Chapter 11: Belong
Sorry about my inactiveness. XD Been busy with stuff and other stuff hadn't had the time to finish one chapter. :P
Rose paced back and forth in a short straight path in her grey and white room. Her watch told her it was 11:30, but she knew that time went slower in the dream world, so it probably was 3 or 4 a.m. Without cell phone access, she could not let Jake know she was putting own her dream charm tonight.
Luckily, a slow two minutes later, Jake emerged through the doorway of her dream realm. "Rose, where have you been? I've been texting your phone non-stop!"
She approached him, smiling until her response morphed her expression into a grimace, "My parents took my phone, I'm grounded."
"Grounded?"
"Yeah, they found out about us fighting Pandarus yesterday."
"Did you at least find Roxanne?"
Rose laughed, "Yeah, she's the one who told them," she regretted saying after she already said it. She did not want to put more blame on her sister, whose reasoning was out of concern. To give her more justice, she added, "But it's not her fault."
Jake watched the change of emotions across Rose face cautiously, noting that it lacked the bitterness of the past couple of days. He smiled following along next to her and they ambled in the empty room. "Well at least you found her. And also we got some good news on Pandarus."
This news brought more joy to her, still feeling apart of Jake's life even when she knew she could not. "What's up?"
"The Dragon Council is tracking Pandarus's moves since his case made it to the papers. They will be sending some dragons down to monitor Magus Bazaar, which means we are free from Dragon duty."
"Really?" She was more excited that he said "we" than his actual news, "What about the Dark Dragon?"
"Also part of the dragon crew, although he hasn't been spotted in America yet. The way I see it is more time to relax, and get away from random attacks."
"That's great!"
"So how long until you're ungrounded?" Jake knew that with the safety of the group in hand, Rose would get in less trouble about hanging out with him. But how long would that be?
"A week," was the correct answer, but she added also, "If my parent's loosen up."
Jake saw the tension build up in her shoulders, so he grinned, "Don't worry I'm sure this is all just new to them. Can't expect them to be cool with it so fast."
Rose halted the walk to glare at him, "It's just, they were willing to uproot our family back here because of me. They knew how important you are to me, how much this magical life means to me. And now, they are could care less."
"It's a parent thing Rose. They are trying to protect you."
"I don't need any protection." She muttered, more to herself than to Jake.
With his incredible dragon hearing, he heard her still. "Give them time to show them your Huntsgirl side, then they'll know you don't need protection."
She sighed aloud, "Yeah I guess." Quickly she changed the subject, knowing her own parent's indifference, "So, what are your plans today."
A parlor seat appeared before their eyes. Jake sat across from Rose, slumping his elbow on the glass table, "I don't know really. It'll be pretty boring without you there."
"I'll agree to that." She smiled, "One week of boringness."
"Don't worry; we can still talk in here." He said, before continuing, "Will Roxanne be over? Or is she grounded too?"
Rose did not even think about that. Technically, she was the only one grounded. Roxanne is free to do whatever she wants. "Nope just me, But I don't know…" She did not finish her sentence, knowing whatever she was going to say would offend her boyfriend.
Jake took the hint from her unfinished sentence, "Well tell her if she wants she can hang out with us at the shop if she wants. I don't want your twin feeling like she can't chilax with us because your not there."
"I'll pass over the invitation." She placed both her elbows on the table, letting her head rest inside her palms, leaning closer into Jake. Roxanne might not feel comfortable with Jake without her, but it would help her keep informed in the groups affairs.
But this night in the dream realm was not meant to spend talking about her sister; but to be with each other. "So…what do you want to do? We have the whole night ahead of us!"
"There's one thing…we could always so." Jake wheedled, inching his head closer to Rose's.
Each leaned a little more, up until their lips met. Rose closed her eyes, enjoying this moment, taking in everything from her boyfriend. His smell, his taste, his lips…
When she opened her eyes, she was back in her room, making out with her white pillow that was no longer strictly white. For a moment, her body did not register what happened. When it did, she pouted her face and crossed her arms.
She opened her mouth to speak, but then caught herself before saying 'aww man!" The repetition of Jake's words made her smile, and able to get up from her bed easily.
Her lone clock read 8:30, along with the emptiness of her house. Her father already gone, it made her the one awake. With nothing else to do, she got in the shower, and prepared herself for the upcoming day.
When she emerged out of the steaming shower toweled, Roxanne exited out of her room still in her pajamas. "Hey your back on your early morning routine!"
Rose smiled as she wrapped up her hair, but the smile poorly executed contentment, "There's not much else you can do when you're grounded." She said in an uplifting tone so her sister would know she was not in a bitter mood once more.
For the next hour, she blow dried her hair, and composed herself. Roxanne entered in her room wearing a robe when her process was near complete. "Whad up sister?"
She joined her sister on the bed, eyeing the droplets of water falling from her loose brown hair. "Not much, what you up to today?"
Roxanne brushed her fingers through her tangled hair, "I was going to ask you the same thing."
"Why? You're not the one grounded. You have the whole week to what you want to do."
