FicWad

Jim is certainly glad that he was finally able to rent a car. He still misses his old one back at Jacksonville, but hey. At least he doesn’t have to rely on the bus anymore. Or anyone driving. Well anyway, he had already stopped at Cristina’s apartment and picked her up. You can’t really believe how stoked he is in a way. Not only is this woman going out with him, but maybe his mother will actually like her. He feels somewhat awkward throughout the drive over to an aunt’s house. Neither of them says anything, other than complimenting how they look. The radio isn’t even on. Cristina looks at Jim, who can only look back at her.

It is she who decides to break the ice. “So what is your family like, anyway?” she asks gently. “I mean, will it be like /Meet the Parents/?” She pauses. “Or was it /Meet the Fockers/?”

Jim chuckles. “No, but they’re pretty...crazy. Actually, I haven’t seen most of them in a long time, so...uh...I’m not really sure what to tell you.”

That only makes the woman grin. “That’s very exciting! You introducing me to family members that even you haven’t seen in a long time.” She chuckles. “But I’m glad you’re taking me. I wish it could be the other way around, but I’m pretty much the only person living here in the States.”

Jim smiles at her before he turns his attention to the road. “Oh that’s all right, really.” But then his mind wanders back to what her family’s like. Like, do they worry that she’s alone here? Do they allow her to date? Do they speak English? Cristina smiles back. Jim then sighs gently as he looks for the house.

It’s a pretty big house because his aunt married a rather upper class gentleman, and then four years ago he died and left pretty much everything to her (rather than his children, so that created some problems). So she would pretty much stage parties and everyone—excluding her family—would be invited. Well, for some reason she decided to bring them over for Thanksgiving. Jim wouldn’t know what to do when seeing these people. He doesn’t even know if any of them will remember him. Or vice versa. He does know that his dad hates Kathy’s family. I mean really.

He stops at the house, and he sees that there are cars around already. Looks like he and Cristina are late. He sighs and gets out of the car, and being a gentleman, he goes to open up Cristina’s. She smiles and thanks him as she walks up to the door, shivering slightly at the cold. Jim begins to follow, but then stops because a snowflake has fallen on his nose. He sighs miserably at this and walks up to the door. As soon as he presses the doorbell, they stand there while they wait for someone to answer. And hopefully soon, because a lot of snow’s falling right now.

After a moment, the door opens and a woman blinks at Jim and Cristina. She raises an eyebrow. “Who the fuck are you two?”

Cristina simply looks up at Jim, who answers, “I’m James Root—Kathy’s son?”

The woman takes a closer look at the man. After a moment, her eyes widen. “Oh my god. You’re Jimmy?!” she asks. Jim slowly nods, kind of nervous now. She smiles. “Well, get on in here! You look a bit different, you know? Your mother’s already here,” she looks around the room and everyone else, “somewhere.” Cristina smiles at Jim and they both walk in.

At this point, a teenage girl with a rather large belly comes back from the kitchen and blinks at Jim and Cristina. She grins. “Uncle Jim?!” Jim looks up and smiles a little.

“Hey, Amanda,” he replies as she goes up to hug him. Jim can’t help but look down at her belly. “Wow, you’re...you’re getting big. Another week or so?”

Amanda nods. “Nah, sometime in December. I can’t stop myself from eating.” She sighs. “But I haven’t seen you since May. I really missed you!” She then glances at Cristina, and Jim instantly remembers.

“Um...Cris, this is my niece Amanda.” Jim then turns to Amanda. “This is my friend Cristina.”

Cristina smiles, extending her hand. “How do you do?”

Amanda shakes it, kind of in awe to see a very beautiful woman in this house. “Nice to meet you.”

Jim wishes that he could smoke right now. He looks around as he asks Amanda, “Where’s your mother?”

Amanda shrugs. “I don’t know. She told me she was visiting our cousin, and then she left.” She rolls her eyes. “I gotta sit down.” She hugs her uncle a final time. “I’ll see you later.” Jim smiles back as she finds a couch to sit on.

He then turns to Cristina. “Well, I guess dinner hasn’t started yet,” he says. He hopes they start soon because he hasn’t eaten since lunch and that was back at eleven in the morning.

Cristina grins. “Well, I’m more concerned about seeing your parents.” She would like to meet everyone else, too. It isn’t a big family, but not small, either.

