I close the door behind me upon stepping out of the apartment. Helene, Emmie's mom, has yet to come home. She may have been held back outside. Hopefully, by the time she comes back, her daughter will have recovered. The latter was not willing to move her body even after I undid her bindings.
She was like someone too full to move. Only, instead of having her energy replenished upon satiation, what has filled her has deprived her of it. Though, another thing I noticed is how climaxing seems good for working the abs.
A smile graces my lips at that thought, before I go down. I breathe in the fresh, cool air of the descending evening, the fatigue from the martial arts class bleeding away to turn into soft exhaustion. Well, that is how it was supposed to turn out, but I wince at the fumes of the cityscape, and try not to sneeze.
I actually want to cough out the air I breathed after I got too relaxed and forgot about the pollution, especially with the road not far, but I hold back. I wrinkle my nose, and make to leave with the diminished lightheartedness I'm now carrying.
"Max!"
I turn, a little startled. I take a moment to spot the source of the voice and I greet her with a smile.
"Aunt Helene…"
I smile helplessly under the admonishing gaze of the bigger, more mature version Emmie before me, and correct myself as the woman comes closer. Even with the distance and the brightening artificial lights of the street, I can read her meaning just well enough.
"Helene. I thought you would return later, since you have not come back until now."
In her early forties, she looks like she is just reaching the end of her thirties, barely leaving the middle stage of it. Her hair is a red very much darker than Emmie's slightly brighter one, like a steadier version of the latter. Her bright smile is all that is needed to show the same energy as her daughter, though a more tempered one, one steeped in the maturity that distinguishes her from Emmie.
Nevertheless, what makes a striking but more mature version of Emmie is how curvaceous she is. Whether in front or at the back, she is the kind of weight men will wonder whether they will be able to handle it. With a body of pure appeal like that, any hint of inferiority complex is a chink in the armor called ego, making it her so desirable but difficult to approach for men.
Conversely, she may be easier to approach for women, because they will not need to agonize over oversimplified classification of lightweight and heavyweight. With my newfound lesbian tendencies, I can speak with some certainty.
Wondering if emotions, personality, and characters can be handled is enough between girls. Though, that should have been enough for any relationship, I think. Maybe… that is why Emmie's father's trip is taking so long, longer than expected.
I noticed. I just don't know if Emmie has noticed too.
I shake those thoughts away when Helene, without any shadow on her face, stops a short distance away and nods in satisfaction at my more informal greeting.
"It is really you, Max. I didn't know I would find you upon coming back. Did you return from martial arts training with Emmie?"
"Yes. I was afraid she would use fatigue as an excuse to avoid studying."
And that was not a lie. That is why I'm only leaving Emmie's place now, not just because of how we ended naked on the bed. It is only after we finished our homework and studied a little that that happened.
And Helene knows her daughter, so she laughs at my words.
"Hahaha. That is indeed something that she can do. I still have yet to thank you for looking after her. Especially this year. I appreciate you using your maturity to pull her along into living a meaningful life."
"There is no need for that, Helene. Emmie and I are friends."
"Friends, huh?"
I blink, then my face warms up under the meaningful look from the deeply dark red eyes across from me. After more than a month, it would have been a wonder if Helene, who is so close to her daughter, to a point most parents can't reach, did not notice anything.
I cringe for a second, then take it in stride. My heart calms down, and I turn away with a calm smile, and look up at the window of Emmie's room.
"Actually, Emmie's energy helps me too. Thanks to her, it is easier to be optimistic, so you can say that we are helping each other."
Helene's smile recedes a little, but she does not relent.
"Still…"
I shake my head with a smile. Helene looks at me with a sigh, and some sadness settles in her gaze.
"I can understand. I'm happy that you are managing to look forward."
My smile widens as I think about Liz. If not for having her, I would not have climbed out of that abyss easily. I might not even have survived until meeting Emmie again. Though, it is because I had Liz that others accepted my rejection, accepted giving me time, and her, trust.
Feeling gloom settling over the conversation, Helene exhales and her smile comes back.
"Anyway, please keep taking care of Emmie."
'That way, she will not end up disappointed like me.'
Before I can nod with a smile, that thought intrudes on my mind, and I almost pause. I have worked to get used to catching others' thoughts and not showing anything, not with the unclear dark fog hovering overhead with dangers I'm still fathoming. But I'm still startled, almost to the point of showing an outward reaction.
My smile breaks the split second of frozen spell, and I nod, but this time, with my focus on the disappointment that is confirming what I have been suspecting.
Emmie's father has never been gone for more than a few days before, maybe a week, top. Not like the month or two now, almost without news, news that Helene seems to have hidden as she comes up with excuses.
Helene swallows her depressed thoughts and lets her smile brighten up at my assent.
"Alright, I won't keep you further. You should go home so as to avoid worrying your sister. Tell her we should get together some day, though I don't doubt that she must be busy, like…"
I laugh with Helene, and nod, pretending not to hear the unfinished words.
"Yes, very busy, but I will convey your words to her. Goodbye, Helene."
"Goodbye. Get home safely."
She takes the stairs to the door of the building, but I call her back.
"Helene!"
"Hm?"
"Maybe you should talk to Emmie. Bottling things up might hurt her."
Helene gives me a long look, and smiles.
"I will think about it."
With a wave of her hand, she turns away and goes inside. I look at where she has disappeared, then at Emmie's window above, before I turn away, and put the slight hint of alcohol in Helene's breath out of my mind.