no one left to blame , (nell!)

Nell looked at herself in the large vanity, the lights outlining every imperfection fo her face. Thanks, lighting, right before I’m going to meet Josh. There was nothing she could really do right now since she wasn’t at her apartment and didn’t carry around make-up or anything. And her father certainly didn’t have any. At least she hoped not… Just to make sure, she checked the medicine cabinet, and then under the sink. All right, she was pretty sure that her father didn’t have any toiletries that would be present in a feminine bathroom. And if he did, her first thought would be that he had a lady friend. Only loved Mia, my butt. It was hard to avoid thoughts like these when she was around him, so she didn’t make as much as an effort to do so as she usually would have. Instead, she washed her hands and splashed water on her face. After wiping off her face, she looked down at the toothbrush and then steered her eyes to the toilet… No, I can’t be that mean. Or disgusting.

Placing the towel on the edge of the sink, she wondered if she could do any damage at all to the bathroom. She could clog the toilet, but she was sure his housekeeper and whatever service he had would fix that real quick. Opening the medicine cabinet again, she scanned the items. She wasn’t going to mix up any medications since she didn’t want to kill the man, but maybe she could…hide some things. She took the toothpaste and aspirin from the cabinet and placed it in the cabinet underneath the sink, feeling as if it wasn’t enough. But it would have to do, since she already spent enough time in the bathroom. Heading back out, she found her father in the kitchen, cooking dinner, something she learned he still did for himself. As she passed by the entryway to leave the house, she heard his low voice filter from the kitchen and ask, "Where were you?” She smiled, even though he couldn’t see it. “Bathroom.” He looked over his shoulder as she moved to lean against the archway of the kitchen. “Nell…” She looked at him with her best innocent face, wide brown eyes and all. “If you clogged the toilet, you will be paying for the water damage.” Ah, so he was catching on to her bitterness. That, or he was naturally suspicious of extended time spent in bathrooms. Waggling her fingers, she said, “Hasta mañana.”

Before she could escape the house, he asked her, ”Where are you going, mija?” Telling the truth didn’t cross her mind and she seamlessly lied, ”Home.” Walking out of the mansion, she counted the tally in her head. My vindictiveness, one. Papa’s pushiness, zero. Since she was so close to Josh’s house—mansion, she was in mansion land now she reminded herself—it didn’t take her long to actually arrived. There was always the apprehension when entering the big house, since it didn’t belong to her father, but she didn’t have time to feel particularly out of place when she was greeted by the butler. Nell didn’t think she’d be at all early, not realizing just how close the mansion had been and how quickly she’d arrived to it. And thank god the butler was there to guide her, otherwise she would have gotten quickly lost in the expansive house. I really have to stop thinking of it like that. Her father’s place was easily thought of as a house, but it wasn’t as huge as this mansion.

Nell thanked the butler before walking into Josh’s room after rapping lightly on the door, and the sight took a minute to sink in. Josh. In his boxers. Half-naked. Her brain managed to piece these facts together after a few moments, and the she gained the cognitive ability to talk, though it was more of an embarrassed squeak. ”Oh my god, I’m sorry, Josh.” She turned her face away, covering her eyes with her hands and also hiding the blush that bloomed upon the sight. ” I didn’t know you were…” Half-naked. Somehow, she couldn’t bring herself to say the word out loud, so she just continued on as if that statement had been finished. ”The butler just led me here, and…” Desperately trying to explain her intrusion, she managed to drop her hands from her face, still averting her eyes from his very naked chest. ”I could go and wait outside till you’re ready…I’m sorry, again.” The last apology was quiet and nervous before she requested, ”Uhm…can you please put some clothes on? Maybe…?”

