PULLIN' UP TO THE PARTY ,, nell

Nell had spent most of the day impatient waiting for the party. She’d never been to a birthday celebration before, and didn’t really know what they were like. Somehow, she didn’t imagine they were like the house parties she went to, being the responsible one fishing her friends’ heads out of the toilet. The mystery only heightened her eagerness. One of the things she did remember Josh mentioning was that there would be food. It was probably what she was looking forward to the most.

She had gone out to get a gift and buy a dress the day before, determined to spend as much money as she possibly could. Settling on books, she decided to buy him a Harry Potter book set, which drained about one-hundred bucks. It surprised her, how much seven books could cost, but she wasn’t complaining at all. And as she waited against the wall of the building, feeling out of place in the slummy downtown parking lot with heels and a little black dress, she tapped her foot against the box containing the collection of books. Unfortunately, the most expensive roll of wrapping paper was under a dollar, even the really shiny kind that caught her eye and with which she wrapped the set.

When Josh pulled up, a shocked expression crossed her face. ”Holy Mexican jumping beans,” she said as she looked on, eyes wide in her head. It was a Lamborghini. A Lambor-freaking-ghini. A car that she wanted, that she fantasized about whenever she laid eyes on her hideous box-of-a-car PT Cruiser. One that she could possibly afford now with her father doing his best to play the doting dad. With a high-pitched squeal, she rushed over Josh and said, ”Oh my god, I didn’t know you had a Lambhourgini! That is so cool! Lambos are the sweetest cars! How come I never noticed before, this is just…” Her words dissolved into ramblings about the car’s make and model and other observations about the rims and the windows and other specs she’d researched when looking into her own dream Lambo—the Reventón. She was just about to ask if she could pop the hood and take a look when she remembered Josh had complimented her. She blushed when she finally said, ”Uh, thanks.” She grinned and pointed to him, saying, ”Nice shades.”

She shook her head, still smiling ridiculously wide when she said, ”’Course I don’t mind!” Picking up the box, she headed over to the passenger side and slid in, setting the gift on her lap. Turning to Josh, she said in a gravely serious tone, ”I want your car.” Well not his specific car, for the Reventón is what sent her heart aflutter. But still, it was quite the magnificent piece of transportation. ”Since I figured it’d be a pretty extravagent event, I thought I should go all-out.” Nell responded, waving a hand in front of her face and speaking in an airy tone, all the while grinning mischeviously. His father was a doctor and he drove a nice car, she’d figured that this party would be an impressive soiree. She was a bit surprised, however, when he caught the fact that it was designer. ”Yeah, it is,” she said, reaching behind her back as if she could somehow read the tag. ”Chanel, I think.” Nell didn’t mention that she wasn’t too focused on the brand names when she had gone shopping for a dress. She’d barely even looked at the dresses, and simply browsed by price tag. Nell didn’t want to acknowledge even to herself how much of an asshole she was being to her father. Then noticing Josh’s own attired she winked. "You’re looking quite fancy yourself.”

Josh’s small talk had greatly improved since the last time she was in a car with him, and as she glanced around the vehicle, taking in the sleek interior, she teased, ”Even on your birthday, you’re thinking of school. Do you ever stop?” She would have skipped class for Josh, but of course he was against such a blasphemous idea. Nell wondered what his family were like and if perhaps this whole education thing was genetic. She’d never met his parents, only Annabel, and she was intrigued about the people who raised him. Tapping her nails against the box on her lap, she said, ”So you wanna open your present now or later?” Nell didn’t know whether he wanted his family to be around for the whole gift opening deal. And then she remembered that he was driving. ”Well, since you should keep your eyes on the road, I’m guessing later.”

