Trigger warning: This part contains mentions of traumatic events and sexual assault
"Mornin' sleepin' beauty. Time to wake up."
Natalie whined some and rolled over, gently swatting whoever was trying to wake her up away. "Go awaaayyyy... I wanna sleep..." she muffled into her . She heard a sigh then screamed as her blankets were ripped off of her, Natalie nearly falling off of the bed from the momentum. "FUCK OKAY I'M UP I'M UP HOLY SHIT-"
Chuck rolled his eyes and chuckled a little, shaking his head some. "First rule of farm life lovely. Ya get up early in the mornin', alright?" He grinned before leaving, quickly closing the door as she threw a pillow after him. With an irritable sigh, she got up and went to her cupboard, picking out her clothes for the day. Walking then to her bathroom, she washed up and got dressed, pausing to stare at herself in the mirror. Running a hand through her hair, she shook it some, roughly styling it a bit with her hands with a small irritated sigh at being woken up so early.
Hearing whining and scratching at her door, she blinked a bit and opened it just to laugh as she was tackled over by Champ who tried to lick at her face, the women laughing her head off as she managed to push him away. "C-Champ! Down boy down!" She laughed and stood up, ruffling some of his fur before walking downstairs, humming contently as the smell of breakfast reached her nose.
Once again, Brandy was the one cooking, Chuck shoveling food that his brother had given him into his mouth at a mile per hour. "Geezus Chuck relax you're gonna choke" Natalie sighed, the ginger shaking his head some. "Sorry, can't! Already late! You two have fun, I should be back in a day or two!" He said, grabbing his keys, giving both of them a big hug before sprinting out, leaving Brandy and Natalie alone in silence other than the sound of Champs happy panting and the sound of sizzling bacon.
After what felt like forever, Brandy handed her a plate of food, having already eaten his. "I-I'll be waitin' by the t-truck... Then I'll t-take you to M-Missy" he said softly, gently rubbing her shoulder as he walked past, walking out of the house and down to his pickup truck. Natalie paused for a moment to watch him leave, then turning back to her food and finishing her mouthful before placing her empty plate in the sink to be washed up for later.
Hastily, she ran back up to her room and brushed her teeth, freshening up some more then running back downstairs and down to Brandy who was still patiently waiting. "Sorry for the wait!" She smiled, butterflies in her stomach as he returned the smile with a small laugh, the man then opening her car door for her, closing it once she was inside. He climbed in on the drivers side, the truck then steadily making its way back down the dirt path, into town. It stopped outside of a salon, Brandy getting out to help Natalie out too as a women with strawberry blonde curly hair and bright blue eyes walked out of the salon, resting on hand on her hip, the other on her pregnancy bump.
"Mornin' sweet cheeks. This the sweet girl stayin' with you boys?" The women chuckled, causing Brandy to blush heavily and tip his hat a bit lower over his head, earning a laugh from the women who then looked over at Natalie. "Heya sweetheart! You must be Natalie! Chuck told me all about you. I'm Missy, it's a pleasure to meet ya pumpkin!" Missy said with a smile, holding her hand out to Natalie.
Natalie shook it, returning the smile before glancing at Brandy who mumbled a goodbye before getting back into the pickup truck and driving off to the church, Missy's smile turning into a knowing smirk. "So, you got a thing for those two, huh?"
Natalie quickly looked back at the women with wide eyes, blushing some and shaking her head. "N-No! W-What makes y-you say that?!" She replied quickly, the blonde laughing some. "Well babes, if ya DON'T fancy them even a little you're either blind or an idiot! Come on in pumpkin, we can talk while I do your nails" Missy chuckled and walked back into the nail salon, Natalie following behind her and taking a seat at one of the tables, Missy sitting opposite from her.
"Let me first say babes, welcome to the Leroy Family Appreciation Club! Women in my family have run it ever since the first Leroy's moved in here! Lemme tell you pumpkin, all men in that family are finer than powdered sugar on a cops doughnut. Personally, yeah I do love my husband he's a sweetheart who has my whole heart, but I'm a Chuck kinda lady. His fiery temper excites me" The blonde women said as she first cleaned Natalie's nails, then selecting a colour.
"Leroy Family Appreciation Club?... What?... I-I mean yeah those boys are... Like greek gods with their physique, b-but I don't know if I can pick a favorite..." Natalie replied with a bit of a faint blush as she thought of the two brothers. How they've been nothing but kind, even protective over her, a complete stranger. Missy paused what she was doing to stare at the women across from her before getting up, getting a box and coming back, placing it on the table and showing its contents to Natalie. It was filled with the local newspapers and photos, each containing either one of the brothers or both of them.
"As club president its my job to collect every piece of memorabilia of them and to make sure those boys end up with the right women. Personally, I already think I know who is perfect for Chuck, but now I meet you, I think there's finally a good match for Brandy" she stated, shifting the box aside to continue with Natalie's nails, then placing Nat's hands inside of a little machine to dry her nails, Natalie peering curiously at the contents of the box before finally processing what Missy had told her. "WHAT?! B-But I barely even know him!"
Missy giggled a little and took a long sip of her coffee before putting her mug aside and pulling out a photo from the box, sliding it over to Natalie. "Babes, Brandy hasn't even let a women other than me and my kids in his truck his entire life. Boys been through some things... But, before I get to that, have a look at this."
Natalie peered curiously at the photo just to turn red as she blushed, giving a small squeak of surprise. The photo was of the brothers at the local pool, wearing matching red, Chuck in swimming trunks and Brandy in a... Speedo... She quickly peeled her eyes off of the photo to stare at Missy with wide eyes, the blonde laughing as she saw her expression. "My oh my pumpkin, look at your face! Trust me babes, this photo ain't nowhere as near as the real deal. They got anaconda's, not just snakes... Those two go to the local pool once every two weeks... You'll notice the pool is much more full than usual on those days" Missy giggled, gently shifting Nat's hands out of the machine.
