Cold Feet(The Yates Family)

[odette]

((This topic actually takes place at the Yates estate in Tennessee. Just so ya'll know.))

Ten hours of dance a day could take its toll on a person. Odette’s homework had been done long before she even went to her first technique class. After that it was turns, then leaps, and partnering. It would have been just like any other day, with the exception of the fact that today she was breaking in new shoes. Her feet were far more blistered than they normally would have been and she had snapped one of her big toe nails in half down the middle. That didn’t stop her. With a vice -like bandage binding the nail back together, she proceeded with the rest of her classes. Her practice shoes were bloody to keep from ruining her new ones. It wasn’t all that out of the ordinary for ballerinas but you couldn’t buckle at pain to do it.

She walked into the door and bellowed to her father that she was home, unsure of exactly where he was, but if he didn’t hear her then that wasn’t her fault. She needed to ice her feet. Odette found her way to the nearest bathroom and clogged the tub before filling it up with cold water. That wouldn’t be enough though. She hobbled into the kitchen and took the box that collected ice in the freezer. She returned to the bathroom and dumped the ice into the water. Then she began to unbind her blisters and cuts. If she wasn’t used to it it would have been revolting, but it was just another day.

After about twenty minute she pulled her now numb feet out of the water and patted them dry. Now it was a good idea for her to stay barefoot for the rest of the night. She walked into the kitchen and pulled an apple off the counter, rubbing it clean on her shirt before biting into it. It was odd and she felt that she was in their massive estate alone. She hoped he wasn’t working. She hadn’t seen him in two days. They were both so busy. It made it hard for them to be an actual family, or at least two thirds of one. Odette sighed and began to wander along the bottom floor of the estate, occasionally calling out for dad or even ‘daddy’.

Her still unbitten apple lingered unforgotten in her hand until she crossed her arms. Then she looked at the fruit on a table. She wasn’t really hungry. Not yet at least. She was tempted to pull out her phone and just call him, but she didn’t want to seem needy. Instead she sighed and made her way into a study, where she pulled a random book off the shelf. She went to the vacant space by the front door that was reserved for her stretching and occasional gymnastic ventures. Odette laid on the ground and scooted towards the wall to do a gravity stretch. She was already in a full split, but she held her placement anyway, opening the book she had seized. “Little women.” she mumbled to herself. She shook her head. She had already read it twice. “We need a bigger library.”

[garlandyates]

“Senator, how do you feel about the hundreds of mutants protesting against this legislation all ar-

“The Vice President has openly condemned this l-

“Senator Yates, a new disease affecting mutants is circulating the globe. Can I get a com-

Slam!

The limousine took off from the luncheon at the Murfreesboro carpenter’s factory, reporters and cameramen jostling to try to snap a photograph of the Senator as his window rolled up. The Senator rubbed his temples with his wrinkled, disfigured right hand. Misshapen knuckles from all of the times he’s cracked them in times of stress. Thumb jutting out, literally like “a sore thumb,” due to a scrape with a mutant at a bar fight back at Vanderbilt. A liver spot here and there. The Senator was not the model of perfect health, to be sure.

Especially recently. With all of the backlash over his recent string of speeches containing particularly strong anti-mutant sentiment, he’s had to go from talk show to talk show to explain himself in front of the national audience. His political advisors had fed him terms like “All men are created equal,” “ticking time-bombs” and “all it takes is one.” He had gotten contributions from all of the right people and avoided interviews from all the Amnesty Internationals and Mutant Rights Watches.

He was stirring controversy, yes, but he was also getting paid handsomely by social conservative donors by doing so. With reelection looming next year, the Senator needed all of the funds he could get for his campaign war chest, after a couple of scandals involving inappropriate tax returns had given his upstart Democratic opponent a two-point lead in the polls. The way he saw it, this was the best strategy to kill two birds with one stone: kick those genetic mistakes out of our country, and ensure reelection for next year.

As the limousine rolled into the driveway of his 25-acre estate, he thanked his driver and stepped out of the luxury automobile. Judging from the candy-apple Volkswagen Bug in his driveway, his daughter was home. Garland hadn’t seen Odette in a few days. His relationship with his daughter was complicated, especially since his wife’s death 5 years ago in a dreadful car accident. Before, they had never been that close. Oh sure, Garland looked like a regular family man in front of the cameras. But at home he was always too busy being the next Republican rising star. His unmatched ambition and will took from a humble City Council position in his native Murfreesboro to a cushy Capitol Hill corner office in the spotlight of the nation’s capital.

