"Mienne, do you mind coming on a house call with me?"
"What? Mum, why do you need me to come? Can you ask Sarsafine?"
"She's out with friends, and it'd be nicer if you came in this particular instance."
Mienne gave her mother a look of suspicion. "Where exactly are you going?"
"To see Reina."
"No. I am not coming."
"Please, Mienne? She could do with some cheering up."
"How am I supposed to help?"
"Well I was kinda hoping you'd company Lucifer so I can have a chance to talk some things out with her."
"Lucifer is a big boy, Mum. He can probably entertain himself just fine."
"Look, Mienne, last time he just stayed around, and I think Reina needs some time to talk out her feelings without worrying about what her son thinks of her. You know?"
"No... You've been there before?"
"Just the once."
"You just knocked on the door?"
"No, I called ahead."
"Isn't that, you know, impinging on their space and time."
"Darling, you call your friends to ask if you can go over all the time."
"but..."
"Please? Just do me this one favour."
"Just this once?"
"Yes."
"I guess I can come..."
Before she was able to fully comprehend what she had just agreed to, her mother had already bundled her into the car and was backing out of the drive way. Did she just agree to spend her Saturday morning with a guy that had called her a bitch to her face last time they had seen each other? The car turned onto the main road and accelerated up to speed.
"Hi, Reina, it's Joan," Mienne's mother said into the intercom outside the block of apartments.
"Oh. Come in." The tired looking door clicked faintly, and her mother pushed it open and waved Mienne in. She was immediately engulfed by stale hot air. The linoleum on the floor gave the impression that it wasn't its current musty yellow colour when it was brand new and the rows of letter boxes were individualised not by numbers but by the scratched out graffiti tags. Mienne tried not to judge the place, as her mother walked briskly up the stairs and knocked on the apartment door.
It was after a little while that the door opened. "Come in." Reina was fully dressed, but looked tired. "Oh, hi..." she said, slightly surprised, when she saw Mienne.
"It's Mienne," Mienne smiled, hoping it might help remedy the tired look on the woman's face. It didn't.
"Mienne," Reina repeated quietly.
"How are you? Did you get some sleep last night?" Mienne's mother manoeuvred Reina into a chair and quickly took charge of the conversation.
There being only two chairs around a tiny table, Mienne leant her back against the edge of the kitchen sink while the mothers talked, and took the chance to look around the apartment. Even for an apartment, it was small. The developer had somehow managed cram the necessities of a kitchen, lounge and dining room all into the space inside the door. The heat clung to her skin, and Mienne felt like she was filling the space with more people than was comfortable. Mienne thought she could see the corner of a bed through a door that was ajar. She was trying to subtly get a better look into the other bedroom when the next door opened and Lucifer strolled out with a towel around his waist and water dripping from his hair. He was about to say something when he saw Mienne standing by the sink. He stopped, stood and blushed.
"Uh. Lucifer. We have guests."
"Yeah, thanks for mentioning," he mumbled before hurrying into the bedroom.
"Uh. Sorry..." Reina whispered at the table top. Mienne wasn't sure whether she was apologising to Lucifer or to her guests.
After half a minute, Mienne's mother put on an insisting tone and said, "Mienne we're boring you, you should go talk to Lucifer for a bit."
In any other situation Mienne would have stood her place, and insisted right back that she was fine where she was, but Reina looked so genuinely awkward with so many guests in her kitchen that she nodded silently headed for the bedroom door. She felt out of place. She knocked timidly. The door whipped open, he remained silent, but his face was asking "What do you want?" in a hostile manner.
"Can I come in?"
He glanced past her at their talking mothers. He stood aside to let her in.
Mienne found herself in the slither of space between the bed and the wall, the room didn't seem to accommodate much else other than the bed, what available floor space was stacked with boxes some sealed some with clothing spilling out of them.
"I guess-"
"Don't say anything, bitch."
"Gee, devil boy. I was just going to say that I guess we're even with the walking in on each other thing now."
"Yeah, and I said, don't say anything, bitch." He flopped onto the bed, picked up a pen and balanced what looked like maths homework on his knees. Mienne stood awkwardly in the hot silence of the room. The only thing that remedied the claustrophobic atmosphere was the open window, and even then it only brought in an occasional a hot gush of air.
"It's pretty hot," Mienne finally said.
"Yeah, and you're just adding to the hot air that's already in the room. Look, you don't want to be here, I don't want you to be here, so why don't you just sit and contemplate the meaning of life while your mother sticks her nose in our business, okay?"
"I certainly didn't encourage her to come."
Mienne edged herself onto the bed. Finding nothing else to occupy herself while Lucifer mauled over maths, she closed her eyes. Or perhaps it was the cramped, hot and tired feel of the whole apartment. She wasn't sure she had expected Lucifer to live in such a place, she almost wanted to pity the guy, but you can only feel so much sympathy for a jerk. She slowed her breath trying to concentrate on not being cooked by the heat. Her butt was going numb and she shifted her weight.
"Oy Bitch. Mienne. Mienne. Snap out of it."
She was thinking something about creepy little summer bugs when a jab in the waist brought her back to reality. "Ow! What the?" Mienne found herself lying across the bed, Lucifer had been refined to a mere corner of the mattress.
"You're sleeping on my maths homework."
"I wasn't asleep."
"Ha. Bullshit."
"I wasn't! I was just thinking about stuff."
"You were either so deep in thought that you should be crowned the new Confucius, or thinking about something so pointless and boring that you fell asleep. The latter?"
"Ha. Ha."
He picked turned the page in the maths book as Mienne shuffled on her back to give him more space. She was staring at the ceiling when the sounds of hysterical sobbing were heard through the door. Lucifer sighed, heaved the books onto the floor and stood to go to the door.
"Don't, Lucifer."
"Don't what?"
"Go out there."
"Oh so I should just leave my mother sobbing her heart out?"
"My mum's there."
"Your mum doesn't know shit about shit."
"And your mum probably doesn't want you seeing her bawl her eyes out."
He scoffed. But turned away from the door. He picked up the pen, but threw it against the wall. It rebounded and rolled under the bed. Lucifer shoved the books aside with his foot and flopped on the bed. For a while all they could hear was the sobbing.
"This sucks. This fucking sucks," he said.
"Is she okay?"
"I wish I fucking knew."
"Sorry. You can go out there if you want. I'm not stopping you."
"Not that, moron."
She gritted her teeth to refrain from saying anything in reply. She didn't have the energy for an argument today.
He sighed. "She's been like this a lot lately. Stress maybe. Work."
"Maybe she should cut back on the work then..."
"Need the money. It took her ages to get this job in the first place. You wouldn't understand."
"I'm sorry."
"Whatever, bitch."
This time when they stopped talking there was silence. They both stared at the ceiling. He didn't want to think about his mother anymore. She worked hard, she cared about him, but despite that, he was so fucking over it, he didn't want this life anymore. He hated being an ungrateful bastard, but what else was he supposed to feel? He didn't want to think about his mother anymore, so he focused all his attention on the pressure of Mienne's head against his ribs everytime he breathed in, until it was almost a comforting feeling.
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