Chapter 38
Gerda arrived at the entrance of the Liberty, the houseboat of the Couffaine household, and walked above the bridge to get into the boat.
„Hello! I'm here," Announced Gerda, then spotted Luka sitting on a chair playing on his guitar, then glimpsed up at the girl and smiled.
„Welcome," Greeted the guitarist. „The girls are downstairs,"
„Thanks Luka," Replied Gerda walking to the door, before she got in. „Shouldn't you get prepared for the prom?"
„It starts at 6 pm. I got plenty of time,"
„Okay, just curious though," Gerda commented, then went downstairs to enter into the kitchen of the boat to encounter a lot of images with various hairstyles and Gerda looked at the images picking up one, where it showed a woman with a braid going around the neck down at the back.
„Arr, there you are!" Shouted a voice shrieking Gerda losing the sheet to see Anarka Couffaine walk past the girl to look at the images. „You must be Gerda, right?" Questioned the woman making Gerda nod.
„Yeah, are you Juleka's mom?"
„Exactly!"
„Funny, you remind me of my friend Alfida. She is…..uh was descendant from pirates," Stated Gerda making the adult laugh.
„Now that's some worthy pedigree she's got there lass,"
„Yeah….her mother was a pretty cool woman," Admitted Gerda, then from the bedroom of the Couffaine siblings came out Rose opening up her arms to see Gerda.
„There you are!" Commented Rose excited and hugged the taller girl. „Are you ready?"
„Yes, what are we going to do?" Asked Gerda as Rose led her into the bedroom.
„Just a few little things, we will add you new nails, a new hairstyle, make-up, borrow you some high heels, check your clothing, eventually add additional features to yourself…..,"
„Uh that seems like a lot for just a few hours," Commented Gerda. „Do we really need to do all that?"
„We just want to help you to be more bewitching for Rollan. I thought you wanted to make a very good impression on him,"
„Yes Rose, but…..I want him to fall in love with the real me, this me here. Just a few little changes, I'll ask you for more, when I'm not happy,"
„Okay," Commented Rose sad, then looked back at Juleka, which stood at the arc listening to the two girls.
„I have something in my mind," Mentioned Juleka quiet making Rose smile, then Rose grabbed Gerda on the braids to look at them and looked at Juleka.
„Her tips look sprouted, you think you can give it a little cut?" Asked Rose making Juleka nod.
„I think if I just cut it right now like that it's easier," Stated Juleka making Rose nod.
„Oh! Oh! You've got my honey-almond shampoo. We can borrow her that for the hair wash," Suggested Rose making Juleka nod.
„Do you want to paint your nails or add artificial, colored nails over them?"
„I'd love to have them painted, preferable," Answered Gerda making Juleka nod.
„Oh before we get started, I'm picking up all these sheets to show them to Gerda. One or two of these hairstyles she will definitely love," Commented Rose closing the door behind them.
Rollan stood in the office, which he uses as the bedroom, and looked at a dark-red shirt he had lied on the bed. He had in the meanwhile put above his legs on black pants. Rollan looked at them and moved around feeling slightly more comfortable, than usual.
„They're actually good," Mentioned Rollan, while in front of the couch stood Coal looking up at his holder.
„What's that metal thing in front of your pants?" Asked Coal watching Rollan look at his closed zipper, which had the metal piece standing upright, then Rollan put it down and hid it behind the wrinkle.
„To keep it closed. I open it up to have it easier to take it off and on," Explained Rollan, then someone knocked on the door and Rollan looked at the door, which opened up to show Arthur Hemming glimpse into the room.
„Hey, you're not dressed already?" Asked Arthur making Rollan shake his head.
„I was about to take off my shirt," Mentioned Rollan, then Arthur got into the bedroom to show Rollan three different dress shirts.
„I'm not sure if they suit you, but if you want you can use them for tonight," Suggested Arthur. „You might just need to iron them a little before you go with it,"
Rollan smiled, then picked up one in white to open it up to look at its size. Rollan placed it aside to remove the current shirt and put the dress shirt on him to check its size and saw, that down it was a little longer than usual, but the arms were fine.
„It's almost good. I can keep these parts here inside my pants," Commented Rollan shoving it into his pants, afterward he moved up his arms to present himself to the adult. Behind him at the door appeared Georgette, which just had come home and spotted Rollan's new attire and smiled.
„Wow, you look gorgeous, Rollan," Complimented the French woman, then Arthur looked back to see his wife stay at the door.
„Gracias," Said Rollan, then stepped in front of the computer screen to see his reflection on it. Georgette got into the room to look at his reflection, then placed her hands on his shoulders.
„You look fantastic with a white shirt," Stated Georgette. „In my opinion, I like you more that way,"
„I was used to wearing red. It was my favorite color, but white makes it nice too," Admitted Rollan, then got patted on his shoulders.
„You don't need to be worried. You look just fine," Commented Georgette.
„Most of the boys usually wear similar to each other. Women tend to have way different clothing from each other," Commented Arthur making Rollan nod.
„I think the girl you're going out with will adore to see you like that…..It is the girl you introduced us to the last time, right?" Questioned Georgette making Rollan shrug.
