Summer Reins [Closed] - Printable Version
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RE: Summer Reins [Closed] - megs - 08-08-2017
Akiko beamed when her dad confirmed that she could stay with him. She felt it had been a bit of a risk, coming to the decision without consulting anyone else. Especially either of her parents. Before she had come to Colorado this summer, she had overheard her mother talking to someone about the custody agreement the two of them had over her. Dawn had been complaining that Akiko was old enough to make a decision on where she wanted to live full time. It had also been overheard that Dawn was keeping it a secret from her. Akiko knew her parents didn’t get along, at all, but she didn’t know why. She liked the way he was petting her hair, but didn’t lean into it. She rolled her eyes upwards, in thought, when he asked about her relationship with her mom. Blue eyes mirrored each other when her gaze dropped back down to Sanders’ face. She knew if she told her dad about how she felt about being in California it wouldn’t stay between them, but Akiko still felt like she should tell him.
“I don’t feel like mom likes me very much,” she admitted. She picked up the game controller again, and resumed playing. A distraction from the difficult conversation. “She makes me feel like I am inconvenient. She’s always pushing me into other activities and I know it’s so she can go out with guys. She’s been dating a lot, and she is always bringing guys I don’t know to meet me, and it makes me uncomfortable. She goes out all the time, and sometimes she doesn’t come home. I know how to take care of myself, but I don’t like it.”
RE: Summer Reins [Closed] - saronym - 08-13-2017
Sanders waited patiently to see if Akiko would open up to him. They were close. As close as a father and daughter who only saw each other during the summers could be. He hoped it was enough to make her feel comfortable to trust him with difficult topics. When she began speaking, he took his hand away and let it fall into his lap. As she recounted her troubles with her mother, he remained stone still. Statuesque on the surface while indignation raged underneath. Dawn had been leaving their young daughter to fend for herself while she went out. He couldn’t believe it. The anger that bubbled up first subsided into sadness.
He sighed heavily and then pulled Akiko into a hug. “I’m sorry she made you feel that way sweetheart.” Sanders didn’t know what to say to make better whatever pain Dawn caused their daughter. Maybe there was nothing to be said. “I’m glad you told me.”
He released her slowly and returned to a stiff sort of posture unsure where to take their conversation next. His hand went to her shoulder and he squeezed reassuringly. “Things will be different here. I promise.”
RE: Summer Reins [Closed] - megs - 10-09-2017
Akiko could tell that her admissions were making her father unhappy. He tried to police his expression, but there was a set to his jaw that she recognized. It was too easy with him because he always tried to seem so cheerful. Akiko didn’t want to upset her father, but she didn’t feel bad about selling out Dawn on her bad parenting. Letting herself be pulled into a crushing hug, Akiko didn’t say any more on the subject. Hugging him back, they sympathy of his words washed over her and she felt comforted by his understanding. “Thank you for listening to me,” she replied, the words muffled from where she hid her face against his chest. Akiko had never explained the problems with her mother, because no one had ever asked before. “Thank you for letting me move here.”
She felt like she could cry. Talking about her mother always made her chest tight, but tears never came. Akiko was always left with the suffocating pressure of a sob that never came. When Sanders pulled out of the hug, she sat back as well and picked up the controller she had been using previously. Needing something else to focus on. Akiko hummed and nodded when he promised that things would be different. He didn’t need to. Things were already different.
Returning to the game, Akiko ran her character around in lazy circles. She didn’t want to talk about Dawn, or the potential difficulty of her impending move to Colorado. “Soooo, what did you think of Miss Loch?”
RE: Summer Reins [Closed] - saronym - 10-24-2017
“You can tell me anything.” Sanders reassured his daughter once again. He searched her eyes with seriousness trying to glean whether she truly understood what he was saying. Maybe if he kept repeating it at intervals she would be convinced he would always listen.The redirection of Akiko’s attention back to her game was signal enough that the hard part of the conversation about her unhappiness and troubled relationship with her mother was over.
Sanders let himself fall to his elbow, lounging lengthwise on her bed as he watched the character move around in dizzying circles on screen. The topic Akiko chose to move toward gave Sanders a start. More because it was unexpected and because there seemed to be a hint of something underneath it.
Had she picked up on the fact that Sanders found the riding instructor attractive? Or was she just changing to the most readily available topic on her mind?
Sanders tried to play it cool. He picked at fuzzies on her bed spread and shrugged nonchalantly. “She was nice. You girls seemed to get along nicely. It was nice that she went to lunch with us.”
Nice, nice, nice. The safest of descriptors.
"What did you think about her?" He asked, shooting the ball back into her court.
