She was nothing he expected, and for some reason Butch had never been more fascinated in his life. Buttercup had a name which was by far more feminine than she was. Her appearance, her speech, her actions showed someone who honestly didn't deserve the name she was given. She slouched in their chair picking at the gunk in her nails while the brothers tried to discuss what to do next.
"Well what now?" he asked.
"We take her in." Brick replied as if it was simple logic. He had to be kidding him. He expected a girl who was just a little rough around the edges. Someone who just had a fondness for guy things not a girl who could make a guy cry at the sight of her. She could not be helped. No way; it would take the work of the big guy himself to turn this train wreck around.
"Are you high?" Butch asked shocked "This girl can't be helped."
"But she came all the way out here…we could at least try." Boomer piped up
Butch snorted. "Please you can't even look at her without wanting to hide behind us." He responded annoyed. Boomer looked at the ground ashamed. Brick glared at his younger brother and Butch automatically shut up. He knew saying that to Boomer was mean but sometimes it just came out and having this girl here wasn't making his mood any better.
"She's staying. If you have a problem with it; you can stay up with Boomer for the rest of the week and do all the chores." He received no response. They walked into the living room waiting for her to look up.
She kept her head down. "So am a lost cause or do I go get my stuff?" she asked still playing with her nails. Butch knew nothing else was there for her to flick onto their couch; she just was being difficult.
"Yeah we'll help you bring it in."
"No need… I got it." She said walking towards the door. He watched as she walked past him and he took a whiff of a strong scent of vanilla. It was so shocking he found himself staring at her retreating figure. Why the hell did she smell so good and look like that?
It took Buttercup an hour to move into the house. She would be living right next door to Butch. It seemed Brick was going to make him pay all this week for that movie. Though it took an hour for her to move in she had been the house for over five. Once she got in her room she never left and it was pissing him off.
"What is she doing renovating it?" All she had was a few boxes and bags and well a coffin. A black coffin with spider web designs on it. Boomer nearly fainted on sight and even Brick was a little freaked out. Brick was never freaked out! He invented staying calm. But she managed to single handedly drag it upstairs as if it was a toy. It was kind of weird.
"Leave her alone; she's not one to spend time with people." Brick replied turning the page in his book. Butch pouted annoyed that she was even living here. Who the hell cared about money? He was living with the Queen of Crazy! Why was no one else concerned about this?
Brick was acting like she was perfectly normal and Boomer….well Boomer was terrified she was going to suck out all their souls. Okay he took it back why was Brick not concerned about this?
"Because she isn't a demon she is a person. If you stopped glaring at her long enough you would realize she's not different from you or me."
"How the hell can you call that normal?"
"Hmm… that's a good question. The same why I call it normal whenever you have a tantrum you manage to break the couch in half."
"I don't appreciate your sarcasm."
"Then don't ask stupid things." Brick replied and turned his page. "Now get one thing straight. We are the farthest thing from a normal family; so you have no right to call anyone out. Buttercup is a person and she is living in our house so treat her as a guest. If you mess with her; you will regret it."
Brick didn't take his eyes off his book and yet he was burning a hole through his skull. Damn his brother could be scary when he wanted to be. "Fine I get it but aren't we supposed to turn her into a lady?" He looked up as if asking 'Yeah what about it?' "How are we going to do that if she is in her room this whole time?" he demanded.
Brick didn't answer for a second and Butch assumed he finally stumped his brother. That was a rare occasion but before he could gloat Brick opened his mouth. "We aren't turning her into one in a single day. She will leave eventually or are too impatient to wait more than a day?" Man did he hate him sometimes.
Their one side battle of wits was interrupted when Buttercup came downstairs. Butch on instinct glared her down and she simply ignored them all. A sharp jab to his side brought him back and he saw Brick sending him a warning. He sighed and realized he wanted him to play nice. She took her keys off the rack and her coat.
"Going anywhere?" he asked.
"That's not any of your business now is it?' she asked and he could feel her smirking.
A smirk appeared on his face as well. "Sorry I just thought I should know. I mean I should warn the place so their customers don't start fainting at the sight of you." He could hear Brick groan in the background. Buttercup didn't turn around.
