The sky starts to darken and I still didn't leave my room. I've been in here for hours, staring mindlessly up at the ceiling, listening to the music.
Half of the time spent here, I've been just replaying the conversation I had with Alexander. I think it went well. As good as I could expect, at least. We did clear some things up and now at least I know where I'm standing with him. We both said what we had to.
I know he told me to stay here in my room. But I'm getting hungry. I didn't eat lunch and it was already past dinner time.
I don't think it's a wise thing to do to go downstairs. But since when am I known for making any wise decisions?
I put the earbuds out of my ear and stand up from the bed, stretching my stiff limbs. I know Rosalyn's parents are still here because I could hear their voices from downstairs.
I don't even have to go to the dining room. I'll just go to the kitchen, grab something to eat and then quickly and silently go back into my room. I don't even know if they really are such monsters that no one likes them and that even Alexander warns me about them, but I'm not willing to test it out.
It's better if I stay away, anyway, since I don't really have any right to meet Rosalyn's parents. I'm not a family, I'm only a babysitter from abroad.
I go downstairs quietly. I see Rosanna in the kitchen and she's so out of place, she doesn't even hear me enter. She's going left and right in a fast pace, blowing her hair out of her face.
"Hey, Rosanna," I make her aware of my presence.
Rosanna screams and quickly turns around with her hand pressed on her chest. "Kid! Do you want to put me in a grave?"
I chuckle. "I'm sorry. You're a bit jumpy today," I observe.
She huffs and wipes the sweat off her forehead with her forearm. "It's the parents, I tell you. They're here to ruin our week completely."
I raise my eyebrows at her description. "Ouch. That bad?" I ask.
Rosanna gives me a look. "You have no idea. If you know what's good for you, don't go in there. It's like a dragon's nest there." She literally shudders.
"Ah, I'm sorry. Alexander warned me about coming down here, but I just had to get something to eat," I tell Rosalyn. My stomach groans loudly as if confirming my words.
Rosanna smiles that secretive smile of hers. "Alex warned you about them, huh?" she teases.
I roll my eyes at her. "It would be great if you stopped playing a matchmaker."
Rosanna puts her hand on her chest and gasps, pretending I just said something that offended her. "Me? I would never!"
"Of course not," I mutter. "I'll just eat something really quickly and then go back up in my room."
I open the refrigerator.
"Gabby!"
I freeze in my spot. I turn around then and look at Amelia standing at the door, grinning widely at me. I look past her head and sigh in relief when I see there's no one else behind her and they haven't discovered me. "Hey, princess."
"Why aren't you there with us?" She points in the direction of the dining room.
I put on my awkward smile, fidgeting on my feet.
"Who do we have here, Amelia?"
Oh, God. Busted.
A woman appears at the door right behind Amelia. Her narrowed eyes right on me. I wonder if her eyes are naturally that narrowed and if she looks like she's glowering all the time.
She's not that tall even with the heels she's wearing. She's dressed in trousers and a blouse with a cardigan. She's wearing a diamond necklace and her light hair is pulled back. On her lips, there's a bright red lipstick and her eyelids are painted with blue eyeshadow, her lashes thick with mascara.
She looks pretty good for her age.
"Gabby!" Amelia says excitedly, having no idea what she's done.
Even Rosanna stopped what she was doing, staring at the scene before her with wide eyes and her mouth partly open.
"Gabby," Mrs Crook repeats. "Come join us in the dining room, Gabby. I always like to meet my daughter's new staff."
I look at Rosanna with wide eyes, silently asking her what I should do. She's shaking her head. I look back to Mrs Crook and plaster on a polite smile. "Of course, Ma'am."
Rosanna makes a noise in her throat, but I don't look at her. I take a deep breath and follow Amelia and Mrs Crook to the dining room where everyone is seated at the big table. They look like they just came back from the funeral.
"Rosalyn, dear, you didn't tell you to have a new maid! Gabby, is it?" Mrs Crook says with a sweetened voice. It makes me cringe.
"She's a babysitter, mother," Rosalyn replies bitterly.
Mrs Crook gives me a questioning glance, her eyes are twinkling with something I can't understand. "A babysitter? How ... interesting. Are you not capable of raising your own children anymore?"
I see Alfred picking up his glass of wine and downing everything at once. This situation makes me want to ask for a glass for myself, even though I swore I'm never touching alcohol again.
"Mother dearest, you forget that some people have to work," Rosalyn grits out. She looks tired and done with everything. Alfred is just staring at his empty glass. I dare a look at Alexander who sits at the table with his arms crossed, looking bored out of his mind. He's silently watching what's happening. He looks like he'd rather be anywhere else than here.
Mr Crook snarls and I look at him next. He's sitting there with a straight back and stiff form, looking down at everyone else. He looks like someone with power. His dark hair has strays of silver in them and his face has a few wrinkles, but I expected more of an over-weight old man who's annoyed with everyone. That's not the case.
"It's better if you two don't raise your children anyway. Look what came out of it." He looks at Alexander in a disgusting way.
Alexander looks like he expected this and he merely sighs.