To Nell, he seemed to be behaving incredibly blasé about the situation. Of course, she couldn’t see the confusion on his face since she was trying to look at anything but Josh and his…nakedness. Oh god. Her face just heated up that much more. ”Okay, I’ll…be here,” she said, feeling pretty damn uncomfortable since he only had his boxers on. She lifted her head as he headed back to his closet, breathing in deep, only then thinking of the fact that he’d sounded baffled. She had no way to know what he’d been thinking, especially since the first thing she noticed was not the scars on his torso, but the fact that he looked good without a shirt on and she should not be thinking these thoughts. Fanning her face, she waited for Josh to finish getting dressed, trying to distract herself from thinking about those bad things, and instead looking at his closet, the door to his bathroom, his bed… Not helping. Nell thought that they’d had awkward moments before, but this was something else. Not that she’d never seen him without his shirt on, because he was definitely shirtless when he was bleeding to death in the warehouse. But that was certainly different. He was dying then, and she wasn’t focused on the fact that he was half-naked.

When Josh emerged from the closet, she was able to meet him full in the face, even though he seemed unable to return that look. Her lips twitched into a frown. Was he still embarrassed about being walked in on? ”No, no, it was my fault. I mean, I should have waited for an answer and… I didn’t know you were still changing. I figured I might have been a little early, but…” Her explanations trailed off, now realizing how nervous he was. He was dressed, so she didn’t feel quite as awkward and embarrassed, even though there was the aftereffects of just seeing him half-naked that made her cheeks flush red. Her eyebrows furrowed together when he said that he could tell it bothered her. Well yeah, it had, he was naked. Wasn’t that a normal reaction? Usually walking in on people changing was quite the awkward and embarrassing. She would know, with what had happened between her and Ace. And just when she thought she could cool off, she was blushing even more when Josh asked why it had bothered her. ”Because…you were changing…and you’re attractive…and I am not that comfortable with half-nakedness…” Her explanations just kept getting lower and lower in volume as she grew redder and redder in the face. Why was he making her explain this? Having ducked her head again, she lifted it to look at him with imploring eyes. ”Should I have reacted…differently?” she asked hesitantly. How did he want her to react to something like that? She honestly had no idea, and she also didn’t understand why he was apologizing when she’d walked in on him.

Nell’s smile was back on her face when he asked if she’d like to head downstairs. ”Sure, sure.” Just so they could move on from that little fiasco. She followed Josh’s lead considering branching off anywhere would mean getting hopeless lost in the labryinth of a home. She stopped short as Josh did, wondering what had made him pause on the landing until she looked down and saw his father and grandfather below. The girl could follow his gaze—or rather glare—to Patrick in particular. She didn’t think he would be questioning why Donovan was there, considering it was his house, so she assumed that his grandfather was the one he’d been speaking to. She couldn’t say she was fond of Patrick herself after what Josh told her and the fact that even talking about him made Josh so angry. Like right now. Of course, her distaste was perfectly hidden behind a polite smile as she greeted the men with a, ”Hello, it’s nice to see you two again.” But Josh’s anger was practically rolling off him, and she was getting nervous even standing next to that kind of witheld rage. Was it really that between them? It certainly seemed so, since the silence was becoming very uncomfortable and tense.

Her gaze went between Donovan and Josh as the former spoke, the tension thick in the air. Did his father see how hard Josh was glaring at Patrick? She nodded at his parting words, even though she wanted to tell him not to leave her with the old man. She really thought it must have been a ‘terrible grandfather’ radar she had. Still, the polite smile was glued to her face, giving all appearances of being completely comfortable in this situation even though she’d rather not have Josh in another room right now. Ever-so politely, she corrected Patrick: ”Actually, it’s Nell.” She wasn’t aware that it was intentional, even though his tone was bored, but that didn’t mean she felt any less uncomfortable around him. ”Yes,” she said to his statement of friendship, not clarifying that she was his grandson’s girlfriend now. Nell didn’t really want to talk too much to this man since she was pretty sure that she didn’t like him. At all. He beckoned her downstairs, and she hesitated before descending the steps. Why did it feel like walking toward the devil into hell?