To say Nell was not used to the good life was an understatement. Growing up as basically a prisoner in The Bronx and then moving to downtown Maple Hollow, she’d been living in dire straits for as long as she’d known. She had to resist pressing her nose against the window of the car when they entered the drive so as not to smudge the glass. She didn’t think Josh would appreciate that, and she sure as hell didn’t want to deface such a sweet ride. It reminded her of her father’s driveway, but she figured a lot of mansions were like that. And this was much bigger than her father’s mansion. She had actually considered moving in with the man, but then remembered he lived there. It was big enough she wouldn’t even have to cross paths with him, but he’d still find a way to communicate with her. Nell pushed that aside—today was a day for celebration. The smile never left her face, but when Josh turned to her it became sly. “So wait, this is just your vacation home, right?” she said ironically. But she was serious when she replied to the offer of having a look-around. “Great! A walkthrough may take a while, so I'm guessing by the time we're done your family will all be here.” The house was pretty damn big, after all. Which is why she shouldn’t have been calling it a house.

Nell bobbed her head enthusiastically as Josh spoke about the car, eyes taking in the vehicle for all it was worth. Don’t touch it, Josh wouldn’t like it if you got fingerprints on his baby. So she resisted rubbign her cheek against the hood in affection, and exclaimed, ”You should love this car! It’s just…godly.” Before she fell to her knees and worshipped the thing, she collected herself, coughed a few times to try and regian her dignity. ”Cool car,” she finished simply. She figured her thing for cars developed out of the fact that she couldn’t have a nice one. Her Monte Carlo, Viv, had been a nightmare. And though her PT Cruiser got her from point a to point b, she truly hated the thing. A new, fancy car would be symbolic, she thought—in the way of moving on up, of actually getting somewhere with her life. But first she needed a new apartment, something else to waste her father’s money on. Actually, it wouldn’t be a waste and she was sure he’d at least be glad she was moving out of her crappy apartment.

Crooked smile on her face, she gave a thumbs up even though there was a blush because of the compliments. She wasn’t used to getting compliments, but then again she’d never gotten her hands on such an expensive dress before. And she’d also been listening to her mother all her life, and those certainly weren’t compliments. ”I try,” she said in response, and was actually surprised to hear that he really didn’t know which designer label he was wearing. Just hazarded a guess at Gucci, a name she didn’t recognize but sounded funny. After all, labels were something she’d never looked at before. ”I’m guessing your stunna shades are designer too, huh?” she said, smiling. Josh actually seemed sheepish until he pulled up his collar and said something that she really didn’t expect him to say instataneously laughing. And she couldn’t help but to laugh, as well, so strong that she wasn’t even able to respond to that.

She rolled her eyes in a teasing manner when he said that he didn’t stop thinking about school. She really couldn’t imagine. Not only because she hadn’t ever been to school until the Academy and even now it didn’t appeal to her as much as it seemed to Josh. Sure, she was a good student and liked learning, but school environment wasn’t necessarily for her. Which is why she loved it when they did practical demonstrations—it wasn’t always just vegging in a chair for an hour. ”If you studied over sumer vacation, I believe that may be a problem,” she said lightly. Really, if she ever found him doing work over the summer when he should be outside playing or doing whatever Fire graduates did, she would do something about it. Nell gaver herself a pat on the back when she made the correct assumption—she wasn’t entirely sure about these things, so it astounded her that she had the mental capacity to actually figure that his family would want in on the present-opening business. One step away from being a hermit freak. Of course, she had yet to celebrate her own birthday and she didn’t think she would. It would feel weird to celebrate it without Tilly around, especially after years of not having it ackowledged. She’d probably forget about it all-together.

Josh seemed to be in a very good mood today, and she was slowly growing accustomed to the fact that he had good moods. She followed Josh into the shiny grand foyer, smiling easily. Okay, so she’d been inside her father’s mansion, but that was different. Nell wasn’t really focused on the architecture and could care less about a tour of the house though them man had offered—she just wanted to get in and out, then be as far away as possible. And this mansion was more intimidating, especially since it belonged to a family she’d never met—she was a stranger in a strange land. Nell nodded at his words, looking at the doors he indicated, feeling like a tourist. She actually couldn’t wait to see the garden, but restrained herself from asking too many questions about it, just as she restrained herself from many other things. She could quite possibly become the bull in the china shop, so she kept her fingers laced in front of her, trying her best to look respectful and demure.


