Lady March - (L.L.)

Chapter 06

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Conversations Over Tea

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Josephine sat on her Aunt March's leather sofa with her legs crossed together. After Marmee told her daughter to hand a batch of homemade goods to her sister, Jo eventually gave in and hopped into the carriage - even after the dozen amount of complaints that left her mouth.

It wasn't like Jo disliked her aunt; it was more like she never felt like she could understand her the same way as her sisters did, for example. Of course, Aunt March was an old woman from the outside, but she was so young at heart. Sometimes Jo wondered if they were both originally supposed to be switched, but God made a mistake and accidentally sent down her Aunt instead.

After all, the only young thing about Jo was her face and body - and couldn't forget about her hair, which she put a lot of pride into making it look so fresh.

"Good gracious, child!" Aunt March's voice boomed into the living room, holding a tray with two cups of tea and a few biscuits. "Get those feet of yours off the cushions, remember your manors," her aunt continued.

Slowly but surely, Jo placed her legs back to the ground, but her feet were still dangling from the sofa. "I don't really see the need to follow those rules of yours all the time, auntie," Jo shrugged and took a small sip from the cup. "We're all family here, no?"

"Oh, but mustn't forget about etiquette, even around the ones we know," Aunt March pitched in, her hands in her laps. "Now what would you do if some handsome fellow came rushing in? Certainly wouldn't want him to see you like -- this..."

"I'm very much comfortable the way I am, those men mean nothing to me--"

"Not in my house they don't!" Aunt March scolded her niece before grabbing her teacup from the tray. "You ought to ask my darling Annie for some lessons."

"Lessons for what? How to be boring?" Jo couldn't believe her aunt, sticking up for someone that she probably barely knew. She raised her legs back on the sofa.

"The girl has learned from nothing but the best," Aunt March added, staring off to the distance with a smile on her face as if she was reminiscing about her days as a young lady. Jo stared at her aunt with a combination of amusement and confusion; the woman was odd, but it never really bothered her.

"Honestly though, auntie," Jo chewed on a chocolate chip cookie, so her words came out a little distorted. "The girl, she's-- ugh! -- she's like Meg, but more--"

"Proper?"

Jo squinted her face and shook her head. "-- annoying."

"You barely know the girl, dear," Aunt March said, getting up from her seat on the couch. She grabbed the empty tray from the tea-table. "Give it a day, I'm sure you two will find common ground."

Jo didn't respond, but she knew her aunt was right. The woman was usually right with her assumptions, so it wasn't anything new. Jo remembered calling her aunt a psychic when she was younger, but when asked if she even knew what the term meant, she just frowned because it was a word she read in one of the many novels in her bedroom.

She stuffed another biscuit into her mouth but was lightly shoved on the back by her aunt. "For the love of the Lord, actually chew your food," is all Aunt March said as she made her way to the kitchen. "You look like an animal!"

Jo shook her head, smirking slightly. No matter how hard she didn't want to admit it, her aunt was always an admirable figure in her eyes. That too, in her humble opinion, for all the wrong reasons.

***

Laurie studied himself carefully in the mirror that was located in his huge in-home library. His grandfather invited him out for a special gathering in the town hall, so he had to put extra care into his outfit today.

Though his clothes were straightened, his shoes were polished and he smelt okay, there was one thing that he saw in himself that needed more fixing than ever. Laurie was wearing a white, buttoned-up, long-sleeved shirt with some beige corduroy pants. He attempted to comb his hair but failed miserably, opting for running his hand through it, messing up again, and then making it look decently okay after.

Out of the many problems, Laurie faced on a daily basis, his most problematic one was his hair. Sometimes he wished he could just chop it all off, but that wasn't going to solve anything. Above all, after meeting the cute girl named Annie from next door, he had to try and manage his hair.

He cringed at the possibility of her seeing him bald; he'd rather just die alone in a cold cave in suburban nowhere if that were to happen.

Laurie turned to look outside the window and perked up immediately; Annie was walking by herself in her yard. Taking his chances, he knocked on the glass and waved frantically, hoping that she would see him.

Annie turned his way but left a wide-eyed Laurie behind when she went on walking the opposite direction -- seemingly have noticed him and completely ignored his presence, or have not seen him at all.