Chapter 7
Author's Note: Hello lovely readers! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday week relaxing and sitting at home in your pajamas like I did almost the whole time. It was amazing. Due to all the vacation, I was actually able to get ahead in writing these chapters so I'm hoping this story is going to start being updated regularly. I hope you like this chapter, as we are finally starting to get to a changing point in John and Rose's relationship. Please tell me what you think! Also, thank you as always to AudreytheAwkward for betaing this.
"Rose! We need you in the kitchen." Joan screamed.
"ASAP!" Rose heard Astrid add. She groaned as she got up off the couch and went into the kitchen, rolling her eyes. They probably needed her to paint the pool pink or vacuum the driveway, seeing how ridiculous they could be. When Rose finally spotted her step-sisters at the table, she noticed they weren't alone. Reinette and Cassandra were with them, their mouths curved into a smile that made Rose's blood run cold.
"Rose, you're here. Why don't you sit down?" Cassandra patted the spot across from her at the table as Reinette, Astrid, and Joan kept smirking at her.
"…Alright." Rose said as she slid into the chair. Even though she normally didn't care what they told her, she could feel her heart picking up speed. Today, she had a lot to lose.
"I was thinking, since you've been doing well on cleaning the rest of the house," Cassandra made eye contact with her, "That you're ready for me to finally give you some more responsibility."
Rose almost relaxed. There wasn't much more they could give her, and she'd already cleaned the whole house. Everything was ready for her to be able to go to the costume ball tonight.
"I've decided to let you clean…my bedroom." Cassandra laughed, and Rose almost did too. That was all she had to do? She got up and followed Cassandra to the one room in the house she had never been allowed to go in before. Rose twisted the doorknob open quickly, hoping to get done with this job in less than an hour. As soon as the door opened, however, Rose took a very sharp breath. A filthy odor drifted out of the room that Rose was sure could be smelled from across the country. It was like the stench of something burning combined with the smell of rotten eggs contaminating every bit of fresh air it made contact with. She coughed several times before slamming the door shut.
"But, Cassandra, this is awful! I need heavy duty equipment! It's going to have to wait until I can stop by the store!"
"Oh, I'm sorry but the room needs to be cleaned by 12 tonight. I need this ready for my after party." Cassandra left Rose standing in the hallway by herself, gaping. She slid down the wall next to Cassandra's door and took a deep breath. This was probably all Reinette's idea, her being in control of Astrid and Joan's hive mind and all. For some reason, Reinette had always seemed to hate Rose. Rose shook her head, mentally telling herself to stop blaming people. It didn't really matter, anyways. All she had to do was clean.
Two hours of cleaning later, and the room still showed no signs improvement. Rose had vacuumed sections of the carpet, gathered up as much half-eaten food as she could fit in the garbage bags, and found her old dog under a pile of clothes. Still, she had four hours till Donna arrived. Maybe she could finish. Rose felt her phone buzz in her pocket and she picked it up. It was the Doctor.
"Hey."
"Rose!" He answered enthusiastically. "Been trying to reach you for hours! Where have you been?"
"Sorry. I was vacuuming Cassandra's room. Seriously, you should see this, it's disgusting. I couldn't see the floor until after about an hour and a half of cleaning."
"Ouch!" She could hear the grin in his voice. He hesitated before continuing. "Are you still coming to the dance tonight?"
"Nah, I can't." Rose tried to hide her disappointment. "This place is a mess, and Cassandra says it's gotta be clean by 12 AM. I can't get that done before the ball."
"Oh. Well…" There was silence. She wondered if she'd imagined the disappointment in his voice. "So, you aren't going to be there?"
"No." She repeated response firmly.
"I've got to go, Rose. I'll see you-never mind." He hung up and Rose put her phone back in her pocket. She wondered why her heart was beating so quickly now, why it always did when he talked to her or texted her. Rolling her eyes at herself internally, she scolded herself. For the past couple of weeks, her feelings hadn't died down liked she'd hoped. They just kept getting more and more intense. It wasn't like she was in love or anything, she was only 17. But this was definitely different from her other crushes. Rose shook her head again. What was the matter with her? The Doctor was way out of her league.
Apparently, Cassandra had not wanted to bother sticking around, instead going to some celebrity party. Astrid and Joan had went to Reinette's place, which was almost as posh as Cassandra's, to get ready for the dance. Rose was the only one who had to stay behind to clean up all of their messes. She was just about to start attempting to pick up Cassandra's clothes when there was a knock on the door. Dropping her gloves on the ground, she ran to the door and quickly jerked it open. Anything was better than that pigsty.
"Hello, gorgeous."
"Shut up, Jack. She doesn't want to be flirted with every time you see her." The Doctor reprimanded before playfully glancing down at Rose.