Opening the door, he dropped his briefcase against the dark brown hardwood and kicked off his expensive Hugo Boss shoes with a sigh of relief. Those things were pointed like the end of Satan’s pitchfork and just as uncomfortable. He instinctively made his way to the bar, where he fixed himself a scotch, and sank deep into the nearest leather armchair, dreading his nationwide address tomorrow that he hadn’t looked over. The life of a mover-and-shaker was nothing like it was made out to be.

“Honey? Where are you?” he called from his prone position.

[odette]

Odette was already a quarter through the book when she heard the door open, followed by two soft clatters of shoes being kicked off. Sometimes she was sure she knew her father’s routine too well. Within thirty seconds he had made his way to the bar and poured a drink. Most likely scotch. When she heard him call for her, she knew that that was her cue. She pushed herself off the wall using her feet and rolled back onto her shoulder and then onto her feet in one swift fluid motion. She glanced at the wall and exhaled a sigh. She had gotten blood on the wall again. She hoped that no one would get mad at her about it. She walked into the kitchen, poured two cups of her organic iced cranberry green tea.

She walked up behind him and placed a cup of the tea in front of him, pulling the scotch from him. “You must trust me too much, leaving the minibar open like you do.” She and her father may not see eye to eye but that didn’t mean she didn’t love him and want the best for him. She wasn’t exactly sure how he felt about her being vegan but at least he didn’t try to change her eating habits. “It’s really not so bad.” She arched a brow when she got a good look at him. “You ok daddy? You look awful. I can make you some dinner if you like. Oh. I got blood on the wall by the way. It’ll wash right off though. It’s pretty fresh.”

Odette really hoped he didn’t look at her feet. It may not bother her but that didn’t mean it was a pretty sight. “I’m getting more letters for ballet companies. Some people in New York and Los Angeles are interested.”

[garlandyates]

Garland smiled lightly as Odette relieved him of his scotch and replaced it with some sort of herbal tea. She was, in some respects, so much like her mother. Susan would have chuckled at this. He took a cautious sip of the tea, crinkled his eyebrows upon appraisal and put it back on the table.

“Go drink, honey. Make the headlines. An early retirement of golf, the Hamptons and pina coladas sounds really good about now.”

He exhaled loudly, loosening his tie and unbuttoning that ever-offending top button. He ran a hand through his neatly combed graying hair, mussing it up. At the same time, he rolled off his thin black socks and tossed it in the corner. The maids would take care of it.

“ The maids will clean up the blood, I’m sure they’re used to it by now. And it’s alright honey, we can just get Leo to get us some takeout. What do you want tonight, Chinese? Barbecue? That mac and cheese at Ruffner’s last week was really suspect. I think I saw a little paw in there. I should sue them and have every last one of their 14 chains shut down.” As Garland said this, he reached for his Blackberry to text Leo, his executive assistant, body-man, and college baseball teammate.

“Your daddy’s doing okay. These speeches are moving me farther to the right, which is getting me higher approval ratings.” He put down the phone for a second and plopped back into the armchair again, sinking lower into the seat. He was completely spent, but he always gained a sort of renewed energy when talking about his anti-mutant work. “Soon those mutant bastards will be deported to France or Norway or some other socialist hellhole. Pardon the language, honey.”

He frowned as she told him about the schools. Garland Yates was a very no-nonsense man, having worked in business straight out of college and then gone into politics. He didn’t really believe that things like dancing and art could get one far in life, career-wise.

“Remember what I said, Odette. Vanderbilt, then I have a number of strings I can pull in DC, Wall Street…dancing’s fun, baby girl, and I know you spend hours on it and I go to all your recitals, but it’s just a hobby. Not a career.”

[odette]

She cocked her head to the side and had to stifle a laugh. “You and I both know that you have no intentions of retiring early. Even saying that just makes you sound stupid.” In some respects she beat around the bush with her father, but in others she was more straight forward with him than a brick being thrown in your face. Sometimes he needed it.

