Summary:

Vanessa joins the Silva and Vermillion families on vacation. Nozel is a bit concerned that his family will scare her off.

Chapter 10: Your Love Has Set My Soul on Fire

Messages Between Vanessa, Charlotte, and Nozel:

C: Have fun on your vacation! Send me pictures!

V: We will 33

N: She doesn't need any more ammo to tease me, Vanessa.

V: You're too easy to tease, babe. Still sending them, Char, no worries

N: (sigh)

C: Excellent! Yami wants me to tell you not to get smashed with Acier and Nickole

V: I definitely won't

N: (sigh)

A grown man didn't sulk.

Nozel sat at the poolside of his family's private chateau in Raque, a southern vacation town in Clover, frowning as Vanessa's attention had been stolen by his mother Acier once again. It was only the first day of the vacation and they had just gotten there. His father went to take a nap after the trip, while Aunt Nickole and Uncle Sazerac went into town for shopping. Nozel turned his gaze from Vanessa chatting happily with his mother to Noelle.

"Don't be so pouty, Nozel," said Nebra, sitting regally in her poolside outfit. Nebra wasn't one for swimming, her bathing suit was for fashion and not utility. Solid was on his phone, texting his boyfriend Alecdora, who couldn't get off work for the family vacation.

"Yeah, at least, your girl is here," said Solid. Solid smirked at Nebra. "And at least, Nozel has a girlfriend. You're the only single now, Neb."

"Rude," said Nebra. "I just have high expectations."

Nozel sighed as Nebra and Solid began arguing, which wasn't unusual for them when their love lives came into play.

This year, it was a full house. Noelle brought her girlfriend Kahono. They were swimming in the pool. Mimosa managed to bring her prickly boyfriend Langris this year and they were eating snacks inside since both tended to get overheated. Kirsch brought Zora as usual and those two had the audacity to be canoodling on the opposite side of the pool, under one of the canopies.

And of course, Nozel asked Vanessa to attend the trip with him. They've been dating for three months, but Nozel already knew that he wanted to be with Vanessa for the rest of their lives. He had hoped to get some one-on-one time with her, but considering that he brought her on a family trip, he should have known that his family wanted to spend time with Vanessa to get to know her better.

He sighed.

Nozel heard Vanessa laughed loudly at something that Acier said and he whipped his head over to where his mother and his girlfriend sat. Vanessa caught his gaze. She winked and waved flirty at him.

"Aww, Big Brother's face is red," said Nebra and Solid, in unison, mocking Nozel.

"You're both awful," said Nozel.

"I'm here! Sorry, I'm late," said a new voice, exiting the house. Vivian Shipley was a former college classmate and reluctant friend (reluctant on Nebra's part) of Nebra's and she was Acier's personal assistant. Their mother adored Vivian and Vivian had joined them on the family vacation since her first year. Nozel liked Vivian, who was sensible to keep his mother out of trouble for the most part, and for the sole reason that Vivian distracted Nebra wholly.

"Vivian," said Acier, jumping out of her seat to go and hug Vivian. "Nebra! Your friend is here."

Mother, you are not subtle, mused Nozel.

Solid scoffed.

Nebra immediately turned red and quickly fixed her hair and outfit, when there was nothing wrong with it. She stood up and said, "Viv, you're never late. Did you get lost again?"

"What? No way, that happened once!"

Nozel shook his head but knew that it was time to get Vanessa's attention again since his mother and his sister were distracted by Vivian's arrival and Solid went back to texting on his phone. Nozel got out of his seat and went over to Vanessa. He held out his hand. "Do you want to check out Raque?"

Vanessa grinned. "Oooh, a grand tour of Raque. Let's go. I hope you know where the best restaurants are, handsome."

"I think that Charmy influenced you more than you think she did," said Nozel, mildly.

Vanessa took his hand and said, "Well, we can always go window shopping."

"We can do that too," said Nozel, though he knew that if they went "window shopping" (as she described, which just meant visiting every shop with no intent to buy, which baffled him the first time she had dragged him to the markets in the city), he'd try to buy everything that Vanessa wanted (she never let him unless she really, really wanted it).

