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 Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2012 8:35 pm
The door unlocked with a click, and was pushed open on hinges that probably needed a good oiling. Who knew how long the door had actually been used, aside from hoisting furniture and things into the lower apartment of the city house. It was obviously not the main entrance, and seeing as she was forced to evict a few spiders from their homes along the stairs leading to the basement apartment, she doubted it had been used within the last week or so.
Rhiannon's arms were already full with a box labeled 'books', and she didn't bother shutting the door as she made her way inside, her heels making the same clicking as the unlocking door had made. She'd already seen the apartment once before, so she knew exactly where she was going. It was just past a small living room area and down a narrow hall to the bedroom. The narrow stairs leading up to the main floor went ignored for the time being.
Once the box was placed on the bed, she made her way out, down the narrow hall, and out the door. It was left open of course, since she was just going to come back in less than a minute. Hopefully that would be enough time to ward off any neighborhood pigeons that might have decided to investigate the new entryway in search for food.
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Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2012 8:52 pm
Well, there was already someone in this living-room area.
Paris had made himself at home at his mother’s house over the last couple of days. Much of that time had been spent sleeping off the influence of some Xanax—which had its pros and cons, he realized, but for now it was doing the trick and he was managing alright—usually with Chris there to keep him company. They’d taken over the surprisingly comfortable futon in the living area of the homey apartment in the basement of his mother’s townhouse, where Paris could make full use of the flat screen television mounted on the wall—though as he’d been sleeping a good chunk of the time, the remote control was usually left for Chris to manage.
He wasn’t sleeping now, nor was Chris with him, as his boyfriend still had the obligation of his summer class to fulfill. Paris was actually sitting up for the time being, watching re-runs of America’s Next Top Model and eating heartily from a plate of home-made cinnamon tortilla chips he scooped through a bowl of cut fruit like salsa.
If he was going to be made to eat, at least his mother knew to make him things he actually liked.
That was when the door opened and she came in.
Yes, she. Paris had not seen her in years. Well, she’d been at his father’s funeral, but they hadn’t talked to one another at all and he didn’t like thinking about the funeral anyway, so instead of going down that vein of thought and needing another Xanax he just pretended they hadn’t seen one another in years. Eight years, to be exact—not since he’d been ten-years-old. But he recognized her immediately because they practically had the same face.
For a moment he sat there wide-eyed, but once she came back into the room with another box, he scrambled off the futon to trot after her before she could get too far.
“Hey, hey, hey, what do you think you’re doing?” he gasped out in astonishment.
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Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2012 9:05 pm
It was only the second time she entered the apartment that she realized the television was on, having been so focused on carrying her books safely to her new room. There was also a matter of trying to figure out how she was going to get to and from the stables she worked and rode at while attending college.
This time the box she had was labeled 'shoes' and while she paused to see what was on, she didn't pay too much mind to it. She paid even less mind to the cousin she would admit to being surprised to see. While she'd been caught off guard with his presence, she wanted to finish placing her things down before anything else.
Sure enough, he was just as surprised to see her there, but instead of just ignoring her for the moment, he seemed to want a confrontation.
Rhiannon dropped the box onto the floor by the closet, and pushed the door open as if to inspect the space she would have for her collection. "Moving in," she answered off handedly, her eyes meeting his for only a few moments before they swept over him. Untidy hair and wearing pajamas... he was obviously taking it 'easy' that day. Not at all like what she would have expected from the cousin her mother liked to gripe about for his hobbies and where he liked hanging out.
Of course she had nothing against bars or clubs, but outside of the funeral she'd last seen him at, she was expecting more of a primadonna.
That being said and done... she moved to squeeze past him, heading out to get another box.
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Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2012 9:58 pm
Paris stood there and let her examine him, taking his time to look her over as well.
It bothered him that they looked so much alike. He wasn’t sure why it bothered him, he just knew that it did. Back when they’d been kids people used to mistake them for twins, which hadn’t been such a bad thing then because they’d actually been friends as well as cousins and thought looking alike was kind of awesome. Now it was just… creepy to look into a face so much like his own that wasn’t his mother. When he didn’t spend too much time worrying about his extended family, it was easy to forget he even had one.
