Just me and my shadow... (RP for brave-soldier)

[little_leaf]

Chicken Little has flown the coop.

"Great." Jane sighed, hiking up her reading glasses to better see the text message she was reading. All of the triplets had condos in the same building, each of them on a different floor. It let them stay close, have privacy...and watch John.

Who didn't go out alone often, at least not outside of work. As a rule, he could be trusted on his own during cases he was deep into, otherwise he stayed home or at the office by choice. Now that he had a girlfriend, that would probably change...but John out alone and sans a case still felt like trouble.

Jane texted Jock back after a moment's thought.

Your problem tonight, not mine. I have a broken heart to nurse, bugger off.

Jane tossed her phone on the coffee table right after, vowing not to answer another text message for the rest of the night. She knew Jock would at least pretend she was still wounded by Bob's treachery, but she was pretty sure John had told him everything. After all: twins usually did. They all knew what she was really brooding about...at least Jock would preserve the gentle fiction, and her last scrap of dignity.

Men sucked.

That was her story, and she was sticking to it as she burrowed deeper into the cushions of her ratty old sofa with its threadbare maroon cushions, trying to make herself read the deposition for an eviction case she was taking to court in two weeks. She found herself scanning the same paragraph repeatedly, though, remembering the feel of stiff whiskers against her cheek, the sinewy back under her hand, the bright and adorable smile that made her forget everything and feel like she was something rare and amazing...

Why the hell did John have to be...John? She wouldn't blame Paul if he'd deleted her number the second she was out of sight. Bloke like that could have his pick, war hero with an irresistible accent and that lethal grin...

"I do not care." she muttered to herself, trying to make herself believe it and failing. "I don't care...didn't fancy him that much anyway. I can do much...oh, bollocking shitbags, someone just beat me unconscious and leave me to my fate..."

Comments

[brave_soldier]

"You're the reliable one. The steady one. The one they turn to when things go wrong. And one day, you find yourself wanting to do something for you." Up until that point, Jane probably assumed that he had been talking about her. Up until that point, he'd been talking about them both. "So you join the military to support yourself, to give yourself the education you never would have had otherwise. Suddenly, you realize that having a proper channel for yourself is precisely what you've always needed in your life. You don't have to worry about the alcoholic sister, or the father that abandoned you, or the fact that you barely remember your mother." Paul gave her the faintest of smiles. "You just know that you've found out what a relief it is to be able to put it all behind you and just be yourself."

He stopped then, lapsing into silence. "I know, Jane. Or, at least, I can imagine. Everyone wants to get away from their lives for at least a little while. So let me ask again. What do you like?"