They left with some departing words but everyone was too distracted in their own little worlds. Since it was Raque and the beach was right there, many people wandered the town in their bathing suits and cover-ups with sandals. Since they had just arrived at the Silva chateau, Nozel nor Vanessa changed out of their comfortable traveling clothes.

"I think your mom is scoping me out," said Vanessa, as they held hands, walking the streets, stopping at storefronts every once in a while.

"She's like that," said Nozel. "Be prepared. She and Aunt Nickole take Nebra, Noelle, Mimosa, Kahono and Vivian on a day out and I'm sure that's when you'll get even more questioned."

"Oh, what do the guys do then," asked Vanessa.

"Father and Uncle Sazerac go sailing. Zora and Kirsch go on a date, which is really a good idea to get them out of the house, because if you don't catch them being inappropriate once on this trip, I'll be surprised. Solid and I usually watch movies in the home theater," said Nozel.

Vanessa said, sounding very amused, "You have a home theater?! Fancy. And honey, I've already caught them way too many times. You didn't have to see Zora pining or suffer through watching their honeymoon stage."

"It can't have possibly been as bad as Kirsch pining," said Nozel, reminded of several years ago when Kirsch came into rehearsal one day distracted and more dramatic than usual and it didn't stop for weeks.

Vanessa grinned. "So, do you think that Mama Acier approves of me for her precious little boy?"

Nozel said, simply, "Of course, she does. She was ridiculously happy when I told her that we were dating. She's just being difficult."

"She's sweet," said Vanessa, gently. "And I'll endure all the questions. But I can't say she'd be happy with my answers." He knew from their conversations over the months that Vanessa had a poor relationship with her own mother and so the fact that Acier cared so much, Vanessa loved that about her. He was certain that once his mother found out about Vanessa's childhood that his mother would insist on inviting Vanessa to all the family events.

"You are brutally honest," said Nozel. "And that's perfectly fine."

"No beating around the bush for me," said Vanessa. "Honesty is the best policy."

"I think this is the fanciest place I've ever been. Aside from the country club where Charlotte had her wedding," said Vanessa. She wore a splendid burgundy dress and had matching burgundy lipstick on her lips, which was rather distracting to Nozel, which was a problem since they were sitting amongst Nozel's family. It was the fourth day of the vacation and every year, Nozel's family ate one fancy, multi-course meal at the highest-end restaurant that was owned by a family friend as a favor. "Is the food good, Nozel?"

To be honest, the food wasn't worth the price, but a family friend was a family friend. Nozel said, in a low voice, "We'll go to a better place tomorrow."

Vanessa grinned. "I hope it's that Thorncroft place I saw."

"It is," said Nozel.

"What are you two whispering about over there," asked Acier, at the head of the table. Aunt Nickole rolled her eyes at her sister.

"Sweet nothings," said Vanessa.

"Gross," said Solid, sitting on Nozel's other side.

"Oh, please, they're talkin' about escaping this fancy hell," said Zora, rolling his eyes. "The food isn't even that good." Leave it to Zora to say what everyone was too polite to say.

"Zora," said Aunt Nickole, in the low tone of a disapproving mother, "you're not supposed to say it out loud."

Kirsch sighed and said, mildly, "Babe, remember last year? Let's not start a fight with the head chef again."

"He started it," said Zora, scoffing.

Vanessa looked at Nozel. "What happened last year?"

"You really don't want to know," said Nozel, grimacing at the memory. He held her hand out of whim.

Vanessa smiled softly at him.

"Oh, great another sickeningly sweet couple," said Solid, sulking merely because Alecdora wasn't there. He was actually the worst offender when his boyfriend was around and even Zora and Kirsch called him out on it.

"I think it's beautiful," said Kirsch. "It's nice to see Nozel not so grumpy anymore."

"It's about time that Big Brother got a girlfriend," said Noelle, nodding. "Right, Mim?"

"Absolutely," said Mimosa, nodding.

"Look at how red their faces are turning," Nebra cackled.

"Sounding like a witch again," said Vivian, poking Nebra in the face.

Nebra's face turned firetruck red. "Stop."

