S2/04. Old habits die hard

4.6 Linda West
Summer 1998, Maes & Naiah's apartment, San Myshuno

Fourth floor, diagonally opposite the elevator was Mae's apartment, one out of four on this floor. Loud music and lively laughter emanated muffled through the door. If Linda remembered correctly, it was Thursdays – like today – when Mae cooked for her neighbors, and her guests were probably still there. It was late, though. Linda had worked overtime so that her absence wouldn't affect the experiments, and she had barely caught the last train to San Myshuno. By the time she arrived at Mae's apartment, it was close to midnight.

Linda knocked on the door.

No one answered.

Shortly after her second, much firmer knock, the door flung open, and she was hit by a wave of loud music and the scent of delicious food, cold smoke, and something peculiar and stinging that she couldn't identify except that certain corners of the university campus often smelled the same.

But instead of her sister, a very tall and very confused-looking man in a silly t-shirt and with washed-out green hair stood in front of her.

He must be one of the guests, Linda concluded; he looked very much like the kind of people Mae liked to surround herself with.

"Good evening," she greeted him, "I believe Mae might have announced my visit today. I am her sister, Linda. It's a pleasure to finally meet her new friends."

The man didn't respond, nor make a move to ask her inside.

On the contrary, he just blinked in confusion and kept staring at her silently.

Puzzled, Linda looked around.

On the entry door were a few colorful stickers, but no name tag; neither next to it. Discreetly, she tried to catch a glimpse inside without appearing nosy or rude. She couldn't see anyone, but then another wave of loud laughter erupted. With the loud music, it was difficult to tell if the laughter came from the next room or another apartment.

Behind Linda was another entry door, which was also opposite to the elevator.

Had she mixed up the apartments?

"I apologize for the late disturbance," she said hastily. "I might have knocked on the wrong door. My sister just recently moved here and I haven't had the chance to visit her yet. You might know her – Mae West – could you kindly show me where she lives?"

"Eh... h-hi..." the man finally breathed.

Linda wondered if he had understood her question.

But before she could repeat herself, a familiar face finally appeared next to him, proving that she hadn't mixed anything up.

"Ben!" Diana yelled. "Where's our beer?" She apparently hadn't noticed the open door, though, and he, apparently, didn't notice Diana until she slapped his arm and him out of his frozen state. He cried out in pain and then they started a strange argument about disappearances and long-awaited drinks.

Linda blinked in surprise.

She had been just left standing here!

"Good evening!" She said, a little louder and firmer, which eventually retrieved their attention.

"Oh! Linda!" Diana squeaked, "Don't just stand there! Come inside! Mae said you might come today, but we didn't know when. We thought you wouldn't come after all because it was getting late – " Chattering away, she ushered Linda into the apartment like an old friend. Forgotten were beer and Ben alike. "We haven't talked since – But please, I need to apologize first. I haven't treated you very fairly since Mae left for San My." She looked genuinely sorry. 

"Don't worry about it, it was all just a misunderstanding," Linda shook her head. "Mae told me that you two became really good friends here."

Diana's cheeks flushed. "Y-yeah, Mae's been very nice-"

"Lindaaa!" 

With a loud scream, Mae flung her arms around her older sister. She squealed with joy, as if they'd been separated for years, not just a few months. Although, Linda had to admit that she'd missed her just as much.

"Aww, did you have to wait long? We were all outside and didn't hear you knock – what a lucky coincidence that we ran out of beer, and you caught Ben just as he brought a new crate!"

Behind Mae, Linda could see the open door leading to a balcony packed with people, from where the peculiar, undefined scent was drifting inside together with the warm summer night air.

Through the window, she could see Ben explaining something very lively with his hands and feet to the others. Apparently, he had fully recovered from his stupor. 

"I'm sorry, these greedy gluttons here have gobbled up everything edible up to the last crumb!" Mae complained, and Linda had to smile over her concern, even though she was a little disappointed. She'd missed her sister's cooking as well.

"No worries," said an elegant-looking woman approaching them, "I've just called my uncle, he'll send something from his restaurant. It should be here any minute. I'm Iko," she turned towards Linda, "Welcome to San Myshuno, Mae's sister Linda." She shook Linda's hand, firm and warm.