"Oh don't worry I'm sure more people have passed out from the awful smell coming from you." She responded. Butch growled and shot from his chair fully ready to fight her. Buttercup swirled around accepting his challenge.
He ran towards her but Brick grabbed his arm forcing him to sit down. Buttercup seemed to back down once that happened. She threw on her coat and hurried out the house. Butch was in shock for a split second before glaring up at his Brick. "What the hell!?"
"Did the conversation we had two seconds ago just disappear from your mind?"
"She started it." He said sulkily.
"Now you're acting like your two; just leave her alone for right now." Brick scratched his head in annoyance. "Damn it's like you can't go three seconds without wanting to pick a fight with someone." He insulted.
He can't deny that statement. Butch had been in a large number of fights. Hell he couldn't even count how many he had been in the last month. The number was above twenty though. "I wouldn't get in fights if people weren't so damn ignorant."
Brick shook his head but he noticed a tiny smile on his face. "Whatever; we need to go eat dinner." He went over to Boomer and pulled him from behind the couch. "You need to stop hiding every time she comes."
"It's not my fault she looks scary." Brick rolled his eyes as if they just annoyed him with ever sentence they spoke. They all went into the kitchen and were upset to see it was empty. No more frozen food meant someone would either have to cook or go get some. There was no place around here that delivered.
"I guess I could make soup." Brick said looking at the cans in the cabinets. He was the most logical one to make anything not put in the microwave. Butch didn't have the patience and Boomer got distracted. But it wasn't like he could cook much anything much; he burned most of his stuff because that's how he liked it. They nodded happy to know it was something he couldn't burn.
"I still can't believe you burned soup." Butch said laughing narrowly dodging one of his brother's thick books.
"Will you give it a rest it's been three hours." Brick said annoyed a slight blush on his face. He was good at a lot of things; cooking was just one of those things that eluded him. He looked and saw Boomer staring at the door worried. "What's wrong with you?"
"It's just that Buttercup isn't home yet." She had left hours ago and it was creeping on to be midnight. He was worried someone might have taken her or if she had gotten lost. She had only just gotten into town and didn't know her away around. She could be lost downtown for all they knew.
"What are you worried for? You can't stand the sight of her." Butch said flipping through the channels absent mindedly.
"That's not true!" Boomer yelled catching both of their attention. "She may scare me but she's not some monster. She could be in trouble and we're just sitting around instead of looking for her."
They were silent as they thought about his words. "He's right we should go look for her." Brick said getting off the couch. He didn't want to bother her in case she was doing something important but it was too late for her to be out alone.
"Don't bother." Her voice broke through the room. They all turned back to the door where she was putting her coat on the rack. They all looked at her causing her to look away. "Where the hell were you?" Butch asked.
"Oh you know the normal: terrorizing people with my horrendous looks, scaring little children, kicking puppies. I simply lost track of time in all the chaos." She replied setting her keys down. Okay he was this close to beating the crap out of this girl.
"Are you done with the attitude?" Brick asked. Butch looked at him surprised his brother was actually standing up to her. Didn't he tell him to be nice to her because she just had to get used to them. "I don't know what the hell your problem is but don't take it out on us."
She laughed at his statement. "Okay Red let me spell it out for you. You. Three. Are. My. Problem." She crossed her arms and leaned against the door. "I don't want to be here and you don't want me here. Hell it's all for the money so don't start acting like I owe it to guys to be nice. Frankly you guys disgust me. Only willing to help someone when you have something to gain? We all know I'm a lost cause so why don't you just let me leave. The sooner I do; the sooner Boomer over there can stop having panic attacks at the sight of me."
"No one's stopping you." Butch said through gritted teeth. Buttercup had long past the point of pissing him off. He was furious and he wanted nothing more than to curse her out for acting as if she was better than them. Who the hell was she to be chewing them out?
"Actually you guys are. You see I can't leave until you call up my aunt or whoever and tell them you don't want me. That way I don't piss off my sister by leaving without actually trying. So how about you guys do that for me and I'll be out of your hair by tomorrow." She looked around waiting for someone to say something else. When she got no response she began to walk upstairs but Butch grabbed her by the arm spinning her around. He towered over her by a whole foot and yet he knew she was nothing to sneeze at.
