Emory's Visit
With one last flurry of activity, his sister and her husband finally left for the weekend Conference that Jake was going to, the details didn't really matter, instead what mattered to Emory Barksdale were his two nieces.
Especially his favorite.
"So now that the rents are gone, any grand plans that don't involve a kegger?" he asked jokingly, even while wondering how much of Helen's story about the last time she had left Quinn alone at home was true.
The pouting and foot stomping from the annoying redhead told him that it was the truth, for once.
But Quinn composed herself and said in that high-pitched voice that reminded him of Rita at that age, "Well I'm going with the Fashion Club to the mall, then a date with Jerome, and then I'll be staying at Sandi's for the weekend."
Emory nodded, "Ok then, well you have the house number in case you need anything."
He then put the girl out of his thoughts, even though she was still in the room, her relevancy was gone.
Instead he addressed Daria with a warm smile, "So Daria, what do you want to do?"
She smiled back, and Quinn gasped in shock when she noticed it, "I was hoping to invite a few friends over to meet you."
Emory laughed and joked, "Were you in on that kegger?"
"Nope," Daria replied honestly, "I went over to Jane's that weekend and let Quinn hang herself with it, I just want Jane and her brother and any member of Mystik Spiral that is around and awake to meet my cool uncle."
Emory replied slyly, "Sounds good to me, in the meanwhile... How will we kill the time?"
"Sick, Sad World?" Daria offered up.
"I'll give it a shot." Emory replied and followed Daria to the couch, neither of them noticed that Quinn was still in the room and was watching them with a look of total surprise.
Emory laughed as the credits began to roll, "I have to admit you were right Daria, this is so bad for you that it's good for you."
Daria beamed at the praise, "Thanks Emory."
He took in the sight of his bespeckled niece and told her, "No problem Daria."
Then the doorbell rang.
Daria got up to answer it and Emory stretched out on the couch and watched the flickering box.
In the meanwhile, Daria opened the door and Jane Lane in, while exchanging pleasantries Daria moved to the side and indicated towards the couch, "That's the Uncle I've told you about, Emory Barksdale."
Jane stood stock still and her lips parted slightly as she stared at the thin, broad shouldered figure on the couch in his dark blue sweater, comfy jeans and sneakers, his wry and yet handsome face that reminded her of...
"Daria." was Jane's last rational thought before she struggled to say something really cool that would catch his attention.
This is what she came up with.
"mblmblmbl hi!"
Emory smiled, "A pleasure, I assume this is Jane?"
Daria nodded, "Yup, though I'm surprised that she didn't bring Trent like she promised."
While Jane tried to speak at a level audible to humans, Daria tried to figure out what the hell was wrong with Jane.
Finally she managed to squeak out, "mblmblmbl asleep."
"Ah," Daria breathed while the wheels turned in her head, "Figures."
Emory asked, "Exhaustion? Booze? Weed?"
"Narcolepsy." Daria said flatly.
"Ouch." Emory replied in turn.
Jane in the meanwhile turned beet red as Emory rose from the couch and came up closer and asked her a question about her art.
"mblmblmbl at my place." she answered.
Then Daria felt something click in her head and she managed a second smile that night, but it was a teasing grin that normally graced her friend's face whenever Trent was in the room with Daria.
"Cool," Daria said very dryly, "Since my Uncle and myself only had plans to go out to eat tonight, you could come with and we could swing by Casa Lane and give Emory a preview of your work."
Even while cursing Daria's immortal soul, Jane felt her heart flutter at the thought of Emory in her house, in her bedroom...
She had to fight back a squee of epic proportions.
At Chez Pierre, Emory had a fun time showing the girls the spelling errors in the 'authentic' French menus and gave them pens to mark down corrections, the server was exasperated even before he brought them their appetizers.
Jane managed to compose herself long enough to ask what he did for a living.
"Oh I work as a freelance Art Appraiser," Emory explained and then contemplated the girlish gasp from Jane for a long moment and reached a conclusion but didn't comment on it.
Instead he regaled them with tales of his work for various museums in the New York and Boston areas while the server brought them their food at last.
The food was subpar in Emory's opinion, but refrained from speaking about it until Daria stated that she found the so-called 'French cuisine' to be not so French at all.
"You are correct," Emory replied, "Though I didn't expect much considering the area but I have been surprised before... Just not this time."
Jane laughed at that very loudly and attracted quite a bit of attention and then stopped and flushed crimson and didn't really talk much until the check came.
But Daria and Emory maintained a good conversation, catching up on each other, Daria learned that Emory had kept to his personal word and was also in touch with Luhrman, who as it turned out lived in Boston.
"I honestly prefer Boston to New York," Emory said sagely, "It feels more like home to me than anywhere else in the world."