"Oh, perfect timing!" Another woman exclaimed, who had just come from the balcony to join them. Linda thought her voice sounded familiar, and she was right. Mae introduced her as her room mate Naiah, to whom Linda had spoken to a few times on the phone.

Just then, there was another knock on the door, and the promised food arrived.

As if on cue, the others poured inside from the balcony and gathered around the couch table, while Mae and Iko set out the big plates full of food.

Naiah brought a stack of saucers and a cup of cutlery from the kitchen.

Linda, equipped with a saucer in one hand and chopsticks in her other, was seated right in front of the biggest plate, and discovered in horror its contents.

Sushi.

"My uncle makes the best in town," a boy sitting to her left said proudly. He wore a cap backwards and a fluffy, patchy stubble. "I'm Yan-" he started but was pushed aside by a young man with soft, maroon curls before he could finish his name. "I'm Weston, Mae's neighbor," the second man smiled. His smile was quite charming; his manners less so.

"I'm also-" the half-introduced boy tried to regain Linda's attention, but Weston pressed his hand over his mouth and continued, "She's told us a lot about you, but not how beautiful you are-" "Boo, don't listen to that sleazeball, he's tellin' that to every girl," another man drowned out Weston's compliment with his booming voice. He had shoulder-length, bleached hair, a stubble, and a bright, inviting grin. "I am Jack-" He coughed as he caught an elbow in his rib cage.

"I'm Scott!" The cause of Jack's discomfort, beamed all over his face and reached his hand out for a handshake. With his bowl cut and boyish smirk, he didn't look as if he were capable of such violence.

As Linda, baffled and a little overwhelmed, tried to shake Scott's hand, someone else tapped her on the right shoulder. "I'm Ben," the door opener mumbled, covering his already food-stuffed mouth with his hand. "Sorry about-" He didn't get any further before he started coughing and choking on his food.

"Ignore them, these guys here are all idiots," exclaimed a tall blonde woman, pushing herself forward between the men that'd gathered around Linda. She smiled with anticipation. "Say, do you like girls? I'm Chloé, by the way."

Behind herself, Linda could hear Naiah giggling and then squealing with excitement. "Oh, please say yes! Do you?"

"Guys! GUYS!" Mae's voice cut through the noise as she came from the kitchen, bringing drinks.

"Can you please! Stop! Pestering my sister all at once?!"

This prompted everyone to talk to her instead, all at the same time.

"Is she really your sister, Mae?"

"There's no way you're related to her!"

"You never told us that she looks like a fuckin' movie star!"

In between, Mae threw her offended complaints and oven mittens while Linda wasn't quite sure how to interpret the overwhelming attention she received.

These people were making fun of her, weren't they?

"Mae said you're gonna move here, to San My soon," Weston addressed Linda again, and instantly, the noise died down. "Then you'll be here on Thursdays too, right?"

All eyes were back on Linda, full of curiosity and anticipation.

They seemed serious. They weren't making fun of her.

Or were they?

"I- I don't know yet," she said, "My job interview is only tomorrow."

"But Mae said that it's granted that the University will hire you," said Naiah. She answered Linda's confused face with a smile. "She's told us a lot about you already."

Before Linda could respond, Mae confidently declared, "Of course they'll hire her," and squeezed herself into the small gap between Linda and the boy on Linda's left side. "I mean. They started a project to study alien plant genetics, and my brilliant sister here," she gestured towards Linda with both her hands as if presenting a curious exhibition piece, "is the first and only person to have ever deciphered the complete genetic code of – an alien plant!"

The last words she exclaimed like the pointe of her demonstration.

The people in the room stared at Linda with blank faces and a mixture of confusion and awe.

"Woah... so – you're like, the only person in the world who's already done the job they're hiring for?" Ben asked.

Linda urgently needed to rectify Mae's bold claims. Although, Ben's conclusion wasn't entirely wrong.

She briefly gathered her thoughts, as she felt a better explanation would be needed.

"Regarding specifically alien plants, yes," she then said. "But I am not the only person in the world who has sequenced genetics. And to be fair... the variety I studied is quite primitive. Additionally, although extraterrestrial biochemical structure is based on silicon instead of carbon, it is literally the same as that of organic plants. Its XNA, too, presents in the same shape as DNA, but of course its backbone consists of polysilanols instead of sugars, and it has different base pairs, too. I would say it is not very complex to figure it out –" 

She paused. While she'd talked, the others kept exchanging questioning glances with each other, uncomfortably reminding her that she didn't have an academic audience here.