"What're you guys doing here?" Rose felt her heart accelerate, a feeling that was beginning to become familiar. "There's only an hour till the dance starts! You should be getting ready."
"That's the thing." Jack interjected before the Doctor could. "You see, he didn't want to go if you weren't going to be there. Said that it would be boring, and I agreed, because you and Donna are pretty much the only fun people at your school. Everyone else screams when they see him."
"Jack." The Doctor's face went a bright red. He ran a hand through his hair, and then scratched the back of his neck.
"What? It's true!" Jack raised his hands in surrender.
"You guys can come all the way inside if you want; Cassandra might kill me if I run her air conditioning bill up." Rose shut the door. "Seriously, though, you didn't have to come. I can stand being alone by myself, you know."
"Don't doubt it, but like Jack said, the dance won't be any fun without you."
"Thank you so much." Rose said so softly, only the Doctor could hear her.
"What're friends for?"
"I hate to interrupt you two, honestly you're adorable, but Doctor…did you invite Donna?" Jack cut in.
"No, Jack, I did not invite-"
"Because she's walking up the driveway right now, and knowing Donna, she might be a little ticked if nobody invited her."
The three stared at each other for a second, and then the Doctor began to panic.
"She already hates me! She'll slap me, or worse, when she finds out I didn't invite her! Rose, you've got to help me, I can't-"
"Oh, calm down. Donna's harmless and she does not hate you." Rose smiled at him, "I bet you two could be best mates, with how similar you are."
The doorbell rang before he could respond. Jack just smirked at the Doctor and walked with Rose to answer the door. Donna barged in immediately with two dresses, which were supposed to be for the ball. The Doctor saw her make small talk with Jack before beginning to talk louder than was necessary.
"So Rose, where's your boyfriend?"
He then witnessed Rose getting very pink, then glancing in his direction. And that comment made him think. Would it really matter if he asked her out? Rose was a talented dancer, the Doctor had seen her. Surely, no one would care if he brought her with him on his tours to dance with him.
"Doctor, you can come out now." Jack called from the hallway. Slowly, the Doctor got up from his crouching position and stood over by Rose. "Donna's going to stay here and help us clean. We think we can probably get it knocked out in about 2 hours and still have 3 hours to spare, but Rose thinks it going to take a lot longer."
"I've never seen a dirtier place in my life. Come on." With that, Rose began walking towards Cassandra's room. Neither the Doctor nor Rose noticed how their hands immediately intertwined, as if it were instinct. Jack and Donna noticed, though, and smiled at each other. Silently, Rose opened the door with her free hand.
Immediately, everyone started coughing. "God, what is that smell?" The Doctor choked out.
"I've never smelled anything worse in my life!" Jack exclaimed. Rose just stood and smiled at them.
"You still haven't seen the closet."
Three hours later, the room was spotless. The floors were mopped and spots were washed. Clothes were washed, wigs were brushed, the bed was made. Jack, Donna, Rose, and the Doctor decided to watch the Lion King. Apparently, Jack and the Doctor loved Disney movies just as much as Rose. Donna claimed to hate all the singing and dancing, saying it ruined the plot. About half way through, Jack had wrapped his arm around Donna. Later, they both fell asleep during the credits, with Donna leaning on Jack's arm. Rose had pulled the Doctor into the kitchen with her so that they didn't wake them.
"Want a cuppa?" Rose asked softly as she opened a cabinet containing more teabags than the Doctor had ever seen.
"Yes, please. And as much sugar you can put in there please."
Rose finished in about 5 minutes, bringing both cups of tea to the table. The two sat in a companionable silence for a while until Rose finally said something.
"Thank you so much for this." She said quietly. "No one has ever done something this sweet for me, and you have no idea how much this means to me."
"I couldn't just let you sit here alone, could I now? Besides…" He hesitated for so long, Rose thought that he just wouldn't finish. "You're worth it to me."
Rose felt her heart rate increase again. She knew she had to be imagining things, but the way he'd said that, it made her feel like maybe what she felt wasn't so one-sided after all.
"I-I really like you, Rose. A lot. I was wondering…wondering if maybe-" He ran a hand through his hair, and looked at her with such intensity that she thought she was dreaming. "If you wanted to go out with me."
Rose's breath hitched and she knew that he couldn't, he just couldn't, mean what she thought he did.
"We go out all the time." She laughed nervously and the Doctor frowned before letting a grin light up his face.
"Yeah. Of course, silly me." He looked down awkwardly. "Me and Jack should probably go. You know, before Cassandra gets back."
Rose stared at him for a moment before jerking back to attention. "Yeah. Thanks again. See you Friday." He walked out of the kitchen and Rose buried her head in her arms. Why did she have to mess everything up?