RE: Summer Reins [Closed] - megs - 11-06-2017
Blonde brows disappeared towards her hairline. Akiko didn’t take her eyes off of the game, even though she wasn’t doing anything that demanded her attention, but a grin pulled at one corner of her mouth. The expression made her appear older than she was, like she knew that her dad was avoiding the question they both knew she was actually asking. “I think she’s nice,” she replied. She deliberately reused Sanders’ word of choice with a bit of extra sass. “She knows a lot about horses, and was telling me about different conversations. She’s pretty.”
Akiko saved her progress and exited out of the game. She leaned and reached to set her controller on the nightstand next to the bed and to use the remote to turn off the TV. When she sat up straight again, her now empty hands pulled at a loose thread on the comforter. “Did uh…” Akiko paused. Her lips pressed together and she sighed. “Did Aphrodite leave because my mom called?” She glanced over at Sanders’, looking almost apologetic, and adjusted her glasses. “I didn’t know she was going to call right now. I thought she’d wait.”
RE: Summer Reins [Closed] - saronym - 11-22-2017
Sanders continued his fiddling with invisible fuzzies on the bed spread as Akiko shared her opinion of Loch. He seemed to hear only one word. Pretty. He couldn’t help the funny little grin that crossed over his face. It dawned on him in that moment that Akiko was not simply a precocious child but that she was also growing up. Noticing things adult things - like potential romantic opportunities for her father. Maybe it was odd on his part that he had already categorized Loch as a potential romantic opportunity.
No sooner had Akiko stopped her game had she begun the same kind of nervous busy-ness with her hands. Pulling at threads on the comforter.
“Oh no sweetie. She didn’t leave because of that.” Sanders lied with a fatherly gentleness aimed at protecting Akiko’s feelings. “She needed to go home for something.” His lie was spoiled by vague excuses but Sanders tried to rescue it. “It’s not like you could have known anyways when your mother would call. She does things on her own timeline.”
RE: Summer Reins [Closed] - megs - 01-05-2018
Akiko noticed that strange look her dad got on his face when she had started talking about Loch. It reminded her very much of the way he sometimes looked when they talked about Aphrodite. Which immediately confused her. For all the things she thought she knew now, this had her stumped. Aphrodite was just his friend, and had been for as long as Akiko could remember, but that had just met Lochellan that day. It was weird, but Akiko didn’t ask any questions. She pushed the thought away. She was probably misremembering something.
The child sighed heavily and dropped backwards onto her bed. She looked up at the plastic stars and planets that were stuck to her ceiling and had stopped glowing in the dark a few years ago. “I wanted her to stay longer,” Akiko complained. “I miss her a lot. I feel like she doesn’t get to spend as much time with me now.” Akiko knew it was selfish to voice this. Aphrodite didn’t owe her anything, and had her own family. Even though she knew it was silly she sometimes imagined Aphrodite to be her mother.
“That’s why I want to stay here. I miss everyone all the time. I don’t feel like anyone cares about me in California.”
RE: Summer Reins [Closed] - saronym - 03-15-2018
Sanders watched Akiko flop back against the bed. He was left with a feeling like helplessness. It was something he’s felt often since becoming a parent. Especially as a parent with a complicated custody arrangement. It didn’t seem like Akiko choosing to stay with him now would make all this any less complicated.“I know. Why don’t we call Aphrodite tomorrow and set up a girls day for you two?” He suggested with perhaps a bit too much syrupy positivity. Sanders put his hand on her shin and shook her leg back and forth playfully.
“Your family in California does care about you sweetie.” He said although he had no proof of that. It just sounded better than agreeing with her. “But you can stay with me as long as you like. I would like that. To get to spend more time together. I think it would be fun!”
Sanders leaned down and pressed a fatherly kiss to Akiko’s forehead. “I think you have a lot to look forward to this summer. Now, why don't you get ready for bed and we'll talk about a game plan tomorrow over pancakes? Sound good?"
RE: Summer Reins [Closed] - megs - 04-01-2018
Akiko didn’t seem to notice Sanders’ overcompensation for the tension he felt in the moment. When he suggested a visit with Aphrodite, she popped back upright to beam at him. “Really?” She asked excitedly, grinning from ear to ear, she was almost immediately vibrating with excitement at the very thought.
She tried not to deflate as he defended her mother. She couldn’t blame him, he didn’t know. Why wouldn’t he want to think that Dawn was trying her best for a her? Akiko’s grin faded but didn’t disappear and she let him say what he wanted about California. He had already agreed to let her stay and that was good enough.
“It sounds great!” She chimed. When he pulled away from her she hopped out of the bed and gathered up her pajamas. She hurried off the bathroom to shower before bed with an enthusiasm that could only be matched by a child anticipating Christmas.
Meanwhile, Aphrodite text Sanders to inform him that she had made it home okay. She knew he liked to know those things. It was a bit of a drive from the ranch to her him deeper in the city.
>Is everything okay with Akiko?