"Anyway..." she concluded, "I still hope my experience is enough to join the project team. It would be nice if I could live closer to my sister again."

Linda wasn't lying. Although she probably wouldn't have looked for another job if it weren't for her newly reignited ambitions, she'd found that additionally, having Mae close by – especially while Frank was away, too – was at least as important, if not more so. In the recent years, she'd become quite accustomed to have people around her that sincerely listened to, and cared for her as she did for them.

The prospect of loosing both of them so soon seemed very bleak.

And it was something so universally understood; without the need for an academic degree. Upon hearing her confession, the others' faces softened with empathy.

"Aww, and you will!" Mae exclaimed and squeezed her. 

"If that's about it, you don't need to stress yourself about the University job," stated Jack. "San My has so many more opportunities."

"Oh yes, it's called the city of dreams for a reason," Iko said.

"Absolutely," Chloé confirmed. "If it doesn't work out with the university, you could always try becoming an actual movie star. I have a friend who's a director, and he's always looking for fresh new faces. Have you ever tried acting? I bet you'd look good on camera!" She shook her long blonde hair, as if to demonstrate that she definitely did.

"Oh please, just not that! Those 'movies' are just icky indie trash," snarled Weston.

"Oh no, I'm not interes- " Linda tried to object, but she was interrupted by someone else.

"Yeah, you better come with me to the magazine office," said a slender woman with poufy hair and heavy lipstick. "We have regular spreads of retro and alt fashion, but it's always hard to find models with looks like yours, especially for the summer features." She gestured to demonstrate a curvy body shape, while Linda blinked in confusion. "I'm not-"

"Don't get your hopes up, Liv," Ben contradicted. "As if any biology-related lab would pass on someone who actually understands genetics – alien plants or whatever –" and as Mae threw in, "Exactly!," he took a deep breath and quickly said to Linda, "Though you'd look pretty hot in a vintage bikini, too. I mean-" He made a gesture as if he were lifting something with both hands, but froze in his movement when he saw her face change.

"Vintage- bikini?!" She exclaimed in disbelief. Her? Linda, modeling? Particularly for beachwear? She herself was content with her body, but realistically speaking: she was at least twice the size of a regular model! This was absurd. But the rest of the group broke out in very vocal agreement – with Ben.

"Oh yes, you should definitely model!" Jack proclaimed.

"Absolutely! You'd look gorgeous!" Naiah declared.

A hint of a shy smile flashed across Ben's face and Linda could've sworn he turned a shade darker, before he dropped his hands, quickly looked away – and caught Diana's chopsticks in his rib cage.

"She has a boyfriend!" Diana exclaimed, also very vocally, turning the general excitement into groans of disappointed surprise.

"No way!"

"You don't say!" 

"Is that true, Linda?!"

"I-it is," Linda replied hesitantly. Her mind was still preoccupied with the silly bikini modeling idea, and at the same time, she was baffled at Diana's sudden intervention.

In response, the disappointed groans became slightly louder. Chloé even demanded, "But if he minds you modeling for bikinis, you should dump him!"

Okay, Linda had enough of the nonsense.

"I am not modeling for bikinis!" She declared firmly against the noise, while Diana, even louder than her, yelled at Chloé, "Hey! That's my brother you're talking about!"

Instantly, Diana drew all eyes onto herself.

"No way!"

"Your brother? Why; do you all have hot siblings there in Oasis Springs?!"

"What is he doing, that he landed someone like Linda?!"

With her hands on her waist, Diana proudly declared, "You could also ask how she landed him! Frank is also a great catch, a spaceship engineer! So, since they're both like, hot, brilliant scientists and dating, you can all just forget about Linda." She waved with her hands to emphasize her words.

"Why are you looking at me?" Ben grumbled, rubbing his poked side.

"I'm looking at all of you!" Diana shot back and moved her finger in a circle pointing at everyone. 

While everyone was preoccupied arguing with Diana and each other, Mae seized the moment of relative privacy to ask Linda what she really cared about.

"So? How is he? Any good?" She rasped.

Linda knew her sister long and well enough to know exactly what she meant.

"Mae!" she hissed, full of embarrassment. "I am not discussing this here! Or anywhere at all!"

