So so so so sorry for the wait! Freaking Christmas is gone and i'm still writing this XP I suck a ton but I can't fight real life unfortunately. But I hope you still read and enjoy this! BTW Beauty and the Beast returns late May/or June! O.O Be ready!
*DISCLAIMER* This story is inspired by work that is not mines. I don't own BATB or the characters, I'm just borrowing them for the time being.
Chapter 7: I'm All In
The Chandlers Residence
Vanessa had the batch of cookies ready to eat and looking festive. They were dressed in red and green icing with a bundle of sugar sparkles laid on top. She smiled down at her first batch of the night as she slid the warm plate on the center of the counter. Instantly, everyone's hands lurched forward to test taste them. Vanessa and Tom grinned at the sight of Vincent clearly becoming obsessed with the sweet treats.
"Oh wow, these are amazing." Vincent managed to croak out as his mouth was filled with the crumbled sweet.
Catherine glanced at him and smile to herself as she too took pleasure in the holiday treat.
"You know..." Tom started with a wide grin as he took another cookie. "The first time I tasted Vanessa's cookies, I knew I had to marry her." Tom looked to his wife and mirrored the adoring smile she was giving him.
"I understand why." Vincent complimented again as he swallowed down a bite.
"Catherine has the recipe!" Vanessa suddenly said, which made both Vincent and Catherine looked up to her. Catherine with a sense of curiosity of what her mother was implying and Vincent with his usual twig of interest.
"She could whip up you a batch, just as good as mines." Vanessa said to Vincent with a big smile and he smirked and shot Catherine a quick look, catching her shooting daggers at her persistent mother.
Vanessa gave her daughter an odd look as she played with her own hands with innocence. Catherine sighed to herself and took a forceful bite of her cookie. She was right. Her mother was doing that thing she always does and with Vincent, who was already persistent enough. She didn't dare look at him as she knew there was a 75 percent chance he was giving her his famous grin.
Tom ignored their little game and picked up the black full sack.
"Well here.." He said, catching Catherine's attention as he tried to hand her the bag across the counter. "Bolt, why don't you divvy up the chips." He offered and Catherine nodded, brushing off her hands before unraveling the bag of poker chips.
Vincent hiked an eyebrow at her nickname. He had heard him say it when they first arrived, but now he was dying to know what it was about.
"Bolt? Where'd that name come from?" He asked Tom before pulling his attention to the girl beside him. Catherine opened her mouth to speak but her Dad beat her to it.
"Ah, well just like a horse. This one bolts at the first sight of a wedding." He explained before indulging in a hearty chuckle.
Vincent tried to withhold his laughter and Catherine laughed along without humor. She hated that nickname so much.
"Don't listen to him!" Vanessa urged, giving Tom a brief look to warn him to be quiet. "I'm sure that once Catherine finds the one...she'll settle down." She rebuked and Catherine gave an odd smile before looking down.
"What about you Vincent, are you seeing anyone special?" She focused the attention on him and Catherine's head shot up. She almost badgered her mom for digging in her client personal life. She didn't know why her parents chose tonight to embarrass her. But it turned out Vincent didn't mind sharing. He seemed to actually be more comfortable than their own child.
"Uh no actually, I'm single." He spoke honestly, barely missing Catherine leave his side to walk to the dinning room table to set it up. He assumed she was finally deciding to escape this conversation as usually did. He looked back at her before his attention was pulled back to her mom.
"Do you like shortbread?" Vanessa asked as if it was life's greatest treasure.
Vincent gave her a rather serious look before nodding his head, "I love shortbread."
Vanessa gave him a smile before clapping her hands together. "I will be right back!" She promised as she went to the fridge to dig out the batter.
Vincent put on a slight smirk as he looked to Tom, "She's amazing." He voiced and Tom shook his head once in agreement.
"Oh yeah." He said without a doubt. Tom stayed in the booth seated at the counter and smiled as Vincent walked over to Catherine.