Then came Nell’s favorite part of any house, the kitchen, where she saw a woman standing next to the chef, apparently helping out with dinner. She had the urge to raise her hand in a wave and call out, “Hi Josh’s mom!” but resisted. Nell truly admired the place, maybe not for the reason she should. It wasn’t the gilded lifestyle that attracted her—it was the wide open space. That’s why she loved mansions. Screw the glossy floors and crystal doorknobs, she didn’t need those as long as she could stretch out her arms and twirl around without touching anything. It was part of her clausterphobia, she supposed—well, one couldn’t really call it clausterphobia considering it also involved locked doors and even normal-sized rooms. She couldn’t sit in her apartment for too long before she got antsy and needed to move somewhere. Which is why she was just fine with being led around the mansion. She wasn’t a connesseuir of art, so the best she could do was tilt her head as Josh motioned to the portrait in the dining room and say with a grin, ”An artist in the family? That’s incredible.” She wondered if she had any artists in her family. Of course, she had no desire to look into the history, afraid of what she might find. Especially since she heard from her abuelos that the Sinclairs were filled with batshit monsters. Artists? No, she wasn’t even willing to delve deeper to find a diamond in a pile of poop.

Nell was oblivious to Josh’s near-obsession with his shades. But the fact that he didn’t even know which pair they were gave her the sneaking suspicion that they were one of many. But then again, he was sitting in the lap of luxury—rich people liked to have multiples of things. Multiple cars, multiple sunglasses, even multiple houses. She didn’t really think of it as a decadent way to live—if you liked something and had the money to buy it, then go ahead. It was just strange to her, even now as she threw her father’s money around like it was chump change. The scale of wealth that Josh had was still something beyond her, living like he did every day was only a dream. ”Ooh, I know that name!” she said enthusiastically, glad that she recognized at least one designer brand. Then he asked a question she really didn’t know how to answer, and it made her hesitate for a moment, pulling her eyes away from him. If I tell him what I’m doing, he’ll think that I’m a jerkface. Well, she had told him she was a goddarn murderer but her reason hadn’t been petty. She didn’t want to acknowledge that what she was doing was immature and spiteful. ”I uh…didn’t really notice about the brand.”

She didn’t blame Josh for being proud of his lineage. That’s how it should be, she figured—taking pride in where one came from, instead of covering it up, burying it, and changing your name. She snorted at the mention of weird folk. Yeah, every family had them: hers was made up of them. She managed to get distracted by these thoughts when he led her to another part of the house—mansion. Next was the family room, she supposed before he even related what it was. The room was very attractive, as was everything else in this place. A fire sparked to life with his influence, and she grinned. That is so freaking cool. ”This room is bigger than my apartment,” she observed, her tone flat with astonishment.

Then they entered a room that looked so clean and sterile, it set her on edge. She wasn’t too fond of hopsital settings after her visit to one. ”He’s the head honcho, right?” she said, then gave the room a more thorough once-over. ”It’s like a mini-clinic!” It was a strange room to have in a house, that was for sure. Slight surprise came when he asked whether or not he spoke of his mother. Of course you didn’t, you barely told me anything. Aloud, she said, ”Nah not really.” The first Nell’d really heard of her was when he spoke about her garden. Like a lot of Joshua’s life, the woman was a mystery to her. Her eyebrows jumped up at the mention of his sister, and she enthusiastically asked, ”Oh, Annabel, how is she?” The she patted her waist expecting pockets—she usually kept some form of food (usually candy) on her person. But then she remembered she was wearing a dress. ”How is it that I never have food when she’s around?” Nell muttered dejectedly. Food was a great gift to give, in her mind.

