast, putting no pressure on her to join them.

After a few minutes, Amarantha slid into the seat across from Adah, picking up a fork and biting into the eggs. They were delicious, as expected.

They ate in silence for a while, and it was more awkward than Amarantha was ready to admit. Luckily, Adrian seemed to catch on to that too, and said, "Last night, you said something about finding someone. Who?"

Amarantha put down her fork. "Yes," she said, carefully. "My father."

"Do you not know where he is?" That was Adah, a frown on her face. She moved like she was going to reach for Amarantha's hand, but thought better of it.

Amarantha shook her head. "I don't even know his name." she admitted. And now that she gave it more thought, there had to have been a reason why Mother never let Amarantha ask about him. It could have been that Mother was upset with him, but Amarantha had a hunch it was something more than that.

"How're you gonna find him, then?" Adrian asked, a frown to match his mother's crossing his features. "I mean, there are like a million guys on the planet."

Adah sent him a look. "You're the one who wants to find your sister." she said, clearly continuing an old discussion.

"That's different!" Adrian protested, "At least I know a little bit about her!"

He wasn't angry at his mother, Amarantha thought, simply making a point. But now she was confused. "A sister? Wouldn't you have grown up with her?" she asked.

Adrian shook his head. "Mom gave her up for adoption," he explained. "But kept me." He scowled, as if he thought it should have been the other way around.

His mother sighed. "We're not having this argument again," she said, "Not in front of company." Adrian didn't look very pleased about that, but kept his mouth shut, slumping down in his seat.

"What's her name?" Amarantha asked, curious. She could be quite inquisitive when she wanted to be, according to Mother.

The others glanced at each other. "Alexandra," Adrian said, "we're twins."

Amarantha nodded, thinking. "You say you want to find her," she said, restating what he had said earlier. Adrian nodded, leaning forward a little and putting his fork down. "And I need to find my father. Why don't we look together?"

A smile grew over Adrian's face. "We could," he said slowly. Both of them turned towards Adah, Adrian with a sort of pleading look on his face, Amarantha with a more excited one. She wouldn't have to be alone. She could have company, someone to help her. And even though she'd just met Adrian, she was trusting him far more than she should. He didn't appear to want to hurt her, in fact, he seemed to want the opposite. And that was pretty reassuring to her.

Adah sighed, looking between the two teenagers. "Adrian, you can't-" she started.

Her son cut her off, protesting. "Mom, it's summer. I don't have school. I have a car, I have some money. And you can come with me! What if she wants to meet you?" He settled back into his seat, crossing his arms.

Adah pushed back her chair, collecting the empty plates of herself and Adrian and moving to the sink. "I doubt she will." she said, "She doesn't need me, Adrian." She turned on the sink, beginning to wash the dishes.

Amarantha ate the last of her food before getting up and placing the plate on the counter next to Adah. "You don't have to go," she said, her voice low. "It can just be Adrian and I. If you don't want to come."

She was trying to alleviate Adah's fears, so that she might, maybe, allow Adrian to go, but it was rather obvious that she had very little experience with people other than Mother, and even Mother wasn't very predictable. Amarantha didn't know how she could get Adah to agree, but apparently that wasn't it. The woman turned to look at Amarantha, something in her brown eyes that Amarantha had never seen in Mother's. "What are you trying to say?" she asked. Amarantha stepped back.

"Just... just...." Words wouldn't come. She had no idea what to say, what to do. How could she handle this? Her hands trembled, and she closed her eyes. Her breath was speeding up again, and she had hoped that she wouldn't have to deal with this again so soon.

She heard the scrape of a chair against the ground, then Adrian's voice: "Mom, you scared her!" A moment of silence, then a hand on her shoulder. Amarantha flinched, ramming her hip into the cabinet below the counter. The hand retreated.

"Ames." Adrian said. Apparently, that was her. "It's okay. Mom didn't mean to freak you out. Come sit down, all right?" He was slowly backing away as he spoke, she could tell from the way his voice sounded further and further, showing that she had room to move if she needed to.

Amarantha took some deep breaths before opening her eyes again. Both Adrian and his mother took several steps away from her, Adrian sitting at the table again while Adah stood behind him. Amarantha shook her head. "Sorry," she mumbled, taking a step forward, then frowned. "Ames?" she asked Adrian, suddenly realized what he had called her.

He shrugged. "It's a whole lot easier to say than Amarantha." He said with a grin. "I hope you don't mind."

Amarantha shook her head. "Not at all."