the Fragment Chronicles: Katherine [Rewriting] ⊸

Chapter Eight : Perry and Seth Tyler

With his back up against his kitchen cabinets, Walter could feel Sean's eyes, almost like he was burning a hole through his shirt. He was trying to focus on the words on the page in his hand, "Can you not?"

"Well, what else I am supposed to do?" He asked, sitting at the counter in Walter's kitchen.

"I don't know," Walter folded the page and skimmed to the next one. "Read my mail for me, watch TV with your daughter."

"Mia likes watching Steven Universe alone," he glanced over at her, sitting on Walter's bed, eating raw baby carrots. "And opening other people's mail's a federal offense."

"I give you permission," he said, reading a paragraph Sean wrote about how Mia has been his main subject for his photography over that past school year. Walter heard him chuckling and he averted his eyes away from Sean's paper. "What?"

"I forgot your last name was 'Klimaszewski'." He cracked up to himself.

Walter snatched the envelope out of his hand and read the sender's name, "Shit."

"What? Who's it from?"

Walter sat Sean's paper on the counter behind him, "My mother."

"Why don't you talk to her? She's really nice." Sean inquired.

"Eh, it's complicated," he brushed off, still staring at the envelope.

"Well, what does the letter say?"

"I dunno, I haven't opened it yet," Walter waved it in front of Sean's face.

"Why aren't you opening it?"

"I don't wanna — you open it!" Walter tossed it at Sean.

"What — it's your mom. You open it." Sean tossed it back, completely taken aback by Walter's childish behavior.

"I gave you permission — "

"Well, I changed my mind."

"Fine." Walter sighed in defeat, ripping open the envelope with his thumb, and unfolding the paper.

"Read it out loud, I'm not Charles Xavier," Sean point out. "By the way, have you seen the new trailer yet?"

"No," he shook his head, skimming over the letter.

"Dude, it's been out for months — "

"I'll watch it later," Walter interrupted, turning the small wedding invitation over to see if he was being punked. "Is this a joke?"

"What?"

Walter furrowed his brows, "You are cordially invited to the marital union of Xenia Klimaszewski and Milo Danes blah blah blah ... ceremony is being held on February fourteenth blah blah blah ... yada yada yada ... please RSVP with a required plus one."

Sean chuckled, "You got a back-up invite."

Walter looked up, "A what?"

"You're their back up," he continued. "Valentine's Day is in sixteen days. That's a two week notice; people send out wedding invitations months in advance. Someone couldn't make it so they invited you to fill up a pew."

"My sister's Buddhist," Walter told him.

Sean's eyes widened, "You have a sister?"

"I have two."

Sean hummed, "Anything else I should know?"

Walter shrugged, "Xenia's eighteen, why the hell is she getting married?"