Suddenly, a hand grabs Jim’s shoulder, and he almost yelps as he’s turned around. He sees a very familiar face that grins at him. “Jim fucking Root?! Is that you?!” The man hugs him tightly and pulls back, wanting to laugh at the confused man. “You really don’t remember me, don’t you?”

Jim tries to find his voice. “Uh....you look familiar.”

The man rolls his eyes. “It’s Rick, man! I used to throw eggs at you when we were kids, man.” He then looks eagerly at Jim, hoping that the man remembers now.

Well, Jim actually does, and he sighs, giving Rick a faint smile. “Yeah I remember you now.” He really didn’t want to.

“Well good! Where the fuck were you all these years?”

“I needed to get away,” Jim simply replies, shrugging. Cristina looks between the two, and Jim then glances at her, before turning back to Rick, his smile returning. “Rick this is my friend, Cristina.” To Cristina he says, “this is my cousin, Rick.”

Rick blinks at the woman and grins. “Well, how do you do, Miss?” he says, shaking her hand, and Cristina returns the handshake.

“Nice to meet you, too,” she replies, grinning.

Just then, Jerry came back from the kitchen and blinks at Jim, and the latter blinks at his father and sighs. Obviously his father doesn’t look too pleased to be here. Rick smiles. “Hey, Uncle Jerry! Jim’s back.”

Jerry replies with, “We all know that.”

Rick then remembers something. “Oh, Jim! I want you to meet my girlfriend—well, I’m getting ready to propose to her, actually—she’s somewhere.” He steps back away from them and grins. “I’m gonna go look for her. Don’t you go anywhere, guys” At that, he turns around and leaves. Jerry sighs and glances at Jim, who looks to Cristina.

Cristina smiles. “Well, he seems like a nice person,” she says before she looks over at Jerry, wondering who is this guy.

Jim looks between the two, figuring out how to introduce them to each other. He figures, Fuck it and turns to Jerry. “Um, this is my friend Cristina Scabbia.” Obviously he’s not going to go as far as referring to her as his girlfriend or even his date. First of all she isn’t his girlfriend. Secondly, this may be a date, but why would he say that? He smiles at Cristina. “Cris, this is my dad,” he finishes.

Cristina simply smiles at Jerry and she extends her hand to him. Jerry, meanwhile, gives her a half smiles and shakes her hand. “How do you do?” And he just had to ask her this, “So you’re from South America?”

Jim blinks at such a (stupid) question and he sighs at his father. “She’s from Italy.”

“Milan,” Cristina specifies.

“Oh,” Jerry replies, uninterested. He’s never the type to be interested in what his children do anymore. It may have started when he realized that his wife, their mother, comes from a stupid, stupid family. It’s not like they were dumb or anything, but they just weren’t likable by Jerry’s standards, and he hates having to put up with them. He’d even tell his children that they’re half awful. And even when he could’ve had the chance to walk out on them, he knew that it wasn’t a good idea. But he’s a depressed old man now that grumbles about kids, music and the fact that he’s glad Jim found an apartment because he’s been a sorry ass thirty-six year old freeloader who probably is still gay. They did stop talking to each other when Jim first admitted to liking other boys when he was growing up.

Jerry probably thinks Cristina is just a cover-up.

Jim sighs. “Well, you know what? I’m gonna introduce Cristina to more people, so I’ll just go,” he says.

Jerry rolls his eyes. “Fine. I need a drink anyway.”

Jim bites his lip at that, not nervous or sad, but irritated. He takes Cristina further into the room anyway, and he leads her to the kitchen. Cristina grins then. “Well he seems like a nice guy.” Well, Jim wants to tell her that his father’s fucking asshole, but he refrains from making that comment.

He sighs as he spots his mother talking to a cousin as they’re waiting for the turkey to be completely finished. Food is pretty much the last thing on his mind right now, since he had a burger with Corey before they went their separate ways. Of course he realizes that his female friend probably ate nothing. He doesn’t think it’d be a problem introducing her to Kathy. After all, Kathy’s wanted Jim to meet a nice woman. And Cristina is a nice woman.

Kathy watches as the cousin leaves, and then her eyes shift from that person to Jim and Cristina. She blinks, and she looks over at Jim. “James, who is this?”

