The most romance any of us teens got to experience was through my Moms, when Mama Elvy would pop out of her grave. I'm pretty sure that Mom Lyr wanted to get married again, since I had seen her sitting by herself looking at her wedding ring a couple of times since Eulalie's birthday. But then, when Mama Elvy appears, they're all over each other - and poor, poor Jere can't really handle it, since he's not a big fan of flirtation and definitely not a big fan of ghosts.
On the morning before Eulalie's first day of school, I walked downstairs to find him on the floor, and both of my Moms in a passionate embrace. I looked between them and Jere for a little bit, wondering why Mom Lyr wasn't taking care of her son, but I just sighed a bit and walked past him, into the kitchen. If my Moms weren't gonna worry over their baby boy - technically, Quin was the baby of the boys, but Jere seemed more like it, much more of a baby face - I wasn't going to either..
When I got into the kitchen, there was Eulalie, fixing the dishwasher. I stopped and stared at her - I was barely able to think about walking downstairs and getting plasma this early, how could she be awake enough to be fixing a dishwasher?
"Lalie.." I started, and interrupted myself with a yawn. ".. tha's dangerous."
She glanced over at me, and shook her head. "I'll be fine! I'm neurotic, remember, if I didn't think it was safe I wouldn't do it."
I didn't see it that way, but I didn't argue. Everyone would get tired of me real fast if I worried too much over them.
But, you know, I wouldn't feel like I had to worry if everyone didn't give me reasons! I mean, Mom had started inventing whenever she felt like it - at least we'd be home if there was an emergency.. - and then, poor Zach hadn't been doing well, at all, at his part time that I forgot to mention he got. One day, he got the call letting him know he was let go. Instead of seeking comfort with any of us, all he did was go outside and play Gnubb, because he needed to de-stress, since he wouldn't really be able to go outside without hiding his face soon - that's the thing about being a family of celebrities. When you do something, like lose your job, you're publicly disgraced for ages.. thankfully, I've never done anything to get publicly disgraced.
So, my jealousy of Eulalie.. was completely founded.
She's not like me. She's right in there with the other popular girls, and thus, everyone knows and loves her. Oh, and she completely loves the interaction and such - she hates school itself, and grumbles every time we leave, though.
Only a little while after she'd been in high school, she started gushing over all the guys - but especially Marcelo. He was the only one she named, and it made me bristle every time I heard it. I knew I stood no chance with him, but she knew I liked him, I thought there was some sort of.. no-sister's-crush rule? I wish I had made her promise me not to go after him before she went into high school.
After school one day, as we headed to the car to pile in and head for home - it really was a clown car, I needed convince Mom to get us a new one - she suddenly stopped. "Guys, I'm gonna wait here for Marcelo. I never get to actually talk to him in school. See you at home!" she said, and we all just watched her, before I turned and headed to the car in a huff, not getting in the driver's seat. Someone else needed to drive while I was having emotional problems.
I only know what happened through Eulalie's chirping when she got home that night, and only about half of that I understood. There was something about, while she was waiting another girl was wearing the same thing as her and she couldn't believe so she laughed at her. I don't even.. what is the big deal with someone wearing the same thing as you? It just shows that you have the same taste. But, we've already established that I'm a nerd and there's a reason, so. Whatever.
But evidently, Marcelo and Eulalie aren't compatible, "but we'd still be a cute couple anyway, I mean, I know plenty of supposedly incompatible couples, just look at our Moms, or Chadrick and Nandini!" Nandini was the pregnant girl at school, and Chadrick was her young adult suitor. Yeah. Not such a good example to be talking about around your five older siblings, Eulalie. Anyway, she continued on despite our glares, talking about how he was single, and they stood there flirting until he complained of hunger and went home.
How was I going to compete with that, really? Eulalie was winning, fair and square. I still had yet to even talk to Marcelo, ever.
Quin's piano playing helped me feel better, from my Eulalie-likes-Marcelo-too slump. He is so cute, and such a whiz with the musical instruments. I watched him with his dramatization of playing the keyboard for a while, before heading to check my email at the computer. Why bother, though? It wasn't like I had any friends outside of my family except Mackenzie, our ex-butler. Oh, we hadn't fired her, she'd just suddenly.. left and told us she was quitting being a butler altogether.
I sat down at the computer, turned it on, and checked my email - one from Estiu. How did she even know my email address? Oh well, I shook my head and checked it. It was a baby announcement. A baby?! There was a new Calent baby? I squealed, quickly read the gender and name, before rushing off to tell Mom that Estiu had had a baby girl named Tamera.