The eyes weren’t the same, of course—he had his father’s and she had hers—and the cheekbones were different, and when the hell had she gotten taller than him? He was barefoot and she was in heels, so that had a little bit to do with it, but he could tell by the height of her heels and how far she stood above him in them that she would still be taller if they both stood on flat feet.
God damn.
“Um… excuse me,” he said, turning to follow her again, though he didn’t go so far as to follow her outside, merely stopped at the bottom of the short flight of stairs.
“What do you mean you’re moving in?” he asked. “Since when? Says who?”
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Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 4:12 am
Rhiannon ignored him for the time being, busy pulling some more of her things out of the trunk she had parked on the street, not wanting to wait too long and have something snatched out of the back. She was sure that Marissa picked a decent place to live, but she was also sure that there were those who didn't care how nice a neighborhood was as long as they could get free things.
She made her way back down the short flight, although this time she had to pause in the door way, what with Paris blocking her from entering, and she had a couple duffle bags with her this time, probably full of clothes.
"Marissa," she responded with a shrug, and then pushed past her skinny little cousin who looked like he could use a bit more than whatever he was currently eating. Not that she wasn't thin as well. It was strange seeing him up close after so long, but that's what happened when parents forced kids apart. Her mother wasn't particularly fond of him or his late father.
It was a shame, really, they had been such good friends back then, too.
As for his problem with her, though... she didn't know why he was putting up such a fuss. She was just moving in. It wasn't like she was inheriting whatever he was going to get from his mom or whatever. It's not like she was being adopted into the family. She just needed a place to stay that wasn't her own house.
She pushed her way in, anyway. She wasn't going to let him stop her, of all people.
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Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 10:29 am
Paris moved himself aside as Rhiannon pushed passed him, scrambling out of the way before she could purposefully or accidentally step on his feet with her vicious looking heels.
Actually, they were very nice looking heels. He would have been jealous if he didn’t have his own extensive collection of shoes. Apparently good taste ran in the family—which was actually sort of hard to believe when he considered some of his mother’s other relatives, namely his grandmother and his aunt.
“Mom?” he wondered, confused as to why he hadn’t heard anything of the sort in the three days prior, before he decided to take a page out of Peter’s book and opened his mouth to shout, “MOOOOM!”
She came thundering down the stairs from the upper floor with a look of terror on her face. It almost looked humorous—he might have laughed if he weren’t currently confused and somewhat annoyed by the fact the he once again seemed to have been left out of the loop. How she could move around so gracefully at such a quick pace when her stomach was steadily growing larger and larger by the week was a mystery to him, but she came to a screeching halt halfway down the stairs, gripping tightly to the bannister and looking in on him with wide, concerned eyes.
“What, Baby, what is it?” she asked him breathlessly, glancing around as if to check for any sign of danger or foul play or whatever it was she thought had been happening down here without her knowledge.
Paris looked at her quite calmly and lifted an arm in the direction of the bedroom to point to his cousin as he said, “Would you mind telling me what she’s doing here?”
Marissa glanced around to see Rhiannon’s back heading into the bedroom and seemed to settle quickly, her previously wide eyes growing smaller as she narrowed them and stared at Paris with a frown. “Baby, don’t do that! I thought something was wrong!”
“Um… something is wrong,” he replied, watching as she finished making her way down the stairs to round them and head down the short hallway to greet his cousin.
“Rhiannon, I’m sorry, I forgot to mention that Paris would be here for a few days,” she said. “Some things… happened… it’s been hectic. How are you? Do you need any help with your bags?”
Paris stood there and watched all this unfolding with a look of displeasure on his face.
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Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 2:53 pm
Rhiannon didn't understand why Paris was making such a big deal about her being there. Last she'd heard, he was either living with some boyfriend of his, or staying at his boyfriend's parent's house. Just because his mother decided to allow her to stay in the unused basement apartment didn't mean he needed to get so worked up about it.
She moved into the room as she heard her cousin calling for his mom, lowering the bags to the ground and straightening back up to greet her aunt. "I didn't think you were home," she admitted when she was greeted, moving forward to reach out and hug her, despite the baby bump. She really was grateful that Marissa was allowing her to stay there. If she hadn't let her, she didn't know where she would end up. Probably some dump and made to over pay its worth.
"I can get it," Rhiannon assured her, forcing a small smile at her concern. It was kind enough of her to be allowed to stay there... the least she could do was take care of herself.
