ISMKPG: twenty-one
written by: jxnnyl
"I will never understand being in a relationship," Brigitte said, "People claim to love each other and yet prevent being with each other. That's ridiculous."
"Have you ever been in a relationship before?" Elisabeth asked as she brushed her hair.
"Have you?"
"Mhmm… once. It's never official, so it's over," the older lady mumbled as she sighed, "Fred's been on one- or two. I don't know he's very flirty."
Kate entered and huffed, "Just like other boys."
"I beg to differ, my brother never played around with two girls at the same time," Elisabeth retorted, "He escapes one before he jumps at another."
"Now he's either careful or cowardly," Kate said, "He's much better than Louie though."
"I heard my name! What is it?" Louie asked, "Who's much better than me?"
Brigitte rolled her eyes and whispered to Elisabeth, "They'll start pretending to be matured again."
"You do realize that you're younger than them, aren't you?" Elisabeth asked.
"Age does not define maturity," Brigitte muttered.
"-yah well at least I'm not a girl into girls!" Louie mocked as Kae lounged herself to him.
"HEY! HEY! STOP!" Frederick exclaimed as he held Louie while Brigitte and Elisabeth held Kate.
"Why are they fighting?" Gretl asked as she and Martha followed behind.
Martha whispered something to her ear that makes both of them giggle as their older siblings and cousins looked at them with awe and confusion.
"He called me a tomboy!"
"She called me incompetent!"
"So you two are wrestling because both of you spat facts?" Frederick asked, "Like there's a problem with being a tomboy."
"That's my point! There isn't but I have a problem with her bloody accusations!" Louie shouted as he tried to attack Kate again, luckily Frederick's grasp constrained him.
"Well where's the false in that! You are incompetent! You can't even write a whole damn paragraph about the beautiful woman in the movie review!" Kate sing-sang.
"Yes I can! Mrs. Josephine didn't accept my paper because I wrote how I found those freaking women ugly!"
"Hah! You're just scared!"
"They're being silly," Gretel whispered to Martha, "Only grown-up men fear women."
"Now what's happening here and why am I hearing a lot of profanity?" Maria asked as she walked inside their common room, "Don't tell me you children are still fighting over the last pizza slice."
"That fight is for babies, Aunt Maria." Kate said.
"Yah! And we're not fighting." Louie added.
"I thought you two were?" Frederick asked.
"No we're not!" Kate and Louie chorused.
Brigitte rolled her eyes and sarcastically added, "They were just trying to imitate a certain fight scene."
"What's proofanity?" Gretel asked.
"It's profanity," Martha whispered, "It's a sailor's language."
"Who told you that?" Gretel asked.
"Professor Georg did." Martha said and covered her mouth as she looked open wide to her mother who stopped giving Kate and Louie lectures about their language.
Maria looked at the younger two with raised eyebrows as she turned back to the older ones, "I don't want any of you speaking like that around these two."
She was greeted by five 'yes auntie' and 'yes mom' as she sighed and looked at the clock.
"Your grams is watching 'A Quiet Place' with another set of pizzas. If you-" she didn't manage to finish because Kate, Louie and Frederick hastened to the media room.
"Can I use the living room television to watch The Sound of Music, aunt Maria?" Brigitte asks.
"Ooh! Can I come?" Martha asked, "I'll be very quiet, I promise."
"Can I come too?" Gretel asked.
Maria looked to the three youngest and smiled, "You three can watch there as long as no pillow will go pop this time."
"We will be three good ladies, Aunt Maria!" Gretel gave her a toothy grin as she, Martha and Brigitte left.
Maria turned to Elisabeth who's cleaning the mess, "What about you, dear?"
"I think I'll wander around the gardens, mom." she smiled, "I'm going to call Marina to ask about the sorority thing. If she still wants to sign up for it then I'll just go with Barry to be his roommate."
"You don't have to leave if you don't want to. After all, you're still underage." Maria mumbled.
Elisabeth looked at her and smiled as she gave her mother a hug, "I want to, mom. Petrol is incredibly expensive."
Maria, shocked at the sudden affection, smiled and hugged her back, "You're starting to leave the nest. And you're having that perky sense of humor again."
Elisabeth chuckled and kissed her mother's cheek, "I got that from you, mom."
"Would you expect me to argue that you got that from your grams?" Maria smiled as she patted her eldest's head, "Now I'll leave you go wonder for a while. Don't go too far."
"Yes mom." Elisabeth smiled as she took her phone and left.
"What do you mean you can't see him anywhere?" Elisabeth asked.
"I last saw him in his car, a substitute suddenly appeared to take his place." Markian, Frederick's best friend and the one person Elisabeth knew is also one of Professor Georg's students, said from the other line as she sighed.
"Okay okay. Thank you." she smiled as she hung up.
She sat in her usual place below the apple tree and closed her eyes. Remembering what happened merely four hours ago.
.
"Grams Berthe finally showed up. After all this time she's been staying with our cousins in France." she said as she watched him started building the fire.
"How's your mother with that? For what I know, she and your grandmother are not the most likely to be on good terms." he said.
"Grams got a bit soft with all the children. She's very cool actually." Elisabeth said as she paused due to some hanging words she knew she should say with proper timing.
He groaned in satisfaction when he found smoke finally emitting between the pile of leaves as fire slowly started. He looked at her and asked, "Does your mother know you and your brother are here?"
She gave him silence which gave away the answer as he sighed, "Elisabeth, I would advise you to enjoy every day of summer. Once you start in Cambridge, it'll be hard to spend time with anyone anymore. You might still but it'll never be the same as how it feels during breaks."