Daria smiled at that, "I was thinking about going to college in Boston, Raft being my obvious choice."
Emory grinned, "The college of the aspiring writer, I have good memories of that place even though I went to Tennyson. A number my old girlfriends went to school at Raft so..."
He then stopped himself and laughed instead as he settled the bill and they got up to depart, "Well I won't bore you with those stories."
As the three of them left, they didn't see Quinn at a booth with her date, unable to take her eyes off of them.
"Uh Quinn," he said, "What's going on?"
"It's nothing Jared." she said dismissively.
"It's Jamie!" he protested.
"Whatever."
Jane glowed like the sun as she displayed the best of her work in the Lane living room, not quite able to bring herself to take Emory into her bedroom.
"Especially since Daria's around." she thought with more bitterness than her friend deserved as she showed Emory the one she called 'The Warped Woman'.
"Very good choice of colors," Emory breathed with pleasure as he took it in, "An interesting take on the subject matter... Is it from a dream?"
Jane laughed, keeping her eyes on the painting and not Emory himself, "The waking nightmare of High School, it's our Principal as I see her, well her emotional state at any rate."
Daria and Emory joined in the laughter.
"Jane you are truly a great artist," Emory stated, "And I'm not trying to flatter you, I normally only see this level of talent and skill from someone much older, not a student artist."
Jane blushed, "mblmblmblmbl thanks."
"You are welcome Ms. Lane," Emory told her happily, "Why between you and my niece there is enough talent in this room to spark a creative revolution."
"I like that," Daria said even while smiling at her friend, "Especially since the creative types get to set their own hours."
Emory laughed, "Only the successful ones sadly."
He then said more seriously, "Jane, you really should consider applying at BFAC when it's time for college."
"mblmblmblmbl really?"
"Yes really," Emory replied, "It's a world class art school and I happen to have a lot of pull there, and at Raft too, neither of you has to worry about getting in with your Uncle on the case."
Daria chuckled, "So we'll get in the old fashion way, bribery and nepotism."
Emory grinned, "Just nepotism, I don't have the cash to bribe those people."
"Well Mom did say that having connections was important," Daria conceded, "I'm just glad that I didn't have to go far afield to get them."
"Especially since most of those good connections are connected to people that suck." Jane concluded while keeping her eyes away from Emory.
Daria and Jane had a blast during that weekend with Emory Barksdale, between showing him the suck that was Lawndale and snarking away, Emory telling off Upchuck for his sleazy attempts at hitting on his niece, Brittany and Kevin confusing him for her father, being exposed to the Zon and the music of Mystik Spiral; "Well they say you have to start at the bottom." Emory said of them.
"And there isn't a bottom to this." Daria had added cunningly.
The only strange factor came from the occasional run-in with Quinn and her friends, the three of whom also confused him for Daria's father and referred to her as 'Quinn's Cousin'.
"Is she still pulling that crap?" Emory asked without bothering to get out of earshot.
"Yup." Daria replied flatly.
He sniffed, "She's worse than Rita and Helen put together, I'd put in a word with Hell-bells but it's clear that Quinn's the spoiled princess who can do no wrong."
"Until real life slaps her in the face." Daria offered up and they both laughed at Quinn's expense.
Not giving a crap that she had heard every single word.
But alas the weekend came to an end, and Jake and Helen returned to Lawndale looking like they had been run ragged and with stories about sucky businessmen and an incident in a balloon.
However Emory tuned it out and when asked how the girls were replied that they were just fine, he had checked to make sure that Quinn had come back home in time for her parent's arrival.
She was shut up in her room to try on new outfits apparently.
Daria in the meanwhile gave Emory a hug before he left, and shocked the hell out of her mom and dad in the process and asked if he could come back soon.
"Actually I was hoping you could come up to Boston sometime," Emory informed her, "You showed me Lawndale, I should show you my hometown."
"Deal." Daria replied and gave him another hug.
Once he departed, Helen and Jake were silent for a long time while their eldest daughter went up the stairs with an unusual bounce in her step, and when she was secure in her room she glanced at the pile of books that her uncle had bought for her, titles she would normally have never considered but he had assured her were very good reads.
She smiled at the pile and grabbed the first one, A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin and opened it.
"I'll see you in Boston." she whispered as she began to read.
Even while Quinn in her room stared at a pile of new clothes on the floor, unable to find pleasure in the latest teen fashions with the images of Daria with Uncle Emory flashing in her mind over and over again.
The less said about what they had been saying about her, to her face no less, the better in Quinn's opinion.
But it didn't help make the hurt go away.
"Because they... They are right." Quinn thought to herself once more, not feeling the white hot tears streaming down her face, ruining her makeup.
It took a long time for them to stop falling.
THE END
Note: I shamelessly stole Jane's mblmblmbl's from God Save the Esteem.