Mae giggled, squinting conspiratorially. "You two must be very busy, aren't you? I'm shocked you wanted to stay here overnight instead of taking the first train tomorrow – wait – what's wrong?" Her face fell when she saw Linda scowl. "Is he so bad?" She whispered.

"That is not the problem!" Linda hissed again, before she explained. "Unfortunately, we're not seeing each other very much. Developing the new rocket drive started well, but it doesn't work out as he calculated. Frank's pushing hard to figure it out, and it's taking up all of his time. If he cannot finish it by the time of departure, they'll build the spaceship with a conventional hydrogen drive, and the expedition will be riskier. Of course, I would love to see him more often before he has to go," she sighed. "But it's more important that he finish his project successfully and return home safely from his mission to space."

"Wait, what? Your boyfriend is going to space?" Yan-something, who was sitting next to Mae had apparently picked up her last sentence. Crowing his question with excitement, he quickly drew back all attention to Linda.

"Really? When?" Chloé asked, highly intrigued.

"For how long?" Scott inquired.

"Uhm, yes. In less than a fortnight..." Linda replied. "The mission is planned to take a year, but likely it'll be longer."

It was something to be proud of, but his upcoming long absence weighed heavily on her heart.

Unexpectedly, the room stayed silent. Not that she'd presumed outbreaks of joy over her involuntary separation from her boyfriend – not literally – but not as much concern as appeared on the faces of the people around her. 

"Sucks," Weston whistled through his teeth.

"Yeah..." the boy next to Mae agreed, but then his face lit up. "But hey, at least you'll be here in San My. Whenever you run out of ideas to kill time, just come to the Bay. There's always someone around somewhere. You could come to my uncle's restaurant, for example. It's right next to the old pier."

"Oh yes," Naiah exclaimed, "or come to Carys' coffee shop. Did you see the 'Lunchbox Gallery' down the street?"

"Or the record store on Fifth Street-" said a woman with bright red hair.

"Which is in the same building as our magazine office and photo studio," said the woman called 'Liv'. "You can always come up and hang out there even if you choose not to model."

"And on weekends, come to the laundrette next to the supermarket. There are the sickest parties," said Ben, as Jack, Scott and a few whose names she hadn't learned yet nodded fiercely in agreement.

"You'll see, it'll never get boring here," Mae smiled. And a little quieter, added, "and you won't find time to be sad."

It was a strange feeling. Without knowing Linda, nor knowing if she'd actually move to the city at all, everyone here seemed to have collectively decided that she was now a member of their friends group.

Linda was touched, but at the same time she felt a little awkward. Although, she couldn't pinpoint exactly why.

Confounded, she smiled and took another sip of her tea.

Or at least that was her intention, but her cup was empty.

 
"Wait, I'll get you another one," said Mae. "And would you like a sandwich, too? You haven't eaten anything at all."

"Hm? Oh- yes, that would be nice," Linda mumbled. She hadn't mentioned anything as she didn't like to make a fuss, but she was relieved that Mae'd noticed it. Since her quick lunch between bus and train, she'd become quite hungry.

Mae smirked and shook her head. "And here I thought that after you've been dragged to all those fancy restaurants, you would finally have developed a taste for sushi by now."

"Wait, you don't like sushi?" The boy with the baseball cap asked, his face full of disbelief.

Linda sighed.
"I'm afraid I don't care much for raw fish," she explained.

The sole idea was repulsive! How could anyone consider it a delicacy?

"Hello? Sushi is more than just raw fish," the boy acted playfully offended.

"You could've said that earlier," Chloé looked at her with sincere regret. "Now the avocado and cucumber sushi are all gone."

"Yeah, because you ate them all," Jack snarked.

"Look, here's some with roe," Weston pointed at some rolls in the middle. His face fell when he saw Linda's. "Not a fan either?"

She shook her head.

Certainly not!

"Do you wanna try this?" Ben picked up a sushi roll from his own plate and offered it to her. "It's deep-fried salmon skin. Definitely not raw."

Linda eyed it suspiciously. Fine, the brown glaze on the – sort of undefinable – piece in the middle did look actually tasty. Under different circumstances she might even have given it a try.

"Thanks, that's very kind of you. But –"

She stopped, contemplating how to word her concerns best without being offensive.

"But?"

Linda took a deep breath. 

