Disclaimer for the entire story: Sadly, I do not own Strange Magic, although I do have the DVD that I play once a week.
Takes place right after Three in a Pub ends. Got this finished a few days ago but haven't been able to upload it. Constructive advice is appreciated but please refrain from criticism. Enjoy!
"Is he always like that," Marianne questions through her snickers?
"That's Roland for ye," Bog mutters, downing his fourth drink. "One-of-a-kind and thank God for it. Can ye imagine the chaos if there were more like him?"
"I have enough trouble dealing with Dawn," Marianne murmurs. "I love my sister but she can be nothing but trouble sometimes and she definitely doesn't understand boundaries!"
Bog watches as Marianne pulls the dinging phone out of her boot with a growl. The brunette looks sorely tempted to smash the electronic device as she reads the multiple texts and her scrunched-up nose nearly makes him laugh. She's definitely different than her sister.
Dawn always seemed to pout no matter if she was angry or sad. He had to remind himself of her age several times during the course of their relationship...no, that's wrong. There was no relationship except on his part.
"Don't you think you've had enough," Marianne asks as he orders another double shot of whiskey?
"Not until I can't walk for fear of falling," Bog comments. "I don't want to think about it but it's a bit hard when I took her everywhere. I showed her everything that was important to me and it took me six months to realize that I wasn't important to her. Even if we were friends like she insisted that we were then how come I don't know anything about her? After all, friends know about each other."
Marianne bites her lip at the anger in that last sentence and the accompanying sigh. That definitely sounded like something Dawn would say. Maybe Dawn has been causing more trouble than inadvertently causing guys to fall in love with her. Come to think of it, she can't name one of Dawn's girl friends that stuck around for more than several months or that weren't gossipy busybodies.
"Yeah, friends do know about each other," Marianne agrees. "But I'm beginning to wonder if Dawn is being a good friend to anybody. The only friend that stuck around for more than a few years is Sunny and he might have left too if I hadn't encouraged him when Dawn started ignoring him for other guys. I honestly don't know what's going on in her head."
"That makes two of us," Bog remarks, clinking his glass to hers. "She's a good kid but..."
"She doesn't really pay attention to anyone's feelings but hers for more than a few seconds," Marianne offers?
"Something like that," Bog agrees. "Do ye really think that she doesn't understand what she's doing? It might make it easier if I know that she wasn't doing all this on purpose."
"I really don't think that she is doing any of this on purpose," Marianne reassures. "Anytime I warned her about her behavior with other guys, she would always brush me off and tell me that I was overreacting. She did that with Dad, too."
"Doesn't sound to me that you were overprotective," Jack remarks. "Sounds more like that Dawn didn't take the truly important things seriously. That's something that we all noticed, too, but with Bog being so serious himself, we felt that they would be able to balance each other out. They sure looked like a nice couple."
"Not helpful, Jack," Bog groans.
"No, maybe it is. Maybe if people started calling Dawn out on her behavior then she might start realizing that she's been hurting other people," Marianne argues. "No one has ever corrected Dawn before. They were all too worried about hurting her feelings and only told me or Dad about what she's done. Then when we confronted her, she brushed it off that we were overreacting because the people didn't confront her themselves."
"Nobody corrected her? Ever," Bog questions incredulously?
"Nope. The didn't want to upset the poor motherless girl," Marianne mocks. "It doesn't help that Dawn has very high emotions and will start crying at the drop of a hat. Again, it's not entirely intentional but Dawn never tried to correct it."
"Maybe she just liked the attention. People do flock to her like sheep when she steps into the university," Bog comments.
"Maybe," Marianne agrees. "It's gone too far this time, though, and she's gonna have to listen to me. Sunny is planning on proposing to her and she can't keep letting people believe that she is available or it's going to destroy them both."
"Hopefully, his proposal goes better than mine," Bog mutters.
Bog pulls his Gran's wedding ring from his pocket and stares at the golden band. His mother is going to be so disappointed once he manages to tell her. She really liked Dawn, not that surprising since she liked practically everyone, but she was looking forward to having the petite blonde as a daughter-in-law.