Odette sighed. She wished he had told her that the cleaning supplies were under the sink and to get to it before it set in too much. The maids didn‘t even treat her like a human at times. It was like she was some ancient Greek goddess that always needed to be contented or all hell would break loose. Odette cringed when he father mentioned a paw. “You didn‘t eat it did you?” she looked absolutely revolted at the idea. She said nothing else about food, her mind too occupied with the idea of a paw in a dish. Odette really didn’t like Leo all that much. She had had a few uncomfortable moments with him. Smiling over her and hovering like some sort of obsessive freak. She even when she wasn’t alone with him she could feel his eyes crawling all over her.

She laughed at this rather than praising him. “Even with that you think an early retirement sounds good?” At the mention of his anti-mutant she became a brick wall…on the inside at least. “J'aime la France. Et J'ai dix-sept papa. J'ai entendu dire des gros mots avant.” She smiled at the use of her fluent French. She had never heard her father speak the language. If there were a translator there they would have said ’I like France. And I’m seventeen dad. I’ve heard swear words before.’

Odette’s eyes cast down to her feet and fought back a sigh. She knew he only wanted what was best for her, but he also wanted for her to be the perfect, prim, conservative daughter she always pretended to be.

[garlandyates]

“Good call, honey. I can’t retire now. Someone has to bring home the bacon for this family.”

He looked down and chuckled at his daughter’s audacity. She was a doll, to be sure, but sometimes in the privacy of their home she made sure her opinions were heard. And he didn’t mind. Assertiveness is always a good quality in a young, ambitious woman. Plus, she was right to call him out. He would never give up his career at this stage.


“No, of course I didn’t eat it. You don’t remember? I called in and threatened to report them to the FDA. They fumbled around for a bit and gave me a refund. I think you had taken your food upstairs to your room or something.”


He frowned again at her use of French. He had studied French for a semester briefly in college to get rid of the language requirement, but its superfluous-osity and irritating proununciations had made him switch to sign language.

“No languages of cowards in front of me, baby girl. You know how it is in the household.”

The Senator followed his daughter’s glance down to her torn feet. He cringed.

“That’s one of the worst I’ve seen happen to you. What’d you do, take a handsaw to your feet? This dancing thing is definitely not sustainable. Are you sure you don’t want to try that J.P. Morgan internship this summer? Your godfather has a desk all picked out for you and everything. All the Fifth Avenue shopping a girl could ever want,” he teased with a grin. He loved Odette. Sure, she could be rebellious at times, and sometimes he sensed that some of her beliefs weren’t in accordance with his, but they were family. After Susan’s death, all they had was each other.

[odette]

“I don’t eat bacon, daddy.” she reminded him kindly. She didn’t ever try to tell him that ‘meat was murder’ or anything else like that, she would just gently remind him that she preferred tofu to cheeseburgers in hopes that her not pressing him to change his eating habits would result in him showing her the courtesy.

She smirked at this. “To be honest, dad, whenever you go on an angry rant that doesn’t involve politics or me then I sort of just zone out.”

Odette sighed and inwardly screamed her lungs out. “Yeah, I know.” It was very odd for her to revert from her ordinarily proper stance to a more…casual one. It was rare for her to say ‘yeah’ instead of ‘yes’ or ‘thanks’ instead of ‘thank you’. She wasn’t sure why. ’No more French, no more ballet. Just stupid paperwork.’ she contemplated to herself, keeping the irritation off her face splendidly.

She pulled her feet together, as if that would hide them. “No. I’m just breaking in new shoes. Nothing special. Just a few blisters and a cracked nail. It’s really not as bad as it looks. It doesn‘t even hurt.” It was her turn to cringe when he mentioned the internship again. She could have done it and sailed right through it if she wanted to. The thing was…she didn’t want to. “Daddy, this is the last summer I get to dance. I don’t expect you to understand it, even I don’t sometimes. Just…please don’t take it away from me.”

’And I’d rather go shopping in Paris.’ she thought to herself. She loved her father, but she didn’t understand how they were related when he was so…business and she was artistic. She loved to find beauty in everything and just slow down rather than just rush from place to place, meeting to meeting.

[garlandyates]

“You know what I mean. Bacon, carrots, fat-free yogurt, whatever.”

Garland arched his fingers into a steeple, resting his hands on his wizened chest and letting his head loll back in relaxation. He coveted his brief moments of quiet sanctity at home, a shelter from the D.C. 24-hour hustle and bustle. He thrived on it, sure, but sometimes even a man like Garland Yates needed to kick back and watch the game with his family. Or what was left of it.

“I texted Leo to bring over some Chinese. I’m sure those Asians will be a little more careful about what they let drop in our dishes.”

