*Danielle's POV*
"So the only person who has any idea about the ring and the proposal is Este, but I didn't tell her I was doing it on this trip. So it's going to be a big surprise to them." I explain to Carter on our way to my parents house. We got home late last night, and today my family is having a family dinner.
"So how are you going to tell them?" Carter asks.
"I was thinking, we wait until they ask us about the trip, and then we go on to tell them casually. They don't take these things lightly, it will be a big deal."
"Trust me, after two years I think I understand your sisters pretty well. They're going to lose their shit." Carter laughs.
"Exactly."
*
I open the front door to my parents house letting Carter enter first. She messes with the ring on her finger nervously.
"Baby, they're not going to be mad about it. Don't be so nervous." I whisper and kiss her softly.
We walk into the house and into the tv room. Alana and Este are staring at their phones and my parents are still cooking in the kitchen.
"D!!!! I've missed you!" Alana gets up and runs to hug me.
"What about me?" Carter asks.
"I didn't miss you." Alana teases, but attacks her with a hug soon after.
Este makes her way over to me and gives me a tight squeeze. "You did it didn't you?" She whispers in my ear with a big smile. "I saw the ring on her hand."
"Yeah," I smile, "don't say anything yet." I whisper back.
Alana and Carter start their usual play fighting. I don't even know what starts this but it goes on almost constantly when they're together.
"Ow! Fuck! You scratched me with your ring!" Alana screeches. Carter steps back and laughs at her. I can feel that Alana's realization is about to hit and the bomb will go off.
"Oh my god what is this!?" She screams grabbing Carter's left hand. She examines the ring with her mouth open wide. "Oh my god Danielle! what happened in Italy!?"
I just laugh at her waiting for things to calm down.
"What's all the noise in here?" My mom asks as she walks in the room.
"Mom! They're engaged!" Lanzo yells.
"What?" My Dad walks into the room.
"I proposed in Venice on Sunday." I answer their questions. I grab Carter from Alana and make her show my parents the ring.
"This thing is legal?" Dad asks.
"Yeah of course." I smile thinking he's joking, but he isn't showing any sign of happiness while my mother and sisters are freaking out.
My mom steals the ring from Carter and slips it on her pinky finger. "Wow this is beautiful Dani!"
"Let me try!" Lanzo says taking the ring from my mother. She puts it on and Este soon steals it from her.
"Be careful with that! It wasn't cheap." I warn them.
"Shit." Este says and everyone goes silent. What could she have possibly done? "It's stuck." She says trying to pull it off.
"It's not stuck stop teasing." I step in and try to pull it off. Her finger is going purple from the circulation being cut off. I pull as hard as I can and nothing budges. "I swear to god I'm not taking you to the emergency room for this."
"Is it really stuck?" Carter asks.
"Yeah, it's really stuck." I answer and try to pull it off Este's finger again.
"You're gonna pull off my fucking finger!" She punches me hard in the arm.
"Girls I've got some lotion that might help it slip off." Mom comes back into the room and starts helping Este. She tries and tries to work it off, but nothing budges.
Este starts to cry, "Mom, it really hurts. I'm scared."
"It's going to be okay, let's ice your finger to make the swelling go down." Mom calms her and takes her into the kitchen. I swear she's thirty one years old, she just acts like she's five.
"The fire department is going to have to come and saw her finger in half to get it off of her." Alana laughs.
"Shut up Alana, it'll come off." Carter smacks her.
"Girls! Come eat dinner!" Dad yells and we make our way to the dining table.
I stare across the table at Este who has held her hand in a cup of ice water for the past fifteen minutes. She pouts as she struggles to use her fork with her non dominant hand. I hear Carter trying to choke down her laughter as she eats and I start to giggle. As soon as I look over at Carter she loses it and laughs uncontrollably, which causes me to do the same. Then Alana chimes in while my parents stare at us, this is against their dinner table manners but there's no stopping it now. Este scowls at Alana as she sticks her fingers in her water, mocking Este. I start to laugh even harder, and that's when a spoonful of peas hits me in the side of the head.