Jim and Cristina exchange looks with each other before he looks over at his mother. “Well, this is my friend Cristina Scabbia.” Kathy still blinks at her.

“Okay?”

Cristina feels somewhat awkward at the conversation. She looks at Jim’s expression and wonders why he’s introducing her to them only. Jim sighs and glances at her, saying, “This is my mom.” He needs a drink. Or something. But then he realizes that he’s doing the driving, so that wouldn’t be a good idea.

Cristina smiles at Jim and then at Kathy, extending her hand to the other woman. “It’s nice to finally meet you,” she says, almost too excitedly. Kathy simply returns the handshake, saying nothing for awhile. She takes her wine glass and sips it. It’s been her third glass.

“Well, I hope you treat my Jim well,” she says finally. Cristina chuckles at that.

“He’s a very good friend,” she replies, and Kathy doesn’t respond to that.

“Of course he is.”

Suddenly, Cristina’s cellphone rings. She usually ignores it, but when she finds out that it’s from her employer, she sighs and turns to Jim. “I’m sorry. I gotta take this.” At that, she walks out of the kitchen and into a den where it’s quiet.

Jim scratches the back of his head and turns to his mother, who finishes up her third glass of wine. She has this look on her face in that one can’t really tell what she’s feeling. Jim is kind of surprised that she doesn’t look gleeful about Cristina at all. Pretty soon he realizes that Kathy probably doesn’t like Cristina. He sighs exaperately. “What’s wrong with her?”

“I don’t really like her,” Kathy simply replies.

Jim scoffs at the answer, despite knowing that. He shakes his head and turns to her again. “Can I ask why? Because I really don’t get what the hell would be wrong with her.”

“Don’t swear at me in this house.”

That almost drives Jim up the wall and he replies, “This is not your house!” He sighs exasperatedly again. “I don’t even know why I’m talking to you about this. You’re drunk as hell.”

“So is your father, but you never berate on him about it!”

Despite knowing that he says nothing about what Jerry’s doing, he responds, “This is not about Dad, okay? This is about us/, and I’m sick of you making me go through this shit because you wouldn’t leave me the fuck alone about having grandchildren.” Kathy stares at him, shocked. At his language. I don’t know why either. “And I don’t even know why you’re ashamed of Amanda. She made a mistake and got pregnant! Have either of you helped her on this? I seriously doubt it. All you both do is say how awful she is when you guys have done /shit to prevent this from happening in the first place. And don’t tell me I don’t know anything just because I haven’t been around. I know you people.”

“You abandon us for ten years and then come back and tell us that we’re wrong? Oh you have some nerve, James. Some nerve. You go on and trust Amanda. You’ll be very disappointed, soon.” Well, what neither of them know is that Cristina has been listening to their conversation from the den.

Jim slowly shakes his head in disbelief. “This is your granddaughter. Why would you say such...” he sighs, dropping it. “At least tell me why you don’t like Cristina. Please.”

“I don’t like her because she’s too pretty,” Kathy casually responds, shrugging as she looks down to see if the turkey is ready or not. Jim takes her body language as a slap on the back to him, but all he can do right now is shake his head. Honestly he really doesn’t understand why she would hate someone for that very reason.

Finally he responds, leaning against the counter. “You know what? I really don’t understand why you wouldn’t like her because of that.”

Kathy looks up at him and replies, “Because I know you, James. You wouldn’t pick someone that pretty unless it was for a reason. I think that using her a cover-up to pretend that you’re not gay is the worst thing any man can do to a woman.”

Jim blinks at his mother’s comment, and I’d be lying if I said that he wasn’t a little baffled, pretty much because that comment was partly true and because she figured it out. He tries to figure out someway to respond to that, but nothing comes out for awhile. Finally he finds himself saying, “Well, I do like her. I really do.” He shakes his head. “You know what? I don’t even know why I bother.” He glances at his mother and glares. “First of all, you’re the one who pushes me into getting a girlfriend just because you all don’t know how to raise Amanda right.”

“Can we not talk about Amanda?” Kathy simply asks, deciding that the turkey might be done, and she opens the oven. “Besides, the turkey might be done, and dinner’s almost ready,” she adds with a slightly more cheerful tone. “And you do need to meet the other family members. They probably don’t even remember you.”