"What's all this?" Vincent asked, making Catherine jump a little at his sudden presence. Vincent looked at all the pens, markers and cutouts left on the table.
"Oh um..my mom likes to scrapbook and she's kind of obsessed with documenting our lives." She revealed as she scratched the side of her forehead.
Vincent said "uh huh" as he looked at all the books she had so far. One of them caught his eye as the cover held a photo of Catherine and Zach when they were a couple.
"This one looks interesting.." He asked as he picked up the book.
"Oh! That's mom's engagement album, you don't have to look at that one-" She spoke quickly as she went to grab the book. She gave Vincent a really look as he moved it before she could take it. He smiled down at her as she continued to try to fetch it but it was no use.
"Hey.." Tom said and Vincent held the book high as he looked back to her Dad. He nodded to Vincent and moved the plate of cookies so he could bring the book to the counter so they could flip through it together.
Vincent flashed Catherine a grin and turned around, heading back to the counter and Catherine followed behind him. She was looking to her dad with bigger eyes that read "What the hell are you doing?!"
Catherine shook her head to herself as she stood beside Vincent, prepared to explain the stupid book before he got to see anything inside.
"Most people have wedding albums...my mom has an engagement album." She made known, with a shake of her head. Vincent looked to her with a sated grin understanding the joke. Catherine hadn't actually been married yet, but engaged? Many times.
Vincent flipped open the book and the first few pictures were of her and the guy he saw at the restaurant and her sister in some with them as well.
"That's Evan." She said pointing to the guy and Vincent nodded, knowing he had seem him before. "He was my first fiance. He was a weather man for channel 5." She said as she took a sip of her hot chocolate and Vincent continued to flip through the book.
"And..he proposed on live television during a weather forecast." She said uneasy and Vincent pressed his lips together as he stared down at the picture her mother took of the news broadcast.
"Mhmm.." Vincent hummed, seeing how that was a hard proposal to escape. Who could say no to that?
"One million viewers as witnesses.." She spoke, remembering that very horrifying moment as she stared into space.
"Lucky you." Vincent said as he lucked to her. She pulled herself out of her thoughts as she met Vincent's gaze for a moment. She bit on her lip as he looked back down to the book and turned to the next section of the book.
"There's Patrick, number two." She notified Vincent as he looked at the guy he hadn't met. "He proposed on the marquee at the theater." She acknowledged looking down at the pictures Patrick had the photographers capture.
Vincent looked at the pictures oddly, almost giving the same look it seemed Catherine had in the photos themselves.
"He's a movie critic, you know..anything for a good review I guess.." She tried explaining his whole proposal idea. Another plead for marriage she couldn't shoot down.
Vincent flipped to some of the last pictures to see her and Zach and he smirked to himself, this guy he had met.
"Oh..well you know Zach." She reminded him and Vincent nodded.
"A jumbo tron?" He asked, seeing yet another big display in-front of a lot of individuals. What was it with these guys she was picking? "That's impressive..." He finally drug out.
"Yeah, he thought so." She managed to say, looking down at the pictures along with Vincent at her shocked and partially horrid facial expression. In all the pictures, Vincent noticed she didn't look too happy. And the proposal with Zach, she looked the most terrified. Vincent laughed to himself as he flipped ahead to the last photo.
He paused when he saw the photo and Catherine remained silent herself. It was a shot of herself from her wedding day, the closest she was to ever getting married. It was a picture of Catherine in her white wedding dress, staring down into her bouquet of cream and red flowers. Her makeup was light but stunning and her hair brushed her shoulders in loose curls as it was styled up.
Vincent stared down at the photo. He knew she was gorgeous, he has saw it in action almost every day now but in this photo...she looked almost like an angel. She was absolutely mesmerizing.
He looked up to Catherine who was nibbling on a cookie out of nerves, holding it over her mug.
