Just Starting Out
1.8 - Book Signing
“Hey John,” Cassandra smiled, waving from a bench as he entered the courtyard.
“Hey,” John grinned. He was anxious. He’d spent his whole life hearing about the Goth family, and he was positive lecturing them about power bills would be far from a cake walk.
Cassandra frowned, picking up on his discomfort. “Nervous?” she asked.
John nodded quickly.
“Walk with me,” Cassandra said, standing up from the bench. John followed her out of the courtyard. “Once you get to know them, my parents really aren’t that bad. I looked into you last night, John, and I’ve gotta say I’d never have guessed you were actually from around here. Sure, you were nervous at first, but that sure changed quick. Not many guys around here would be bold enough to give me their email.”
“And?” John asked. As much as he appreciated her little jaunt down memory lane, this wasn’t helping his anxiety.
“Well, my parents will be just like me! Sort of intimidating at first, but, it’ll change real quick. People say the apple doesn’t far fall from the tree, but, this time, think of it with a positive connotation!”
Cassandra stopped talking to hail a taxi, which quickly pulled to the curb. She gestured for John to follow her, and climbed inside.
Back in Newcrest, Kayla looked up at the library that was just around the block. She’d be having her first ever book signing today. “Here goes nothing,” Kayla sighed, walking up to the building.
She walked through the building until she reached the room she’d be holding the event in. For something that was starting in 5 minutes, the place was rather deserted. A slightly chubby woman sat right in front, and Malcolm was leaning against a bookcase, talking to the librarian.
“Malcolm! What are you doing here!” Kayla hissed, hurrying over to the most familiar face in the establishment.
“I wanted an excuse to get away from my parents,” he sighed with an eye roll. “Where’s John?”
“John’s in Willow Creek,” Kayla said quickly. “He said your mom sent him there after a series of threats about his job security and stuff, but, uh, come on, Malcolm! You come all the way out here to escape your parents?”
“John’s in Willow Creek?” Malcolm frowned, clearly disappointed. “Psh. What am I doing here, the…”
Seeing Kayla’s face, he quickly changed his tune. “But, uh, hurrah for you and your book thing, I guess. I’ll… be back here. Watching. Or, whatever it is one does at the book signing of a barely successful author…”
“Malcolm!” Kayla shrieked in a low voice, hitting him. “How dare you!”
“What?” Malcolm shrugged. “Just because I came all the way out here for you doesn’t mean you need to assault me, all right? If I actually wanted to be assaulted by a woman, I’d let it happen.”
Kayla let out a loud breath of air and stormed away from Malcolm, she swore that when John got back from Willow Creek, she was going to have a serious talk with him about what exactly Malcolm was up to. As she walked away, she found herself running right into Melody.
“Oh, thank the Mother! Someone I know here that isn’t Malcolm freaking Landgraab,” Kayla breathed, narrowly missing a collision with her.
“Woah, Kayla, you must be more careful with where you step,” Melody said, putting her hands over her heart after what could have potentially knocked her down the stairs.
“Sorry, Malcolm’s just being fucking rude,” Kayla said bitterly.
“Kayla, children visit this library, you must watch your mouth,” Melody warned.
“I know, I know, Melody, I’m sorry…” Kayla apologized.
“And since when do you know a Landgraab?” Melody went on.
“John and I met him at a bar,” Kayla shrugged. She wasn’t practically fond of Malcolm, or well, any of the Landgraabs in particular, but she wasn’t about to expose whatever strange business model they’d instituted.
“Ms. Brooks!” the library whispered, tapping on her shoulder. “It’s time for you to begin!”
Kayla turned away from Melody and nodded to the librarian. She turned back around and made a pleading motion to Melody, then after a nod, Kayla walked up to the front of the room.
The woman who’d sat down in the front squealed excitedly as Kayla took her seat, Malcolm rolled his eyes, and Melody gave her a thumbs up.
Kayla cleared her throat. “Well, thanks to those of you who came all the way out here, for well, coming out…”
Down in Willow Creek, the taxi driver zoomed away, John’s cash shoved up on his dashboard.
“Thanks so much for paying for the fare,” Cassandra grinned.
“Hey, it’s the least I can do,” John shrugged. “You’re doing a favor for me, the least I can do is pay the taxi driver.”
Cassandra waved his reply off, and opened the gate to her house for him.
“Ladies first,” she said jokingly.
John shook his head, but went ahead anyway.
Cassandra closed the gate and hurried back in front of him to open the front door. Once isnide, she carefully shut the front door, and a certain chill within the house swept over John. “Mom, dad?” she yelled into the tall ceilinged foye.
There was no reply.
Cassandra frowned. “It’s Sunday, I know they’re both home.”
She was instead greeted by a small kid climbing down the staircase.
“Alexander! Hey!” she exclaimed. “This is John, he’s a new friend of mine.”
“Hey John!” Alexander said, giving him a toothy smile.
