Runaways

“There’s my beautiful girl.”

Lydia didn’t bother fighting the smile that immediately appeared. “Hello Grandmother.”

The older woman smiled and pulled her into a gentle hug. After pulling away she slowly looked her over and nodded approvingly. While carefully brushing a lock of hair behind Lydia’s ear, she spoke, “Perhaps you are no longer a girl but a beautiful young woman.”

“How are you and Grandfather?”

“We are just fine. How are you feeling? Have you been eating enough?

“I’m fine,” Lydia chuckled as they sat down at the table. It appeared it would be just the two of them for breakfast. “Where is Grandfather?”

“Out. He had some business to take care of and sends his regards. He should be available another time,” Grandmother explained. “And where is Jet? I thought she would be joining us as well.”

“An emergency at the gallery. She said it would be a couple of hours.”

“Then I hope it will resolve itself quickly. As you can see, I have already ordered breakfast and coffee for you. It’s your favorite.”

Lydia nodded while staring at her plate. It was indeed her favorite. She took a moment to take a sip of coffee before asking, “Any plans for today?”

“Other than questioning you as to why you didn’t tell me you were in a relationship? No,” she spoke in a sweet tone with just enough sarcasm to it that it didn’t appear rude or angry. This was her favorite grandchild, after all.

The younger blinked slowly and put down the fork full of food that had been halfway to her mouth. “I told you about Paul.”

“No. You told me you had made a friend,” her Grandmother corrected. “Not that you had begun a relationship with him. That I had to learn from Jet. Thankfully she was too excited to not talk about it.”

She winced. Well this wasn’t good. “It’s not that I deliberately kept this from you, I just didn’t know what to say. Paul and I are friends. Truthfully I don’t know what we are beyond that. We’re going at such a slow pace that I’m not even sure what we have could be considered a relationship at this point.”

“But you want it to be.”

“Maybe? I don’t know.”

Grandmother reached across the table to take her hand in her own and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I want you to know that I did not bring this up because I’m angry. But rather disappointed and a bit upset. I want to know about these things, my dear. No matter how silly or frivolous they may seem at the time. Just because you do not live close by anymore does not mean I don’t want to know everything. You are my granddaughter. I want to be in your life as much as I can be.”

Biting at her lip, Lydia nodded slowly. The last thing she wanted was to disappoint or upset the other woman. Truthfully she didn’t mean to hide anything. She was still figuring things out, after all. Hopefully the talk she planned on having with Paul when she got home would clear things up a bit. “Like I said, Paul and I are moving at a slow pace. Our own pace, really. He’s been really sweet and understanding and respectful.” She shrugged and looked back down at her plate, “He’s wonderful.”

She smiled as she watched her granddaughter light up while talking about this man. While she was clearly hesitant and unsure, there was no denying her feelings for him. For they showed far too clearly on her face. Even if they weren’t in any hurry, she was still incredibly happy for her. After that mess of a marriage to Alexander, her granddaughter deserved happiness. She always has. “What does this young man do for a living?”

Oh no. She was hoping that wouldn’t come up. No matter how unlikely it was. “He um...he’s a musician. A very successful one though.”

Grandmother hummed and nodded. She took a sip of her tea before asking, “No one I have heard of, I take it?”

“No. It’s a form of German rock called Neue Deutsche Härte. Though they are mostly put in the various genres of metal.”

“And what does he do in this very successful German band?”

“He plays guitar.”

“Ah,” Grandmother chuckled. “A guitarist. They have very talented fingers, you know.”

“Grandmother!” Lydia sputtered, quickly whipping around in her seat to make sure no one heard. Thankfully it didn’t appear so. It was extremely rare and always surprising when the older of the two said something dirty or vulgar in nature. She normally liked to keep an air of etiquette, class and sophistication. In other words, she vividly remembered all those charm and beauty school classes. At least she was taking the news well, Lydia supposed.