"No wonder they sent you here. Who would want such a witch?" Images ran through Buttercup's head at those words. All her classmates laughing and whispering as she sat at her table alone. She clenched her fists as she heard them mock her. "Who would want to be friends with a witch?" A loud slap was heard by all of them. Butch eyes widened in shock as he touched his face. He slowly turned his head to Buttercup whose hand was still raised.
"Don't you ever call me that again!" she screamed. Her eyes flaring with anger and what he assumed an innocent remark. He was taken aback from her outburst but wasn't about to back down to her. He wasn't going to let her get away with this.
"Why the hell not huh? You are a crazy ass psycho. You're creepy, ugly, and have a bad attitude. I bet you sit around cursing all the people you hate. Why don't you just-."
"Butch!" Brick cried. He stopped ranting and saw his brothers glaring at him. Really she gets off the hook for hitting him but he can't yell at her. "No way! She's been giving me hell this whole time. I bet she doesn't even care." He turned back around and saw her walking up the up the stairs fuming.
"Where the hell are you going!" he demanded. She shot him a look through her thick curtain of hair and gave him a look that froze him in place. It scared him into submission and his mouth closed. She turned back around and stomped her way to her room. She slammed her door causing it to their entire house to shake. His brothers winced at the loud sound but his eyes were glued to where she had just stood. He couldn't believe she managed to shut him up with one single look. Butch went over to his favorite chair; an old torn up green chair and threw himself into it. He was exhausted and he had only seen her for a few minutes.
"So what now?" Boomer asked in a small voice. Brick sighed and sat down on the couch seriously thinking about this. He had expected they would have trouble in beginning but that whole thing with Butch was crazy. She didn't want help and Butch couldn't get along with her. She was shut down now and there is nothing else he could do.
"We might have to just give up." he said simply. Both of them looked at him shocked he even said those words. Brick wasn't one to just give up when things got tough. It was one of those things that both annoyed and amazed Butch about him; and here he was telling them that this is what they should do.
"Are you serious?" he asked breathless.
"What else should we do? She doesn't want our help and she causes way too much trouble. I can't have her around especially considering what happens every time you two have a conversation. I'll just call them in the morning and tell them we can't handle her. Sure we lose one million dollars but I rather not have all this stress in my life." He looked up at Butch and smiled. "You give me enough stress as it is."
Butch laughed at that. It was weird just having her out the room made things way more peaceful. The tension was gone and he could relax. He would be happy when she was gone. "Okay you two it's time for bed." He commanded in his father voice. Butch groaned but got up anyway. He knew if he didn't get to bed soon there was no way in hell he was going to get up in the morning.
Buttercup looked out her window bored. She sat on the windowsill as she waited for the sun to rise. Her entire room was completely black except for the small amount of light coming in from the morning. The buzzing of her phone caught her attention and without moving her eyes she answered it.
"Hey Blossom…it's been a little bit since I last talked to you." She said smiling. She didn't have to see her sister to know that there was a tiny smile on her face as well.
"I'm sorry I just got really caught up with school. You know how they are with me remaining a 4.0 all throughout the year it's stressful."
Buttercup let out a tiny laugh. "Yeah well you wanted to take the scholarship to one of the most difficult schools in the world."
"They offered all three of us scholarships but you two wouldn't go. Speaking of which have you talked to Bubbles; every time I call her assistant tells me she is busy." She could hear the worry in her voice. Her sister was always such a worry wart.
"Chill I talked to her right before I came here. She's been in Milan for a week and only has a pre-paid phone so she doesn't want to use all her minutes. Apparently a crazed fan took it but it's protected so they can't find anything out."
There was silence for a moment. "Do I have to beg you or are you going to tell me how things are going over there?" she asked. Her eyes focused outside now. The sun was casting a pink light as it slowly crept above the hills. She followed it's movements closely holding her breath as it rose higher into the sky glowing brightly.
"So did you see it?" she asked.
"Yeah but I don't think sunsets have the same merit as sun rises. " Blossom replied. Buttercup let out a peace filled sigh. "Of course you would say that you were always a morning person…good night Blossom."