"These are your chopsticks. It's- it's unhygienic," she uttered quickly, but with determination.

Around her, the people cracked up hollering, laughing, and mocking Ben, while he examined first his chopsticks, then Linda – in vain, as the total absence of understanding was written all over his face.

She exhaled sharply over the kindergarten unfolding around her, but before she could say anything, Ben promptly lit up into a broad, wide grin and shot right back at the teasing group. "Hey, hey, don't y'all cry, I still have plenty of germs to share – yes, Chloé, you particularly get only first class! So you can claim your bet with Tif –" 

While the silly banter spread into all directions and flared up into screams of loud laughter, Linda found herself surprisingly enticed by the winsome, sparking eyes and the deep dimples appearing on Ben's cheeks. Just until a second later when Diana disrupted her observation by plucking the sushi roll from his chopsticks and eating it. "I'll take those germs. With salmon skin sushi, they're my favorite!" she exclaimed, striking Linda with a contemptuous look.

Or maybe Linda had just imagined it; on second glance, Diana was simply chewing with an innocuous cheeky grin, visibly content with her loot. 

Instantly Ben shot around towards the thief. "Hey! That was the last one!!" he complained. Simultanously, Chloé cried out, laughing, "Hey, those were supposed to be my germs!"

"No, miiine," piped the ruby-red haired record store girl. She jolted her chopsticks towards Ben's plate, which he, caught by surprise, desperately tried to guard from her while arguing with Chloé and a deviously cackling Diana.

"Oh come on," Diana snickered and grasped for air. Then she added appeasingly, "You can have the last tuna-cream instead." She handed him a sushi roll from her own plate. This earned her a slightly consoled squint, and the attacker of Ben's plate enough time to succeed snatching a sushi from it.

The group hollered and screamed in exuberance, and Linda, too, couldn't help but chuckle over the silly, absurd spectacle.

"What's going on here?" Mae had meanwhile returned from the kitchen. She stood behind Linda with a plate of sandwiches in her hands and a wide grin over her face, infected by the lively atmosphere.

Quickly the crowd turned towards her, but before she got an answer, Diana shrieked loudly in surprise after catching a glimpse of the clock behind Mae. "Oh my god! I'm gonna be late for work! Ben, we have to go! See y'all!" Hastily she stood up and climbed between the others' legs and out of the seating area. 

Ben smirked softly and got up to follow her. On his way out, while putting Diana's sushi piece in his mouth, his eyes met Linda's. Slightly startled, he flashed her a somewhat sheepish smile, accompanied by a hesitant wave. Then, with significantly more enthusiasm, he bid goodbye to everyone else.

Him and Diana preparing to leave triggered movement in the group and a sudden shift in the mood.

"Is it so late already?" a tall, dark man sitting next to the woman called 'Liv' said. "I have a shoot tomorrow morning."

"We'll have to go, too," said Iko, and signed the boy next to Linda's right side to get up.

Soon everyone was up and gathered around the entry door. However, no one seemed in a rush to leave, not even Diana. Instead, everyone stayed like glued in front of the doorway, chitchatting and making plans for the next days.

Linda followed hesitantly, unexpectedly self-conscious and suddenly struck by the suspicion that she didn't quite fit in here, either.

On one hand, she didn't mind it much. Mae's new friends weren't only just younger than Linda, but also appeared quite immature; even if it was in an endearing kind of way.

But on the other hand, the connection between them felt so cordial, warm, and genuine, that Linda found herself embracing their invitation to be part of it, too.

However, there was no warranty to count on such a big group's friendship, anyway. Frank's friends in Oasis Springs had initially been kind and warm towards Linda and Mae too, but all it took was one bad rumor and a misunderstanding to turn them all against the sisters.

And, with the exception of Diana, not revert it.

Linda could do without a second experience like that.

"Hey!! Linda!"

It was the boy with the yellow baseball cap screaming and pulling her back into Mae's hallway.

She found the whole group looking at her. Apparently, they'd tried to get her attention before.

"We said good luck with your interview!" yelled 'Liv' the editor, echoed by more good luck wishes from the others. Most of them were already out of the door.

"And when you need a hand moving, just call us," said Jack, both his thumbs up and his wide grin all over his face.

Linda smiled.

"Thank you," she replied, and waved the leaving crowd good bye.

A kind offer, but she expected she'd manage on her own.