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“If you touch that, you will die.”
Your hand stops, just an inch from its destination, frozen.
You turn back to Alex and gape.
And you frown.
“Alex!” you whine.
Because your dummy sister is wearing her ‘I gotcha’ smirk.
“Sorry, Kar, sorry,” she chuckles. “You’re just too easy sometimes.”
You pout. You’d like to point out that if Eliza were around she would smack Alex’s head upside down for making Kara panic. But, you have been living with the Danvers for a year now, you have learnt that bringing up Eliza will make Alex shut down.
Even when it’s thanks to Eliza that you are here in the first place.
“You are mean,” you chose to say instead, turning your nose up to her.
Alex sticks her tongue out to you. “Come, Alf,” she says with that little grin that’s reserved just your you. “Let’s buy our tickets and then you can touch anything you’d like.”
You let Alex tug at your interwoven hands towards the Museum’s entrance. Eliza is busy all day with lectures down at Boston University and she gave Alex enough money to last you for a day of activities, even when the money came with a firm reminder that Alex is to take good care of you and to make sure you don’t stand out that much.
You still don’t get why Eliza insists on ‘reminding’ Alex to care for you. Alex cares for you a plenty already… she no longer hangs around with her friends, she doesn’t go surfing as much as she used to, she feeds you breakfast every morning and makes sure to pack your lunch for school, she sits with you every night to do homework and she’s always there to tuck you in at night.
Since Jeremiah’s death, it feels like all of Alex’s free time is spent making sure you’re well taken care of… and most of her not-so-free time too.
She always does everything in her power to teach you and care for you, so, when Eliza’s busy work landed the three of you in Boston for two weeks, Alex decided that the first stop you needed to make is the Museum of Science.
“It’ll be fun. You can see how some things work here and it is child-friendly, so you won’t get bored,” Alex said the night before, once Eliza was asleep on one of the room’s bed and you two were huddled together in the other, under the covers.
“I’m not a child anymore,” you protested.
Alex smiled. “You are to me, little alien.”
So, that’s how you find yourselves at the Museum’s entrance a minute after they open their doors.
“Two full-price tickets, please,” Alex asks politely to the old man at the booth. “Oh, and add the planetarium entrance cost too, please.”
He looks at you two and smiles with a little mischievous glint to his eye as he readies the tickets. “Aren’t you two supposed to be at school?”
You frown. Yeah, it’s Monday and it’s the middle of the semester, but why would he care?
“Oh, no, sir,” Alex says, ever so politely, giving him the necessary money. You know she is annoyed, though, with how her hand is clenching yours. “Mom has work and we had to tag along for the ride. We’re not from around here.”
The old man nods. “Well, have fun you two,” he says handing the tickets and change to your sister. “The planetarium’s shows are listed in there.”
“Thank you, sir,” Alex says and with a little squeeze of your hand, you’re reminded you have to speak to him too.
“Thank you, sir,” you parrot. “Have a lovely day.”
Social cues, just like this one, are still hard to follow. Back at home one didn’t really speak with anyone if they were strangers and interactions like the one with the booth man were strictly business-like. No greetings, no goodbyes, no good manners as Alex puts it.
It’s weird having to be nice to people you don’t know.
“Do you want to hold onto this?” Alex asks you once you have passed the entrance point. She is offering the change the man gave her. “You can buy us a drink later.”
You are not allowed to use money yet. Understanding how it works is still hard for you and you have come close to losing what Eliza called a fortune twice already. Alex said it was closer to a hundred, but you still don’t get if a hundred is much or not. You are not used to carrying coins and bills around. Besides, only Alex has the patience to let you sort out the numbers and the exchange values in your head before you try paying for something …vendors at Midvale are too impatient and too baffled by your inability to use money that they refuse to sell you anything unless you have come with the exact amount of your purchase already counted.
But, Alex insists the more you use money the easier it will get. So, you put your palm up and receive the money. “You will help, right?” You ask her, just to be sure.
Alex rolls her eyes and the familiar sight of it it’s so comforting. “What kind of question is that? Of course, I’ll help. I can’t have you buying me Coke.”
You smile, wide, warmed by her teasing. “Pepsi is nasty.”
“Says the girl that puts pineapple on her pizza.”
“Says the girl who puts Nutella on her bacon.”
“Touché.” Alex laughs, tugging you deeper into the building. “Come on, Kar, we have much to see and so little time to do it.”
“...we have all day?”
“Ah, you, innocent girl… we’ll be spending at least two days here.”
“Oh.”
XxXxX
The exhibits are amazing and you have so much fun interacting with everything that you could get close to. You liked the Hall of Human Life, but sadly you couldn’t contribute any data to it.