„Actually it is," Responded Rollan. „Gerda genuinely shows me, she's quite interested in me. I…..I even think she wants more than this, you know more than us being just friends,"
„I think she might be trying to make you move on her. Try to earn your interest to her or you know…..wait for you to do the first step of anything like a confession, a kiss or anything else,"
„I'm not sure if I'm the right one for her,"
„You only know that with the time. You'll never know it until you've experienced it," Commented Arthur making Rollan nod. „Don't fear it,"
„As a child, I never had the chance to receive any important life or love advice from my parents. I did some minor important facts from my mom though," Mentioned Rollan, then chuckled remembering the time he was younger and lived with his mother. „She always assured me, back when I was a teenager that I would find a girl, which was worth waiting for and that she could get to know her,"
„Your mother sadly didn't witness, what happened to you in the past, but I am sure, that she knows you're in a safe place and will make her proud with the fact, that you were able to strain yourself in this new world to get used to it,"
„Yes," Commented Rollan. „Too bad I couldn't see her anymore," Said Rollan sinking his head down. „I haven't been in Alicante for so long and I have seen pictures from my friend and it's not the place I grew up in. It's so different and big,"
„You know….near Christmas, we've got two weeks of vacation. If you want we could go there all five and look for the place your mother is lying currently. You can bring some flowers, a picture of you, anything,"
„Or we find out first if she's in a cemetery," Added Georgette. „You know, she could have been cremated,"
„Right maybe finding out that would be a better option," Added Arthur looking at a neutral Rollan. „What do you think?"
„You don't really have to do that for me, Arthur," Mentioned Rollan, then Arthur placed his hand on Rollan's back.
„It's no big deal. We will be in Spain for two weeks, we can always travel around and see places. You get to know Spain from our time and the cultures….or well we mostly,"
„And you've got tickets already?" Asked Georgette making Arthur shake his head.
„I don't even have the holidays filled in, but it's manageable. If not, then we gotta go for a plan B," Mentioned Arthur. „The Ribeiros down there go to Leiria every vacation by car, we could do the same. We may only be two drivers and they three, but it's manageable,"
„That's cool," Said Rollan opening the buttons of his shirt. „I'll iron it for later to put it on again and I'll take a quick shower,"
„Go on…..oh and you have to put on perfume!" Mentioned Georgette walking out of the room making Arthur laugh.
„This is going to be funny," Commented Arthur, while Rollan adjusted the ironing board and picked up the iron. „Yes, good idea turn it on, while you're in the shower it will have heated up," Mentioned Arthur making Rollan nod.
Alfida sat on a couch in the living room watching on the couch across her three pre-teens sitting on the couch, while the one in the middle had the remote for the Tv to search through a TV-pre-installed streaming service with a small choice of movies they had available to see.
Kai had shown up, then joined Alfida by sitting next to her and look around the room to see the present orphans.
„Isn't Gerda home yet?" Asked Kai making Alfida shake her head.
„She said she was going to two friends of hers, which would help her getting styled for a dance night," Answered Alfida. „I don't remember the word, but Carmen said what it was,"
„Fabienne, Julia, Vincente, and Carmen went there as well," Mentioned one of the pre-teens.
„And why are we here?" Asked Kai curious.
„We just arrived Kai. I don't think we could just get an invitation so quickly," Commented Alfida making Kai shrug.
„Just curious. We're all here,"
„The prom night is only for students that are older than 15," Mentioned the third child, which was a boy, and the first child on the seat nodded. „Was it right, Clara?"
„Yes. I saw these evenings in American movies," Commented Clara. „It's cute when the protagonist girls fall in love with a guy and both end up kissing each other at the prom. That's so romantic,"
„It also happened in the cartoon show Mimi Incredible," Mentioned the third child. „With her best friend,"
„Is Gerda going there with someone?" Questioned Kai making Alfida shrug her shoulders.
„Maybe," Responded Clara. „Why?"
„Is Rollan gonna be there? Questioned Kai widening his eyes and the girl shrugged her shoulders.
„Kai I know you're worried about Gerda, but you heard her, she and he get along. They're friends and if she does have a soft spot for him, she has. You can't force her to not fall in love with him,"
„We almost lost our lives because of this dork. How am I supposed to feel seeing her with him in the future?"
„Kai, come on you can't ruffle in your sister's life all the time. She's at the age, where falling in love with someone is normal and this is her first love. It can be her first and last love or one of many. Let her go her own way,"
„I'm afraid I can't trust him. We barely know him,"
„I don't know him as well, but I am certain he's not that bad as you think," Mentioned Alfida watching Kai cross his arms and sink his head down, understanding Alfida, but not being able to want to accept it. Alfida placed her hand on Kai's shoulder, then looked at the TV to see a movie showing an airplane taking off making Alfida curious.
„What kind of thing is that?" Asked Alfida watching the movie exchange to the cockpit to show the pilots handling the vehicle.
„An airplane," Answered Clara watching Alfida look at it curiously. „This is a transportation vehicle that travels in the air like uhm…..airships or balloons,"
„Really? That's amazing," Commented Alfida look at the screen to show the screen switch to the passenger's cabin, where the flight attendants were assuring the passengers about the seatbelt regulation.