No One Older (Pt 2)

## Meta

**Timing:** Six weeks after they meet, I think.

**Setting:** Lily and Kisten's flat

## Text

After seventeen damp blocks—

That's two fewer than Charlie's age.

Yep. Hell. Him. Going.

And he's ruined her life.

—he rings a doorbell.

Lily opens the door.

Jackson drips on the mat, sketches a wave without looking up.

"Oh god," groans Lily, "you broke up."

"She's nineteen," Jackson mumbles sadly.

"What're you talking about?"

""Who're you talking to?"" yells someone deeper inside the flat.

"She's a kid—"

"It's Jack!" Lily calls over her shoulder.

"—an' I'm—"

"Get in here before you freeze." Lily grabs Jackson by the collar and drags him inside "Maybe you'll make sense when you dry out," she mutters.

Jackson manages—barely—not to trip over his own feet.

"Shoes off."

Jackson paws at his laces with numb fingers, eventually settling for just kicking them off.

""I thought we agreed to a 'no exes' policy!""

Lily rolls her eyes. "Jack is /**so** ex he doesn't count!"

Jackson almost smiles.

"Off with that, then."

"Wha?"

"Your jumper, wombat."

Why does she want his jumper ...?

"You wanna catch your death?"

Sooner rather than later.

"Dear lord." Lily rallies herself. "Whatever it is, the world's not ending."

Yes, it is.

"Okay, you're ruining my floor."

Jackson looks down.

Dark patch of carpet around his feet.

"Oh."

"Jumper?"

He peels off his top layer and hands it over.

"And just like that, you're dripping considerably less." She steers him to a kitchen chair, disappears into another room.

Jackson drops his head to the table, not, alas, hard enough to crack his skull.

Not even hard enough to give him a concussion.

Or knock him unconscious.

Or do anything so kind as to remove him from this nightmare.

"You're being dramatic again."

And a towel drapes itself over him.

"Thanks," he mumbles.

Lily pulls out a chair and settles in. "What's this about—"

"So /**you're** Jackson," says the roommate.

He's too blue to jump.

Lily folds her hands in her lap. "Jack, this is Kisten. Kisten, Jackson."

The roommate grabs some celery sticks. "He's a lot ... emo-er than the pictures."

"He had a fight with Charlie," Lily explains.

"I vaguely recall that name."

"Girlfriend."

Jackson mopes. "Not according to her."

"What happened?" asks Lily.

"She's nineteen," he mumbles.

Kisten curls her lip, "You're screwing a teenager?"

Jackson cringes.

"She's not nineteen," Lily says immediately. "C'mon, Jack."

She hauls him to his feet and drags him to the stairs.

The roommate follows. "Creep."

"Kisten!"

Between them, Jackson folds into a smaller target as they shuffle into Lily's room.

"Lily, he's—"

"She isn't nineteen," Lily snaps, sitting in her desk chair with all the grace of a queen.

Jackson props himself up on Lily's bed, mumbles, "That's what she told them."

"Then you misheard her or something."

Kisten gives Jackson a dirty look and flops onto the carpet.

"We'll get to the bottom of this." Lily powers up her laptop, flexes her knuckles. "She may be lying, Jack."

"Why would she lie?"

Kisten rolls her eyes. "Because women /**always** lie about their age."

"Does that mean—"

"Except me, Jack," assures Lily.

Kisten snorts.

Lily gives her the evil eye. To Jackson she asks, "What's her full name?"

"Charlotte Kirra Darling."

"Birthplace?"

"Uh ... somewhere in Queensland?"

Lily sighs. "I guess that's better than nothing."

She types away, humming occasionally. After a few minutes, she offers Jackson a view of her screen. "This her?"

"Yea."

"Lessee, local paper has eight mentions, including that article. Earliest is a notice on behalf of Mrs and Mr Darling announcing their baby girl arrived the day before, so April sixteenth, nineteen-ninety-six, which makes her—"

"Nineteen," says Jackson hopelessly.

"I don't believe it," declares Lily. "She looks our age."

