Cipher

Chapter 29: Jason's Birthday

Cipher didn't drive and he felt weird about asking Isaac to go out of his way, yet he did it anyway. Isaac was going to meet up with David and Shawn. He had been invited along, but Cipher knew he was needed somewhere else today.

Today was Jason's birthday.

Joslyn had hesitantly extended an invitation to Cipher, retracted, and awkwardly extended it back to him in the course of one conversation. He could see that she wanted him to come with her, and at the same time worried about being a bother or interrupting his weekend plans, of which he had none for her to worry about. She seemed to want to get away from her house without being alone, she just didn't know how to ask.

Cipher stepped out of the car and went up to the door, waving to Isaac as he drove away.

Joslyn answered quickly after his first knock, ready to go. They walked toward her little grey truck and soon they were off.

Cipher looked mystified as she shifted the truck through its gears. "Is this a manual transmission?"

"Yeah," Joslyn nodded, keeping her eyes on the road. "Never ridden in one before?" she asked almost rhetorically.

"I have not," Cipher admitted. "It is quite interesting, though."

Joslyn gave a little laugh, "maybe I'll teach you sometime."

Cipher brightened at the thought.

Before long they arrived at their destination, an outdoor mall.

"I figured we could wander," Joslyn explained. "There's just about everything here. We should be able to find something."

And wander they did.

They found ice cream and smelled candles. They browsed the book store and looked through records and played with puppies.

As the day wore on, they eventually found themselves in a Disney store. There was so much to look at with dolls and stuffed toys on nearly every wall and available surface. They pointed characters out to each other as they meandered through the store, never far from one another.

Excited to find a stuffed Baymax toy, Cipher turned to show it to Joslyn. His warm complexion contrasted with the white toy as he held it out to her happily. He remembered she had once mentioned her affection for the character during lunch.

Joslyn turned to face him with a smile. As her eyes landed on the toy, her face suddenly dropped, her aura going dark almost instantly. Her lips pressed tightly together as if she could trap the negative emotion inside herself to keep it from escaping. Cipher could see tears starting to well in the corners of her eyes.

Cipher paled as he quickly placed the toy back in its spot. "Maybe we should return to your truck," he gently suggested.

Joslyn nodded, spinning on her heel, pushing through the doors without another word.

Cipher silently followed.

In that moment, the cab of the truck provided relative privacy from the rest of the world. Joslyn made no move to start the vehicle. She just sat behind the steering wheel staring blankly at the dashboard as tears welled in her eyes.

"Joslyn?" Cipher asked cautiously.

She made a small noise of acknowledgement, but her eyes never left the dash.

He slowly slid closer across the bench seat. "Is it something you want to talk about?"

Her head gave a quick shake.

He paused, "Can I...?" his question trailed off as he extended his arm toward her.

She moved toward him, settling against him with her arms wrapped around his torso. He let his arms lightly encircle her as her body shook with silent sobs. He could feel her tears soaking into his T-shirt as she finally allowed herself to cry, face hidden against his chest.

He had no idea what to do, so he did the only thing he could and gave her space to grieve. He let her cry without asking why or giving empty promises. And in a world that was 'sorry for her loss' that's all she really needed.

***Author's Note***

Christmas miracle, two updates in one week! Happy New Years, everyone. No more 2020!

Please comment and vote. Right now I'm just writing this story for myself so I'm going at my own pace as ideas come. If you want more consistent updates, feedback would be very helpful and encouraging.