"But what about you and mother?" she asked, "We… know what happened and we're all worried. Mother's never been cold to anyone before. She warmed up anyway but I don't know if that meant any restoration to your relationship."
"Should you be more worried about your mother?" he asked.
"And got told to mind my own business in a very motherly polite way? Believe it or not, Professor Georg, me and my siblings wouldn't let mother have any other boyfriends if the man is not you." she spoke as he smiled at her.
"Elisabeth, if you know better. I'll also tell you to mind your own business in the most polite way I could possibly pull off." he started registering to her sudden grim expression, "Not because it isn't any of yours but because when it comes to these decisions about relationships, it will always depend on the people directly involved. Your mother is right all along and I don't think she would deal with an unsensible boyfriend while enjoying a fun summer reunion."
.
He can't just simply give up, she thought as she took out her airpods and clicked on her Spotify.
Picking a song is never hard for her when she's nowhere around anyone, somehow she doesn't really want an audience when she knows she's making weird faces and humming along tunes she knew she could sing but is afraid to for the reasoning of the lyrics.
She sways her head to the sides and smiles as the familiar beats. Sometimes her imagination burst at any sound of music as she would think of herself performing, singing and dancing.
Too bad the type of performances she admires are only available at classic movies and not much in the modern world would she see performances like that.
And even if she found one, her ability to dance awkwardly in any genre would strike her as a useless performer but just a mere singer.
Shaking her head for unnecessary thinking, she closed her eyes and dreamt for a moment, taking advantage of the alone time she had as she imagined her second dreams.
Maria walked around the old dance hall as she hummed along to the familiar tune of 'The Lonely Goatherd' that's emitting from the living room with the giggles and attempts to yodel by the children watching.
Her thoughts filled with a certain teacher she longed to see. God she misses him so much.
Margaretta and Max can no longer hide the fact that the camping site Grand Mountain High rented is just somewhere in the outskirts of Linlithgow and she was torn between letting him have fun and driving right there to see him.
She knew she should apologize for the way she spoke to him and she knew she couldn't really bear just being away to him with an unfinished argument, or unfinished quarrel. But she also expected an apology in return.
The last three weeks have been a hell on her opinion. And the moment Georg was absent on the dinner that day and the days, weeks that followed totally broke her heart.
What surprises her is that he still helps the twins on checking their works and still helps Margaretta and Max take care of Martha when she was away to meet Jaqueline Durran for their movie collaboration.
No matter how successful she is, she still can't feel the joy for in her heart she's missing one thing.
Should I call him? she thought to herself and fumble with her phone in her pocket, What if he's busy? It's almost six and probably he's tending to fire hazards.
She sighed and began to sway when a familiar tune entered her eardrums.
One of the things she loved about The Sound of Music is the fact that it's full of singing, music, happiness and many more. Of course, she used to loathe the movie due to her name that was said to be the same as Julie Andrews' character.
It's almost funny that she relates to Fraulein Maria but lives a life that's almost the same as the Captain's, a widow with children, three not seven.
She began to step-hop and turn when suddenly she felt a slight tap on her shoulder. And she turned to see him.
Georg.
"May I?" he asked as he held out a hand.
Maria looked into his eyes and smiled as she nodded and accepted his offer. Wondering if she's dreaming as she danced with him.
Closing her eyes as she smiled and slightly pinched herself while twirling around his hands. Letting out a sigh of relief when she found his hands again and found his eyes once more.
As they continued dancing until the last beat of the music, she found her knees going weak as his hands found her waist to help her stand up. Her arms around his neck as she rested her cheek to his.
"I'm very sorry, my darling." he whispered as they sway on a slow non-existent tune, "I was such a stupid immature-"
"-yes you are." Maria spoke and looked at him, "But that comes in seasons. I can be stupid and immature as well."
Georg looked at her and smiled, "Oh really?"
Maria nodded, "Yah… really."
She leaned in to kiss him and closed her eyes and hug him tight. He deepened their kiss and caressed her hair as they both pulled back for air.
"You cut your hair."
"That's an example," Maria smiled as her hands found his jaws, "And you're seemed to be growing a beard."
"I was just lazy for the past weeks," Georg mumbled as he looked at her hair, "It suits you."
"Hair growth suits you," Maria mumbled back as she kissed him again, "Oh my darling, I missed you!"
Georg leaned in and pulled back as he asked, "Does that mean I am forgiven?"
"Only when you forgive me as well."
"Whatever for?"
"For speaking to you so harshly," she spoke as they sway, "I shouldn't have talked to you like that."
"You shouldn't have but I forgive you," Georg said as Maria smiled.
"Then I you."
They continue to sway as Maria chuckled, "Goodness why is it that everytime I tried to be serious, something stupid causes a goddamn war."
"Then maybe this time I should do something serious," Georg smiled as Maria stopped and looked at him.
"What do you mean?"
"My darling," Georg started as he held her hands, "Is there anyone I should go to, to ask permission to marry you?"
A/N: AAAAAaaaaa this book is officially complete! Pls. don't kill me! It's final! It's done and I'M SOOOOO GRATEFUL YOU GUYS ARE VERY SUPPORTIVE! THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS AND GHAAA! (yup I'm lame at closures so I thought it's better to put things that way *sigh*)
Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy! Please r&r! Lemme know ur thoughts cuz I'm really edgy/excited for this "closure". Thank you very much! Keep safe everyone and BE HEALTHY AND HAPPY :'))))