Except Mom wasn't home. She'd left a note, that she had gone to the spa, then to watch some guy play chess at the bookstore, and then to visit Faith Knowles. Knowles! Mom was at Marcelo's house. I rolled my eyes at myself, and slapped my forehead. "Dahlia Parodi, you're just being ridiculous now. Not that long ago you liked Kraig better than Marcelo." I mumbled to myself, before taking the note and slipping it into the trash - one of the few things we actually threw away in this house was paper.
The weekend came, and I woke up feeling.. I don't know, like I had to claim my man before Eulalie sunk her claws further into him. I actually felt motivated to do something about it - and evidently, I wasn't the only one to feel motivated to something I'd wanted to for a while. From the kitchen window, I could see Zach finally using his inventor's workbench. Maybe now Mom would finally leave it alone? I somehow doubted it.
After my morning plasma I grabbed my cell phone nervously. I knew his number. All I had to do was go to my contacts list and call him. I took a deep breath, before doing just that, and then put the phone to my ear, waiting.
"Hello?" the gorgeous, rather confused, male voice echoed from the phone, and my breath caught. Oh gosh, was I really doing this?
"Hi, Marcelo! Um, it's Dahlia Parodi.." I laughed, then wondered why I laughed it out. What was funny about it?! Oh, I am such a spazz. I nearly groaned, but just winced instead, not wanting him to hear how nervous I really was.
"Oh, Dahlia. Yeah, you're Drazen's twin, right?"
Drazen's twin. Well, at least I'm not 'Eulalie's big sister' to him yet. That's a good sign.. right? "Yeah, his younger twin sister. Hey, I was wondering if you might want to come over?" Right, like he'd want to come over just because I asked him to.
"Um.. go over? Sorry, I.. kinda can't go anywhere today. I have a part-time job, and I'm not really supposed to go anywhere on days I work."
"You work on the weekend?"
"Yeah.. I work at the mausoleum. Even the weekend doesn't stop people from dying, or visiting their loved ones that've passed on.."
"Oh, right, yeah, I'm sorry. Okay, I understand, I mean, you can't exactly leave if your Mom tells you no, right?" I tried to keep the disappointment out of my tone. I would have said 'parents', but I'd heard from Mom that Marcelo's Dad had passed away a few years ago. "I should go, too, I.. yeah. Things to do.." I'm so eloquent.
"Right. Maybe we can do something later next week." My heart nearly stopped at that. "See you later, Dahlia."
I stared at the phone after he hung up. Was that saying that he did want to spend time with me? I didn't care whether it was or not, I was taking it that way, and I knew what I needed to do. I grabbed the keys to the car and hurried out of the house, calling, "I'm going to a friend's house, be back late!"
As I ran to the car, I wondered if this was really such a good idea, but still didn't let me talk myself out of it.
When I got there, I saw Marcelo and his Mom standing outside, but I still rang their bell despite that. I mean, I don't want to seem rude, you know? Just in case. Instead of inviting me in, though, Marcelo just stepped outside.
He had a surprised look on his face. "Dahlia, what are you doing here? I thought we'd planned to maybe do something next week.."
"Oh, well, I guess I just.. figured since I'm going to be becoming a young adult sometime soon, I would just come and hang out with you before then."
"Why does you being a young adult have anything to do with us hanging out?"
I blushed lightly, and just shrugged, mentally deflating a little. Obviously he wasn't thinking of romance, but I wasn't going to give up. "Oh, you know, so no one gets the wrong idea. I'd rather not be arrested for suspected statutory rape." I smiled an almost flirty smile, while mentally screaming at myself, 'what part of what you just said is FLIRTY?! It's just CREEPY!'
"I see your point," he laughed, and smiled at me. My heart fluttered, and I knew that it was a good time to ask the question I'd been wanting to ask.
"So, just curious.. what's your sign?"
He answered me, and I barely even actually heard anything past the realization that we were compatible. I didn't even bother thinking before doing the 'SCORE!' motion that I'd seen my brothers do when they were excited about something, and then blushed when I realized I did it.
"Oh, that's cool.. we're compatible." I tried to recover, but I could tell by his small amused smile that I was too late.
"Yeah, unlike me and Eulalie."
"Yeah.. though I do know a lot of couples that aren't compatible that work perfectly together. My Moms, for instance, were - and are - the cutest couple I've ever seen.." I didn't want to encourage him, but I didn't want to seem clingy. I scuffed the toe of my shoe against the ground, and glanced down at our feet. Then his moved closer to mine, and I looked up.
"Dahlia.. I'm not interested in Eulalie." My heart tried to leap out of my chest and plaster itself to his, and if I could have without seeming silly, I would have placed my hand over my chest.