"You look..beautiful here." He spoke a bit breathless, looking back down at the photo.
Catherine stopped chewing and slowly looked up at him. Vincent brushed over the photo with his finger near her face and pulled it away after a seconds, realizing what he was doing. He looked to Catherine who was still watching him and she actually gave him a captivated smile. Neither of the said anything but their looks were loud and clear.
"You know, I have a great idea!" Vanessa said as she walked back in the room. They then looked to her, breaking their bond and Vanessa smiled as she put the scrapbook away.
"Why don't we sing some carols around the piano? Vincent, do you play?" Vanessa asked as she basically jumped with her cheerful mood.
"Oh, no! I don't play-"
"Vincent, yeah you do. Your great!" She said, hitting his shoulder likely to show him otherwise and Vincent shook his head at her.
"Well?" Vanessa pushed and Vincent continued to deny his talent as he sipped from his mug.
"No..no I don't play." He lied and Vanessa sort of looked to Catherine for the truth.
Catherine nodded her head yes no matter what Vincent said.
Vincent sighed as he walked to the piano with everyone a few steps behind him. He took a seat on the long chair and Vanessa quickly sat beside him.
"So..which carols do you know?" She wondered as she looked to Vincent.
He looked up to think and binned his lips that brought out his dimples.
"Um..I like...First Noel.?" He said, a little unsure if they knew it or not.
Vanessa gave such a warm smile as she looked up at Catherine who was standing and then back to Vincent.
"That's my favorite." Vanessa made known and Vincent gave a slight smile as his fingers rubbed the keys.
He pressed on the keys as he began to play the tune and then Vanessa hit the higher keys at the end and started to sing the Christmas carol.
"The first noel, the angel did say.." She sung and Catherine was surprised to hear Vincent join in on the tune. She watched them both sing the song and then her father started to sing in alto. She always thought it was a bit cheesy, especially in front of others but she thought she might as well sing along. They sung it every year and it was too far into her system for her to fight off the festivities.
Catherine laughed at how ridiculous the sounded, neither of them could sing but they still tried. Her dad wrapped his arm around her as the big note came around and she looked to Vincent who then smiled at her as he kept singing. They did their best and then the song came to an end and they all couldn't help but laugh.
Vanessa laughed the most as she brought her hands together. "Great!"
"How about this one?" Vincent mentioned as he went to play another holiday song. He started singing this time first and they all joined in. It didn't last long as Catherine heard foot steps near by. She looked up as she sung the song and then came to an abrupt stop when she saw Zach standing there in disbelief, like she was betraying him.
Catherine nudged her father who was still singing and he stopped when he looked up as well. Vanessa noticed their weird behavior and looked for herself to see her ex-son in-law or almost. Vincent slowly died down the keys as he saw Zach who was looking confused.
Vincent scratched the back of his head while Catherine tried to avoid any looks Zach was giving her. This definitely looked bad. First her house, then the dog shelter and now her 'client' was eating cookies and singing songs with her parents. Oh boy.
After a few moments, it was just Tom, Vincent and Zach sitting in the living room on the couch. Tom was shuffling the cards none stuff between his hands and smirked to himself as he looked to Vincent and Zach. He never said anything as the two of them just sat there in awkward silence.
Catherine peeped her head behind the wall to witness the painful situation in front of her. She looked back to her mom and shook her head.
"Mom! Why did you invite him?!" She asked, clearly referring to Zach.
"Well..I-I just thought it would be kind of lovely." She tried to justify as she shrugged her shoulders.
"To put me on the spot?!" Catherine asked as she threw her hands out.
"Well sweetheart I had no idea you were bringing a date and he is-
"Shh! Shh!" Catherine told her mom as she pulled her further behind the wall as she was barely whispering. "He is not a date, he is a client!" She sighed as she pushed some of her hair back.
"Anyways mom, it doesn't matter, okay? I already told you..I don't want to be with Zach." She said honestly and Vanessa gave her a look before settling and nodding her head.