"Este Arielle Haim!!" My mom yells. I ignore her as I prepare a spoonful of mashed potatoes aimed right between Este's eyes.
"Danielle don't you dare!" My Dad yells. And I let it launch anyway, hitting Este right in the mouth. Not my desired target, but still a great shot.
"I'm going to kill you." Este says with the scariest look on her face, well it'd be a lot scarier if she didn't have potatoes smeared across her face. "Run!" She yells as soon as she's finished wiping the food off of her face.
I stand up and book it down the hall to my old bedroom. Este is right on my heels and I don't make it in time to lock her out. She trips me and tackles me to the ground. She has me on my back with my hands pinned above my head, and the most evil smirk on her face. I swear I'm face to face with the devil.
"Get off of me!" I yell and try to wriggle out from under her. She shakes her head and holds me down tighter. I feel like I'm eight years old again with eleven year old Este pinning me down and torturing me because I didn't want to watch the same tv show as her.
Carter soon shows up in the room and I have some faith that I'll be saved. But all she does is video and laugh. Alana comes in and does the same thing.
"So no one is gonna help me here?" I ask, sick of Este's nails digging into my wrists.
"If you girls were younger and still in our house you'd be grounded for a month." Mom comes into the room and finally gets my older sister off of me.
"I'll get you later!" Este sticks her tongue out at me.
I stand up and rub my wrists, she really dug her nails into me. "Looks like shit got kinky!" Carter laughs and I hit her softly in the arm.
"We got the ring off!" Este yells from the kitchen. She hands me the ring, surprisingly civilly. I put it back on Carter's ring finger and we sit back down to finish dinner.
***
Este and Alana headed back to our house about an hour ago. Carter and I stayed back a while to tell my parents about our trip and the proposal. My mother is so excited she's already trying to make wedding plans. My father on the other hand, seemed quite uninterested.
*
I walk in the front door of our home and reach for the light switch. The house is so dark, which is weird because Este and Alana are here.
"Turn on the light." Carter says pushing me into the house.
"I'm trying, the power must be out."
"It can't be, the street lights are lit." She says, which is true.
"Stay here, I'll go check the breakers." I say and turn on my phone flash light.
I head downstairs into the cold storage room where all the controls are. This room always creeps me out. I open the door to the power controls and search for the one I need. I flip a couple switches turning the power back on.
I feel a light tap on my shoulder and turn around slowly...
I feel my heart sink and all the blood in my body goes cold. I stare at the face of one of my worst fears.
A clown, a fucking clown.
I punch the clown in the face and rip off the mask to reveal my older sister.
"I fucking hate you! Go pack your shit cause you're moving out tonight! I cannot believe you!" I yell, I've never been so mad at her in my life.
"Babe! What's going on?" Carter yells down the stairs. I throw the ugly mask back at Este and go running up the stairs. I jump into Carter's arms.
"You good?" Alana walks out wearing a black robe and holding a scream mask.
"No, you were part of this too?" I ask my younger sister.
"It was Este's idea, she said she'd buy me tacos if I did it. She made me hide in your shower." Alana answers honestly.
"So uhh, what happened?" Carter asks, still holding me. Right in that moment Este walks up the stairs in her clown mask making babadook noises. "Este really?"
Este let's out her manic laugh and pulls the mask off.
"D, I got you so good. Your face went so white when you saw me." She laughs.
"Looks like she got you good too." Carter says. Este has blood running from her nose.
"Yeah, why'd you punch me so hard." Este rubs her nose.
"Self defense bitch." I reply. "Now give me that mask, I'm burning it so I never have to see it again."
"I'm sorry for scaring you so good." Este hands over the mask and goes to the bathroom to clean herself up.
"Fuck off."
*
We all get to bed and I cuddle extra close to Carter tonight in fear that Este got the mask back somehow after I melted it in our outdoor fire place.
~~~~
Surprise!! A super early update! Hope you guys enjoy it! comment your thoughts and ideas. Thanks for reading, I really appreciate it ❤️