Chapter 12
Rated "M"
XII - Divorced Couple
I could barely believe the work Roxanne was doing at that moment. I almost regretted offering my own assistance. Almost."Um... Name the eight groups of common sea shore organisms and give an example of each." I said, looking up at Roxanne. She bit her lip at the question and looked away, attempting to find an answer.
"Algae, Seaweed. Cnidarians, Jellyfish. Ctenophora, Comb Jellies. Worms, Roundworms. Echinoderms, Starfish. Crustaceans, Shrimp. Vertebrates, Fish. Mulluscs, Clams."
"Where the hell are you looking?" I asked in shock that Roxanne could just recite them like they were nothing. She glared at me.
"It doesn't matter where I'm looking, I'm not even picking up colors and shapes when I do that."
"Space out and recite a bunch of words like a horror movie?" Roxanne glared at me again, but soon released her furrowing brows as Lily walked by with a stack of loose papers in her grasp. I, myself, rose a brow at the image.
"I'm not the only one going to school here, Sempers."
"What?" I said, looking back to Roxanne, who's eyes still trailed after the young girl, and then over to me.
"You hear me."
"So Lily's going to school?" Roxanne nodded. "Where? And why is she still at your house, then?"
"Lily's parents didn't exactly give her the money to go to college or to buy her apartment. That's why it's nerve-wracking for her to go 'home,' at the end of the day."
"So where did she get the money."
"An anonymous donor." She said simply, looking away from me and closing her laptop before going through a few full notebooks.
"An 'anonymous' donor?" I repeated. For some reason, I knew Roxanne was lying. "You know, don't you?" My question caught Roxanne's attention as she looked up at me again with her eyebrow raised. "You know who the donor is."
"Maybe I do know who the donor is. Maybe I knew all along. What does that have anything to do with you?"
"Not much, but it does tell a lot about you. How life is just a puzzle, how you want to figure out everything before others."
"And how in the world did you come to this nonsensical idea?"
"Deduction. Which also leads me to tell you the answer of that question I asked you the first day we met. You remember that, don't you?"
"Who could forget the guy who was too busy checking his email to realize that there was in fact other people in the room? Even at six o'clock in the morning?"
"It was my first day back, you can't pin every little detail on the fact that I was out of my element that day."
"Don't make excuses, Sempers. They don't get you anywhere in life. So, you're conclusion? Do I hate you?"
"No. You just view me as less intelligent than you. More naïve and such. Ring a bell?" For the first time ever, Roxanne didn't raise a brow or glare at me like she'd kill me if I wasn't an officer. For the first time she actually smiled, a real smile, not a smirk or some cunning declaration. A real smiled. She leaned back and folded her arms, staring at me with that faint, but obvious smile on her face.
"I've got to admit that I wasn't expecting such improvement at such a rapid pace. You've surprised me, Sempers. And believe me when I say that I'm rarely surprised."
She stood up after a moment and walked to other side of the foyer to get her purse before walking back. She pulled out her wallet and threw some cash on the table. "I don't want you're money, Roxanne."
"'My money' is going to pay for dinner tonight. I'd recommend using it, especially since you're taking Lily."
"Wait, what?"
"Can you please stop acting like you don't hear me?"
"I don't understand. Why am I going out to dinner? With Lily?"
"Because she needs a break. A break from school, work, life in general. Plus, she's grown to like you. You're almost like a security blanket... with a badge and a gun."
"Great. Are you trying to make me feel better or worse about this situation?"
"I'm trying to explain to you what you're not seeing."
"And what exactly am I not seeing?"
"Everything. Especially Lily's feelings for you."
"What are you, jealous or something? Because I'm not sure what the hell this is? A warning?"
"I'm telling you this because it's important. Lily looks up to you, and despite being nineteen, she's still a teenager. You can handle a lot of things, but Lily, she's something else."
"You're worried for Lily. When she's around me?"
"No. That's not what I'm saying..."
"Then what are you saying? That I'm going to, I don't know, take advantage of a teenage girl? That I'm going to do something stu-"
"I'm saying that I'm the donor!" Roxanne said loud enough to make me stare. "I am the only person helping Lily right now. I trust you fully. There's no doubt in my mind that you'd hurt her or put her in any danger. But that still doesn't mean that she can get the wrong impression. All I'm implying is that you need to be careful. This a teenager girl we're talking about. And whether her feelings for you are a figure of her imagination or not, there's no way to tell what she may pick up."
"And yet you want me to take her out to dinner? How is that not going to give her the wrong impression?"
"Lily was almost raped yesterday. A few months ago, the same thing happened. Per usual, I stopped it. But that doesn't mean that in some point in time, I'm not going to be there to save her. She knows that. I know that. She's known you for less than twenty-four hours and yet she trusts you to the fullest. For Lily, that's almost impossible. Last time she wouldn't leave this house for more than a month. And the first time she did, she only went into the backyard and then ran back in. I don't mind her staying here, but it isn't healthy for her to do this every time she gets emotionally torn down. She feels safe around you. Like no one can hurt her, no one can touch her. This isn't for me, Alexander. This is for Lily, and her alone. Take it or leave it. You know right from wrong. You know costs if something happens. Just think about it. I'm not here to do it for you."