“Oh don’t fuss, my dear. I have lived a very long and interesting life. Just because I settled down after meeting your Grandfather doesn’t mean I did not have fun. Besides, I spend most of my time with Jet now. What did you expect?” So she was a little more than delighted at her granddaughter’s reaction.

She shook her head and began eating. She most definitely was not going to respond to that. Thankfully nothing else was said and they consumed their breakfast in relative peace. There was no reason to let their food get cold, after all. It wasn’t until all the food was finished and they were on their second cup of tea and coffee respectively did the conversation pick back up. And it wasn’t exactly for the better.

“I know Jet has taken an older lover. How old is your,” Grandmother fumbled for a moment trying to find the right word, “um, Paul?” Well, they weren’t exactly labeled anyway.

Lydia badly masked a flinch. Now that was not something she wanted to answer. All she could utter was an “Um” before quickly taking a drink of her coffee in order to avoid saying anything else. It didn’t really work.

She slowly raised a delicate looking eyebrow. “Lydia. How much older than you is he?”

“A bit,” she whispered after a few minutes.

“And how much, pray tell, is a bit?”

Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear. “It’s um, close to how old Jet’s boyfriend is.” It was admittedly kind of funny how she knew of the age gap between the two before learning his name.

“How close?”

“A couple of years. Older.”

“Lydia Stillwell!”

There was no hiding that flinch either. The older woman tried to always make it a point not to snap at her but occasionally she couldn’t restrain herself. “I’m sorry.”

Her Grandmother took a deep steadying breath that didn’t exactly do much. She had not expected that answer. Not in the slightest. She practically interrogated Jet when she found out the age difference between her and her own boyfriend. Now it seemed she would have to repeat the process. Those blasted musicians!

“What were you thinking? That man is far too old for you. Is he pressuring you into something? Has he been behaving inappropriately? Because if he is, you do not need to deal with such nonsense! I do not care if you have to move back here to get away from him. In fact, I would prefer it. Why would you even pursue a relationship with such a man? Is he trying to take advantage of you? If he hurting you? Are all musicians this way?”

Lydia frowned and attempted to keep up with all her questions and comments but found it more difficult with each word. She didn’t like what was being said and insinuated about Paul but she couldn’t seem to find her voice. It was like she was suddenly mute. By the end of the rant she was staring at her plate, shoulders hunched in and tears gathering in her eyes.

By the time the other woman realized the damage she was causing, it was too late. Her darling granddaughter was hunched over in tears and people were beginning to stare. “Oh Lydia,” she sighed. “I didn’t mean to upset you. I am only worried about you. You have suffered so much already that I do not want anyone to continue to contribute to it further.”

She nodded and carefully dabbed at her eyes, years of experience and etiquette classes playing in her head to not smear her makeup. After taking a few minutes to calm down and a few sips of coffee in hopes of soothing her now incredibly dry throat, she finally found her voice. “Paul,” she croaked, “has been nothing but a gentleman since the day we met almost three months ago. He has pushed nothing on me and has caused no harm. Any contact besides holding my hand has been initiated by me. He respects my boundaries, Grandmother. And as for a relationship?” She shook her head, sorrow filling her soul. “There is nothing but friendship between us until I decide otherwise. That has been established for a while now.”

Grandmother took a deep breath and slowly sat back in her chair, not having realized she moved forward during her questioning and was practically leaning over the table. “I’m sorry. I worry for you, deeply so. You have been through so much in this life. More than you should have at the hands of your mother.”

“And whose fault was that?”

“Do not start with me young lady!”

Another flinch.

Grandmother sighed and said, “I raised her to the best of my abilities. You know this. After I realized how she was acting I tried fixing things but it was too late. If I could not fix things with my own daughter then I was going to help my granddaughter. Unfortunately I could not prevent everything and I am sorry for that. It’s one of the reasons I never let them join you on summer holiday. But life with your mother is not the point I’m trying to make here.”

Lydia bit her tongue hard enough to make her eyes water. As much as she loved her Grandmother, she always hated how she never truly owned up to her own faults as a parent. She would make comments here and there, such as that one, but she never really tried to make up for it. No matter what she randomly decided to claim.

