Call: Lauren to Sky

[mona_abernathy]

Date: January 22, 2012
Characters: Lauren Jackson (NPC), Aleksy Jozwik, Mona Abernathy
Location: Respective locations
Status: Private
Summary: Lauren takes matters into her own hands.
Completion: Complete

Comments

[aleksy_jozwik]

Sundays were usually a day Sky opted to be at the Center, most of the other employee's disliked working and the volunteers were even more against coming in. So it was always a shorter staffed day, so he liked to at least be on hand. Some might call him a workaholic, he just preferred to call it being invested in his job.

He was seated at his desk doing paperwork when his cellphone buzzed, alerting him to an incoming call. Reaching for his phone, he smiled slightly when the caller id came up with Mona's name and number. It wasn't often that she called him at work, though he enjoyed the times when she did. "Hey." Sky answered the phone, waiting to hear Mona's voice on the other end of the line, curious to know why she might be calling.

[mona_abernathy]

Lauren quirked a brow at that one-word answer to the phone call, wondering if this man answered all his calls that way, or if that was the treatment he saved for just her daughter. No matter, there was a point to calling him, and she’d better get to it. “Hello, Sky,” she said, not wording it as a question as she new whom she was calling. “This is Lauren Jackson, Mona’s mother. I was wondering if you had a moment?” Mona had mentioned he worked at a kids center, so she imagined he could be working, and she would jot down his number to call him again another time if he didn’t have a moment to speak with her now.

[aleksy_jozwik]

Sky realized fairly quickly that the person he was speaking with was not Mona, even before the woman identified herself. Shit, had Mona given her mother his number? Would Mona do that, and why would Mona do that? He reached up with his free hand and ran it through his hair, trying to gather himself before answering. "Hello, Mrs. Jackson." He replied, realizing his earlier greeting feel very short of polite in this situation. "A moment?" Sky glanced out the door of his office, noting that everything seemed to be under control. "Yeah, I have a moment." Might as well get this phone call over with, although he didn't exactly know why Mona's mother was calling.

[mona_abernathy]

Well, at least he seemed to have the sense to give her a more proper, respectful greeting, Lauren thought with a small measure of amusement. “Wonderful,” she said when he told her he had a moment. “I’m calling because Mona has yet to let us know when you might be available to join us for dinner. Charles and I would very much like to meet you,” she told him, though her tone made it pretty clear that it wasn’t really a request. “I was wondering if you are available to join us for Sunday dinner on February the fifth?” And she had a handful of other dates she could suggest if that wouldn’t work for him. She wasn’t going to let the call end without having set this up. Mona would likely be furious with her, but she would get over it.

[aleksy_jozwik]

Something in her tone told Sky that this wasn't a phone call that had been authorized by Mona, and her words kind of confirmed that even more. What would she think if he agreed to a date for dinner with her parents without talking to her first? They weren't dating, which would be the normal situation in which you'd meet someone's parents. But they were having a kid together, which somehow he thought trumped the whole 'dating' thing. "We haven't really settled on a date for that yet..." Though they had talked about it at least once after the initial conversation. He knew that tone, and knew Mrs. Jackson hadn't really been asking him, moreso telling him that he'd be having dinner with them. "February fifth? Far as I know I'm free." Sky answered, still feeling a little uneasy about having not spoken with Mona about this again, first.

[mona_abernathy]

Lauren’s eyebrows shot up when Sky said they hadn’t settled on a date for it. Really, how hard was it to pick a date to meet the parents of the woman you’d knocked up? That wasn’t an acceptable excuse in her mind, though she knew Mona would have likely given the same excuse, and had done so several times over the last few weeks. “Wonderful. Then we will see you here on February fifth at five o’clock.” She was looking forward to meeting him, though she didn’t want to make that clear from the start. She could see how much happier Mona was since she’d started this relationship with this man, and if he made Mona happy, that was almost good enough for her. Now Charles, on the other hand, would likely be a different story. “It was good to talk to you, good bye now,” she said, not wanting to keep him now that she’d got what she was after. She’d talk to him more when he came for dinner

[aleksy_jozwik]

Sky really was trying hard to ignore the uneasy feeling he felt at a date being decided upon without Mona being in the loop, actually this whole conversation made him more uneasy then he was willing to admit. Talking with Mona's mother, deciding upon a date for dinner with her parents, all these things were things he would have liked to have done in the presences of Mona. "Okay." He replied, fairly certain that Mrs. Jackson didn't need a further reply then that. "Nice talking to you too, bye." That had to be the briefest and most too the point conversation he'd ever held, which he could respect the woman for as he was more than happy to make conversations quick

[mona_abernathy]

Mona felt the irrational urge to laugh at the hesitant way Sky’s voice sounded, and if the circumstances were different, she might have done just that. As it was, she did not laugh, choosing instead to quickly respond. “It’s me, Sky,” she said softly. “I’m sorry about my mom calling you. I swear I’m gonna take my phone in the bathroom with me anytime I shower now.” Her voice was low, almost grumbling, her annoyance with her mother clear. She felt like she was seventeen again so much with her parents these days, and it didn't help that they often treated her like she was.

