Peter Pan and his Lost Boy // Jian AU

4.

•°Kian's POV°•

The next day at the library was just like the first. I spent all day shelving books and making fun of the small old lady and her stepping stool. Well, I mean obviously there were some differences. Like how I spent a lot of hours online looking for any kind of jobs I could find. There weren't a lot of openings, not that I expected there to be in a small town like this one. So, that lead me to looking for jobs in the cities around this one. It was frustrating, filling out application after application and not being able to give them some of the things they wanted. Some jobs only wanted experienced workers that knew the ropes, while others required you to at least have two prior jobs. So, there went my chances with about half of the openings, not that this bump in the road didn't stop me from filling them out anyways.

"What do you want for lunch?" Ms. Stefanie inquired thoughtfully as I scrolled through even more job listings on the library computer. My eyes lazily connected with hers for a split second, sending her a slight shrug. At the moment, I didn't care if I ate at all, the slipping chances of me finding a job was killing my appetite.

"I'm not hungry," I add, shifting my eyes back to the bright screen. I felt as though my brain was melting from looking at this damn thing for so long. Maybe I should take a break and dust the shelves or something.

"Well, too bad. You look as though you eat one meal a day. You need some meat on those bones if you're thinking about impressing that boy," she informs me, standing to gather her jackets. "Oh, and tonight, you're coming home with me to have a real meal and shower. I want you to change out of those jeans as well, alright?"

"Aren't you just getting closer and closer to actually sounding like my grandmother?" I tease, leaning back in my seat so the light from the computer wouldn't be so intense. She turned back from her clothes and gave me the look my mother had given me many times when I was sassing her.

"Kian, I want you to get that skinny butt out of that chair, and get ready to go eat lunch with your dear friend, alright?" She commands, even putting her tiny wrinkled hands on her waist. I smile even bigger at her, taking my sweet time as I rose from the cushioned seat. "Don't make me whip you, boy!"

She raised her hand in a joking way and I pretended to be afraid, scampering away as only a frightened child would. This was good. I felt like for once in my life I was around someone who actually wanted to be around me in return. This sweet old lady who hardly knew me wanted to take me in and be my crutch while I looked for a way to survive on my own. It didn't take me long to change into another pair of skinny jeans and a Nirvana tee. I pulled my plain black jacket over my head as I walked towards the front, ready to go eat. Now that my brain wasn't occupied with doubt and negativity, I realized I was extremely hungry. As I rounded the corner, I see Ms. Stefanie sitting at her desk, a pained expression painted on her face.

"Hey, Ms. Stefanie, what's wrong?" I question, lying my hand on top of hers that was laying limply on the computer. Those usually happy blue eyes slowly moved to meet with mine, not looking happy at all. Her eyes looked like a storm, clouded and hard to read. Something must have happened while I was away.

"We need to talk over lunch, I hope that's okay," she whispers, moving her eyes so they didn't have to look at me. Shit, fuck, what happened? This is bad, really bad. I can tell by the way her mood has drastically shifted that this conversation will end up having one of us hurt, probably me.

I sat across from the old woman, the smell of the McDonalds food making me want to hurl, not that there was much in my stomach to hurl up anyways. Ms. Stefanie had her hands tied together in her lap, those sad eyes staring at her nuggets like it was the most interesting thing ever invented.