"I /**know**," Jackson whines, bangs his head against the headboard. "I feel like a dirty old man."

"That's 'cause you are."

"/**Shut.** /**Up.** /**Kisten.**"

Kisten makes an obscene gesture. "Spreading truth, here."

"You're talking 'truth' to a law student."

Kisten grudgingly concedes.

"Exactly." Lily smiles. "First things first. Jackson?"

A somewhat human sound.

"Stop being dramatic and explain what attracted you to her."

Jackson thinks for a moment, probably unaware of the dopey smile sneaking onto his face. "Her hair. It's—" He sighs dreamily. "She's just so cool."

"She's a teenager," Kisten says flatly. "They're not cool. Nothing about this situation is cool."

"I'm going to kill myself now." Jackson pulls the pillow from behind his back and smothers himself.

Lily snatches it, puts it behind her back. "Not with my pillow."

"Got anything else I can use?"

"You're not going to kill yourself."

"I'm /**so** going to hell for this."

"And whose fault would that be?"

Jackson scowls and slouches even farther down.

Kisten looks down her nose at him. "You are /**disgusting**."

Jackson makes failwhale sounds, hides his head in his arms.

Lily internally steels herself. "Kisten, he doesn't need to feel attacked right now."

"He totally does."

"It's not even Wednesday," Jackson whines.

"That's only for wearing pink," Kisten sneers.

"C'mon," says Lily, "she's the same age I was when Jack and I started dating."

"So this /**is** a thing for him."

Lily twists around. "Seriously? Quit it."

"But—"

Jackson makes a grab for the pillow, tips off the bed, and lands on the floor with a dull thud. Muffled in the rug, "Just kill me."

Lily rolls her eyes.

Kisten—

"Don't even."

"Lily—"

"Did you date him? No. So you don't get to act like this."

"He's dating a /**kid**."

"He's dating a teenager, but he's not dating her /**because** she's a teenager. In fact, that may be why they break up. So shut up or get out."

"Happily," Kisten sneers. "I'll see myself out." Tosses her hair. "Probably need a chemical shower to get these creeper vibes off." She pauses at the door, asks sweetly, "You want me to burn anything?"

Lily replies with a smile full of knives, "Please go."

Kisten flounces out.

Jackson whimpers.

A door slams.

"Ignore her, Jack."

A grunt.

Lily worms her foot into his ribs. "Get up so we can talk."

A whine.

"I have no idea what you said."

He rolls onto his side. "I'm going to jail." Flops back onto his face.

"I don't want dead person in my carpet."

Jackson makes a sound not unlike a dying whale but pushes himself up and slumps against the bed. 'Better?' his eyes ask mournfully.

Lily checks a sigh. "Jack, honey—" Takes his hands. "—in the eyes of the law, Charlie's legally an adult /**and** she's /**way** over the age of consent."

"But if she's—Can she /**actually**—Aaarrrg!" He topples over. "I've ruined her life."

Lily remains patient. "Okay. 'Operation: Is Charlie an adult' is now underway. Mobile, please?"

Jackson grunts, hands it over.

"Thank you~."

Beeping.

"Oh, fuck no, Lily, you can't—"

Lily rolls her chair out of reach.

—and Jackson hits the carpet. "Lily—!"

/Her mobile's to her ear and she holds up a hand.

Dying, strangled sounds; Jackson covers his head.

"I'm calling on behalf of the University of Sydney students' association. Is this Charlie Darling?"

Dear god, it's the Cheerleading voice.

"Hi," chirps Lily. "Sorry to disturb you so late; would you mind answering a few questions for a survey?"

Jackson dares look up.

"First of all, what program are you taking?"

Biogeochemistry.

"Year of study?"

First?

Jackson swallows a whine.

"What classes are you taking?" Lily`s heel connects with his shoulder.

Ornithology, fluid dynamics, and five others.

Lily scribbles down the course codes. "And your average?"

Jackson rolls onto his back.

"What's your living situation like?"