He smiled at his young daughter’s precociousness. “Aha! So you do listen to what I have to say about politics. Sometimes I don’t know if what I say gets through to you, baby girl. Glad that it does. Maybe you’ve got a bit of the ol’ Yates political bone in you, after all.”

He said this half in jest and half in hopefulness. Though Odette always tried to put up a veil in front of her father, Garland knew that on some level, she was fundamentally a different person than he was. She didn’t exhibit the same eagerness to combat opponents and schmooze with higher-ups. She liked her dancing. Garland wanted to respect this, but his upbringing and ideals just wouldn’t allow it. He couldn’t let his daughter, the daughter of one of the most powerful men in the United States of America, wander off aimlessly into a bottomless career with no focus or stability. She had the smarts and ability. He knew it. He had to push her.

And that’s why her last remark about this summer being her last to be able to dance stung him. Garland Yates was not a man that was used to being ignored or pushed away. He was also not a cruel and dictatorial man. He respected his daughter’s boundaries, but he also intended to make sure Odette followed the right path to success in this life. He hadn’t worked this hard for nothing.

“I know we’ve been pushing this discussion off for a bit, what with all my recent appearances and your graduation stuff. I’ve tapped my contacts at Vanderbilt to extend the intent decision for another week for you, but only because it’s you. You’re a grown woman, and I know that. But honey, Vanderbilt has extra-curricular dance programs too. And you’re getting a top-notch education that you can parlay into an actual career.”

Garland’s face softened, taking his daughter’s dainty hand into his own rough hand, blistered and hard from the years of baseball. ”You have to be realistic.”

[odette]

She rolled her eyes. Always stereotypes. Odette wasn’t one to judge. She probably thought this way because everyone saw her as Senator Yates’ perky, blond, bubbly, and fridgid little girl. She had heard what the public thought of her. That was why she was always overjoyed to meet someone that didn’t have the slightest idea as to who she was. “I’ll be good with just steamed veggies.”

She smirked. “Don’t get too cocky, daddy. I listen to what everyone else says about politics too. You should be happy I stay informed, but don’t get your hopes up. I could never go into politics. Too cut-throat for my tastes.”

Odette knew that fighting her father to dance would be an uphill battle. She’d not only be fighting her father, but he’d ensure that her bodyguards wouldn’t let her within fifty yards of a dance studio. She had never seen him go off the deep end, but she knew that he had the potential to do it and it couldn’t end well for him or her. He’d probably have a stroke and she’d lose her mind and end up in a padded room with her arms tied together at all times. She might end up in that padded room either way with as much and as hard as he pushed her. She knew he only meant well but that didn’t make it any less irritating and nerve racking.

She groaned and rolled her eyes, but crossed her arms and let him finish. He was lucky that she wasn’t a typical teen filled with angst. She would have cut him off and started fake crying then go into a rant about how she never gets to do anything she wants and that he’s ruining her life. She couldn’t lie to herself. Part of her wanted to. She wasn’t that tacky and irritating enough to do that. That didn’t mean a part of her didn’t want to do that. She knew it would be a waste of time and energy though. She knew how to pick her battles. Besides, she didn't blame him. She wasn't sure if she blamed anything. That was just the way things were.

“Dad…”she paused to take a deep breath and compose herself before she continued. “You keep pressuring me into doing this and, honestly, it’s bringing out the bitchy teenaged daughter that you’re lucky you don’t have. I’ll go wherever the hell you want me to go after this summer, but I just want to be normal for once in my life. I want to go to the mall without two three-hundred pound suits attached to my hip. I want friends. I don’t want to worry about knowing all the senators and judges in case we have impromptu dinner parties. I want to know what it’s like to be around kids my age who don’t have sticks up their asses and don‘t spend their time bragging about how much higher they are on the totem pole than everyone else, even though the rank is better the lower the totem pole is. And I’m sick of Robbie Blake constantly rambling about how he’s gunna follow in his daddy’s footsteps and make me into his little trophy wife while you and your colleagues are too busy chatting over scotch on the rocks to know or care.” Robbie Blake was the son of a senator from Texas that often attended their dinner parties. He was as mean as a snake and as dumb as a box of hair. She had tried to be diplomatic about it, but Senator Blake was too close a ‘friend’ to start a tiff over his waste of sperm he called a son.

So she blew up. Compared to most girls her age, it was nothing, but for her…it was an explosion.

