"This is amazing, Mr. Jones!" Victorea smiled after she swallowed the steak piece. "What on earth did you use?"
Mr. Jones laughed, flattered. "Well, thanks. And I can't tell you anything, it's a family recipe," he winked at her.
Arthur smiled at her. Even when she ate, she looked kind. It was a strange thing to think, but it was true. She seemed to cut delicately, taking small pieces and biting softly, chewing slowly and thoughtfully as Alfred boasted about how good his father's hamburgers were. She smiled a lot, which was becoming more common for her, he noticed. If you broke past her defensive and timid shell, she was quite friendly.
And cute, he thought with a blush. He noticed not only how often she smiled now, but how good she looked smiling. It wasn't like Alfred's smile that made most girls swoon, because it wasn't that dazzlingly large and bright. It was soft and sweet.
No, stop it, Arthur. What are you doing? He inhaled through his nose quietly as Alfred began ranting about how Victorea had never been to McDonalds to his father. She's a friend. A friend.
"Arthur?" he jumped a little as he heard her voice whisper his name. "Are you alright?"
He chuckled a little and shook his head. "I'm fine, love. Just, lost in my own thoughts, I guess."
She smiled at him. "I know the feeling."
Before he was going to continue this conversation, however, he noticed that there were three pairs of eyes silently watching them, two of them an identical smirk and the other a small smile being hidden behind white fur. He rolled his eyes at them. "Really, now. Are you dolts that bloody immature?" They laughed. Arthur noticed, however, that Victorea didn't join along. She was looking down at the table, blushing profusely and appearing rather uncomfortable again. "Don't worry about them, love. They're just being stupid."
Victorea looked at him for a moment – straight in the eye – before smiling and looking back down at her half-finished plate, seeming a little better. It gave Arthur another thing to think about – the color of her eyes.
"So, Victorea," Mr. Jones said with his mouth full, swallowed, and pointed his fork at her as he continued. "How do you like your new school?"
Victorea blinked at him for a moment, seeming puzzled. Arthur couldn't figure out why, it was an easy question. She looked up at the smooth ceiling for a second, before smiling at Mr. Jones. "I think so. The people here are a lot nicer than I thought, and I have friends. And some of the teachers are nice."
"Well, that's good," Mr. Jones continued to eat his steak in large chunks as he continued. "Do yu mish yer owld shool?"
Victorea laughed at his vocabulary. "Well, no. The teachers were okay, but the students all hated me."
"Why's dat?" Alfred asked, his mouth full as well.
Victorea laughed again, and Arthur and Mattie joined her. "You're so much like father." Arthur shook his head. Alfred shrugged.
"Well, I'm not sure," she shrugged. She looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "I don't think I'll understand the judgment of other humans. It's like their sole purpose in life is to just hurt others. No philosophy or ridiculous thinking can describe it."
There was a long pause as she sat there, continuing to stare at the ceiling, as the other boys thought about what she said with raised eyebrows. Then Mr. Jones began to laugh. All eyes were on him curiously as he said, "You're one smart cookie, kiddo."
Victorea merely smiled at him and said thanks. Arthur thought about what she said throughout the rest of dinner.
….
Mr. Jones looked around the house for a while, deep in thought, as the four teenagers watched him, trying to hide back a laugh. He couldn't figure out where Victorea could sleep, and he's been mulling it over for about twenty minutes.
Mattie and Alfred were whispering to one another quietly as time went on, and Arthur and Victorea looked on to their conversation warily. "What do you think they're saying?" he asked.
"I don't know, but it can't be good," she replied. Mattie and Alfred were on the couch, while Victorea and Arthur were sitting on the stools. Arthur snickered at this.
"Well, obviously not. It seems Alfred has got an idea, and that is never something good." The both of them snorted quietly.
Of course, neither of them knew that the twins were plotting about them.
…
"Alright, so you're okay sleeping in here, kiddo?"
Mr. Jones finally decided that she can sleep in the music room, and set up a cot for her. Of course, Alfred opted that they all should sleep in the same room like a normal sleepover, but Mr. Jones wasn't too comfortable with letting someone like her alone in a room with three boys. It took a lot of coaxing to get him to believe that nobody was going to rape her.
"Really? What kind of sick human would do that to her?" Alfred threw his hands up in the air.
