Love Metamorphosis

Chapter 6

"What is this?" Her youngest brother, Oliver, said picking up the empty box of fries as Jemma stayed curled up on the couch watching 'How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.'

"Comfort," Jemma said pushing her hair out of her face and sitting up to pause the movie, "Why are you here?"

"Dad said you might be holed up in here and he was worried," Oliver dropped down into the chair next to her, "I came to see if you wanted dinner."

"Sorry, I didn't save you any fries." Jemma said, hugging the pillow to her chest as she curled her feet under her.

"From the smell of it they are a few hours old," Oliver pointed out, "How does a real dinner sound?"

"You making?" Jemma said pushing his shoulder playfully. Suffice it to say Oliver didn't cook.

"Alex is," Oliver said with a smile, a very relieved smile, "Just called and he was picking up things from the supermarket. Complaining up a storm about aggressive housewives."

"They sure can be scary. Try meeting them on a sale day." Jemma said with a shudder, "It is absolute mayhem."

Oliver just sort of watched her a second, as though he was trying to understand her thoughts from observing her. "How are you?" He finally addressed the elephant in the room.

"I watched two of my favorite romantic comedies and had just started my third when you got here. Ate two large fries and a McFlurry," Jemma sighed and gave her brother a strained smile, "I am coping."

"You looked through the photo albums again?" Oliver asked pointedly.

"No. I know I spent the last five days sleeping with them but I didn't last night. I said goodbye to Jeff yesterday and I want to remember him as he was not just what happened to him." Jemma said. She may have peaked at them today after she got back from her comfort food run but he didn't need to know that.

"The man who hit him died last night." Oliver whispered inaudibly.

Jemma's face crunched almost instantly into an upset expression. "He was just a kid, I will have to send bouquet of flowers and a word of condolence for their loss." She supposed aloud.

"You should hate him and yet you are sending his family flowers?" Oliver was obviously angry for her and that warmed Jemma's heart.

"His family lost too and it isn't their fault it is their sons fault and he is beyond our reach," Jemma said leaning over and resting her forehead on his shoulder, "I don't want to blame anyone. I was an accident plain and simple. Is Alex almost here?"

"Should be any minute." Oliver said putting an arm around her shoulders and tugging her over, "Why don't we finish watching your movie?"

"Now I know you are being overly nice, you hate romantic comedies," Jemma said with a laugh reaching for the remote, "But since you already offered don't think you can escape."

"I wouldn't dream of it." Oliver said with an overly exasperated sigh.

She pressed play, set the remote on the arm rest, and quietly waited for the chef to arrive while she enjoyed her movie and maybe just a bit of her brother's suffering.

- -

They were laughing around the dinner table, and Jemma felt like her sides were splitting. Her father was cradling a glass of wine while he watched them laughing their asses off. They were reliving the day that Alex got into a new sack of flour and proceeded to drag it through the house. Oliver, being the youngest, wanted the flour sack as well and they proceeded to fight over it.

In short it sprung a leak and ended up going all over the living room floor and all over the two mischievous boys. Jemma could remember that day because her mother came out of the bedroom after having just gotten off the phone with Jemma's teacher. She was distracted and screamed out of fright at the two ghost-like boys in her living room.

They had rolled all around in the flour and were covered from head to toe in white. Jemma had sat on the couch, where her mother had grounded her to, and had been witness to the whole ordeal. Their mother had been furious, and utterly speechless. Jemma had watched it all from the couch.

She had gapped like a goldfish, and had finally uttered, "What have you done?"

Alex had been sitting on the ground, he was four at the time, with eyes as wide as quarters and said very seriously, "What is wrong mama?"

Oliver the entire time had been busy pushing the flour into a pile and had grabbed a combined handful of it. Walking over to where their mother stood, disheartened, he proceed to offer it to her with a great big smile on this face. She ended up dropping both boys straight into the bath, made 7 year old Jemma watch them while their mother started sweeping up the flour.

Jemma was clutching her sides because they hurt from all the laughter, "Do you remember how hard it was to get the wet flour out of both of your hair?"

Their father smiled at that, "She threw those clothes straight into the trash because she said they were beyond repair and there was no way the flour was going to ruin anything else in her house."

"She put a chain lock on the pantry door after that." Oliver said shaking his head.

"Why were you sent home that day again?" Alex asked taking another sip of wine.

"A boy had pulled my hair at school so I head butted him, the kid ended up in the ER and I was on suspension for two days." Jemma answered matter-of-factly, even now she felt vindicated in her actions.

"She kept telling me that ladies do not head butt people, and we stopped at the store for a bag of peas for the lump on my head and the sack of flour," Jemma recalled. "I remember she made me cut my hair to chin length, because she said if the bully wouldn't stop being a bully, there were always ways around it."

"You actually broke that boys nose, we both had to go and apologize to the parents," Ezera said with a smile, "You probably don't know but your mother refused to give them a dime because their boy had started it and insisted you were only defending yourself from a bully."

Jemma's eyebrows shot up as she said agasp, "I didn't know that."

"Go mom." Alex said taking another bite of his dinner.

"I always wondered if my parenting skills would be more like you papa or mom." Jemma said softly, remembering how often she and Jeff had spoken of kids. They wanted to try immediately after getting married and Jemma had already been imagining names. She immediately reached for her wine glass.

"A little of both I imagine." Ezera answered, with a little half smile.

"I bought that toffee ice cream you like so much, did you leave room?" Alex said, sensing that Jemma was traveling back down memory road, which would end in tears.

Jemma couldn't help but cheer up at that idea. "I will have some later." She informed them.

"You just don't want to share." Oliver insinuated.

"Exactly correct," Jemma replied picking up her plate and glass before heading toward the kitchen, feeling a little less exhausted.

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