“I care about you very much, Lydia. And I do not want you to end up with another Alexander. Especially one so much older than yourself,” she stressed.

“I assure you, Paul is nothing like Alexander. There would be absolutely nothing between us if he was.” A few random and normally small arguments did not equal being screamed at, degraded, and being slapped for so much as speaking. “He has proven to be nothing but a gentleman, something Alexander never was.”

“But what if-”

“If anything happens, you and Jet will be immediately notified and I will be on a plane here,” Lydia interrupted. “The power imbalance you are envisioning between us is not even close to what it really is. I will not deny that one exists because it does. But I enjoy it. He gives me butterflies and makes me blush. He makes me nervous and giddy all at once. Paul makes me feel things I have never felt before, Grandmother, and I enjoy it. He makes me feel safe. Do you have any idea how special that is to me? No, I don’t imagine you do.” She slowly rose from her seat and held up her hand when the other woman went to stand up as well, “I am going back to the apartment to wait for Jet. If you would like to have dinner together then you may call us later. But right now I would like some peace.”

“I worry about you.”

“I know you do. And I appreciate that. But you have no right to talk about him like that. You don’t even know him.”

Before so much as another word could be spoken, Lydia left the restaurant and went back to Jet’s apartment. She immediately curled up in bed hoping to fall back asleep and forget today even happened but she was wide awake. It seemed the argument with her Grandmother wound her up too much. No matter how emotionally draining it was. So she did the one thing that had been on her mind since arriving in Paris. She called Paul.

It only took a few seconds for him to pick up. “Hi.”

“Lydia? What are you doing calling me, sweetheart? Shouldn’t you be out having fun?”

“Sweetheart?” She chuckled, “That’s new."

Paul chuckled and said with a bit of embarrassment, “It sounded better in my head. Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” She murmured.”I like the idea of you having a nickname for me.”

“You sound sad. What’s wrong?” He asked.

“I had breakfast with Grandmother.”

“Oh?”

“We talked about you. It didn’t go so well.”

“Oh,” He whispered, not bothering to mask the disappointment from his voice. “What happened?”

“Are you sure you wanna know?” Lydia asked. “It’s really not that great. She kind of went overboard.”

Paul nodded and then murmured, “yeah” when he remembered she couldn’t see him. “I wanna know.”

“She didn’t like the age difference. And wanted to make sure you weren’t trying to take advantage of me. Or hurt me,” She sighed. It hurt to say those words out loud. Because they weren’t true and she knew it.

“Oh Lydia,” he breathed “I wouldn't. I would never do anything like that to you, I swear. You mean so much to me. I couldn't. I don't, I can't, I'd never," he couldn't even get the right words out to properly express just how wrong that was.

“I know,” she quickly reassured. “I told her that you weren’t like that. I don’t think you could ever do such a thing. To me or anyone else.” After a moment of hesitancy and blushing she continued, “You mean a lot to me too.”

Her confession made Paul smile despite the situation. While he hated what was being said about him, he was happy she didn’t think it was true. Because he couldn't ever take advantage of her. It wasn't in his nature to behave that way. No matter what her Grandmother apparently thought. "Maybe I shouldn't meet your grandmother."

"She's not too bad," Lydia tried to say convincingly. "She just, well she gets really protective and that doesn't always turn out to be a good thing. It kind of shows where my mom gets all of her, erm, personality from."

It hurt more than it should that this woman he'd never met probably hated him. He supposed he cared because she meant so much to Lydia. "Think you can change her mind?"

"Do you care if I don't?" She chuckled. "She's pretty stubborn." Truthfully she was surprised he cared that much about what Grandmother thought. The chances of those two actually meeting were slim.

"I don't know. But, she means a lot to you, right?"

"She does."

"I'm not sure I want her to hate me then."

