mentanoia - ben gross

chapter fourteen;

Chapter fourteen;

He fumbled with his pen as he scratched his nails over the top of his head. "I don't know- How do I do this?" He paused, pulling his legs up on the couch as he watched Jane sit on the other end. With her feet perfectly next to one another on the carpet and her back straightened, she didn't seem comfortable nor uncomfortable.

"You ask me question." She chuckled, rubbing her thumb against the hot cup of tea in her hands.

Ben tilted his face, "Clark said we'd have to write about more than just hobbies or families-"

She hushed him with a laugh, "Just start asking surfaced questions and dig deeper into the ones that seem interesting." Jane replied, "That's how I did it with Andre anyway."

He pressed his lips into a firm line, "How did that go anyway? Did he have an interesting story to tell?"

Jane nodded as the ends of her lips started curling up slightly. "It was actually really lovely to spend time with him, even if it was just for the assignment." She paused, "I'll let you read it when I'm finished with it- If Andre's okay with that of course."

Ben sighed quietly and moved his glance back to the notebook on his lap. Cracking the joints in his fingers, he tried to clear his mind. Then, he straightened his back and felt almost as if his personality changed in the very second. Suddenly, it felt like he was speaking at Model UN or was giving a presentation in front of the class.

"So," He spoke shortly, "Tell me about your upbringing. What was your childhood like?"

Jane grinned at the sudden professional posture and attitude Ben had taken on. She started talking about kindergarten and primary school at first, about how she had trouble walking for the first few years of her life.

Then, she continued by introducing her family as if Ben had never met them. She told him everything. About the rituals they had, the holidays they celebrated. About how she had vivid memories of this Dutch Christmas-like celebration her father had brought into the family. About how she remembered having daily fights with Max after he'd turned maybe four years old. She told Ben almost mindlessly about how her father had ditched them completely and how after that, she'd never fought once with either of her siblings.

"Do you know why your dad left you?" Ben's professional posture had been quick to vanish. The second Jane started telling him things Ben would've never been able to say to Jane, he felt like he was the one being exposed and set fragile.

She shrugged her shoulders, "All I remember is that I turned twelve that day. I remember this big truck outside of our house, which I was really excited about because back then those things seemed huge. And then I remember him getting into the truck after giving us a pat on our heads." She paused as she started visualizing the loose bits she remembered. "I don't know, I think it was just a bad marriage."

He nodded and scribbled the words down. "And then you moved here?"

Jane nodded, "Just a few weeks after he'd left us, my grandmother died and soon enough my grandfather was sent to a retirement home, which left us with their house in Van Nuys."

He pit the inside of his cheeks. Tapping the back of the pen against the paper, he hesitantly looked up at Jane. "Would it be okay if I wrote about your father?" He paused, "I feel like there's something interesting there."

She tilted her face, "My dad?"

He shook his face, "Not your dad, just- The way you've been influenced by him." He looked at his socks, "I don't know, I have this assumption in my head and if I am even a bit right, that'd be a interesting route to take. But it's okay if you want-"