She swayed her head, a half agreement, "Yeah…I was thinking about calling some of my old friends, catch up with them." Rose smiled; Roxanne deserved time to be a normal teenager with normal friends. But just before she opened her mouth to agree, Roxanne cut-in, "But as I went through my phonebook, I realized I don't have any old friends. Man, moving sure shows who you really are, and where you belong."
With those solemn words, Rose learned two things about her sister. One, she resented her old life of chasing boyfriend after boyfriend, and two, she did not mind tagging along with her and her new friends; almost if she preferred to be in her supernatural lifestyle.
The thought made her smirk, "Well Jake invited you to the shop today. He says not to feel like your not welcomed just because I'm not there with you."
"I might…but I don't think mom and dad will want …wait a second," Roxanne raised her arms up, whoops, "how did you talk to Jake? Did you sneak my cell? I think I would have heard him come through the window…unless he was all 'dragoned up' but still I'm pretty sure a dragon would be—"
Better to tell her now before she went on like this for days, "Roxs, no. It's from this," she held up her wrist, letting the loose bracelet hang along her wrist.
"Your old charm bracelet?"
For a moment, Rose wondered how Roxanne remembered the emergence of this bracelet, being different from where it actually came from, "It's actually called a dream charm, stole it back from the Huntsclan. Allows me to enter into others and mine dreams; me and him talk in there occasionally."
"You sly girl, always looking for ways to undermine mom and dad," she lowered her face, observing her own reflection in the first charm, "Neat. Can I try sometime?"
Rose nodded, "Maybe." Her arm fell back onto the pillow sitting on her lap. "Jake also mentioned other dragons are on watch of the city for, Pandarus," she decided to leave out the Dark Dragon. No use in telling her that there are some evil dragons and the one on the loose is one of the most dangerous, "Which means it should be safe and sound for you."
"Cool, though I was thinking about maybe just hanging out with Spud, I don't know where we stand…" Roxanne was unsure about her feelings for Spud. She had kissed his cheek the morning after they found Rose from her regression, but since then he had made no hints of taking it a step further.
"That should be fun," Rose did not want to side with her…for she knew as about how his feelings work as how his mind works.
"And if anything, I can always just use this," she dived her hand into the pocket of her robe, and pulled out a vial. This small vial was pink, and had a bright-laced label along the middle.
Rose withdrew with her eyes for a moment, and then laughed, "You stole the love potion from Magus Bazaar?"
"Not stole…" She stared into the ceiling, hiding a smile. "I am capable of making a purchase."
"With what money?"
"Mom gave me some at the beginning of the week thank you very much!" She pretended to be offended. "Since I bought it…though I'd see how it works…"
"Roxanne, it's not smart to use some potion you bought one some guy to find out if he likes you. And those potions usually have very bad permanent side-effects."
"I know I know," she shoved the potion back into her pocket, "But it doesn't hurt to bring it along."
Rose reached up and pluck a wet strand hair on her head, "Whatever Ms. Romantic…go get some clothes on."
Roxanne stuck out her tongue, and then exited her sister's room.
An hour later when her hair was dried, straightened, and curled, she stuck her head back in, "I decided to go hang out with Jake."
"Okay," Rose muted the television, "have fun!"
Roxanne shifted her eyes into the hallway, and then said, "If mom asks, I went on a date with Spud," then zoomed out.
Rose chuckled to herself, and returned to her show. She spent the rest of the afternoon between stupid television shows and commercials. Most of the time her attention was not even on the show…just imaging what fun her sister is having without her.
At dinner, she sauntered down the stairs and sat quietly in her chair, looking at neither her mother nor father who just came home. Her eyes made a small divergent to the other empty dinning chair, and for a split second envy shot in her eyes.
Charlotte joined into the dining room table, setting the mood to beginning eating. By her subtle tones, all the anger from yesterday disappeared. "Hey Rose, where's your sister? Did she tell you she was going to miss dinner?"
Rose remembered the plan established by her, and played accordingly, "I don't know…she said she was going on a date with Spud. Maybe they are planning to go to dinner."
Charles took a bite of his macaroni, and then responded, "Awe how sweet. Good for her to finding someone," His mouth remained open after his words, contemplating saying more acid against her, Rose knew.
"Yeah…just I don't like her going out without you around," Worry read across her eyebrows, "Without you sticking together."
Rose took another bite, and then responded in her most gracious voice, "Roxanne is fine, she has her cell, and is only a few blocks away. Just because I am grounded, doesn't mean she can't have fun."
Hiding her worry, Charlotte lied, "I know."
After the silent dinner, Rose retreated to her room and watched more dull TV in the dark. Odd, Rose felt just like her sister this morning. Moving really does tell you who you are, and where you belong.
Rose decided to wait until her sister to come home, maybe to regain some excitement of the day. Maybe her stories of her day might even add thrill, or exhilaration.
She woke up from dozing during a rerun show at about 1:30, with the slam of the front door.
I've been working on this chapter for a couple of weeks now, just been so busy to work on it. XD Actually, that was a lie, not that busy. =D Just busy hanging out with friends, doing other things.
But I am going to warn you my AP exams are coming up, which means I won't be updating often in the next month. Hopefully it won't take A MONTH for me to update again XD.