"Please, please just stop this whole..thing that you're doing." Catherine begged.
"What thing?!" Vanessa asked, oblivious to her actions. "If you mean Vincent..I mean I think he is just lovely AND available-
Catherine cut her mom off by bringing her hand up, signaling her to just zip it and stop. She looked to her mom with a serious expression.
"I'm not marrying anyone, okay?" She told her before walking away and Vanessa stood there, not believing her at all. There was no way her daughter was giving up on marriage.
Both Vincent and Zach looked up at Catherine as she walked back into the room and she gave a small smile, still not knowing what to say.
Since Catherine was lost for words, Tom decided to jump in like he always did.
"So..shall we play?" He asked as he held up the cards.
Catherine held her arms behind her back before looking to her dad to see what he was talking about and she squinted her eyes in disagreement.
"Oh Dad...I don't think this is the right time." She opposed and Zach perked with interest.
"I'll play." He said, sitting up on the couch and Catherine began to frown.
"That is..if anyone else is game." He said, looking over to Vincent.
Vincent smirked to himself, noticing Zach was actually trying to challenge him at the game he mastered in.
"Well Catherine did invite me over for game night." He remembered, joining in and Catherine snapped her fingers.
"He's right..I did." She spoke, rocking on her shoe heel and Zach nodded his head and smiled.
"Okay then, deal em up." He said to Tom.
Thirty minutes later
All of them were still in the game, protecting their cards and what little chips some of them had left. It was Catherine's turn as she eyed the cards in her hand. She looked to Vincent a couple of times who was sitting across from her. She had to admit, he was doing really good do far, she hated to admit that he was beating her. But she was still trying to win. She separated a certain amount of her chips and slid them forward to the dangerous betting pile.
"I bet forty." She said with her poker face active. Vincent looked to her and cheered on her move, knowing the hand he held.
"Call it." Zach said as he pushed his amount of chips in as well. Vincent remained with no expression as he waited for everyone else to go.
Tom stared down at his hand and huffed. "Fold." He stated as he dropped his hand on the table, giving up.
Vanessa struggled with her hand as well as she shook her head. She knew she didn't have a chance. "I'm out." She finally gave in and laid her cards out as well.
Vincent inhaled deeply before looking down at his chips. "I'm all in." He said with a assured laughed as he pushed all his chips in.
Catherine bit her lip and laid her cards down. "I fold." She quit, knowing she didn't have enough chips.
"I raise." Zach said as he stared at Vincent as he pushed the remainder of his chips in.
Catherine gave Zach a weird look at his decision.
"Um, Zach you don't have enough chips there..." Tom informed him and he went digging for his pocket.
He took out his car keys for everyone to see before putting it in the pile.
"Zach, what are you doing?" Catherine asked as she leaned over to him.
"I'm just raising the stakes." He said simply, like it was the logical thing to do.
Vincent looked to him before chuckling and Zach still kept his keys in place. "Are you serious? Your gonna bet your van?" He asked, not sure what he thought he was winning out of this.
Catherine sunk in her chair, knowing Zach didn't know what he was doing.
"It's a nice van but I don't need any plumbing supplies." Vincent joked and Zach tilted his head.
"It's not my van, it's my 57 Chevy." He revoked and Vincent noticed he was very much serious. "You in or not?"
Everyone looked to Vincent, hopping he'd say no and not go along with Zach's stupid bet. But Vincent wanted to take a chance, he didn't like losing. He hated it and the more Zach stared him down and gave a pleasing smirk, it trailed him in more and more. Vincent would take a risk and bet his Porsche.
"Yeah, I'm in. I'll bet my Porsche. I call." He said as he dropped his keys as well.
Catherine shut her eyes and rested her head in her folded hands.