Jim opens his mouth to speak, but then someone enters the kitchen from the basement, where many of the guests are also at (although they all just drink there), and as soon as he sees the person, the only thing the tall man can do is blink. Because he was not expecting him to be here. He thought the man had died or something. He was hoping to god that the man was dead. Kathy blinks up at the older man, and she grins to go hug the man.

“Hey, Scott! Guess what? I think the turkey’s done!”

“Well, fucking finally. Been starving all day,” the man known as Scott replies. It takes him awhile before he finally notices Jim. Jim is just standing there by the kitchen sink; looking calm on the outside, but on the inside...well he’s just panicking and plotting a way to get the fuck out of this house. Well it’s too late, because Scott slowly smiles at the man. “James? Is that you?”

At this, Kathy turns around, instantly remembering that her son is still in the kitchen. “Oh!” She turns to Scott again. “Yes, this is James, he came back from...Florida? Florida. Right, Florida. Somewhere on that state. But he’s back with us, now.” She finally turns to Jim. “It’s your Uncle Scott, James. You remember him, right?”

Jim’s voice returns, but the only thing he can say is, “How can I forget Uncle Scott?” He again remains calm on the outside. It doesn’t help that he can see how much Kathy lit up at the sight of her favorite brother. Scott is only two and a half years older than her, so naturally they’d be close.

“Well, his family’s back from Minnesota for Thanksgiving. You know, you two should talk about where you’ve been, Jim,” she says, smiling.

“You’re still tall as hell, Jimmy,” Scott says, having last met him shortly before Jim left for Jacksonville. And he pretty much said the same thing. Suddenly, one of their cousins enters the kitchen and looks over at Kathy and Scott.

“You two need to get to the living room, because Laura wants pictures,” the person says. Kathy grins at that, and then at Scott.

“Well, I’m convinced. C’mon, Scott!” Scott smiles and walks out of the kitchen. Kathy then turns to Jim and says, “Just think about what I said, will you?” And at that, she walks out with the two, uttering that she’s feeling tipsy.

Jim realizes that Kathy forgot to shut the over, so he puts the turkey in again, not giving a shit that it’ll be overcooked. He slowly sheds his façade, and he finds himself shivering at what just happened. Not only at what just happened, but what’s been happening. It’s like Kathy will never listen to him, whether it’s about him and his relationships (or lack thereof) or the fact that her precious older brother isn’t as precious or innocent as that guy made himself to be. Well, he’s forced to put up a façade again when Cristina slowly enters from the den.

The woman pretty much heard everything that came out of his and Kathy’s mouth. Right now she doesn’t know what to make of it, and she really doesn’t like when she’s being used as a cover-up of some guy’s sexuality. She resolves to ask him about what’s really going on.

Jim sighs as he sees her and he speaks quietly. “I...I think we better get out of here.”

Cristina raises an eyebrow. “Why?”

“I’m suddenly not so hungry,” he replies, staring at the oven.

She can only sigh at that. “Well, I’m very hungry,” she says. “I mean, if you don’t wanna eat here, can we stop for MacDonald’s or something?” Jim simply nods. Anything to get the fuck out of here.

_____

Jim didn’t even bother to say goodbye to anyone at the house, not even Amanda, before he and Cristina left. It’s probably a good thing, too, because it began to snow pretty heavily and if they stayed in any longer, they’d never make it out on the road. Driving to and from MacDonald’s was pretty hell, though. And as if that weren’t bad enough, Bobby Helm’s Jingle Bell Rock started playing on the radio at least twice. So sometimes they play Christmas songs on Thanksgiving night after all. It was annoying the hell out of Jim, who’s in a pretty shitty mood already. As Cristina is eating her cheeseburger (and saying something about the fact that she needs to stay on her diet), Jim simply asks, “Do you mind if I turn the station?”

Cristina looks up and smiles. “Oh sure! I’m not really sure why they play these songs this early.”

Well, instead of turning on to another station, Jim turns off the radio completely, causing the woman to raise an eyebrow. Cristina shrugs and continues to eat. She does make sure that Jim eats his whenever they make stops, and he’s taken a couple of bites, but that was it. Jim really hasn’t said much all since he left the house, and it’s really worrying the woman.