With that, Roxanne left, her computer, her papers, everything left behind, scattered all throughout the table in an array of black lettering. I swallowed. Maybe Cleo wasn't the only thing Lily cared about. Maybe her heart wasn't ice cold, but I couldn't help but wonder why. Why did Roxanne pay for Lily's education? How did she get the money?
I swallowed and looked at the cash in front of me. Two hundred fifty dollars. For dinner?
Sighing, I slipped the cash into my pocket and got up to find Lily. Roxanne was right, as usual. I knew right from wrong. And getting Lily out of the house was one point on the right side.
"So what exactly was Roxanne's reasons for throwing you out and dragging me with you? This time, that is?" I stopped walking at Lily's question. Damn, did Roxanne teach everyone how to deduce or what?
"There's no way to convince you otherwise, is there?" Lily shook her head and I sighed, continuing to walk down the pathway. "To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure. It's not exactly something that I get told every day."
"That you're going to be forced to go out to dinner with a girl that ten years younger than you?" Lily shrugged. "That's Roxanne for you. Some of her. Say, can I ask you a question?"
"Sure."
"You and Roxanne are partners, right?" I nodded. "Are you anything else? Anything... more?"
I forced myself to not stop at her question. More? As in what? Friends? "Why do you ask that?" I said after a moment.
"It's just that Roxanne isn't the friendliest of people that I know, which is hard to say when I practically live in the same house with her most of the time - despite having my own apartment. I was... kind of shocked when I saw you today. Roxanne never has people over, and you didn't exactly seem like a typical guest. It... surprised me to find Roxanne being perfectly fine with it, so I assumed that you two were kind of..."
"No." I said. I understood what Lily was trying to say, and it wasn't true. It never would be. "Roxanne and I have a professional relationship. That's the way it will always be."
"You don't work tomorrow, do you?" Lily suddenly asked, perking up and walking backwards.
"Uh, no..."
"You know, Roxanne's going to the art fair with me tomorrow and I could imagine that she may need some assistance watching out for one specific nineteen year old girl... You're available. So? What do you say? You in?"
"Can you at least make it sound like you want me to come with you and not you setting Roxanne and I up?"
"What's wrong with either of those things?" Lily said, batting her eyelashes as if to show me her "innocence."
"Just a warning, kid, don't try to set Roxanne and I up. I have yet to write my wills, and I believe the same could be said for you."
"Hey! I never said it was either of those."
"Then what is it?"
"Hmm... Let me think. What was that line Roxanne loves to say? Oh, yeah! Deduce it."
"Seriously? Is that was Roxanne teaches you all the time? Her ways?"
"No. She actually doesn't teach me anything but math when I need it. I just usually watch her."
"Watch her?"
"Okay, okay. I admit fully. I have stalked her in the past. But I haven't done it recently! Trust me!"
"Uh, huh. And how exactly did you figure out that Roxanne specifically told me to get you out of the house?" Lily bit her lip at my question and then smiled.
"Deduction?"
"Okay, I think it's time to go back. It's getting real late and I have a feeling that despite her own words, Roxanne would love to throw a punch for keeping you out this long." Lily suddenly giggled and I rose a brow. What was she laughing about? Was it something I said? "What? Why are you laughing?"
"Oh, no! I'm not laughing at you. Okay, maybe I am, but you can't blame me, you two are so hilarious?"
"Us two?" Who was Lily talking about? Roxanne and I? I suddenly felt my heart stop. Oh, God. What was she thinking?
"You and Roxanne. You two are hilarious. Seriously?"
"How, exactly, are we hilarious?"
"Seriously? You don't realize how you act with each other? Wow..."
"Just tell me what you're laughing about, will you?"
"Yeah, yeah. Calm down. It's nothing really, just the fact that you two totally act like a divorced couple at times..."
"A divorced couple?" How the hell did we act like that? Lily laughed once more at her own inquiry.
"Think about it. Keeping me out this long and Roxanne's going to punch you? Come on. Don't tell me that you two don't argue with passion."
"Passion? Is that what you're calling it?"
"Yeah. Passion. You don't realize it because it's normal. That's your thing. You and Roxanne just... act that way around each other. But it's seriously hilarious to watch. You don't truly hate each other, but you don't get along as well as you could. If I didn't know any better, I totally would've thought you two were divorced. I mean, why in the world would you keep you're arguments to a minimum when I'm around? Duh. It's obvious!"
I opened the taxi door when it got there and stared at Lily who was smiling brightly at her own conclusion.
"We are leaving this conversation here. It's our secret, okay? Roxanne is not going to know about this or how you view her when she's around me, okay?" Lily shrugged.
"I can't make very long promises, but I'll try..."
She slid into the backseat of the taxi and I followed her, giving the driver the address to Roxanne's place. I could barely believe that... that was how Lily viewed Roxanne and I. Like a divorced couple. But I could barely believe how accurate Lily was. How much I did feel like I knew so much, but so little about Roxanne at the same time, as well as feeling like I'd known her forever. I merely sighed at my own conclusion. If only I knew how Roxanne felt about it, whether she knew or not. If only I wasn't alone with this deranged piece of information.
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