“Could you go get mom and dad for me?” Cassandra asked.
Alexander nodded and walked off.
“My kid brother,” Cassandra exclaimed. “It’s only a matter of days until he’s a teenager… It’s weird. I almost felt like he’d stay young and cute forever, but it only makes sense now that I’m out of college and in the work force.”
“Felt the same way with my sister,” John nodded. “We’re a lot closer in age than you and Alexander there, but still… doesn’t help that even as a functioning adult she still hasn’t had a boyfriend… or a girlfriend, I guess.”
“Hey, the time will come,” Cassandra said, giving him a half grin.
Their conversation was cut short by a very intimidating couple rounding the corner. A couple John knew very well from his childhood.
“Cassandra, dear, who’s this?” Bella Goth asked.
“John Brooks, he’s a friend of mine,” Cassandra smiled.
“Just a friend, I assume?” Mortimer Goth inquired, giving Cassandra a tight lipped frown.
“Yes, dad, jeez,” Cassandra sighed. “He works for the Landgraabs, and he’s here for the bills you apparently haven’t been paying.”
“Mortimer, darling!” Bella gasped. “Have you not been keeping up with the household duties?”
Mortimer scratched his head. “Uh… no, my rose.”
Bella turned to John with a big smile. “Just let me pop upstairs and send the money over to Nancy, okay? I’ll get this taken care of in no time!”
Without waiting for a response, Bella hurried upstairs.
"That... uh, armor... over there... is that a legacy armor?" John asked, breaking the awkward silence that had fallen.
Mortimer shook his head. "You're very knowledgeable to know of a legacy amor, but no, this is just merely a regular suit of armor."
"Ah... I see," John smiled.
The room fell back into silence.
“Brooks, huh? Why do I recognize that name?” Mortimer asked, trying to recover from the embarrassment of admitting to Bella that he hadn’t been paying the bills.
“Oh, uh, my parents live in town. My sister and I actually just moved to Newcrest.” John stammered.
Mortimer went silent for a good 15 seconds. “I remember now. Your mother… Adrienne, I think it was, sold a house across the street a good while back. The sign was up for the better part of a year…”
“…Okay, dad, thanks for that,” Cassandra said, pulling John down the corridor Mortimer and Bella had come from.
As she walked up into the dining room, she apologized profusely. “I’m so sorry, sometimes dad just gets like that, he’ll spend a whole afternoon just remembering the past sometimes…”
“I don’t mind, Cassandra,” John said, shaking his head. “It’s honestly really cool to find out that other people have heard about any of my family.”
“John!” Bella’s sing-song voice echoed down the corridor. “Oh, bother, where did he and Cassandra go?”
“In here, mom!” Cassandra yelled out.
Bella walked into the dining room and smiled at John. “All taken care of!”
“Thank you so much, Mrs. Goth,” John said respectfully.
“Don’t you go Mrs. Gothing me,” Bella scolded. “Bella is fine.”
“Oh! Of course. Well, er, Bella, I’ll be going…”
“Perish the thought!” Bella exclaimed. “I can’t just let a friend of Cassandra go home just like that. Please, stay for lunch.”
Kayla wrapped up her speech to loud applause from the three people who’d shown up and the librarian. Loud from Malcolm being around three sarcastic claps and a serious frown.
“Ooohhhh, Ms. Brooks!” the woman in the front row exclaimed in a heavy accent, standing up and slamming a book on her desk. “I am your biggest fan, I flew all the way out here from Windenburg just to get my book signed!”
“You... definitely did that...” Kayla muttered. She wasn’t sure wether or not she was touched or horrified that a woman had wasted such a large sum of money to attend what had to be one of the most pathetic book signings in history.
“I’m Mila. Mila Munch,” the woman said, putting her hand over her breast. “For, when you address it, and such!”
Kayla nodded and gave Mila a smile. She carefully opened Mila’s impossibly worn copy and scribbled a thank you and her best attempt at a fancy signature. She closed the book and pushed it back across the table to Mila.
“Oh!” she gasped. “Thank you so much, Ms. Brooks!”
“Thats… what I’m here for?”
“I really must be going to catch the next flight back to Windenburg,” Mila said quickly. “I left my brand new husband watching my house, married last week, and I’ve been fraught with nonstop worry!”
She ran out of the room as quickly as she could.
“Jeez, and I thought it was a waste of time for me to head here from Oasis Springs,” Malcolm drawled. “It still takes way too long for me to get here, anyway, but, I mean, I’m not crazy like Mrs. Munch over there.”
Kayla sighed, but, she still felt like today, oddly enough, had been a success. Sure, no one has shown up, she’d be lucky if this library ever hosted her again, but she’d met a woman dedicated enough to fly from Windenburg. Melody has shown up, and, she guessed the thought had been there when it came to Malcolm. And that was enough for her.
I downloaded the library used in this chapter back in like 2014, so huge thanks to whoever the original creator was!