"You.. you aren't?" I glanced over at the paper boy, then right back at Marcelo, gluing all of my attention to him.
"No, I'm not. She's pretty, and has a neat personality for being as popular as she is, but.. there was a girl I liked before her."
My heart started to drop at first, then I remembered his tone, the look he was giving me, and how close we were. This was impossible. Me?
"Who?"
He laughed. "Isn't it obvious? This may be the first time we've ever talked, but, Dahlia.."
Before he could even get it out, I grabbed him and pulled him into a hug. "It's me, isn't it?! I like you too, Marcelo, I have since you started high school practically, and I saw you and you were so.. oh, I was so jealous when Lalie decided she liked you, too, I thought sure you would prefer her, 'cause younger girls go better with older guys, not vice versa, but you really like me better? Why?" I babbled as I hugged him, the most ridiculously happy look on my face.
"Uh.. haha, why do I like you? Well, that's exactly why, Dahlia. You're so cute. And smart, and sweet, and.. well, we can understand each other. We're both three star celebrities, vampires, and have an opposite gender twin. Our signs are compatible.. there's so much more, do you really want me to list them all?" We pulled away from each other, and I looked into his eyes, shaking my head, with a small grin on my face.
"No.. there's no need for more explanation." I said, and wondered only for a moment how my heart was even fluttering, or if it was my imagination. Did it have something to do with me not being an official 'vampire' yet? Do our hearts stop on our young adult birthday? Probably.
Then I wanted to do something, after those thoughts disappeared. I took a deep breath, before leaning forward quickly, pressing my lips against his. It was more amazing than I'd ever imagined it might be. Especially since no paparazzi were around, and his Mom had gone inside - in a way, we were completely alone in our sweetest moment. Both his and my first kiss. I pulled back gently after a moment, then wrapped my hands lightly around his waist - even though that is more where the boy's hands are supposed to be on the girl, I really didn't care.
We stood there, not really speaking for quite a while, before I noticed how late it was getting. "I should be getting home, Marcelo.."
"Yeah, you probably should.. do you need a ride?"
"Oh, no, I'm fine. I have my Mom's car. See you at school on Monday." I leaned forward and brushed my lips against his again, and then got in the car, waved at him, and sped off towards my house. How much better could my life possibly get?
(A/N: I thought it was funny that both sisters were interested in the same guy, and I had hoped it would cause some drama since there's never drama in my game, but no. As soon as Lalie realized they weren't compatible, she lost all interest in Marcelo. But, Dahlia wanted to have her first kiss with him as soon as she found out that they were compatible. This was the chapter I'd been excited to write since starting Dahlia's generation! 'Cause they're so cute together. Even if they're not technically together together. Oh, and the title? I was just using part of a verse of one of a song I like. Doesn't make too much sense, I like it anyway!)
But, you know, I wouldn't feel like I had to worry if everyone didn't give me reasons! I mean, Mom had started inventing whenever she felt like it - at least we'd be home if there was an emergency.. - and then, poor Zach hadn't been doing well, at all, at his part time that I forgot to mention he got. One day, he got the call letting him know he was let go. Instead of seeking comfort with any of us, all he did was go outside and play Gnubb, because he needed to de-stress, since he wouldn't really be able to go outside without hiding his face soon - that's the thing about being a family of celebrities. When you do something, like lose your job, you're publicly disgraced for ages.. thankfully, I've never done anything to get publicly disgraced.
So, my jealousy of Eulalie.. was completely founded.
She's not like me. She's right in there with the other popular girls, and thus, everyone knows and loves her. Oh, and she completely loves the interaction and such - she hates school itself, and grumbles every time we leave, though.
Only a little while after she'd been in high school, she started gushing over all the guys - but especially Marcelo. He was the only one she named, and it made me bristle every time I heard it. I knew I stood no chance with him, but she knew I liked him, I thought there was some sort of.. no-sister's-crush rule? I wish I had made her promise me not to go after him before she went into high school.
After school one day, as we headed to the car to pile in and head for home - it really was a clown car, I needed convince Mom to get us a new one - she suddenly stopped. "Guys, I'm gonna wait here for Marcelo. I never get to actually talk to him in school. See you at home!" she said, and we all just watched her, before I turned and headed to the car in a huff, not getting in the driver's seat. Someone else needed to drive while I was having emotional problems.
I only know what happened through Eulalie's chirping when she got home that night, and only about half of that I understood. There was something about, while she was waiting another girl was wearing the same thing as her and she couldn't believe so she laughed at her. I don't even.. what is the big deal with someone wearing the same thing as you? It just shows that you have the same taste. But, we've already established that I'm a nerd and there's a reason, so. Whatever.