[aleksy_jozwik]

Sky felt just a hair foolish at just how relieved he was when he heard Mona's voice on the other end of the line. "Thank god." he muttered, not sure he could handle conversing with Mona's mom again. "Don't apologize, I survived it." Sky really didn't think Mona needed to feel apologetic about the phone call, after all how was she supposed to know her Mom would steal her phone like that. "So did she tell you about dinner?" He asked hesitantly, still feeling a bit apologetic that a date had been decided upon with Mona's knowledge.

[mona_abernathy]

Mona did chuckle under her breath at Sky’s muttering, knowing it was silly to be so happy that he was relieved that it was her. “Good to hear,” she said simply, realizing that it probably wouldn’t do any good to reiterate that she was sorry or disagree that it was something to apologize about. “Yeah, she did. February fifth.” She knew that this was partly her fault, that if she’d been more proactive about setting it up with Sky herself, her mother wouldn’t have felt the need to go behind her back and do it. “I can figure out a way to get you out of it if you want,” she offered, though she knew it would probably be easier and best to just go along with it, get this dinner out of the way.

[aleksy_jozwik]

Sky caught the chuckle and had to smile slightly, knowing she was laughing at him and not really caring about it. He was relieved she knew about the dinner and what day it was going to be, and he shook his head at her offer, despite the fact that Mona couldn't actually see him. "Nah, going to have to meet your parents at some point." He replied, knowing he couldn't put it off indefinitely. After all they were having a kid together. "Might as well do it sooner rather than later." He was impressed when he didn't even sound slightly apprehensive about this. "Wondering if they'd mind Juls tagging along...." Sky was mostly teasing, though his sister was a better people person than he was.

[mona_abernathy]

“Yeah, I know,” Mona said then sighed. It wasn’t that she was worried about them meeting, well not completely anyway, it was just that she wanted to keep this, him, all to herself. “Yeah, but if I know them, it’s not gonna end with just one dinner,” she pointed out not to scare him off, but to prepare him. Now that she was definitely back in Fort Worth to stay, she had no doubt that her mother was going to be determined to stay actively a part of her life. “Oh!” she said with a note of excitement. “That’s a really good idea. If anyone could divert their attention, it would be Juls! D’you think she’d want to come?” She also planned to find out if Miranda was going to be there, which would be an even better excuse to have Jula come along. If her sister was going to be there, why shouldn’t his sister be there, too? And it couldn’t hurt to have someone else there that would be on Sky’s side, so to speak.

[aleksy_jozwik]

"Anyway, it's not like I can avoid them. They're our kid's grandparents and all, since I plan on raising the kid with you I should also plan on interacting with your family." It only made sense to him, even if the idea didn't thrill him. "Didn't think it would." He answered honestly, having already prepared himself for the fact that he'd be doing things like this on a more regular basis. Which brought up the thought that at some point once the kid's born he and Mona should visit his family, even if the thought didn't thrill him, his Mom would want to meet her grandchild. "Juls? Oh yeah, she loves things like this." Sky replied with a hint of amusement at the way the idea had seemed to perk Mona up a bit. His kid sister really was great with social situations and enjoyed them, plus he thought it might be nice to have someone from his family there, even if he would maybe prefer Dominik to be there instead.

[mona_abernathy]

Mona rather thought Sky was far too logical sometimes. “I know, I know,” she said, pouting just a little. She loved her parents, really, and she was even grateful to them for everything they’d done for her, but that didn’t mean she wanted them involved in every part of her life. And, okay, so she knew that this wasn’t just any part of her life, this was a huge part of her life, but still. Mona wasn’t at all surprised that Jula enjoyed things like this dinner - the way she’d been the night they’d met was a pretty good indicator of that. “So you’ll get her to come, then?” She was sure that if Jula was there, it would help keep things like. If the girl hadn’t wilted under Mona’s short, awkward responses, she was sure Jula could handle her parents, who were far more social that she was.

[aleksy_jozwik]

Sky knew that sometimes he could be a little too logical, but he couldn't change who he was or how he looked at things. "We can survive this." He remarked with a faint smile. "They aren't going to take over our life together." Sky wouldn't allow it, he enjoyed his time with Mona too much to start spending all of it at social gatherings with her family. "Yeah, it won't take much to convince her. " Far as he knew Jula was desperate for social interactions, and he really did think his sister's presences at dinner would be helpful, at least for him.

[mona_abernathy]

“I know,” Mona said softly, and then she couldn’t help the way she smiled at the way he said ‘our life together,’ loving the sound of that far more than she thought she was ready to admit. It was silly to get giddy over something so simple, especially considering they’d already discussed her moving in with him. She knew it was probably silly to be so relieved that he’d be bringing Jula to this dinner, but she was. “Good,” she said simply. “I should probably let you get back to work. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Because they really were trying that whole planning to see each other thing rather than just randomly getting together.