Nell glanced curiously down the hallway Josh steered clear of, looking back at him to catch the sly wink. ”Hey, what’s down there…?” she asked, not realizing it gave a view of the garden. She paused for a moment before following after Josh, not wanting to get seperated from him. She knew that she’d get lost even with this tour. Well actually, considering this was a mansion, maybe not. Her mind worked a little too right-brained. On the secodn floor, he led her through various rooms she wondered if she would remember before they came upon Annabel’s. The girl had a dressing screen, for god’s sake, that was something else. Nell nodded, a bit disappointed that she’d have to wait to to fawn over the cute girl, and gave no argument.

Blinking at him, she slowly said, ”This floor is yours?” Uh what? Did she hear him right? Shaking it off, she said, ”Er, your room, I guess.” Then she regained her smile, all the while thinking of what it’d be like to have a floor crowded with her stuff. All she had was a tiny apartment that a kitten was in the process of tearing apart.

If there was one thing she could rely on Josh for, it was not asking any uncomfortable questions or pushing for explanation. Other people may have pried because of her suspicious behavior, but not Josh. She now realized how odd it must have been, coming into all this money so suddenly, but she couldn't think of any way to explain it without explaining the truth. Which she really didn't want to do. So she figured she needed to keep the massive spending on the downlow, should anyone else get suspicious. Is it really so hard to tell people that your father has a lot of money? For her, yes. She was so used to keeping her personal life secret, it was difficult for her to push past that. Even with Josh, who knew her dirty little secrets. Telling him about her father just...didn't feel right.

”Lucky ducks, you guys are,” Nell commented. So their father could just treat them right there? It made her think of something that she’d rather not remember—after crashign so hard, her defenses allowed certain things to resurface in her mind, memories she’d repressed before. Of course, with her skills in ignoring things she should be dealing with, certain things found an outlet in her subconscious, and she’d wake up in the middle of the night, sweating heavily and heart beating quickly. And now, she thought of a certain incident—probably one of the most traumatic for her—that involved broken glass and her mother’s own at-home treatment. Thanks to those makeshift stitches made with antiseptic, thread, and a sewing needle, Nell was bedridden for days and the wounds on her legs and back never healed right. Luckily the memories were blurry enough that she didn’t have too much thought on it, and it was easily pushed back into her subconscious. Repression could be considered a superpower of hers. Instead, Josh’s voice caught her attention, and at first parliament sounded strange to her—it was still taking a while to get used to the Canadian government. ”Whoa, that’s a pretty important position, right?” Grinning at the fact that Annabel was fond of her, she honestly felt flattered. It didn’t cross her mind once that it was rather easy to impress children, all she cared about was the fact that she had been impressed.

Curiosity only somewhat sated, she nodded at his words and let herself be directed elsewhere. Oh well, she’d eventually see the hallway. Nell still couldn’t believe him about the floor thing, just because this was all completely foreign to her. But she took Josh’s word for it as he guided her once more, this time apparently to where his room was. And she didn’t know whether to call it a room or a separate apartment. It certainly smelled like his old apartment, if she remembered correctly, though it had been so long ago. She peered inside his closet when he opened it and asked jokingly, ”Can I live in here?” Then her attention was directed toward the assortment of sunglasses he had. Oh my holy crap. ”You don’t say.” Her voice was soft for her attention was caught by the array of shades. Quite a few Ray Bans, she noticed, one of the only pair of sunglasses she owned. Clearly, she didn’t have nearly the collection he did. ”Are you planning to open up shop or what?” she said lightly, chuckling a bit.