Lydia smiled softly down at her comforter. He didn't have to care, but he did. And she appreciated it. As much as she loved her grandmother, though, sometimes she reminded her far too much of her own mother. And it made sense, sure. But it still hurt no matter what was said. "Well, I'll probably have dinner with her tonight. If not some time this week. I can try and talk you up a bit."

"That'd be nice," he hummed. "Besides what happened at breakfast, are you having a good time?"

"It hasn't been too bad," she said with a growing smile. "We went to dinner and spent the rest of the night watching movies and talking. Jet, she uh, she helped me sort through a lot."

Paul frowned. "Are you okay? Do...do I need to come get you?"

"Oh, oh no. I'm okay," she quickly reassured. "I just had a lot on my mind and I needed help sorting through my thoughts and feelings. Sometimes everything gets jumbled and I need Jet's help with it. We've been doing this for...oh I don't know how long. She thinks it has to do with me not being able to feel and experience things properly growing up."

He sighed in relief before some anxiety began to kick in. Were the feelings she had to sort through about him? "Did uh, did it help? Sorting through everything, I mean."

"It did. There are some things I want to talk to you about when I get back. It's nothing bad, I promise. Just me figuring things out, I guess." And while she admittedly still has some things to work through, today made her realize a lot. Couple that with her talk with Jet last night? Her mind was all but made up. There were just a few things, details really, that she needed to think over.

"That's good," he said. Despite sounding confident, he was worried. Did she still want to be friends? Did she not want to be around him anymore? Was she moving back to Paris? All those thoughts and more had anxiety twisting in his gut.

"Paul?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm really looking forward to dinner," she confessed, a smile on her face that most definitely could be called dreamy.

"I am too, sweetheart," he breathed. "I am too." Even if it was causing some anxiety and distress on his part. He didn't want to feel that way, of course, but he couldn't help it. His mind kept playing every bad scenario that it could think of. And there were a lot of them. "Is there anything special you want to eat?"

"No," she chuckled. "I like the idea of you surprising me."

"A surprise it is." A commotion that could be heard through the phone made him groan. "I'm going to have to go, Lydia. We have to start recording."

"That's alright. I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?"

"That sounds good. Try not to let your Grandmother get to you, okay?"

"Okay."

They ended the call at that and Lydia laid back down with a sigh. Today did not go according to plan. Well, as close to a plan as they actually had. All she really wanted was to sit down with her family. And that began to fall apart halfway through getting ready that morning when Jet got a call from the gallery. She should of just went back to bed and rescheduled with Grandmother. Though it was probably foolish to think that would have prevented today's conversation. It only would have delayed it for a little while. And at least the restaurant wasn’t packed for breakfast like it probably would have been at dinner. What little bit of a crowd there was, was enough of an audience for her.

Heaving a sigh and deciding not to think anymore about it for now, Lydia curled up under the blankets and, thankfully, fell asleep quickly.

A few hours later, Jet arrived at the apartment. After the phone call she received earlier, she was more than a little worried for her friend. But a quick browse around the apartment and then a peak in the guest room settled her worries somewhat. Her friend was sleeping peacefully for once and despite how much she wanted to check on her, letting her sleep a while longer was a much better idea.

So she spent the next two hours making phone calls and doing paperwork that was starting to pile up. After being sure everything was finished, she made tea, put it in one of Lydia's favorite cups and went to wake her up. Because who didn't like tea after a nap?

Jet easily slipped into the room, sat the tea cup on the bedside table, settled down onto the bed and began repeatedly poking her friends shoulder. "Lydia. Wake up." A few more pokes and she began to stir.

Lydia groaned into wakefulness and buried her face in the pillow in an attempt to fall back under. The poking of her shoulder, however, did not stop. In fact, it became more insistent. With another groan she lifted her head up and cast a glance over her shoulder to see who was bothering her. “Oh. Hi.”

“Hello darling,” Jet laughed. “I brought tea.”

She hummed softly in acknowledgement before sitting up and running her hands through her hair. She then settled herself against the headboard and held out her hands. After getting the tea cup and taking a few sips, she asked, “How long was I out?”