But evidently, Marcelo and Eulalie aren't compatible, "but we'd still be a cute couple anyway, I mean, I know plenty of supposedly incompatible couples, just look at our Moms, or Chadrick and Nandini!" Nandini was the pregnant girl at school, and Chadrick was her young adult suitor. Yeah. Not such a good example to be talking about around your five older siblings, Eulalie. Anyway, she continued on despite our glares, talking about how he was single, and they stood there flirting until he complained of hunger and went home.
How was I going to compete with that, really? Eulalie was winning, fair and square. I still had yet to even talk to Marcelo, ever.
Quin's piano playing helped me feel better, from my Eulalie-likes-Marcelo-too slump. He is so cute, and such a whiz with the musical instruments. I watched him with his dramatization of playing the keyboard for a while, before heading to check my email at the computer. Why bother, though? It wasn't like I had any friends outside of my family except Mackenzie, our ex-butler. Oh, we hadn't fired her, she'd just suddenly.. left and told us she was quitting being a butler altogether.
I sat down at the computer, turned it on, and checked my email - one from Estiu. How did she even know my email address? Oh well, I shook my head and checked it. It was a baby announcement. A baby?! There was a new Calent baby? I squealed, quickly read the gender and name, before rushing off to tell Mom that Estiu had had a baby girl named Tamera.
Except Mom wasn't home. She'd left a note, that she had gone to the spa, then to watch some guy play chess at the bookstore, and then to visit Faith Knowles. Knowles! Mom was at Marcelo's house. I rolled my eyes at myself, and slapped my forehead. "Dahlia Parodi, you're just being ridiculous now. Not that long ago you liked Kraig better than Marcelo." I mumbled to myself, before taking the note and slipping it into the trash - one of the few things we actually threw away in this house was paper.
The weekend came, and I woke up feeling.. I don't know, like I had to claim my man before Eulalie sunk her claws further into him. I actually felt motivated to do something about it - and evidently, I wasn't the only one to feel motivated to something I'd wanted to for a while. From the kitchen window, I could see Zach finally using his inventor's workbench. Maybe now Mom would finally leave it alone? I somehow doubted it.
After my morning plasma I grabbed my cell phone nervously. I knew his number. All I had to do was go to my contacts list and call him. I took a deep breath, before doing just that, and then put the phone to my ear, waiting.
"Hello?" the gorgeous, rather confused, male voice echoed from the phone, and my breath caught. Oh gosh, was I really doing this?
"Hi, Marcelo! Um, it's Dahlia Parodi.." I laughed, then wondered why I laughed it out. What was funny about it?! Oh, I am such a spazz. I nearly groaned, but just winced instead, not wanting him to hear how nervous I really was.
"Oh, Dahlia. Yeah, you're Drazen's twin, right?"
Drazen's twin. Well, at least I'm not 'Eulalie's big sister' to him yet. That's a good sign.. right? "Yeah, his younger twin sister. Hey, I was wondering if you might want to come over?" Right, like he'd want to come over just because I asked him to.
"Um.. go over? Sorry, I.. kinda can't go anywhere today. I have a part-time job, and I'm not really supposed to go anywhere on days I work."
"You work on the weekend?"
"Yeah.. I work at the mausoleum. Even the weekend doesn't stop people from dying, or visiting their loved ones that've passed on.."
"Oh, right, yeah, I'm sorry. Okay, I understand, I mean, you can't exactly leave if your Mom tells you no, right?" I tried to keep the disappointment out of my tone. I would have said 'parents', but I'd heard from Mom that Marcelo's Dad had passed away a few years ago. "I should go, too, I.. yeah. Things to do.." I'm so eloquent.
"Right. Maybe we can do something later next week." My heart nearly stopped at that. "See you later, Dahlia."
I stared at the phone after he hung up. Was that saying that he did want to spend time with me? I didn't care whether it was or not, I was taking it that way, and I knew what I needed to do. I grabbed the keys to the car and hurried out of the house, calling, "I'm going to a friend's house, be back late!"
As I ran to the car, I wondered if this was really such a good idea, but still didn't let me talk myself out of it.
When I got there, I saw Marcelo and his Mom standing outside, but I still rang their bell despite that. I mean, I don't want to seem rude, you know? Just in case. Instead of inviting me in, though, Marcelo just stepped outside.
He had a surprised look on his face. "Dahlia, what are you doing here? I thought we'd planned to maybe do something next week.."
"Oh, well, I guess I just.. figured since I'm going to be becoming a young adult sometime soon, I would just come and hang out with you before then."