She pulled her hand out of his.

“If you could have….would you have played baseball for your career?” She asked the question with a matter of fact tone.

[garlandyates]

Garland raised his eyebrows at his daughter’s newfound audacity. She had outbursts, of course, what teenage daughter doesn’t? He had rarely seen her speak out in such a manner. It had to be raging hormones and all.

“First of all, young lady, don’t speak to your father with that kind of language. I love you, but there are boundaries.” His voice was stern and tinged with a soft harshness. This was the voice that moved mountains in the Senate and struck fear in the hearts of liberal journalists everywhere. It resonated within the walls of the Senate chambers, and had no less effect here in the manor. As suddenly as the voice came out, though, Garland cringed slightly to himself. He wasn’t a lawmaker right now, he was a father.

“Now, don’t exaggerate things. You do have friends! You have all those friends from school, Susan Lee and Jenna and Corellia and that whole lot. “

The Senator chuckled slightly at his daughter’s outburst over little Robert Blake. His father was the most intimidating man in the senate, standing a mean 6’5 and having been a former All-American wrestler and linebacker. His son, though…not the brightest bulb of the bunch. He always figured that kid had a thing for his Odette, but he didn’t know it grated on her so badly.

“I always thought you were flattered by Robert,” Garland said, putting a hand on Odette’s shoulder. His eyes danced with amusement. “I always thought he was a delightful young man…”

When posed with Odette’s question, his face hardened and his posture became straighter. He looked at his hands, worn and beaten. He looked particularly at his thumb, the thumb that had been surgically reattached but never strong enough to grip a baseball in quite that same way ever again. Would he have considered going pro? He was drafted by the Red Sox. Promises had been made by the team management to bring him up slowly and groom him as their closer. Garland Yates was a highly scouted college athlete.

“Well, that wasn’t exactly my choice to make,” sneered the man, who seemed to have aged 10 years in the last ten seconds as he grew angry thinking about the bar fight that ended his career and began a new one. Ever since that moment, his life would forever be intertwined with mutants.

[odette]

Odette rolled her eyes. “There are boundaries with me too. And I don’t appreciate that whenever I get in trouble you start talking to me like you’re working. I’m not some piece of paper you want signatures on or are trying to keep signatures off of. I’m a person. Better yet, I’m your daughter.” Whenever her father talked to her like that she always had to tell herself that it was just him falling into habit. She was on a roll though. She wasn’t going to turn the other cheek. Not this time.

She snorted at the mention of her ‘friends’. “Susan Lee started the rumor about my pregnancy last year, which is impossible because I’ve never even had sex before. The only things Jenna knows about are designer labels and Woody Woodpecker cartoons. And Corellia has had six abortions in the last two years. I don’t learn these things through their confidence. No, I learn about it through gossip. I don’t have friends. Not real friends anyway. I have friends at dance who are friends with me until it’s time to go home. Then

“Robert is an asinine imbecile with an IQ equal to that of a rock. An asinine imbecile with an IQ equal to that of a rock that has grabbed my ass in public more times then I’d care to know. I tolerate him because I know if he were to run to his dad crying like the little girl in pig tails that he really is deep down then things could get messy between you and Senator Blake. I do more to help your career than you give me credit for.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I know. What I’m saying is if it was…would you have done it differently.”

[garlandyates]

”I understand, Odette. We both have boundaries. We’re very similar and very different at the same time,” said the Senator in a level tone. He had conceded the fact that the family, even in spite of his wife’s and Odette’s mother’s death, would never quite be able to coalesce as one under the pressure of their high-profile life. Sometimes he forgot what it was like to be a parent. A parent of a rather confident firebrand of a daughter.

He leaned forward until his and Odette’s face were only a foot apart. His face was calm as the unperturbed waters of a cool, deep lake. His reticence contrasted strongly with the emotion usually etched all over his face on national television. ”Regardless of that, honey, and regardless of your friends or Robby Blake or anyone, you will not be speaking in that manner in this household. We may be a high-profile family, but this is still my family. And you are to speak to me as your father. No exceptions.”

Garland leaned back into his chair, the smell of grass and old leather and his daughter’s flowery perfume tickling his nose. His serious disposition relaxed ever so slightly.

”I always thought that son of Senator Blake’s was a bit of a twat, anyway. Do you need me to set you up? What about that boy from those vampire movies? The teenage girls seem to love him,” teased Garland, only half-joking.