Jet shrugged. “A few hours I’m guessing. I've been home for two of them.”

“Did Grandmother call you?”

“Yeah. I’d just gotten out of a meeting when she did. Do you want to talk about it?”

Lydia shrugged. She felt like she already got most of it out. “I called Paul after I got here and talked with him a little bit. That helped some. I guess she was just being overprotective but the things she said about him…..”

“Let me guess, it was something along the lines of him taking advantage of you and causing you general harm because of the age difference?” Jet asked.

She nodded. “Pretty much.”

“She did the same thing when I told her about me and Richard. I didn’t talk to her for three days,” she admitted with a sigh. “I was so angry at her for it. And yeah, I can understand her being protective but she definitely went too far.”

“Makes me think of my mother when she’s like that.”

“Which makes sense.”

“It does,” Lydia agreed. “Doesn’t mean I like it any less though.” She gulped down what was left of her tea while the French native watched on in amusement.

“Like the cup?” Jet asked, smirking as she spoke.

She raised a brow and looked down into the bottom of the cup and snickered. In tiny cursive scrawl were the words ‘you’ve been poisoned’. It was one of her favorites. “I love your tea cups.” She had quite a few cups and some matching saucers with various curse words and vulgar phrases either on or in them. They were absolutely hysterical.

“I know,” she chuckled.

“So, did Grandmother talk to you about dinner when she called?”

“She did. Said to meet them at one of those fancy restaurants your Grandfather likes so much if you felt up to it.”

Lydia nodded and after a few minutes of silence asked, “Should we?”

“That’s completely up to you,” Jet said. “If you feel like talking to her so soon then I’ll call her back and we’ll start getting ready. If not,” she shrugged, “We cook dinner and watch movies.”

While the latter suggestion sounded wonderful, part of her wanted to hurry up and get all the apologizing over with. That and she really wanted to see her Grandfather. “If you don’t mind, let’s go ahead and have dinner with them. If worse comes to worse we can just come back here.”

“Fine by me.” She stood up and stretched, giving a satisfied sigh at a particularly loud popping noise. “I’ll call her and let her know.”

“Thank you, Jet. For everything.”

“You’re welcoming, darling.”

And so they began the rest of their night by getting ready for dinner. With Grandfather’s preference for very fancy restaurants in mind, they donned beautiful dresses and elegantly done makeup. It had been quite a long time since either had dressed in such a way. It was kind of nice.

They met up sometime later at the restaurant.

“It’s so good to see you,” Grandfather said while pulling Lydia into a hug. “Please forgive me for missing breakfast,” he paused to lower his voice to a whisper, “don’t be so hard on her. I gave her a firm talking to after I found out what happened.”

“I missed you too,” Lydia said before giving a small nod to indicate she heard and understood him.

He was quick to move on to greeting Jet after that so his wife and granddaughter could speak.

“I would like to apologize,” Grandmother said after the other two were distracted. “I just want to protect you.”

“I know,” Lydia said. “And I appreciate that very much. But whatever it is I have with Paul, I don’t think it’s something you need to worry over. I mean, if Jet isn’t worried, shouldn’t that be a sign that you don’t have to be?”

The elder frowned and looked away for a moment. “I suppose you have a point. But I will always worry over you. You are my grandchild, after all. Perhaps though, it would be better if I kept certain opinions to myself?”

“For now I think that would be a good idea,” she agreed.

“Alright.”

“Come on you two. It’s starting to get cold out here and we want to eat,” Jet called over with a slight laugh. Though it didn’t do much to mask her concern. The two quickly walked over and as soon as they were close enough she asked, “Everything okay?”

“I think so,” Lydia murmured as they entered the restaurant. “She apologized and agreed to keep certain opinions to herself.”

“Well that’s more than I expected,” she confessed.

“I figured she’d cave,” she murmured, “Just not that quickly.”

“Think he talked to her about it?”

“Oh I know he did. Grandfather is the only person that can get through to her even when no one else can.”

“Fair point.”