You made Alex donate, though, so at least that’s that.
Learning all about the transportation systems and machines humans have had over the years, was amazing. Alex drives, yes, and she’s teaching you how to behind Eliza’s back, but a car is so complicated and so, so, so, frail… seeing all the ancestors of Alex’s beaten up truck made you have a better idea of how far humans have really come.
Similar to it, Mathematica helped you understand a little bit more of the rudimentary thought process humans have in order to explain science. One of the easier subjects for you to learn, but at the same time one of the more complex to wrap your head around, math is the one subject that Alex spends the most time teaching you. The exhibition was a nice way of re-learning some things Alex has shown you already and it’s always nice to
The Natural Mysteries exhibit was fun too. Playing with rocks, sand and dirt made you remember Krypton and, while it was really different, it made you feel at home for a little bit.
But, seeing Alex making a face at having to drink from your shared Coke, maybe feeling like home wasn’t due to the sand and rocks, but due the girl sitting across you.
“What?” she asks. “Do I have something on my face?”
If she were any other person, you would be a little taken aback by her comment. You have come to learn that particular phrase is mocking and meant to make you feel bad. It’s used by the kids at school to sneer at how you often get lost in thought and how, just as often, you end up staring at someone during one of your daydreams.
Like now.
But, this is Alex.
Alex who is your best friend, your sister. Who enjoys being with you and who loves teaching you.
Alex, who is your protector, and your rock.
Alex, who also always manages to stain her face with anything and everything …and, yep, she is sporting an ink line on her left cheek, probably made by the pen she used to submit her information at the Hall of Human Life.
Hence the question. She always asks you that specific question with honesty.
“A little bit of ink,” you say, pointing to your own cheek. “Right here.”
“Damn.” She rubs at her cheek and she only manages to get her skin red with the friction. “Did I take if off?”
She looks ridiculous. The long hours walking around and her engagement in every activity you have done, has made a mess of her ponytail and her cheek is as red as the sweater she is wearing. And she didn’t manage to erase the ink.
“Yeah, it’s gone.”
Alex sighs and takes another sip of the Coke. “Ugh. Nasty.”
“You don’t have to drink it, you know?”
“And have you drink it all? No. Remember the last time you had that much sugar.”
You shiver. Yeah, you remember.
“C’mon, Alf. The planetarium show is gonna start soon.”
You nod, eager, and take her offered hand. You’ve been sitting and resting – in Alex’s case – for the last twenty minutes and you are getting a little bored.
“Just remember, we can leave at any time. Okay?”
You nod, this time solemn. Alex always reminds you that she won’t get mad if you decide to leave or stop doing something suddenly. You fidget with your glasses. “I’ll be fine, Lexie. Don’t worry.”
She scrunches up her nose. Uh, she has some ink there too. “Don’t call me that.”
You smirk, letting your sister present your tickets. You wait until you’ve entered the space to answer. “But I love Lexie!”
“Don’t, Kara.”
You’re about to pout at her and make your eyes water and tease her some more when you discover what’s a planetarium. ~Oh, Rao…~
“Amazing, isn’t it?”
“This… This…”
“Come, little alien. The show will start in five minutes. We need to find seats.”
You let her lead you around, but your eyes can’t leave the images that are shown above you.
You feel your eyes water, but these are no fake tears. Not like the ones you were ready to pour for Alex a moment before.
“We can leave whenever you want.”
“I-I know…”
XxXxX
Alex’s arms are around you as they have been for most of the last hour. The tears are still dripping down and you sniffle pathetically, your eyes still fixated to the images around you.
She doesn’t talk, she doesn’t try to move. She simply hugs you and combs your hair with her fingers, bearing all your weight on her chest.
In moments like this, you are so grateful she’s taller than you, you can easily against her and she doesn’t mind it one bit.
“Alex?” your voice is rough. Your throat hurts.
“Yes, little alien?”
“… can we come back tomorrow?”
You feel her smile against your temple. “We have two weeks, Kara… we can come back every day if you want. We can come back next summer too. And next winter… and every long weekend if you want.”
You take a deep breath and finally tear your eyes away from the stars and planets above you, and you fix them on Alex. On Alex’s honest smile and shiny eyes.
On the understanding reflected in them… on the care… on the love.
“I love you, Alex,” you whisper against her neck, closing your eyes. This is the first time you’ve voiced this.
Alex tensed under you and you’re ready to pull away, to apologize. It’s too soon, you’re still a stranger. You’re still that brat that came into her life and turned it upside down.
But.
Her arms squeeze you tight, tighter than they’ve ever hugged you. “And I love you too, Kara. I love you too.”