Passing Paris once more, she gave him another look over, before deciding that if he wanted to be fussy about everything, then he can. It wasn't like he was hurting anyone. Maybe it made him feel better if he complained about things.
Either way, it wouldn't surprise her.
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Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 4:22 pm
“I would have been at work, but then… Paris…” his mother said by way of explanation, making a motion with one of her hands toward him once she’d hugged Paris’s cousin. Apparently she thought simply saying “Paris” was an adequate enough explanation.
Maybe it was…
In any case, Paris took offense to it and crossed his arms over his chest, watching his mother and his cousin with an “I can’t believe you would do this to me” look on his face, as if having his cousin move into his mother’s house was one of the worst things he could possibly think of—not true, of course, but as he didn’t appreciate being left out of the loop, he had no qualms against looking and acting a bit dramatic now that he was privy to the information a bit too late for his liking.
“What she means is she doesn’t trust me enough to leave me alone,” Paris called after Rhiannon. He didn’t know why he felt the need to explain, except that his mother’s secrecy made him bitter and the bitterness spurred him on. She probably didn’t want him broadcasting their recent woes in such a nonchalant way, but Paris wasn’t always so obedient. “She and everyone else seem to think I suffer from a case of disordered eating, which I’ll have you know is so not true.”
He didn’t bother following Rhiannon’s retreating and returning figure as he spoke, but kept staring at his mother with a petulant frown on his face. She stared and frowned right back and responded to his flippant attitude with, “Go finish eating then.”
Paris huffed and rolled his eyes but did so all the same, returning to the folded out futon to plop down in front of his snack and pop a few more chips topped with fruit into his mouth before she could continue to get on his case about it. He was determined to prove everyone wrong, after all.
His mother went right back to conversing with his cousin as soon as she brought more of her things into the house. “Gina didn’t give you a hard time, did she?”
Paris recognized this name as belonging to Rhiannon’s mother, his aunt. He might have perked up a bit with interest.
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Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 5:39 pm
She didn't look at her cousin as he spoke loudly against his mother, but she made sure to listen to what he was saying and to try and come up with a conclusion on her own. So something had gone wrong and now he required supervision? How positively childish. Not that she knew anything about it, but from where she stood, having to make sure Paris ate put him in a rather irresponsible light.
Hoisting another bag over her shoulder and another box of books under her arms, Rhiannon made her way once more into the apartment and towards the back bedroom. She shook her head at Marissa's question about her mother, not entirely sure she wanted to get into it. No, she already knew she didn't want to get into it, it was just a matter of being polite now.
Her mother wasn't always horrible, but lately she had gotten it into her head that nothing Rhiannon could do would amount to anything. Frankly, she couldn't take her mother's comments and jabs and basically kicking out of the house while on a drinking binge. She didn't dare mention to her aunt that she's spent the night before in her truck. Thankfully there was a gas station that she was able to wash up at and look fairly decent. And it wasn't like her truck was horrible. It had a decent amount of space, and with the tarps covering her stuff, she didn't have to worry about it raining... Just people coming to loot.
She was sure her mother would feel bad about it later and maybe even apologize and invite her back, but she had already talked to her aunt about moving in. And with school starting, she would definitely benefit from the proximity to campus.
All this talk about food had her stomach starting to grumble, loudly, and she busied herself with getting her things situated before worrying about going to shop for something to eat.
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Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 5:54 pm
“Wow, you’re sure talkative,” came Paris’s sarcastic and classless mumble around a mouth full of chips and fruit.
Whatever. He wasn’t in public. He could be classless all he wanted.
He mother shot him a sharp look that was probably meant to say “will you behave?”, but as Paris didn’t think he was misbehaving in the first place, he didn’t pay her much mind, just rolled his eyes again and returned her look with one that said “Oh my God, Mom, seriously, whatever.” It was a common routine of theirs, to speak to one another with silent looks instead of words when they were around other people and one or both of them didn’t feel like making their conversation known. Such habits were aided by the fact that they were both perceptive enough to be able to pick up on what the other was thinking.
This was not a talent that always extended to their interactions with other people, depending on their company’s disposition. Rhiannon was a bit more difficult to read that someone who might have been more expressive, and Paris took careful notice of the way she made no mention of her mother and simply shook her head.