His bathroom was even nice—well, of course, she didn’t think there was an unattractive area in the house. Nell tilted her head when he asked if she wanted to sit. Her? Sitting? With this much excitement? Maybe on an off-day. She said, ”Library definitely.” Then she stopped, realizing something a bit late. ”…you have a library too, don’t you?” Of course he did! After all, studying was his thing she shouldn’t have been too surprised. But still, she’d never known anyone who had a library in their house. She would actually like to see it—she may not have been ‘darn tootin’ book learned’ but she did enjoy reading certain things. Philosophy and foreign literature, especially. English was actually shaping up to her favorite class, as well as the easiest. It must have been because, like history, it required the least logical thought process. Maths and science, on the other hand, gave her the most trouble.

Nell could have sworn she detected some pride in his tone when he spoke of his mother, which made her smile. Pride wasn’t always a bad thing, especially when it was about your mother’s career. She wondered if that’s how a lot of families were like—whenever she met her friends’ parents or went over the house it made her curious about the dynamic of the household. She’d never known anything about families save for dysfunction. ”I think I need to read up on Canadian government,” she said rather sheepishly, since she didn’t really know much about the House. It would have been wise to do it a while ago, since it was the Canadian government that she really needed to avoid. And having knowledge of how it operated would be a good way to stay under its radar. Josh was quick to defend his mother, and Nell said, ”I’m sure she’s a lovely woman. I really can’t wait to meet her.” This was honesty, at least. Especially since she apparently had this incredible garden that Nell really wanted to see. ”She probably knows more than e when it comes to caring for plants, actually.” Nell never had a proper garden before, and didn’t have much experience in the horticulture department though it was something she was greatly interested in. She could grow flowers and everything, but she mostly relied on her own senses to decide how much sun they needed and how many times to water them a day.

It was strange having such easygoing conversations with Josh, when before she’d always been thinking of the awards they could when for awkwardness. But she tried not to focus on the past much—which is why she rather easily forgave the whole drunken-almost-shanking event the night they first met. Back then, she didn’t think she’d be having a tour of his mansion. ”That’s understandable,” she simply commented, her grin mischevious as she now thought of the fact he’d be having quite a few more books to add today. His home library was very much like a public one—niceer, actually. Of course, a lot of the libraries she’d frequented in the past were filled with drawn-in and dog-eared books, and a scanty collection of them at that. And she naively thought they’d be enough to help her sister, like if she scribbled enough notes on tiny papers she stuffed into her pockets, she could use that information to save a life. Nell liked libraries for the simple fact they made her feel safe—they’d been a haven back then, and she guessed that feeling remained the same. She loved the atmosphere of Josh’s library (it was somewhat strange thinking of it as his library) and the comfortable feeling it gave her. She looked at the shelves of history books and asked, ”How many of these have you read?” Nell was almost positive that the answer would be a lot of them.

Josh guided her through more rooms, and she did give an honest attempt to remember the geography of the place, but the instant they left the room she looked back and wondered from which door they exited. When they entered another room, however, she had to ask, ”Is this a study?” She was pretty sure that he also had a goshdarn study, and if his goal was to impress the hell out of her, then he succeeded. Nell noticed the piano—how could she not, really—and wondered if there were usually pianos sitting in studies. So his mother taught him how to play? Pulling her gaze from the instrument, she smiled warmly as she said, ”Sure, I’d like to hear it.” She actually did have a great interest in music, something she feared she might have inherited from her family. Aunt Jane was a musician after all, and the woman had bragged about opera singers in France and Italy being a part of their history. ”I’m actually trying to learn, but…I’m not quite skilled.” Though she had the patience to learn, it was still something she needed to focus hard on to even get a grasp. She figured she just might not have the talent for it. Nell didn’t have many talents, she found.

