A Taste of Normal - Chasing Normal, Arc 4

Scene 21: Trying to Move On

Travis walked into the cafeteria on autopilot, nearly running into a couple of crew apprentices. They didn't even acknowledge her as they continued on to the table where Will was sitting. He hadn't spoken to her since that night a month ago in the underground. He'd started eating lunch with his fellow apprentices. It was like she didn't even exist in his world any more.

And then she realized she had been heading toward their old table, now taken over by some of the actors. Just beyond them, Melinda waved at her. While Travis had been spending more of her free time with the other animator apprentices, Melinda's invitation to sit with them at lunch felt wrong. She liked them well enough, but lunch time was when she hung out with Will. The whole thing felt unnatural.

Becoming friends with her fellow apprentices gave her a place to hide when her mother threw parties, even if the apprentices couldn't understand why she wouldn't want to go.

Melinda tried to be supportive. "You know, Travis. You could just move in. You're here all the time, anyway."

"I don't know," Travis fidgeted with the strap on her sandal. "How do you even get a place here?"

"They're provided by the company," Nigel said around a mouthful of pretzels. "Companies expect that you'll move into the apartments a couple of years into your apprenticeship, and then live here until you've been working a couple of years. S'pretty sweet."

Travis thought about that for a moment. "And your parents were okay with you moving out?" Most parents would be, she thought bitterly.

"Why not?" Melinda shrugged. "Kids in other countries leave home when they go to advanced schools. Besides, we're going to move out eventually, right?"

"Do you ever go home, see your parents?"

"Oh, sure." Nigel refilled his glass. "I'm home for all the holidays, and I go home and do my laundry on the weekends."

"And your parents are okay with that?"

"Travis, you're an apprentice," Melinda said. "You work for one of the best interactive studios in the country. You are, for all intents and purposes, a grown up. Your parents know that."

"The apartment across from mine is open," Nigel offered. "The guy was a third-year researcher at CyberMedia. Burned out. Jumped off his balcony."

"Nigel!" Melinda hissed. "That's probably not a good apartment for our girl."

Travis couldn't agree more, but she knew she'd take it if it were the only apartment open. But her mother wouldn't let her stay with her grandparents. Would she go for the idea of Travis having her own apartment?

==

She spent the next week pacing and taking long walks, trying to figure out how to bring up the subject of the apartments with her parents.Mom wouldn't even listen when I asked to stay with Oma and Opa. There's no way she'll ever go for this.

She was walking the familiar route she took to get from her family's apartment to her grandparents' house, lost in thought. The cool spring air blew her hair in her face, and she heard a familiar voice, "Travis?"

She pulled her hair out of her face. "Hi, Oma."

"Hello, dear. I don't see you very often any more."

"I know. I've been busy. I've made some friends, and hanging out with them."

"That's wonderful, dear. Now," her grandmother took her arm, "what brings you to this part of town?"

Travis smiled sheepishly. She knew from her books that grandmothers were these wonderful people who knew practically everything, like they could read minds. But how did grandmothers always know?

==

Oma was the perfect confidant. She'd known Travis hadn't wanted to move home when her parents finally got settled in New Glory, and she listened patiently as Travis explained the apartments. The apprentice apartments were instituted after Oma and Opa had gone through the system, and her mother had left New Glory before she was old enough to move into one. But Oma gave her the best advice she could, encouraging her to talk to her parents sooner rather than after she's let her nerves get the better of her, and sent her on her way home.

By the time Travis walked into her apartment, wild butterflies had claimed her stomach. Her father was sitting in the large common room. "Hey, starshine."

"Hi, Dad." Travis slowly closed the door behind her. "Can I talk to you about something?"

"Sure," he patted the couch next to her.

Travis hesitated, but sat down. "There is a place not too far from here where the studio apprentices live. Apparently, we're supposed to live there during our apprenticeship."

"Like a dorm?"

She'd never heard of a dorm, and she didn't want to derail the conversation by asking. "Um...sure..."

"They're apartments, Ben. These kids live on their own in their own apartments."

Travis jumped at the sharp edge to her mother's melodic voice. "Mom, I didn't see you come in."

"That doesn't seem unreasonable," her father replied.

"Just because kids are apprentices doesn't mean they're ready to live on their own." Her mother folded her arms, the sign she was done with the conversation.

You left home for a life on the road when you were my age, Travis thought bitterly, trying to look past the hypocrisy.

"Travis is a pretty level headed kid. I think she'll be fine. Besides, we're here. We're not planning on leaving any time soon. And your parents are here." He reached out and ruffled Travis' wind-tossed hair. "I think a little independence would be good for her."

Travis smiled gratefully at her father's support.

"She's staying at home with us, and that's final." Her mother stormed out of the room.

Without even realizing she was doing it, Travis folded her arms and drew her knees up to her chest. I guess that's that. I shouldn't have brought it up.