Jacob Aster

She knew there would be a lot of waiting now, waiting for Jacob to understand, to become comfortable with her again, to remember. She wondered if he ever would. Betty gave a small smile. “Yes, that’s a good place to start. You can trust me,” she said quietly. “You don’t have to yet, I know this must be very strange but…you can trust me,” she added with a nod. “Is there anything I should take note of? Things that might make you uncomfortable?” 

“I think he did… I mean, I don’t know for sure, I never told you and we never really talked about it, but I don’t think he had any reason not to tell you.” Lola had never asked Jake, because she didn’t want to talk about Kenny’s condition behind his back, or without his permission.

“Yeah, you’re in line to be the next Guardian of Hope.” She told him, specifically opting not to mention that it was also the role of the Easter Bunny. “The Guardian of Hope is one of those responsible for looking out for all the children of the world, protecting them from evil and making sure that hope stays alive in their hearts.” She explained. “That’s about right, you love a good workout… did you want to go to the gym sometime? We could… go together, if you want.”

Jacob hums absently thinking of the strange friend he was living with before shaking his head. He’d had many opinions on the kid, so he trusted that he would be good to hi, no matter his state of mind.

Lola shrugged. “He didn’t tell you? Well, he’s not that odd, considering… he promised me he’d tell me if the voices wanted him to do anything bad.” She was concerned about it, but Kenny was an adult. She wouldn’t make him seek help unless there were signs he might hurt himself or others.

“You were never lazy,” she disagreed, sitting down on the towel next to him again. “And I’m pretty sure you know every language in the world as it is, that’s a lot to know already. You just didn’t want to spend a lot of time learning something you wouldn’t use, since you already know what you’re going to do. The only reason you even came to University is because I was going and we wanted to live together.” She explained, Jake had never said as much but it was what she’d always figured. “Besides, you spent so many hours at the gym everyday, I don’t think you wanted to spend that time studying instead.”

“If we’re supposed to be such good friends before all this memory stuff right? Do you think he told me about it before?” he wondered. Maybe it was something that Lola had figured out one day and taken a vow of silence about it. 

Lola had never paused to wonder if his skin could burn, but the sun was damaging anyway so she figured the sunscreen couldn’t hurt him. She giggled when Jake echoed her thoughts about Kenny, and she finished up with his back, wiping her hands on a towel as she stood up.

“Well, his father was known as the Mad Hatter.” She explained, that was why Kenny was so focused on semantics. “Tell me if he does anything too weird… he’s had a handle on the voices for a while but I still like to check up on him now and then.” She worried about him, even if she didn’t voice it often. “Yeah, I think you just wanted a major you could ace. But you met Kenny there, so it was worth it.”

Jacob looked up at her as she stood above him speaking. The news about voices in Kennys head was certainly just that news. Jacobs brows furrowed as he thought about it. “He has voices in his head? He hadn’t seemed that odd to me.” he comments with a frown.

Her eyebrows rose slightly at the use of third person, to refer to himself. Betty paused again, lowering her gaze to their feet so she could think. None of this felt right, all she wanted to do was find whoever cursed him and make them change him back – but she also knew she couldn’t just leave him like this. It felt so wrong watching Jacob act like the brother she knew no longer existed.

“Well…I’ve known you for a long time. If you have any questions or…if you wanted to know anything, anything at all…I’ll answer them for you. We…we don’t lie to each other,” she added softly, almost hesitating to mention it.

He looked across the small girl next to him. How was the other Jacob friends with so many small people? Small, nice, and kind people. He didn’t understand as so many people avoided him he supposed because of either his size, the tattoos or they knew him from before. He knew he was described as unapproachable by some in the other Jacobs classes. 

Betty continued to feel at a loss on what to do to help Jacob, but now there was an overwhelming sense of pity too. It was hard not to, though she fought it off as much as she could. She knew Jake didn’t like being pitied now, she assumed he wouldn’t like it either in his current state. 

“…if you don’t want to go to classes, you don’t have to,” she said, quiet but firm. “In a situation like this…you need to take your time. Do the things that would make you feel comfortable. So…unless you like going to class and find comfort in that, then I don’t think you need to go to class,” Betty decided, with a short nod.

Lola stood up once he was finished, moving around behind him to take her turn smoothing the sunscreen over his muscular back, reminding her body to be good while she was touching him. This was purely professional, health-related touching, she told herself even as her stomach twisted.

“I don’t think you ever did meet her, actually. I only met her once, at a clothing store. She was odd.” She didn’t want to say bad things about Kenny’s ex, so she left it there, even knowing Kenny could be a little odd himself. “How are your classes? That professor still giving you a hard time?” She knew that Jake had used to like correcting one of his professors back when he had his memories, and that professor always gave him a hard time, only now Jake had no memory of why.

He sat still as she ran her hands over his back. He was fine with it for ow. He recognised that this was so that he didn’t burn, though hearing about his healing factor he wondered if he even could burn in the sun. 

The way he touched her skin sent a shiver up her spine, making her crave more contact. She missed little touches like that, the way he would touch her back or her leg whenever she was close enough. She leaned into his touch before she could stop herself, her body responding to his automatically, instinctively.

“I never liked her,” Lola admitted. She’d never said as much to Kenny, but she rarely liked her siblings’ significant others and Kenny was probably as close to her as her siblings were. “She was never good enough for him. Is he very upset? Aside from the break up music.”

He pulled his hands away from her once he wad one, noticing the way she lent back and beating a hasty retreat before things got too strange for them both. He wasn’t opposed to the contact as he might have been weeks ago, but it was still a sort of strange feeling to know she knew him so much better than  he knew her.

Lola finished putting her sunscreen everywhere she could reach, then she moved closer to him, kneeling next to him and pulling her hair forward over her shoulder to expose her back.

“What’ve you and Kenny been up to lately?” She asked, although it seemed weird to make small talk with him. Normally she’d know everything going on in his life, he’d text her about anything out of the ordinary and they’d talk about everything. Or, sometimes she’d just talk and he’d listen. She missed knowing what was going on with him, she missed living with him and sharing their lives. She even felt guilty coming here today, knowing that she should be working on a cure.

It was almost unconscious the way he reached for her back as she got closer. Running his hands gently over her skin as she moved her hair to the side. He’d catch himself frowning at the odd moment before deciding that it was probably something automatic he used to do.

“You really were.” Are? “But a lovable grumpy old man,” she added, chuckling. Betty took the phone, her eyebrows rising slowly. She immediately went ahead to find the photos, scrolling through the promised pictures of herself and the rest of the Guardian children. Their family. Betty pressed her lips together, and handed him back the phone. “…how are you feeling? With all of this?” she asked.