She finally decides to break the silence. She takes a deep breath. “Your family’s pretty interesting.” She figures that she can get Jim to talk about what’s been going on if she starts the conversation that way.

Jim slowly shakes his head, frowning with his eyes still on the road. “No, not really.”

Cristina slowly nods. “Well I mean, your father’s pretty quiet...”

“He’s an asshole.”

She looks up at him at that. “Your mother seems nice.”

“She’s got issues.”

“Does she?”

Jim sighs, wondering why the fuck they’re talking about his family. “I...I’d rather not talk about my family right now.”

Cristina’s eyes are glued to the road as well. “Why not?”

“They’re not exactly my kind of family.”

Cristina nods at that reply and she shrugs. “Well, I...” she sighs, “well, I kind of figured the relationship you two have when I overheard you guys.” She figures that she might as well just spill it out now. Jim looks over at the woman at that for a moment, before she continues, “I mean...” she looks at Jim then, “Don’t get me wrong, Jim. I think you’re a very nice man, very kind and I think you’re kind of cute. I mean, I didn’t know if you wanted something more with me or not. And, you know, if you are, I’ll be willing to see what we can about that. If not, I’m okay, too. But I think I’d really like some honesty.” She looks down again, really hoping that Jim isn’t mad at her for saying that.

Jim raises an eyebrow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I mean, I don’t want to be a cover up for some guy so that he can prove his family that he likes women.” As soon as Jim hears that, he sighs and shakes his head. This is just perfect. Now on top of everything, Cristina probably thinks he isn’t someone to be trusted.

“I don’t know what you heard from us, but I...” he sighs. “Yeah, it was partly to prove my mother that I still like women.” He bites his lip. “But I really like you...”

Cristina sighs. “Well, I think you’re a really great guy, James.”

“I know you probably don’t want to date me or anything.”

She looks on sadly at that. “I think that maybe...you should think about what you want out of your life, James, and who you really want to be with.” She smiles supportively, beginning to understand his predicament as far as she is concerned. “I mean, we should take some time and you need to figure out what you need. Don’t let your parents or friends think you need to be with someone.” Jim slowly swallows at those words. “And, well if you decide for yourself that you’d be happier with me, I’ll be here. I’m not really looking for anyone else, but I’ll be here. If you’re happier with...with a guy, or just happy alone, I’ll support that.” She reaches in to touch Jim’s hand, squeezing it gently.

Jim has pretty much lost the will to say anything other than, “All right,” with a whisper.

_____

Sid is watching and chuckling at something on the television, having just been back from dinner. He was itching for a cigarette or a blunt for awhile, and he finally decided to take the latter. So he’s not yet high, but he’s getting there. He knows that Jim probably doesn’t mind the smell, and if he does, well there’s the cinnamon-scented air freshener in the bathroom. He looks up from the television as Jim enters the apartment, and he smiles. “Hey man, how was it?”

Well, Jim doesn’t even bother to look at Sid or answer. Shivering slightly from the cold, he simply walks to his room. Sid doesn’t know if he intentionally slammed his door or not, but either way, the DJ can’t help but raise an eyebrow. At first, he turns to the television, but then when the commercials come on, he takes the initiative to go over to Jim’s room and ask what’s going on.

He gently knocks on the man’s door and says, “You know, usually you don’t slam doors, so I’m guessing something’s wrong?”

There’s a moment of silence before he hears Jim reply, “I don’t wanna talk about it”

Sid sighs. “Is your door locked?”

“No.” Of course, Jim regrets saying that because Sid opens the door and steps inside his room, looking around before looking down at the tall guy. Jim is on the bed, and he hadn’t bothered to takes of his shoes or coat. He turns to Sid and sighs as he sits up. “What is it?”

Sid simply shrugs. “Well, I dunno, I can’t be concerned when you don’t say anything and slam doors?”

Jim shrugs. “Well, I dunno, maybe I just don’t feel like talking about it?” He does add this with sarcasm.

Sid nods. “Okay, so did Cristina dump you?”

