Murder To Excellence

10.

Suddenly, the door opened and Rose walked in. She closed the door behind her and leaned against it. She had expected it to be awkward because of last night. “Do you want to come with? We’re going into town.” He shook his head no. 

“Okay,” she said, but didn’t leave. Move, Rose, move! she thought, but her body did otherwise. “Okay,” she repeated and left for real. 

*

“Let’s go in here!” Taylor pushed Rose into a small store, mainly because she was getting sick and tired of the rest of the family. Taylor and Raphael were quite similar when it came to certain things. They both liked being alone and they hated people and affection. 

“Come with me. I’m going to try on these jeans.” Rose went into a fitting room and Taylor followed, waiting patiently on the chair inside the fitting room.

“An Alicia has texted you. She says ‘merry Christmas’,” Taylor read on Rose’s phone. 

“Thank her and say it back.”

“Rose, what the fuck?” Taylor laughed as she read another text on Rose’s phone. “A Vince has texted you ‘Merry Christmas, love’ with a million lovey dovey Emojis.”

Rose froze as soon as she heard he had texted her. She thought she had made it clear she didn’t want anything to do with him ever again. “Read and ignore,” Rose ordered. “Then delete and block his number.”

“Who is he?”

“Oh… this guy,” Rose mumbled, looking at herself in the mirror. “Do these jeans make my ass look weird?”

“I get that he’s a guy, Rose, I’m not stupid. And no, your butt looks fine. Now tell me, who is he?”

Rose sighed in defeat, she knew Taylor wasn’t going to stop asking. “I went on this date with him once, and let’s say he wasn’t what I had expected.”

“Hm, okay.”

Meanwhile back at the cabin, not only Raphael, but also George stayed in. George felt sick, sick because of what happened, and in this case, what he believed happened. 

Raphael was about to go downstairs when he saw George wandering through the hallway. That’s when he got an idea. Rose used to be holding back because she knew her father didn’t like them being together. Then that was solved. Now, since George was acting like this again, Raphael knew it was going to affect Rose again and the way she’d act towards Raphael. He wanted to prevent that. 

By now, George sat downstairs at the dining table, staring at nothing in particular. Raphael sat opposite of him and slid a piece of paper in front of him. 

George read the contract and froze. “What do you want?” he asked, slowly looking up at Raphael. 

“One signature, my signature, and you lose all your belongings. So think before you start acting the way you do.”

“What happened last night?”

Raphael leaned forward in his chair and said, “What did or did not happen, is none of your business.” He didn’t say it to mess with George, it was just that he didn’t feel the need to inform others about what happened in the bedroom. 

“So,” Raphael stood up and looked down at George, “Rose and I are going to stay in the same room, whether you like it or not. If I feel like you’re standing in the way again, know that I won’t hesitate to sign. Merry Christmas, George.” He then walked away with a smile. George was all bark, no bite. 

*

“You guys,” Beverly started as she descended the stairs. “Can shampoo expire?” She had both her hands in her hair, occasionally getting them out of her hair to rub her fingers and look at the substance on her finger. “It is so damn sticky!”