"Well, I'm just making sure," Mr. Jones held his hands up defensively.
"I promise nobody is going to rape her, Pa."
Only Arthur seemed to notice that she was slowly shrinking down, her eyes wavering a little.
Victorea felt the cot she was on. "It feels wonderful!" Her eyes sparkled. She laid flat on it for a minute, sighed, and sat back up with her hands propping her up. "It's the best thing I've slept on in years!"
Mr. Jones laughed as he left the room. "What the hell have you been sleeping on? A rock? Well, sleep tight, kiddo."
"Thank you, you too!" Victorea waved to him as he left.
"What have you been sleeping on?" Mattie asked her.
"A hay bale," she replied nonchalantly as she shifted pleasantly in her seat.
Alfred laughed. "You live like Cinderella, dudette."
Victorea laughed for a while. The three brothers didn't quite understand what was so funny, but eventually they began laughing as well. Her laughter was contagious. And pretty soon the entire room was filled with laughter. It was something Arthur would not forget. Throughout the night, all that was heard was laughter. When Alfred tried to be a superhero and save the damsel (Victorea) and hoisted her up bridal-style and tried to jump onto the bed heroically and ended up falling backwards, or when Alfred used his iPhone as a flashlight and they made shadow-puppets (the immaturity of it was what was so funny), and even Arthur's storytelling that had the three others so captivated.
They were all lying down on their cots now, all of them in their pajamas. Alfred was wearing a white tee shirt and boxers boasting the American flag, Mattie had white sweatpants with a long-sleeved white sweatshirt that had a large red maple leaf on the chest (he claimed that he is always cold), Arthur had a green tee shirt and shorts that had diagonal white stripes, and Victorea had a grey spaghetti-strapped nightgown with white horizontal stripes and pockets at the end that went down to her knees.
Alfred and Arthur were sitting next to each other in Arthur's cot with their feet dangling off the side (much to the Englishman's protesting), Mattie was laying in his cot, and Victorea was sitting up in hers, her legs crossed and her fleece blanket pulled up, covering her lap.
The room itself was very beautiful. There were rows of guitars – both acoustic and electric – on stands under a large window on the left that gave them a view of the backyard (which was mostly a small clearing and woods), saxophones, trumpets, clarinets, ukuleles, and many other things were on the wall to the right of the door, making up half of the wall. The other half was a recording studio. There was a grand piano, a drum set, and several percussion instruments set up at the back of the room, and the cots were set up in the middle of the room. On the wall with the door there were lots of posters of many different musicians, some of them autographed.
It wasn't silent, though. Arthur and Alfred bickered a bit about whether the sport was called soccer or football, then about which country was better, England or America, and each time they would ask for Matthew and Victorea's opinion, who would only chuckle and shake their heads. Eventually Mattie joined Victorea on her cot, sitting at the end, so that he was next to Arthur's cot to see more of the action.
"I'm telling you, McDonalds is awesome!" Alfred said in his usual loud voice.
"It is not. It is absolutely disgusting!" Arthur crinkled his nose at the thought of the greasy fast food.
"Says you," Alfred stuck his tongue out childishly at his older half-brother. "Your scones taste worse than shit, so how the hell would you know good food?"
"You arse, they taste just fine!" Arthur hissed at him, and Victorea and Mattie started to laugh.
"Alright, alright. I think that's as far as we're going with this arguing," Victorea held her hands out in front of her. They stopped, but exchanged a glare.
Victorea decided to speak, "So…I'm sorry, but I really don't understand your lives that much. I need an explanation, please,"
Arthur laughed. "About what, love?" Alfred sniggered at this, but Arthur ignored him.
"Well," Victorea thought, "Your mother…She married…Wait, let me get this," she laughed at herself. "I swear my memory is fading more and more every day. Um…Your mother divorced several times with several guys…And your father-" she pointed to Alfred and Matthew – "divorced your mother, so he married Arthur's mom. But now they are divorced?"
Alfred put his finger on his nose and pointed at Victorea with the other hand. "Bingo."
"Gracious," Victorea put her hand to her head. "And who are the rest of the brothers again?"
Mattie whispered, "Allistor, Dylan, Patrick, Peter, Arthur, Alfred and I."
"Wait, I remember!" Victorea snapped her fingers. "Didn't you say Peter was younger?"