“Hey, remember that time when we were in first grade and I snuck into the girl’s bathroom with you and we switched our uniforms?” he called out, mostly to be obnoxious. He did, however, grin widely at the memory. “I thought your mom’s head was going to explode. It was hilarious.”
His mother leveled him with another look. This one clearly said something along the lines of “How can you be so insensitive?” Paris didn’t think he was being insensitive, just reminiscing. Sort of. There were plenty of other memories he could have chosen from, but since they were on the topic of his aunt he figured that one worked just fine.
Shaking her head at him, his mother’s attention returned to Rhiannon as she asked, “Do you want anything to eat or drink? The kitchenette down here has brand new appliances in it and I’ve already stocked the cupboards with some things, but you’re always welcome upstairs to whatever you want.”
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Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 6:17 pm
There was no attempt in making excuses for her less than social demeanor, having accepted the teasing and goading at an early age, although even she would admit that she had become more reclusive since starting around the end of middle school. Sometimes there just wasn't anything for her to say, or she didn't want to indulge others with a response.
She opened a box of her books, grateful for the bookcase that had been put in the room for her disposal. Everything had already been collated in order of historical dates, and only where events overlapped did she pay any mind to arthors. They were carefully set on each shelf, listening as Paris brought up memories of their childhood.
Her mother was rather close-minded when it came to expressing one's individuality, and Rhiannon learned to take solace in her riding and reading. It was much more difficult to be judged when out in the fields with no one around for miles.
"We were good friends back then," she pointed out with a sad smile, before shaking her head in Marissa's direction. "I should unpack first," she insisted, already set in getting one project done at a time. If she paused to eat, who knew when she'd get back to working on things.
"How much would I owe you for a load of laundry?" she asked after hesitating for a few moments, not wanting to put her aunt out of a useable washing machine while she got some of her clothes cleaned.
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Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 6:43 pm
Paris frowned. He didn’t think they’d been “good friends.”
Well, okay, maybe they had been. A little. But he was pretty sure it was only because their mothers used to be fairly close as sisters went, and had both gotten in the family way within a couple of months of one another way before either of them were really ready for it. He and Rhiannon had lived under similar circumstances when they were younger, and played together frequently. That was what typically happened with cousins of the same age, wasn’t it? They played together and considered themselves friends.
He thought Rhiannon had been a bit less… he didn’t want to say “emo” because he didn’t think that was accurate for the situation, but she certainly hadn’t been quite so reserved when they’d been kids. Maybe he’d been a bit more of a chatterbox than her, and perhaps a bit more needy—certainly he’d been his mother’s baby back then—but they’d both been rather active, playing games together or running around the neighborhood and kicking kids in the shins at school when they said something mean to either one of them.
Then they’d been encouraged to find different friends by Paris’s aunt—encouragement he knew had been given more and more the more hair clips and headbands ended up in his hair.
For being so close when they’d been younger, his aunt and his mother certainly had vastly differing opinions on these things.
“Oh,” his mother said presently, smiling kindly at her niece, “you don’t owe me anything. You can do laundry whenever you want, or just leave it and I can take care of it. The washer and dryer’s up on the second floor. Cal and I want to have some installed down here eventually, but for now feel free to come up whenever you need anything. You’re not just a tenant, Rhiannon. The rest of the house is always open to you.”
There his mother went, being generous. Well, he supposed it was alright so long as it was family, and it wasn’t like his mother to be that way toward strangers anyway. Paris wondered if something might have happened to have Rhiannon moving out of… wherever she’d lived before—were she and his aunt still in the same place?—but for now he kept those thoughts to himself, deciding his wasn’t in the mood for more of his mother’s sharp looks.
He shoved another chip into his mouth and asked, “So am I being kicked out?”
His mother gave him another one of her sharp looks anyway. This one said “Don’t be ridiculous,” like his question had absolutely no bearing at all.
“No,” she said as patiently as she could, “you can stay on the futon, but Rhiannon has the bedroom.” And here she turned back to the girl in question. “You don’t mind, do you? I can’t imagine he’ll want to stay more than a week.”
Paris almost felt insulted by the assumption, before he decided she was probably right.
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Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 7:02 pm
A lot of things change as time goes by. It was only a matter of time for them to go their separate ways and develop as different people. There were times that she'd missed her 'twin', but the feelings didn't seem mutual, especially now that she was taking over something he obviously wanted to himself.