Nell didn’t think she was all that curious about government, even though she was a curious girl in general. It wasn’t like she would just sit down and read about something—she felt lie she should experience something first hand. Why read about being mauled by a bear when you can just go to the woods and lay out some food, after all? But there was another thing she needed to read up on that she didn’t want to experience firsthand—law. Making a note to ask if he had any books on the subject later, Nell saved that for later. Instead, she listened to talk about the garden which she actually found very exciting, though most outside of Earth must have found it droll. She found it somewhat comical that a Fire elemental—at least she assumed that his mother was Fire, considering she taught him that little trick—could tend to a garden better than an Earth elemental gardener. Nell giggled at the thought, saying, ”I’m sure the gardener is surprised by that irony.” It was actually pretty funny, but it was also very interesting. She was curious about the woman, with the things Josh was telling her. Which is a lot more than he’d ever said before.

Her cheeky smile revealed how much she’d predicted that answer. It wasn’t a bad thing at all. In fact, it was pretty admirable. ”I think there should be an award for something like that,” she commented honestly, tapping her chin in thought. ”You know, ‘most books read in a lifetime’. I’m sure that’s a record or something…” Since it seemed something Josh prided himself in, that would be a nice thing to happen. She decided that it was also something she wanted to do—get into the world record book. Probably for an eating competition, most hamburgers devoured by a petite teenage girl. Realizing she got quite sidetracked by her thoughts, she shook her head a bit and looked up at Josh, then moved her brown eyes to the desk he pointed out. ”Jeez, you have a system too!” she said highly impressed. She didn’t think anyone would put so much thought into a personal library. Usually people just got a few bookcases, but clearly that wasn’t enough for Joshua Dale. ”Modify it?” she asked as he mentioned that he’d be getting more medical material. ”Don’t tell me you’re gonna knock out another wall or something?” She looked toward where that would be possible, realizing that’s probably what he did with the entire library. ”You’re like a conquistador, building an empire by encroaching on other territories.” Or rather an imperialist, and she could only imagine Josh leading an army of books. Oh wow, her mind was thinking strange thoughts today.

Nell leaned against the piano, folding her hands on top of the wood as she listened with a smile. She was able to recognize a few pieces of music rather quickly—Beethoven was the easiest to identitify, of course, and then there was Debussy, and Chopin. But as for imitating them, that was nigh impossible. So far she knew where the keys were, what a flat was, and all of the technicalities; stringing them together was rather difficult. But Josh seemed to have gotten it down pat, and was rather remarkable. And she was pretty sure it just wasn’t because she was a novice. Eventually Nell believed she’d at least manage to play one song, but it would take a while. Luckily she was one to follow through in everything she did. Nell gave an exaggerated round of applause, and cried, ”Bravo, bravo!” Then seriously, she commented, ”Are you kidding me? You’re great. Like a prodigy.”

She was surprised to hear the voice—as Josh must have been judging by his flush—and Nell peered over at the threshold to see the woman from the kitchen. Josh introduced her, and Nell was about to call her ‘Mrs. Dale’ when she said she’d prefer Trish. Did mothers usually do that with their children’s friends? Well, she guessed those cool mothers, the ones that made food whenever a group of friends crashed in her living room. ”It’s nice to meet you Trish!” she chirped pleasantly, waving her fingers a bit in an unecessary greeting as she was introduced. She took the embrace in stride and returned the gesture, knowing that she already liked the woman. Not like it took much to impress her, but she seemed so pleasant and was probably one of those cool mothers. Well, one of those rich cool mothers. ”Oh yes!” she said with big, interested eyes, trying not to laugh as she called out her son. She wondered what the woman meant, and figured that Josh just humored his mother and her gardening. ”That would be amazing,” she said, clapping her hands lightly in excitement. After all, this was the big reveal.

Her mind had managed to take her on a circuitous route so that she flustered when she was corrected. “Yeah. Right. I knew that.” Nell scratched her cheek, certain she had sufficiently embarrassed herself for the…twentieth time in front of him. Yeah, that sounded about right. But at least he appeared to be amused—well, that Josh kind of amused where one could never be sure. One thing for sure, he wasn’t screwing with her head as much anymore, for which she was glad. ”Of course you would need to keep organized…” she said as if she didn’t just miscontrue what she said. Honestly, she didn’t understand systems much. Her mind didn’t like systems or organization or logic. It liked options and making sense out of discord and paths left wide open.