"Why does you being a young adult have anything to do with us hanging out?"
I blushed lightly, and just shrugged, mentally deflating a little. Obviously he wasn't thinking of romance, but I wasn't going to give up. "Oh, you know, so no one gets the wrong idea. I'd rather not be arrested for suspected statutory rape." I smiled an almost flirty smile, while mentally screaming at myself, 'what part of what you just said is FLIRTY?! It's just CREEPY!'
"I see your point," he laughed, and smiled at me. My heart fluttered, and I knew that it was a good time to ask the question I'd been wanting to ask.
"So, just curious.. what's your sign?"
He answered me, and I barely even actually heard anything past the realization that we were compatible. I didn't even bother thinking before doing the 'SCORE!' motion that I'd seen my brothers do when they were excited about something, and then blushed when I realized I did it.
"Oh, that's cool.. we're compatible." I tried to recover, but I could tell by his small amused smile that I was too late.
"Yeah, unlike me and Eulalie."
"Yeah.. though I do know a lot of couples that aren't compatible that work perfectly together. My Moms, for instance, were - and are - the cutest couple I've ever seen.." I didn't want to encourage him, but I didn't want to seem clingy. I scuffed the toe of my shoe against the ground, and glanced down at our feet. Then his moved closer to mine, and I looked up.
"Dahlia.. I'm not interested in Eulalie." My heart tried to leap out of my chest and plaster itself to his, and if I could have without seeming silly, I would have placed my hand over my chest.
"You.. you aren't?" I glanced over at the paper boy, then right back at Marcelo, gluing all of my attention to him.
"No, I'm not. She's pretty, and has a neat personality for being as popular as she is, but.. there was a girl I liked before her."
My heart started to drop at first, then I remembered his tone, the look he was giving me, and how close we were. This was impossible. Me?
"Who?"
He laughed. "Isn't it obvious? This may be the first time we've ever talked, but, Dahlia.."
Before he could even get it out, I grabbed him and pulled him into a hug. "It's me, isn't it?! I like you too, Marcelo, I have since you started high school practically, and I saw you and you were so.. oh, I was so jealous when Lalie decided she liked you, too, I thought sure you would prefer her, 'cause younger girls go better with older guys, not vice versa, but you really like me better? Why?" I babbled as I hugged him, the most ridiculously happy look on my face.
"Uh.. haha, why do I like you? Well, that's exactly why, Dahlia. You're so cute. And smart, and sweet, and.. well, we can understand each other. We're both three star celebrities, vampires, and have an opposite gender twin. Our signs are compatible.. there's so much more, do you really want me to list them all?" We pulled away from each other, and I looked into his eyes, shaking my head, with a small grin on my face.
"No.. there's no need for more explanation." I said, and wondered only for a moment how my heart was even fluttering, or if it was my imagination. Did it have something to do with me not being an official 'vampire' yet? Do our hearts stop on our young adult birthday? Probably.
Then I wanted to do something, after those thoughts disappeared. I took a deep breath, before leaning forward quickly, pressing my lips against his. It was more amazing than I'd ever imagined it might be. Especially since no paparazzi were around, and his Mom had gone inside - in a way, we were completely alone in our sweetest moment. Both his and my first kiss. I pulled back gently after a moment, then wrapped my hands lightly around his waist - even though that is more where the boy's hands are supposed to be on the girl, I really didn't care.
We stood there, not really speaking for quite a while, before I noticed how late it was getting. "I should be getting home, Marcelo.."
"Yeah, you probably should.. do you need a ride?"
"Oh, no, I'm fine. I have my Mom's car. See you at school on Monday." I leaned forward and brushed my lips against his again, and then got in the car, waved at him, and sped off towards my house. How much better could my life possibly get?
(A/N: I thought it was funny that both sisters were interested in the same guy, and I had hoped it would cause some drama since there's never drama in my game, but no. As soon as Lalie realized they weren't compatible, she lost all interest in Marcelo. But, Dahlia wanted to have her first kiss with him as soon as she found out that they were compatible. This was the chapter I'd been excited to write since starting Dahlia's generation! 'Cause they're so cute together. Even if they're not technically together together. Oh, and the title? I was just using part of a verse of one of a song I like. Doesn't make too much sense, I like it anyway!)
2 comments:
All caught up and glad to see Dahlia made progress with Marcelo.
Yay, for Dahlia! Nerds around the world unite! lol I adore this generation. Btw, I've decided to put some of this generation in my game and see what happens! ;) Quintus and Dahlia are my favs. They may look slightly different in my game though cause I'm trying to avoid cc now.
Post a Comment