A car was crunk to life and in it sat Zach in Vincent's Porsche. They all stood there outside the door at Zach enjoying his new car. Vincent, not believing he lost and Catherine shaking her head at the whole mess.
"I can't believe he's taking your car." She was sure that they would just drop the bet no matter who won.
Just then, Zach began rolling down the window.
"Ah see I knew it, he's just pulling our leg." Vanessa chimed in as Zach stopped backing out of the driveway.
He stuck his head out the window to talk to Catherine's parents.
"I'll come back tomorrow for my Chevy." He told them before shooting Vincent a look and backing out in his car.
Vincent stood there, wishing he'd just folded and accepting the lost.
Vanessa's mouth was open for a minute as Zach pulled off and she folded her arms as she went to walk back in the house.
"I'm gonna go call his mother." She said seriously as she paced to the nearest house phone.
Tom looked to his daughter and Vincent before sighing and walking back in the house with his wife.
Vincent stood there with Catherine who had nothing to say really as she looked to him. Vincent grimaced at the sound of Zach screeching the tires as he rode down the street.
Later
The taxi rolled to a stop in front of Catherine's house as both of them sat in the backseat.
"Well..that didn't go as planned." Vincent said, thinking of the way he thought the night was heading and in no way was losing his expensive car in the plans.
Catherine had a smirk playing on her lips as she stared at Vincent. "Your lucky with cards huh?" She teased and he gave her a look and she grinned even more.
"I'll talk to Zach..." She offered as she went to get out the car.
"No. no.."Vincent refuted and she looked back at him.
"A bet is a bet.."
"Yeah.. but if my mom hadn't invited him, this never would of happened." She fought back, trying to get him to reason with her. He knew she was right.
Vincent looked to her and gave her a pestering look.
"Come on, it's nice to have a mom who cares." He reminded her, knowing he didn't what she did with her family.
Catherine nodded her head and looked to him. "I know. I just..don't want any pressure." She made aware and he continued to look at her. "Next time..I wanna know for sure." She thought out loud and Vincent furrowed his eyebrows and almost smiled at her words.
"Next time?" He asked and she gave him a puzzled look. "So your saying you haven't sworn off marriage for good?" He poked with a smile simmering and she realized what she had said and looked away with a small.
"I didn't say that." She returned, doing her best to stick to her "long term" plans.
Vincent smiled at her, she seemed like she was trying to convince herself. She finally opened the door and gave him a soft smile.
"Goodnight..Ace." She added with a smirk before hopping out the yellow vehicle.
Vincent nodded his head at her joking remark, "Oh..that's really nice of you. Thanks." He returned sarcastically as she shut the car door.
"See ya!" She said back to him as she made her way up the stairs on her porch. Vincent watched as she made her way in the house and told the man the man his address and then they pulled off. Vincent did a lot of thinking to himself on the ride home. One, he no longer had a car and two, he thought about what he really agreed to and was currently taking part in.
Next Morning
Vincent had done plenty of thinking last night, unable to sleep. It kept bothering him and he knew what he had to do.
He stormed his way into Matt's office and it just flew from his mouth.
"Alright, the bet's off." He said to his best friend. This was a bet he was willing to lose.
A/N
Mwuhahaha! ;) lol so? What'd you think? Again, i'm SO sorry I'm late! Real life got ahead of me. I recently moved out my apartment in Orlando and I'm going to a college closer to home for a year. It wasn't really my choice, but it is better for me right now. It was a whole thing about one of my classes and I flunked it so long story short, I'll be home for a year lol
ANYWAY, Did Vincent make the right choice? Is it really gonna be over? When will Catherine come to her senses and notice the gorgeous being, and potential soul mate, that is Vincent? Haha You'll love the next two chapters! Promise they'll be out sooner than you think, gosh I owe you guys so much!
I hope you all enjoy this! Please keep reading if you want and I hope everyone's 2015 has been great so far. 3
Night! :) Sorry if there's errors, i'm sleepy o.o