Jim glares at him, wanting to say, What part of ‘I don’t wanna talk about it’ do you not get? But he sighs. “Not really, but she isn’t looking to dating me until I ‘find’ myself,” he mutters. “Why?” Sid blinks. “Do you also want me to talk about how I sometimes want to strangle my own parents? Because I do.” He hangs his head low and runs his fingers through his hair to push it back. “They think that I brought her here as a cover-up, and then...” he lets out a trembling sigh, “then I was forced to talk one of my uncles and it’s just...I’m tired of all of them, and they take no responsibility, and my mother thinks her brother is the best thing in the fucking world, and she refuses to believe that the man fucking molested her own son when he was a kid, and she has the gall to get me to talk to him! God, she’s such a stupid woman and my father thinks I’m not worth talking to, either. I really wish I could break something right now before I fucking lose it, so that all you want from me? If so, get the hell out of my face so I can sleep. I’m so fucking cold right now I can just light a fire.” He could also use a cigarette, and he sighs deeply, running out of breath for talking like that.

Unsurprisingly, Sid can only blink at that, and he shakes his head. “Well, first off, it’s interesting to see how you are when you’re pissed off.”

Jim rolls his eyes.

“Secondly, did I hear that right about your uncle? That he did something to you, and she didn’t believe you? What kind of shit is that, James? No, seriously, why did you even go to them if they were gonna treat you like shit?!” Sid decides to take it a step further. “I don’t...why are you here/?” Jim slowly looks up at the younger man. “I mean, your family’s full of shit, and you complain about the fucking cold up here. I just wanna know why you’re here, because I’m beginning to think that you had a good reason to get away, and if I were in that position, I would /not feel homesick.”

Jim swallows uneasily, absolutely hating it when people can read his mind. But there’s no way he can tell Sid that he’s actually in hiding.

“I mean, I knew your family had problems, but I didn’t think it was that bad!”

“I can’t really tell you why I’m here,” Jim confesses. And Sid raises an eyebrow at that.

“And why not?”

“I just can’t. It’s too fucking complicated, and there’s not right way to explain it.”

Thankfully, the marijuana in Sid’s brain causes him to drop the subject for now. “Okay, fine. But don’t go around and telling people that you’re homesick when in fact you’re not.” He walks over to sit by Jim. “I’m sorry all that happened to you, man. You don’t and didn’t deserve any shit that’s happened to you. You really don’t.” Jim can only swallow and close his eyes. “Is Cristina willing to at least hang out with you again?”

“Think so.”

“Good. And we’re all here for you. I know Corey is because you guys’ve known each other for a very long time.”

Jim simply nods.

Sid sighs and lies down on the bed. “Well, you know...I don’t know why you think your story’s hard to explain or weird or anything like that. Like, I told you that my parents are from England, right?” Jim turns to the younger man, and he nods, wondering where he’s going with this. Sid looks up at the man and smiles. “You wanna know how my parents arrived here?”

Jim shrugs. “Sure.”

Sid sits up again, and he clears his throat. “Well, I really don’t know the whole story, but my dad used to work for this one place, and things were pretty much nice and dandy, you know?”

“Where did he work at?”

“Doesn’t matter. But then these guys started making so much trouble, picking on workers and shit like that, and then one day, my dad had enough.” Jim blinks at that. “Unfortunately, when he told them that they better stop, they started beating the fuck out of him, and my mom got scared and told him that they’re moving to the States. So they got into an airplane and moved to Des Moines. And dad whistled for a cab, and when it came near, the license plate said, ‘fresh’ and it had a dice in the mirror. So they pulled to a new house, about seven and eight, and he yelled to the, ‘Yo homes, smell ya later.’ Looked at his kingdom, he was finally there to sit in his throne as the prince of Des Moines.” Sid gives Jim a very silly grin when he was finished with his story.

Jim can only stare back at Sid for a very long time before he finally got it. And when he did, he rolls his eyes, albeit with a small smile, and he shakes his head. “I see what you did there,” he finally says.

Sid chuckles. “Yeah, but at least I got you to smile. I dunno, I’m a bit high and I was watching the show.”

“I see,” Jim replies, trying not to chuckle. “So what’s the real reason your parents moved here?”

“They just wanted to.” Sid then stands up and walks over to the door, leaning on the doorframe. “So, come watch The Fresh Prince with me. There’s a marathon, and I think Carlton’s about to lose his virginity and then get dumped. And you need a laugh, and I won’t accept no for an answer.”

Jim raises an eyebrow before he gives in and sighs. “Sure, okay.”

Sid smiles then. “Good.”