"Ooh, that is beautiful," Marianne coos, leaning against Bog for a better look!
"It's a family heirloom," Bog explains. "My great-great-grandfather made it for a girl he wanted to propose to but her father was a wee stubborn, so he thought that if he showed the proof of his dedication then her father might reconsider. It worked and the ring got passed down to each son as a good luck charm to give to his desired bride."
"I don't mean to sound mean but Dawn wouldn't have appreciated its beauty," Marianne mentions. "She prefers new and shiny. Surely, you noticed that all her jewelry is no younger than five years."
"I actually never noticed," Bog admits bashfully. "I know she's studying fashion and I figured she was dressing to keep up with the modern fashion for school. I guess I know less about her than I thought."
"It happens," Marianne remarks. "Sometimes you think you love someone and then you realize that the person you were in love with isn't who they really are."
"Sounds like you have experience," Bog comments.
"A little while ago, I thought I was really in love with this one guy who works for my dad," Marianne admits. "He was friendly since I was the boss' daughter and I thought it was something more until I found out that he was engaged to be married."
"What an arse," Bog and Jack mumble.
"It wasn't his fault," Marianne defends. "He didn't even know that I had a crush on him and neither did anyone else. It was his fiancee who realized it and took me aside to talk to me. It was our little secret because she didn't want me to be embarrassed. The point is that you could be in love with a side of Dawn you see and not really who Dawn is. It might take a while but you might find out that you didn't love her as much as you think you do or the way you think you do. I'm not saying that you need to forgive her right away, because after all, she wasn't honest with you even as a friend. What I'm saying is that you don't need to beat yourself up for falling in love with who you thought Dawn was. Take this as an experience for the future."
"I get what you're saying but I need some time without her around to get my head and heart straight. Do ye think ye can keep Dawn from trying to contact me while ye're visiting and maybe convince her to leave me alone when ye leave," Bog pleads?
"No problem," Marianne reassures. "Especially since I ain't leaving. Sunny doesn't know and therefore Dawn doesn't know but this trip is actually me moving to London. From the stories I strangled out of Sunny, I started getting the feeling that Dawn was doing the same thing she had done at home and applied for a job here during the time that Dawn is here. Good thing, too, because now I'm worried at how much damage control I'm going to have to do. Or more like, what I'm going to have to force Dawn to do."
"Do ye really think that will help her, though? It might really hurt her badly," Bog murmurs.
"Bog, we survived watching Mom die when we were kids," Marianne states bluntly. "Trust me, Dawn is a lot stronger than anyone gives her credit for. I'm guilty of being protective of her but only to the point of rescuing her after she gets into trouble. She will be fine and it will save her from ruining her life. By the way, can I see that ring?"
Marianne grins victoriously as Bog hands the ring to her. It is definitely a piece of art with its intricate vine and flower carvings that wrap around the band and also wrap around the bright citrine. The jewel may have been a bit odd for a wedding ring but as she slips the ring onto her ring finger to admire it fully, she finds the clear stone very appealing against her skin.
"Bog, what's this I hear about ye yelling at Dawn," a sharp voice cries out?
Jack disappears in short order as Bog turns his attention from the short brown-haired young woman beside him to face the short red-haired elderly woman behind him. It may have been a bad idea to turn his cell phone off, after all, and he probably should have just blocked all calls from Dawn instead because his mother definitely doesn't look happy with him at the moment.
"I tried calling ye to ask ye how the proposal went but ye didn't pick up, so I called Dawn. The only thing she could tell me was that she hasn't seen ye since ye yelled at her and she had no idea where ye were. She didn't even seem to want to talk to me. What did ye...," Griselda stops mid-sentence as the yellow jewel catches her attention? "Bog! How could ye propose to a different girl?"
Bog stares into Marianne's equally horrified eyes before their attention shift to the wedding ring still adorning her ring finger. They were in so much trouble.