She nodded in response to the invitation to use the washer and dryer, and took a few steps forward to hug her aunt again. There weren't any words she felt would adequately describe her gratitude towards Marissa and Cal, but she hoped her aunt would understand. It had been a long time since she'd been welcome to do whatever she wanted without any repercussions (to an extent, of course), so she didn't feel quite so comfortable to just... let loose. Not yet at least. Maybe in a couple months when things have settled down and she got used to the idea. But for now, she was just glad that her aunt was so welcoming, despite Paris's reluctance.
When Paris inquired about being kicked out, she flinched slightly, glancing his way in concern. She certainly hoped her presence wouldn't make him feel like he was being kicked out... That wasn't her intention at all. He could be snooty and do whatever he wanted and she wouldn't bother him.
"I don't," she was quick to reassure Marissa, before glancing towards Paris again. While she hadn't cared what Paris thought about her moving in, she definitely did care that he might think he'd lose his current residence due to her. Maybe she had grown selfish in her self-reliance. She had no problem with sharing, if that was what Paris was worried about.
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Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 7:19 pm
Paris watched his mother hug his cousin again and frowned to himself, eating another chip with fruit to make himself feel better.
So maybe he didn’t want to share his mommy. Sue him. It wasn’t like he’d had her around a lot in the last eight years. Okay, and maybe he didn’t always make his want and need of over obvious—he did have the horrible habit of pushing her away every time she wanted to help—but who could blame him after everything? He was just protecting himself! Clearly she didn’t have any problems opening her arms to someone else’s kid—okay, okay, so it was her niece and that was different than a stranger—and she was having another one of her own anyway. Was it so wrong for him to maybe want her to himself sometimes?
Whatever. He was in a very vulnerable place right now. He was allowed to be confused by what he wanted, and if he happened to be a little selfish… well, sometimes he thought he deserved to want things the way he did. He hadn’t exactly had them all that much in recent years.
“I guess it’s alright,” he said with a sigh that sounded put upon. It wasn’t like his mother had asked him if he minded.
They really needed to work on her not telling him things until they actually happened. How totally uncool of her.
“My boyfriend’s staying over with me, though,” he announced with a tiny smile. “It’s okay. He won’t bother you. You’ll like him. He’s super nice. I’ll probably be sleeping most of the time anyway. They gave me some anxiety meds that knock me right out, so you probably won’t even notice I’m here.”
Not true, since he could be pretty loud when he wasn’t sleeping.
His mother rolled her eyes and shook her head at him, and hugged Rhiannon one more time before turning back to the stairs. “I’ll put something together for lunch,” she offered, pausing to eye Paris’s snack to make sure he’d actually been eating it. Paris made a show of shoving more chips into his mouth.
“Are you sure you don’t want anything to drink while you unpack?” she asked his cousin then. “Water? Tea? Hot chocolate? I have some whipped cream and chocolate syrup to put on top,” she coaxed.
She’d always made it that way for them when they’d been kids.
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Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 7:36 pm
Rhiannon watched Paris as he grumbled and ate his chips, nodding lightly to show she understood about Paris's boyfriend being over. Ah, so he did have a boyfriend. Probably the one from the funeral, or at least she hoped so. He had been so kind to sing for her uncle.
She smiled at the thought of hot chocolate like they used to have it as children, but as delicious as it sounded, something that sugary would probably upset her stomach. Maybe if she'd had lunch first, but for now... "Tea, please," she asked, hoping Marissa wouldn't take offense to her decision. She was too kind, and it was easy to get swept up into it.
Once her aunt had retreated up the stairs though, Rhiannon made her way back to the room to continue unpacking, getting all of her books set out, and then her shoes, and finally the various pieces of clothing she had, which all fit snugly into the closet. She had none of her own bedsheets, and left anything that she wouldn't absolutely need back at her mother's home, but she might end up clearing the rest of it out in the next week. Just so she could be the one to throw things away and not be surprised when something went missing.
Curiosity got the better of her after a while though, and once the tea had been brought down to her, she cuped it in her hands and cautiously made her way over to the living room. She didn't say anything to Paris... she just wanted to watch him for a bit. Maybe he wasn't as stuck up as he seemed. She was pretty sure he'd said something about anxiety medicine... so had something happened...?
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