A smile pulled at his lips and she wondered if he was actually acting sheepish because of her compliment. Nah. That wasn’t Josh, right? Well, she didn’t think. He wasn’t the shy type at all, but she didn’t realize that he’d never really gotten compliments. Either way, the simple thank you was enough for her. However, she was the perfect person to use when you wanted to fish for compliments with—because she wouldn’t even realize what you were doing and would answer honestly and genuinely. If Josh had denied his skills, she would have made sure to point out everything good about the way he played and gushed about it until he was satisfied. She was fodder to anyone’s ego.

Josh was apparently tagging along with them, and she didn’t mind at all. Actually, she’d prefer his company since she didn’t really know Trish at all. Even though Nell was always friendly and outgoing, she felt a little bit intimidated since this older woman was a relative stranger, and a Fire elemental to boot. However, the garden would have been enough to distract her from pretty much anything. Following after the two since just as she’d thought, she had no idea to even make it back to the foyer, Nell at least recognized the doors Josh had pointed out earlier. She’d never actually seen a large garden before—pictures and everything yes, but when you grow up in The Bronx, not many people had gardens. Actually, they did, but for growing marijuana.

So Nell let out a little squeal of glee when she saw all the flowers, growing around magnificent statues and roses crawling up an archway. It was clear Trish put a lot of thought into it, and the results were well worth it. Of course, the Earth gardener must have helped out with it, but she was sure the woman just didn’t sit around on her ass. Nell already held Trish in high regards. Clasping her hands against her chest she looked around with absolute wonder at all the plants and flowers she’d never seen before. From now on, this would be the garden that she held her standards to. And as much as Nell was absorbed the the aritstry of the flowers, she gave her full attention to Trish as she spoke, chiming in with her whole-hearted ‘oh’s and ‘incredible’s, all the while casting in some of her observations.

The entire thing was like falling into wonderland or stepping through the looking glass—entering another world full of colors and flowers. That kind of world sounded pretty awesome to Nell. She listened in rapt attention to Trish as she described the flowers and their order and family and genus, and Nell soaked it all in like the hopeful boatnist she was. Of course, she had serious doubts on whether she could pull a garden this grand off, but then she remembered she was goshdarn Earth elemental. And all the while she had to remember that Trish was actually a Fire elemental, the same element that she steered clear from at school. Well, except for Josh. But she’d rather avoid the rest of them, and so she found it strange that she could be so agreeable with a woman hailing from the Fire element. One who had a garden. Nell’s mind was very much blown. When they came upon the lake and the yacht—of course they had a yacht, why wouldn’t they have a yacht?—Trish departed to finish dinner. Even the thought of dinner made her stomach grumble, and her cheeks face heated up, fearing they may have heard. She returned the cheerful parting, saying ”It was nice to meet you too, Trish.”

Nell smiled when she observed the view from the windows. ”Ah,” she said, glad that she hadn’t gone with her curiosity and wander off to go see what was down the hallway. Josh led her to the pool room—for a moment she wondered if they had a pool table, or even a foosball table for that matter, and she went over to test the water of the pool with her hand. ”It’s awesome that you can have a pool year-round.” Well, not that awesome for Josh since he had told her he didn’t know how to swim and didn’t care for it. But she was still learning, and was at least capable of a rather pathetic doggy paddle. ”Is this the end of the tour? I thought there’d be more rooms.” Her grin showed that she was joking and being ironic again. The tour felt like it had lasted forever, but not in the bad way where she just wanted to end. Besides, she was sure there was a lot she didn’t even see, which just astounded her. Another reason she’d love to live in a mansion—there was always something to be discovered and a mystery to be uncovered.