1 Feb 2021, 02:39
Sometimes Change Is Good
Rose's dress and hair
Pearl's dress | Dialouge
Faith's Dress | Dialouge
Frankie's Outfit | Dialouge
Gabe's Outfit | Dialouge
Jessica's Dress | Dialouge
House | Kitchen/Dining Room | Living Room | Stairs between the living room and kitchen
(The first room is the kitchen, and an open doorway leads to the living room. On the side of the doorway are the stairs to upstairs.)
That's when Rose got a hold of herself. She straightened up her posture, and thought, 'This is amazing. I am relaxed, confident, and happy.' It had been more to convince herself more than anything else, but she put on a fake demeanor of being truly and completely happy for her mother. Nobody except for her (and maybe Chaska) would be able to tell the difference, though.
Henry stayed where he was instead of moving, which made Rose worried. Hopefully he was okay. "Thank you, Arthur. You're so sweet. If you ever need any help for your Auror training, you can shoot me an owl and I'll try my best to help. I do have a couple of Auror friends as well, so maybe we could commission help from them as well. Not that you'd need it, though," she winked at him, a friendly glint in her eye. It wasn't the same way she looked at Luke, though- with Luke, there was pure love, affection, and attraction in her eyes, but toward Arthur, her mother seemed very fond of him already- more like a son. With Arthur's charm added to Pearl's, the kitchen moved faster, and Arthur took the pie from the blonde woman, maybe to take some weight off his dad. Rose hadn't expected the warm smile from Luke, but it helped ease a little of the restlessness inside of her, and she returned it. Unless he was just sucking up the whole time, he had given an impression of being a very nice person. Someone she would be okay with her mother marrying.
Thankfully, Arthur seemed okay with Chaska. "She is," Rose said, trying to mask the shyness in her voice. "Maybe too intelligent for her own good. It's Chaska." She would let Henry pet the silver cat, draped across Rose's arms, who emitted a purr at the affection she had been demanding all evening. Then Arthur spoke very kindly to her, saying she was a good person (because he was apparently a very good judge of character) and suggesting she would be great as an Auror. "Oh, I- Thank you so much," she blushed, and this time her smile wasn't as forced as the other ones. "That's very kind of you. I can see why Henry looks up to you so much." Rose rocked on her feet as Henry said goodbye as well, replying, "See you."
Meanwhile, Annabeth was doing her own version of opening up to someone, something that (although Frankie was oblivious to this fact), she probably didn't ever do. Frankie nodded. "Yeah, you can just stick with me." And she would hug him. At first, Frankie froze up- he hadn't been expecting this, but he soon came to his senses and hugged her back. "Bye, Anna. I'll write you, too."
"Thank you so much for coming, Arthur. I look forward to seeing you again as well," Pearl would say, smiling warmly to everyone. "And you two, as well," she would address to the twins. "This night has been amazing."
Frankie would mouth back, "Bye, Anna." and Rose would smile at Henry as they made eye contact before leaving. Okay. Just a few more moments and then she could think through all of this.
"You're not mad?" Pearl asked her children almost bashfully, and they gathered around her, though Rose backed up a little, just a little bit overwhelmed.
"Mom- listen."
"Do you trust him?"
"Yes, of course."
"And you love him?"
"Yes-"
"And he's not a butthole, right?"
Their mother would smile, saying, "Of course not-"
Faith stepped forward, cupping her hands around those of her mother, and holding onto her hands with her own. "Does he make you happy?" This question was more of a whisper.
"He makes me so, so happy," Pearl would respond, sincerity in her voice, making direct eye contact with Faith.
"Then there's absolutely no reason we should be anything but absolutely happy for you," Frankie said, a hand lingering on his mother's elbow.
Pearl smiled, though it also looked like she might cry, and pulled in her children around her, whispering what Rose guessed to be a thank you. Only when they broke apart and Pearl looked right at Rose did she remember she had a fifth child. "Rose? What do you think? I'm not trying to replace-"
Rose interrupted her mother with her same pseudo-happiness as earlier. "I'm really happy and excited for you, Mom." and she took a few steps forward, hugging her again. Her skin was buzzing with overexposure to other people, and she just wanted to retreat into herself. To think about all of this.
"Okay, off to bed!" their mother announced, shooing them off, but Rose stayed behind.
"I'm going to wait for Eyre," Rose said as an excuse, backing up a little towards the family room to further signal what she said.
"Okay, baby. Don't stay up too late, okay? I love you!"
And just like that, she was gone. Up the stairs. Out of sight. Out of earshot.
Rose released all the air inside of her, along with the smile she had plastered onto her face. She had only held it for a little bit, but her face was already hurting a little on her cheeks. She hadn't wanted to smile. She hadn't been smiling, really.
Rose stepped into the family room to sit on the couch, curling her feet up to her chest. Her mother had a boyfriend. No, her mother did not have a boyfriend. She had a fiance. A fiance! And she never thought to tell Rose or her siblings that she was in another relationship till now. She just had to invite this guy they had never met into their home and promise to get married to him. Absolutely amazing. Rose paced, trying to slow her breathing and digging her fingers into her scalp to digest the day.
She glanced up, spotting the stairs. Oh, the stairs. Her father had painted those stairs himself- all the flowers on those stairs. And now he was gone. He was just gone. Rose wouldn't ever learn from him how to paint those kinds of flowers. He wouldn't ever be able to meet Eyre or any of her other friends. He wouldn't be able to support her, and he wouldn't be able to tell her it was okay, like he did so long ago. Rose felt so alone. And thinking about her dad made her paranoid in that moment.
The last time things had changed so drastically like this was when her father had died.
Her mind immediately rushed to horrible extremes. Her mother had been so depressed when her father died. Their money went down when her father died. The entire family could only barely stand with a little bit of help. Rose was left home alone when her father died. Rose had to live without an important figure in her life when her father died. She had to grow up faster than everyone else when her father died.
She couldn't do this. No, she couldn't do this.
Henry had mentioned that his family was kind of poor. If Henry's dad could barely hold up three children, and Rose's mother could barely hold up five children, how were they together to hold up seven? Were they going to move? Move from their house that they had grown up in all their lives? Move from the walls their father had painted? Move from the place that she trusted? That she knew?
Move from here, where- where- this was home! They couldn't move from here! But a family of eight couldn't live here, either!
She didn't want a stepfather! She didn't want to have him replace her father! He wouldn't, of course. He could never. Not that she even knew what kind of person her father really was. Rose bit her lip, fidgeting with her hands and continuing to pace. How was she supposed to be vulnerable in any way to him, or treat him like a father? Additionally, how was she supposed to know that he wasn't evil or something?! How was she supposed to know he wasn't using her mother or sucking up and this was all part of his cliche master plan?! What if he was just gonna go die on her to, leaving her with more kids to look after? And what was she supposed to do about the snappy and angst-filled Annabeth. Her name was not fitting, by the way.
She couldn't do this. Rose couldn't do this.