"Children, behave," said Acier and Aunt Nickole at the same time, with the same tired mother tone. "Or we are going home."

Vanessa burst out laughing. "This family is hilarious. I love you guys."

"Awww, we love you too, Vanessa," said Acier, winking at Nozel not subtle at all. Tomorrow was the big Girl's Day Out and he hoped that his mother, aunt, sisters, and cousin won't scare off Vanessa.

Nozel sighed.

"I see you are back," said the annoyed voice of a waiter, the same waiter from last year. "I'll warn the Head Chef."

"Thank you, gentleperson," said Uncle Sazerac, grinning, easily dispelling the tenseness in the waiter's eyes. "We'll have the same thing as last year but add two more orders on top of it."

"Of course, sir," said the waiter.

"Honey, I'll castrate you if you flirt with the waitstaff again," said Aunt Nickole, elbowing Uncle Sazerac in the side.

"You know you're the only one for me, Neeks," said Uncle Sazerac, kissing Aunt Nickole on the cheek.

"Oh, god, now the parents are doing it," said Solid.

"For God's sake, Solid, just get Alecdora on video chat," said Nebra. "No one wants to hear you gripe anymore."

Dinner went smoother than last year after Nozel's mother put a stop to Nebra and Solid nearly starting a fistfight. Vanessa agreed with the assessment that the food wasn't that good. And neither Zora nor Langris started a fight with anyone at the restaurant. All in all, it was a pleasant evening, and Nozel intended to make an escape with Vanessa right after she finished her strawberry shortcake, but then, Zora stood up and said, "I got something to say."

The Silva family and the Vermillion family, Kahono, Vanessa, Vivian, and Langris all stared at Zora.

Zora looked at Kirsch, who looked very confused. "Kirsch, I love you. I've loved you since the moment you literally crashed into me. You're my future and my family."

Nozel traded looks with Vanessa and realized that Zora was definitely going to propose to Kirsch right then and there. Vanessa mouthed, "Dramatic."

Nozel smiled.

Kirsch's face was stunned.

"Will you marry me, Kirsch," asked Zora, producing a ring box out of his jacket pocket.

Kirsch immediately leaped at Zora for a hug and said, "Yes! Of course, I'll marry you." Kirsch kissed Zora, which just meant that they were ignoring everyone else.

"Finally," said everyone at the table.

"Zora had that ring for like a year," said Vanessa, shaking her head.

"He informed us a year ago," said Aunt Nickole. "It took him so long to work up the courage, even though he knew that Kirsch would say yes."

"I'm calling Zara right now," said Uncle Sazerac, referring to Zora's dad. "He's going to be so bummed he missed this moment."

"I recorded it," said Mimosa, cheerfully. "Zora told me his plan!"

"We can hear you," said Zora, once Kirsch finally stopped kissing him senseless.

"And we don't care," said Nebra.

Vanessa leaned over and whispered into Nozel's ear, "Don't you dare ask me to marry you in front of your entire family. I'd die of embarrassment."

Nozel said, "Promise."

The rest of the vacation went along swimmingly well. Girls' Day Out went well. One night, Nozel's father caught Nozel and Vanessa making out in the pool, which was not as bad as it sounded. At least, it wasn't his mother. Another day, Nozel and Vanessa escaped Nozel's family and went snorkeling in the ocean. All in all, Nozel had a lot more fun than he normally did on family vacations, mainly because Vanessa wanted to do a bunch of activities.

He was more in love with her every day, and he wanted her to be happy. It was good for him to try new things anyway.

On the tenth night of the vacation, Nozel and Vanessa walked the quiet beach of Raque. There was a chill in the air and the moon was the sole light in the night sky as the stars were covered by clouds. He held his precious girl's hand and wondered if it was too soon to tell her that he loved her.

"What? Do I have something on my face," asked Vanessa.

"I love you."

Vanessa kissed him. "I love you too, handsome." She hugged him and suddenly, she sang, "This heart, it beats, it beats only for you, my heart is yours."

"Are you...singing Paramore at me?"

"Heheh, you know Paramore?"

"...Maybe."

~to be continued