"Yup, twelve," Alfred confirmed.
"So where is he, exactly? Shouldn't he be here with you guys?" Victorea asked.
"Well," Arthur sighed. "He's with mum right now, but he's coming back next weekend."
Victorea giggled, "You say that like it's a bad thing."
Arthur pinched the bridge of his nose. "Well, he's a good kid and all, but he's a bit…Rowdy."
Alfred laughed. "Artie just doesn't like him because he's like me."
Victorea laughed as well. "My goodness, I didn't think there was anyone else like Alfred out in the world." This made him beam with pride. "So what about the other brothers?"
"All married and moved away," said Arthur. "They all live in the country their father," he cleared his throat as he corrected himself, "Uh, birth father, lived in. So we don't hear from them as often."
Victorea tilted her head. "Well don't you call them? Or write?"
Mattie chuckled a little. "Seeing Allistor writing would be something, eh?"
Arthur and Alfred laughed at this. "No, dudette, we don't like to keep in touch with them, really. We – uh, Mattie and I – only saw them, like, twice: once at the wedding, and again at the divorce. Artie saw them a few more times, but not by much. So basically none of us are blood related except for Artie and Peter." He laughed. "Well, we sound even more fucked up when we try to explain it."
This got a laugh from Mattie and Victorea, but a slap from Arthur due to his language.
"So you guys really aren't the picture-perfect happy family, huh?" Victorea asked.
"Well," Arthur glared at Alfred as he made a face, "We aren't a completely peaceful family, but…" he paused. "We still are a good one, even if we bicker."
"Yea," Alfred pointed to himself with his thumb. "I annoy the shit outa Artie, but when he got picked on in sixth grade, I sent the guy who threw him in his locker to the hospital with a broken arm and a concussion."
Victorea, Matthew and Alfred laughed as Arthur flushed a rose color. "Bastard," he muttered.
Victorea smiled. "So you've got each other's backs?"
"Hell yea," Alfred laughed. "I kill people who pick on my bros, and they do my homework."
This received a scowl from the other boys. Matthew mumbled to Victorea as Arthur smacked Alfred again, "He sorta makes us do it. He's really good with science and math, but he blackmails us into doing his English and social."
Victorea mumbled back, "That doesn't surprise me at all," making them both snicker.
Alfred and Arthur stopped bickering as they saw the two laughing at something they had said. "Aw, come on, Mattie! You're taking away Arthur's girlfriend! Some brother you are!"
"What?" Both Victorea and Arthur said, appalled.
Alfred began his singing again. "Victorea and Arthur, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G."
Victorea looked like she wanted to melt into the floor, and Arthur felt like punching him. He was making Victorea upset, and he doesn't like her! Not like that!
Right?
"Knock it off, Alfred!" Arthur thumped his head, and Alfred continued to sing as his half-brother continued to yell, growing redder and redder with every word. "Bloody twit! Sod off!"
"Aw, but you're no fun," Alfred stopped singing. "You two sooooo like each other! Come on! I won't look!" He closed his eyes and was about to turn away, but then thought better of it. "No, wait, I gotta make sure Artie doesn't get too carried away. I promised Pa nothing would happen to her," he said with a wink.
"Alfred Franklin Jones!" Arthur roared. "So help me, God, I will kill you!"
Alfred laughed, until Arthur began strangling him. It was only temporary, but Alfred easily pushed him off.
Victorea looked so embarrassed that she had no idea what to do with herself. She just stared at the wall, completely dumbstruck with shock. It took her a while before she recovered, but by that time Matthew had pulled Arthur off of Alfred.
"Aw, come on, Artie!" Alfred said, "You know you want her."
Arthur lunged at him again, being restricted by Matthew. "Fuck you," he hissed.
Victorea just watched for a moment, blinking, then got up slowly. This got the attention of the three boys. She walked calmly to Arthur, took his shoulders with a small smile, and gently pulled him over to the cot, sitting him down. He sat there in shock for a moment. He thought she was going to kiss him, but as she did the same thing to Alfred, sitting him back down next to Arthur, he mentally shook himself. Why would she do that?
He wanted to melt into the floor, anyway.
Okay, maybe he had a little crush on her. But it'll pass.