Blossom was quiet and realized her sister wasn't going to be talking about what was going on. She could only hope that it wasn't anything she would get mad about later. "Good morning Buttercup." She put her phone down and stared at the sun. The silence of the morning was only interrupted by the sound of birds. All the peace of the world and she saw it every day even if she had to force herself out of bed hours earlier than she would like.
"Who would want such a witch?" Those words managed to keep her up all night and it hurt to hear it. It seemed like all people were the same. Buttercup found herself walking down the stairs. She needed to clear her head and the best way to do that was to eat something. The living room was silent she almost thought it was empty until she saw Butch taking off his sneakers in the chair. He had a towel wrapped around his neck. Beads of sweat were on his forehead as he tried to catch his breath. The two glared each other down and she walked past him annoyed at his mere presence.
"You got what you wanted." She turned around to see him looking at everything but her. "Brick's going to call someone to tell them you're leaving." Buttercup sat down in the kitchen table plucking a green apple from the bowl. Maybe it was the fact he had just ran five miles and it made him a little impatient but he snapped. "Say something dammit!"
"What the hell do you want me to say? Please don't kick me out I've changed my mind? I'm sorry but witches don't feel." She stated her voice dripping in venom.
"I'm done! I can't figure out why the hell you hate me so bad; you don't even know me."
"And what…you've tried to get to know me? In the first few minutes I was in your house: you pinned me to the ground, declared I was a lost cause and gave me at least fifty glares. I'm sorry I wasn't in such good mood after being treated like crap." She was looking at him…really looking at him. He just noticed but she had tied her hair back in a ponytail allowing him to see her eyes. They were bright green matching the apple she had in her hand. The way she looked right now wearing just sweatpants and a tank top it was like she was just a normal girl.
Brick's words rang in his head. "If you stopped glaring at her long enough you would realize she's not different from you or me." He had treated badly when she came almost like she was a monster and Boomer made no secret on how much she terrified him.
"Do you think I'm not human?" she asked walking over to him slowly. "Do you think you can call me whatever you want and talk bad about me and I won't care? I hurt too okay. I'm still human like you. So I don't dress and act like everyone else it doesn't give you the right to treat me like a monster. You have no idea what I've been through and I didn't come all this way to be treated like that again."
He looked at her and saw the scars and bruises her on her back as well. They covered her arms and hands. "What happened to you?"
"You aren't the only one to believe I'm heartless believe it or not. Now if you can excuse me I need to go back my stuff."
Butch gently took her hand. "I'm sorry okay? I realize I was wrong…will you just sit down with me for a few minutes. I never got to say why I said what I did." Buttercup looked at him with a sad face before sitting down on the couch next to him.
"This place…my brothers and I left our families behind to come here. This place is our haven I guess and it's just supposed to be the three of us. Then you come here and disrupt everything and I guess it pissed me off. Then you manage to beat me up a little so I was rude. We kept arguing and you're attitude problem made it hard for me not to get more pissed. I don't know if you can tell but I have an anger problem.
"I don't know if you can tell…but so do I." he turned and saw she was smiling at him. He found himself doing the same. "I'm sorry I slapped you."
"Sorry I called you a witch…and a psycho and ugly. You know what I'm just sorry I can be an asshole." She gave him a light shove and he noticed she was becoming more of a person to him. There was a loud cough and he saw Brick and Boomer standing on the stairs watching them. His brother smiling while Boomer hiding behind him.
"Boomer come over here." His brother sent him a look but Brick pushed him forward. Boomer walked over and stopped in front of them. "No more hiding from Buttercup she lives here now." He commanded trying to use the father voice Brick does.
Boomer's eyes went to Buttercup and he blinked in surprise. "Hey you know you're really pretty when you are not hiding behind your hair." A small blush appeared on her face and Butch laughed at her reaction.
"Well now all we have to do is make breakfast so we're not starving." Brick said. Buttercup went into the kitchen and pulled out bags of stuff they had bought but never used.
To say she could cook would be an understatement. Buttercup was like a genius of food! This girl was a living contradiction. She didn't care how she looked but smelt like heaven. She was small but could lift and eat like a wrestler. She was tough and acted like a guy but could cook with the best of them. Honestly it was like she was not the same person all the time. Buttercup let out a loud burp which caused him to laugh. Turning her into a lady would prove to be very interesting.