Rental suite within cycling distance of the university.

Jackson beams. A rental suite wherein he has a drawer.

And then his heart sinks—

"Are you currently employed?"

Yes, but he's not entirely sure as what.

"That's it! Thank you /**very** much for participating in our demographic survey. Have a /**lovely** evening!" Lily hangs up, stares at her notepad. "Holy shit." Spins around. "She`s in first year and taking /**grad** classes?"

Jackson shrugs helplessly.

"Christ." Lily sags in her chair. "A science program, overloaded courses, grad classes, a ninety-two average, her own apartment, and she's employed." Pouts. "/**I** feel inadequate."

"Aw, Lily, you were doing all that!"

"Minus the grad courses."

"But plus a ton of volunteering."

She perks up. "Good point." Smirks. "Took you four more years to get that shit together."

Jackson ducks his head.

"It is my opinion, Jack, that Charlie is an adult whose age so happens to end in 'teen'." Leans forward. "You're not going to hell /**or** to jail." She grins. "Unless it's for stalking."

He looks away.

"Jack!"

"I /**may** conveniently happen to be in the same place at the same time as her?"

"Seriously?!"

"She's—it's hard to have a conversation with her, so ...." He shrugs. "I try to give us as many different things to talk about as I can."

Lily's turn to have a dopey smile.

"What?"

"That is sooo cute."

Jackson buries his face in his hands, pink creeping up his neck and ears.

Lily nudges his leg with a toe. "You and Charlie had a little row. It's nothing big."

Jackson shakes his head sadly.

Her eyes soften. "You really, really like her."

Swallows, rubs his neck. "I think so?"

Lily smiles gently. "Yeeeaaa, you're totally gone for this one. I haven't seen so many dopey smiles on you since we were first going out."

"And I blew it."

Lily nudges him again. "You had a /**fight**. No big deal."

Jackson hangs his head.

"Besides, I think she likes you, too."

Jackson mumbles.

"Her voice was all thick and nasally and she kept pausing and inhaling."

Jackson doesn't get it.

"Like she'd been crying? Because she was upset about something? Something like … oh, I dunno, mourning the loss of someone whom she cared about even if she ended it herself?"

A little tiny bit more optimistic.

"She`s probably one of those people who cuts and runs rather than risking vulnerability or pain." She continues gingerly, "I think you just scared her."

Another, pathetic, dying sound.

"You apologize, you wombat."

The pitiful noises continue.

"If you're worried about it and forfeiting your tough guy-card, or whatever, you gave that up the instant you got the tattoo."

A laugh threatens to break out. "You've never liked it, have you?"

"Jack, you're the only person I know who actually /**branded** himself a nerd."

"Not an insult," huffs Jackson."

Lily snorts.

"Seriously, Lil, why do you put up with me?"

She ruffles his hair.

He doesn't bother to swat at her.

"Because you're a great guy who also happens to be a nerd." Lily glances at the laptop clock. "Aaaand a guy who's missed his train home." She stands. "Guess you'll be staying over."

"Wha?"

"You're sleeping on our couch tonight."

"Umm, what?"

"You missed your train? You can crash on the couch and catch one in the morning."

Jackson groans, scrubs his face. "I'm sooo useless."

"C'mon, drama llama." She tugs him to his feet and downstairs to the living room and the couch. "It's a little short, but I'm sure you can make do."

Jackson sighs.

Lily rolls her eyes. "I'll get you every spare blanket in the place."

He plops down. "You don—"

"Yes, I do. I know how you work, Jackson 'Human Heat Sink' Jones."

Jackson snorts.

Lily pads off.

Jackson has the throw pillows neatly stacked at one end when a stack of blankets and a warm beanbag land in his lap. He cracks a smile. "You're lending me the leech?"

"No one's in need of cramp relief, so I figured, why waste it on a closet?"

"Kisten won't mind?"

"Kisten won't /**know**."  Assesses her work. "Hopefully you won't freeze too badly overnight." Smiles. "Sleep well, Jack."

"You, too, Lil."