Paper-doll World
Characters Zoey/Charlie, others
G-rated
Spoilers through end of series
Not mine, never were, never will be, but they consume my soul
Feedback and criticism always welcomed
"Come Back When You Grow Up, Girl" 1967 Bobby Vee
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Memorial Day Weekend 2007
late Sunday morning/early Sunday afternoon
Zoey sat in the rear of the lanai area, watching the interaction of the others. They were finishing breakfast and watching the women's lacrosse final between Annapolis and Virginia. CJ was cheering a goal scored by her niece when Danny came over and handed her a banana. As he sat down next to her and draped an arm around the back of her chair, she reached up, touched his lips with her fingers, and mouthed "thank you".
He was really being so attentive to her. This morning, when they came out to breakfast arm in arm, he kicked a soccer ball out of her way and ran over to get a towel to put on the chair for her, explaining that she didn't like it when her bare legs stuck to the plastic. Then he went to the other end of the table to get the cream for her coffee. Of course, to be fair, it wasn't all him. She made the waiter get some strained orange juice because he liked it that way and insisted that he take the last cheese Danish. She waited for him to finish with sections of the paper before reading them herself., stop it
There was more than adoration going on there. Last night, CJ, Josh, and Sam were having a somewhat energetic discussion about some tax strategy that the Santos administration was pushing. Danny was just sitting there taking it in for the most part. She herself was seated on a chair a bit out of the circle, in the shadows, between CJ and Danny. Nobody knew she was there.
The first time that CJ got a bit carried away, letting her emotional involvement in the issue turn discussion into something that had the potential to be a little nasty, Danny reached over to take her hand and lightly said "Honey, let it go, its not on your back anymore." However, a little later, she was back at it. During one spot where Sam and Josh were making points in rebuttal more to each other than to her, he looked at her again and very softly but firmly whispered "CJ, stop it now!". They stared at each other and then CJ lowered her eyes and said "Yeah". He reached over for her hand. They had no idea that Zoey had witnessed all of it and she wasn't about to reveal her presence. A fewseconds later, Danny pulled CJ up out of her chair and they meandered around the pool area, ending up apart from the rest of the group by the gate to the rose garden. Danny draped his arms around CJ's neck and she put hers around his waist. Foreheads touching,he appeared to be quietly but earnestly talking with her. Then he sighed, kissed her forehead, she raised her head and smiled at him, they kissed briefly and then, arm in arm walked back and joined the group that was singing old college drinking songs. No one else had any clue about what was happening, but Zoey could tell at least in this case, CJ was deferring to Danny's judgment, accepting his admonishings.
Earlier, on Thursday night before the wedding,CJ got into an argument with her new boss. Danny came over and kissed her solidly on the mouth for a good15 seconds. "Best way to get her to shut up when she gets like this," he laughed. Then he told the man, "Of course, I might get a bit upset if you used it. Maybe you better keep me on retainer."
It seemed that all Zoey had done this weekend was to sit on the outskirts of the group and observe others; suddenly she was damned tired of it. She got up and walked to the rose garden.
Her frustration started Thursday when Charlie suggested that she "officially" share a room with Liz and Annie. ("Let's not rub your Dad's nose in it in front of everyone, okay?") Then, Friday at the reception, they got into the silliest fight that turned extremely mean and hateful. He had snuck off with the guys for a little while and she got on him for not being attentive enough to her. He said something about wanting to be "just a guy" just like she wanted her "play around time". Then the fireworks started. More harsh words were said. They were looking over the karaoke choices and she said maybe if she sang"You Don't Own Me", he would get the message. He came back with, "Yeah, well here's one written just for you, by Bobby Vee back in 1967". He started singing
"Come back when you grow up, girl
You're still livin' in a paper-doll world
Livin' ain't easy, lovin's twice as tough
So come back, baby, when you grow up"
"Go to hell," she said and walked away.
They picked different songs for the challenge, but she did indeed spend the last two nights in Liz and Annie's room. She thought about moving into the extra bedroom in her parents' suite but that would cut too close to what he was saying about her.
She kicked the bench in front of her in frustration and said, "Damn that man to hell and back!"
Erin and Robin MacDonald turned around on the bench.
"Where I'm living, the girls tell the guy 'Go fuck yourself and the horse you rode in on'," Erin said.
Zoey blushed and wanted to apologize but to her utter mortification, she started crying. Then the entire story of the past eight years came out. She ended with "I've been in a fishbowl for eight years and I went through that kidnapping, why can't he understand, why can't he give me time, why can't he be more like Danny?"
Robin spoke first. "Well, lass, it seems to me that he's had his own 'lost youth' issues to deal with. His mother dying, having to raise his little sister, putting off college and then not ever having the fun parts of it like living in the dorm, going to football games, and such once he was able to go. But he's coming on to thirty and he wants to be a man. Can ye not understand?"
Then Erin chimed in. "One, my brother is no saint and you shouldn't be idealizing him. He and CJ are damned lucky that things worked for them. Two, it's true that you may have missed out on a certain part of life, but everyone has to deal with the cards fate has given you. Do you really want to spend the rest of your life three to five years behind everyone else?"
Then she smiled. "Or maybe not. What do we know?". The two of them left the garden.
A few minutes later, Zoey rejoined the group, went up to Charlie and whispered, "Do you think we could try to talk, calmly?"