I'm honestly in shock. Is this what they had to listen all these hours? And these two are Rosalyn's parents? I expected someone nice and someone caring, like Rosalyn is, but this ... what is this?
"How old are you?" Mrs Crook directs this question to me.
I clear my throat before answer. "Eighteen ... Ma'am." I have the urge to solute her, but I don't think she would appreciate it.
Mrs Crook raises her perfectly plucked eyebrow. "Aren't you a bit too young to babysit?"
"I ..." Seriously, what do I say to this? It seems like anything I'll say, she'll have something to say back. "Well, Amelia is a nice kid so it isn't hard to babysit her. And I've been working with kids before."
Mrs Crook narrows her eyes so much that I want to ask her if she even sees anything. Where are all these sarcastic remarks coming from? I would've never dared to stand up to someone like her, but now all these things are in my head and the devil is sitting on my shoulder, telling me I should just open my mouth and say these things out loud.
Oh, can you imagine! Mrs Crook would probably personally buy me a ticket to fly back home.
"You're not from here," she states as a fact. "You have a foreign accent."
"I'm from France."
"France!" Mr Crook exclaims loudly, making me look at him with round eyes. "It's not enough you got Amelia a teenage babysitter, you had to get her someone who doesn't even live in this country? For God's sake!"
Alfred pours himself another full glass of wine and drinks everything. Rosalyn is rubbing her temples.
"Oh, fuck, how ironic is this since our grandmother is not from England, either." Alexander chuckles cynically.
I look at him in surprise. Is he defending me?
"Did you get permission to speak?" Mr Crook snaps at Alexander, glaring at him with hard eyes.
Alexander pushes his chair back, stands up, and puts his hands on the table, declaring, "You know what? You two can both go fuck yourselves. I'm outta here."
I stare at him with my mouth open. He looks at me when he starts walking. Rosanna comes into the dining room ainthat moment, almost crashing into Alexander who's trying to get through the door.
Rosanna looks at him in surprise as he storms past her. I'm still standing in the middle of the dining room, too shocked to open my mouth and say something back. It honestly feels like I'm in some soap opera. Honestly, what even is this family?
I watch where Alexander just went, thinking if I went, too, would they notice?
As if Alexander actually hears my thoughts, he pokes his head back inside. "You coming?"
I look at him in surprise. Me? He's asking me? Alexander rolls his eyes at me.
"I ..." I look back at the table, seeing Rosalyn and Alfred's faces, looking down. Amelia is running around the room, singing a song completely out of tune. Rosalyn nods at me, silently telling me it's okay to go.
I won't ask twice. I get out of there as fast as if the floor was on fire. Before I get out, I hear Alfred say to Rosanna, "Can you bring me the strongest whiskey we have?"
Alexander goes outside and I follow him. Once outside, he takes a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and lits one. He blows the smoke out in the night air.
"Thank you," I thank him for saving me in there. I'm still confused about what happened in there and if it really happened.
"I told you to stay upstairs. Why the fuck do you always have to do something stupid?" Alexander completely ignores my spoken words and decides to throw this at me.
"Well, since I've been upstairs for hours and didn't even eat lunch, I decided it would be a better idea to sacrifice myself for a few minutes than stay hungry." I don't even know why I'm explaining anything to him. He'll believe whatever he wants, anyway.
"Then go eat something!" he says loudly with a voice that indicates he can't even believe I'm still here and telling him this.
"Relax. I'm going, I just wanted to thank you," I mutter begrudgingly. So much for being civil to each other.
Alexander throws the cigarette on the ground and steps on it. "Whatever. I'm going."
"To Islington?" I blurt out. I intertwine my hands together and play with my fingers.
Alexander sharply looks at me. "Why the fuck you care?" he spits out distastefully.
"I ... I don't, I was just wondering," I say quietly. Does he seriously have to get mad about every smallest thing someone says to him? It's impossible to deal with him.
"Well, stop wondering then." He rakes his hands through his hair, messing it up.
I just get a flashback of having my hand touching his thick, soft hair. And how much I liked it. His hair, I mean. It feels so soft to the touch, the one soft thing on him when everything is rough.
And then our kiss suddenly replays in my head, out of nowhere.
I close my eyes and inhale sharply, trying to get that picture out of my head. His soft, full lips moving against mine.
Stupid, stupid, stupid ...
"You gonna pass out?" Alexander snarls, bringing me back from my thoughts.
"No, uh ... no," I stutter out, swallowing hard. I need to stop doing this to myself.
"Go eat something before you fall down on the ground. You look unwell already. Gotta go now." He gives me a look. "And no, I'm not going to Islington." His lips pull up at the corners as he shakes his head and walks away into the night.
I stare after him with a heavy heart and a weird feeling inside of me as I'm watching him walk away.
New Year, new chapter!
I feel like this chapter is really shitty for some reason, so yeah. I'm sorry about that.
And, well, Happy New Year of course! I hope all is well for you in the year that's coming! A not so serious question; who was your New Year's kiss? 😏😏
By the way, I made an ask.fm account so you can now ask any questions you might have. Come say hi! It's http://ask.fm/bourbonvanilla
You can also follow me on twitter: patriciaxbooks
x