Natalie just watched the older women in disbelief as she did her nails for her, slowly processing it, taking a deep breath and nodding, pausing to look at what Missy had done for her. Soft baby blue nails with a white flower in the center of each nail. "Lemme show you around a bit babes. We can buy some snacks from Lucky's, then we can go see what our boys are up to" Missy smiled and stood up, getting her handbag.
The two gradually walked through town together, Missy showing her around before they reached the local market, Missy leading Natalie straight to a stall laden heavily with fruits and flowers, greeting another women there. She had brown hair with eyes of deep forest green, a tattoo of a four leafed clover on her left wrist. "Natalie, this is Lucy, but we all call her Lucky. Lucky, this here is the new townie who's staying over at the Leroys" Missy introduced, Lucky and Natalie's eyes lighting up, Lucky's with excitement, Natalie with recognition.
"You're Chucks lucky charm!"
"You're the new girl!"
Both paused and started to laugh at how they spoke over one another, shaking hands. "Nice to meet you Lucky" Nat smiled, Lucky returning the smile ten times wider. "It's a pleasure! Please Nat, stop by any time! Oh, and here! I think Brandy ordered these for Chuck, don't forget to take them!" Lucky replied, turning for a moment to get a bouquet of flowers.
The bouquet of flowers was of lavender and buttercups, Natalie rather confused at the combination though Missy gave a knowing laugh, waving goodbye to Lucky and pulling Natalie away by her elbow. "Those are Lucky's favorite flowers. Brandy and I like to mess with Chuck since we suspect he has a massive crush on her" Missy explained, Natalie giving a nod but still holding the flowers to make sure she didn't lose them.
As they neared the church, Missy slowed down and stopped, then looking over at Natalie, shifting to stand infront of her. "Look, Nat, you're a good girl, I can see that much. So let me tell you this... Brandy has issues. Big ones. Not like anger issues, issues as in trauma issues, okay?... If you're gonna try persue him romantically you better be doing it for the right reasons or so help me I will tear your hair out and turn it into a wig at my salon" she warned, Natalie blinking some in surprise.
"Of course Missy, I'd never intentionally hurt him or Chuck for that matter... What... What do you mean by trauma issues?..." she asked slowly, Missy sighing and starting to walk again, Natalie following behind her.
"Natalie, when Brandy was younger... A city girl moved into town... He was only 15. She was 17. Even as a kid he was always big for his age and the poor sucker fell in love with this girl... Confessed, even... He was so happy, barely shut up around her... One morning, his dad found him in the barn... No clothes on, crying..." Missy hesitated for a moment before sighing.
" That bitch Carrie... I'm not going to sugar coat this because this is a serious subject. She... She raped him, Natalie. Forced him into it. He'd never hurt anyone so he took it... Shortly after, she spread rumors that he had done something to her then up and left town... His parents had to move out of town into the city to get the boys mom medication since she was incredibly ill... Chuck and I fought tooth and nail to get those rumours to end. They did eventually, but the poor boy didn't say a word for two years just to develope that stutter of his..."
Natalie stared at Missy in pure shock and started to tear up, hand going over her mouth in shock. "Oh... Oh poor Brandy... That's horrible!... It's so rare that you hear these sort of cases with men... Shit, I hope that horrible women never comes back" she muttered as they walked up to the church. She took a moment to stare at Brandy as he diligently worked on the roof, yelping in surprise as he suddenly slipped and fell.
In the blink of an eye, the grass rose up and caught him, gently placing him down on the grass, some of the men laughing at his stupidity, Brandy's laughter soon joining theirs, finally noticing Natalie with a bright smile, though it slowly disappeared as he noticed her expression, getting up from where he lay. It took the women a moment to realise this wasn't a normal thing to happen, looking at Missy who laughed at her confusion and said, "This place is kinda magical, Nat. Take care of the earth and it'll take care of you pumpkin."
Natalie nodded some as she heard this, looking back over at Brandy who was saying goodbye to his pals before walking over to the two women, bringing Missy to the side for a moment rather firmly by her arm. After a few minutes, he let go of his friend and shook his head, motioning to Natalie that they should go. Wordlessly, she got into the truck with him, fidgeting a bit in her lap.
"N-Nice nails N-Natalie..."
"Thank you Brandy..."
A tense, awkward silence filled the truck as they drove, Natalie eventually trying to end the silence. "Brandy, I'm so sorry to hear about what happened to you... That should never happen to-" Her sentence was cut off as he suddenly slammed his foot on the brakes, knocking up clouds of dust around the truck as it came to a sudden stop on the dirt road leading up to the house. His posture was tense, knuckles gripping so hard onto the steering wheel they were white, his body trembling as he slowly lowered his head to rest on his steering wheel.
"M-Missy had n-no right to t-tell you about that... I-I'm fine now, a-alright? It w-was a very, v-very long t-t-time ago... D-Don't pretend l-l-like you care, N-N-Natalie... Y-You just p-pity m-me... E-Everyone i-in this god f-forsaken t-town does... So... S-So pl... Please... Don't... Don't b-bring it up... Okay?... Never... Never again..." He said, his stutter getting worse, his long hair hiding his face.
Natalie stared at him and nodded, trying to put her hand on his shoulder to comfort him, just for him to flinch away from her touch. Hesitating, she then brought her hand back to her lap, silent as he drove back to the house, slamming his door shut after he got out and leaving her alone in the truck, rushing into the house to his room.
She sat there for a moment, teary eyed as she stared up at the house, slowly getting out and giving Champ's head a rub.
"Oh Brandy... What have I done..."