Once Alfred and Arthur were sat down, she sat back in her cot, but her legs dangled on the side of the cot this time. Matthew sat next to her. This way all four of them were in the same position, facing each other.
"Now, are we done?" She asked calmly.
The two boys nodded.
Matthew laughed. "Wow, what kind of witchcraft are you using?"
Victorea giggled. "I'm not sure, but it worked."
Alfred and Arthur sat there for a moment. They had no idea what happened to them, either.
"So…Are you guys gonna kiss or something?" Alfred finally asked Victorea and Arthur. Arthur looked like he wanted to explode again, but Victorea stopped him, jumping up and sitting next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"No, Alfred. No kissing," she said with an eye roll.
"Aw, boo."
As he laughed, Arthur looked over at Victorea from the corner of his eyes. She was looking back at him, and they both flushed deeply and looked the other way. Before Alfred could make a comment on this behavior, Victorea yawned behind her hand, suddenly looking very tired.
"Tired, dudette?" Alfred asked.
"A bit. What time is it?"
"I dunno," Alfred looked around for the clock. He finally found one on the wall that had the door, right above a signed poster of Eli Degibri (1). It was shaped like a drum. "Woa! It's two o'clock! I only stay up that late to play COD with Kiku!" he laughed.
Victorea looked confused again. "COD?"
Alfred was aghast. "You mean to tell me you've never heard of Call of Duty? Like, ever?" He was met with a blank stare. "Holy shit, you need to get out, dudette!"
Victorea shrugged. "I've never really been into video games, anyway."
Alfred shoved a hand to his chest, pretending to have been shot as he fell backwards off of the bed, his legs still on the cot. They laughed as he attempted to get up, instead having his legs fall onto the hardwood floor with a loud thump. Once he sat back down, he stared at Victorea menacingly. "How can you even say such…such…Bullshit?"
Victorea was not offended as she shrugged nonchalantly, as if she had not just destroyed a little bit of Alfred. He counted off with his fingers as he listed, "You've never been to McDonalds, you have never seen the fireworks at the Fourth of July, you've never played any sports, and now you're telling me that you don't like video games?! How in the world are you my friend?!"
Victorea looked a little hurt at this, making Arthur smack Alfred's shoulder lightly. "Well, I mean, come on, dudette! I don't think I've ever met someone as opposite from me as you!"
"What about Arthur? He's pretty opposite," Victorea pointed out.
"Nah, we've both got a stubborn and loud personality, plus we're both really annoying," he said with a laugh. Arthur smacked him again, calling him a 'git', 'twat', and other English words Victorea would (hopefully) not understand.
Victorea and Mattie laughed as Alfred grabbed Arthurs hand and pushed it away like nothing, with Arthur flushing a deep red. Victorea and Mattie yawned at the same time, and Arthur and Alfred followed. "God dammit, why are yawns so contagious?" Alfred muttered.
Arthur stole a glance at Victorea from the corner of his eye, and noticed her eyes were beginning to droop, her back hunched slightly in exhaustion. She yawned again from behind her hand. His heart fluttered a bit at the sight. She was actually kind of cute. But just a little.
He didn't want to dwell on it, because he wanted this to pass. Maybe this wasn't what he thought it was, he could just be catching a cold.
Which started when I first saw Victorea and hasn't gone away yet. Just coincidence, he told himself. He can't possibly like her. The thoughts of her being cute and sweet are just something mutual, perhaps Alfred and Matthew thought the same things? Somehow that sent his blood slightly broiling. Fuck, now jealousy. I'm falling apart.
But as they said goodnight to each other, and as he watched Victorea snuggle happily into the covers she was provided, as if she has never slept on anything cozier, he thought, Maybe this isn't so bad.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
I'm so sorry this did not get finished as soon as I had hoped. Since I last posted, I had my surgery, and so far it is not going very well, as my entire foot is now swollen and my toe is clearly infected. It looks nasty. NASTY.
So that is why I've been gone.
I've got a few favorites though! A big thanks to AwesomeHellee9, Arlina'Harris, angel apocalyptica, and Lovethehumor101 for either following or favoring! That was super nice! :)
I REALLY need comments though! PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE don't be shy! If you come up with a good idea for a 'Lazy Day' chapter, I will put your name up to give credit for the idea! BUT I NEED SOME FEEDBACK PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE!
Thanks a bunch!
~Dreampainter