As he spoke, she wore a mask of interest, smile still on her face and eyebrows raised as if she was absorbing the information, nodding her head gently. Josh had told her about the whole thing with Patrick who thought that because of his grandson’s closet size, he was a homosexual. But she didn’t realize just how bad it was until now. He doesn’t like girls? Then what does that make me? Now she was growing amused by the old man’s ignorance, her smile less of feigned interest and more of deviousness. When Josh reentered with Patrick’s finishing proclomation of the fact that he was trying to hide his ‘homosexuality’, she kept on smiling. And without another word, she turned toward her boyfriend, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him full and hard on the lips as if to make a statement. Still smiling after she pulled away, she looked over at Patrick with a smirk, hands resting on Josh’s chest. She almost wanted to say, ‘How’s that for gay?’, but decided to hold her tongue.

Nell couldn’t really believe that she’d admitted that she’d found him attractive out loud. She was now suffering through the intense heat in her face, and she once again avoided his gaze, because it was her turn to be embarrassed. But that was okay, right, to think he was good-looking? If she didn’t find him attractive, this whole going out thing wouldn’t be happening. Or at least she believed that’s how it worked. She also hoped it was okay to say those things out loud Of course it is, idiot. When she finally found the confidence to meet his gray eyes, she was surprised to see he was blushing. Josh stuttered out a few confused words, and it felt like awkwardness had replaced the oxygen in the room. Did he think she was a total pervert now or something? I just told him I thought he looked good after seeing him naked, oh dear god. The worse thing was that she couldn’t really tell what he was thinking by his reaction. But Nell chose to believe him when he said that the fact she’d avoided her gaze was fine, responding with a curious, ”Why else…did you think I’d react like that?” It was amazing that his scars weren’t anywhere near the forefront of her mind, and yet that was exactly what had been on his. She was trying to think of reasons why he seemed so confused that she was embarrassed to see the boyfriend she was attracted to half-naked, and the scars didn’t even cross her mind. With his next words, she looked away again, saying, ”Uhm…I’ll make sure to remember that…” The next time I see you in your boxers. Very, very bad thoughts.

Barely even having noticed the fact that Donovan was behind Josh when she strolled over to ambush him in a kiss and cut off whatever he’d been saying, she felt a kind of smug satisfaction in knowing that Patrick was seeing this. It was like she was defending Josh’s honor, and besides, she liked kissing him. Which is why it was even better when he wrapped his arm around her waist, and she leaned in more, not even caring about Patrick or Donovan or anyone standing by, being forced to watch the intimacy. But then she did notice Donovan when she ended her surprise attack on Josh’s lips, and felt somewhat bad that his father had to witness that. It wasn’t normal Nell behavior, and she wanted to reassure the man that he didn’t have to worry about his son with her. Josh is the one to worry about, she reminded herself. If she had parents, he was the boy they wouldn’t want her to bring home. Nell shrugged her shoulders as she looked up at him with her sly smile, simply saying, ”You took too long.” It was becoming a bit difficult to cover up the fact that she felt very proud of this action, especially since it seemed Patrick had nothing to say about it. Of course, she didn’t know the entire situation and just how much Josh had to deal with this man in the past, but listening to him go on about how Josh was just so gay spurred her into action.

It seemed like Josh was rather proud of himself, too, consider how he addressed his grandfather, who just stood there in what she assumed to be shock. If that’s what it was, then her goal had been met—proving the old man wrong in the most underhanded way possible. He couldn’t even answer the smooth question from his grandson, which was definitely an ego booster. Josh seemed to be pretty confident when he brought up the fact that his grandfather had made it a point to mock his supposed femininity, which only made Nell’s smile grow. It’s all for you, Josh. He was the one who had to deal with Patrick. If he was so ignorant and blunt around her, she could only imagine the things he said to Josh. So while her face looked completely innocent and devoid of any foul intent, she had the inner satisfaction of knowing that she had gotten Patrick to shut up. She wondered if he had a wife or not, remembering that he’d come alone to Josh’s birthday. And he was accusing his grandson who had a girlfriend of homosexuality? That did to amuse her even more. She looked back at Josh, wearing a still-smug expression that was meshed together with mocked bewilderment at the question. ”Of course I’d like to stay for dinner,”

It took her a moment to understand, but she realized what he meant by ‘it’. Eyes wide, she went, ”No, no, definitely not. I don’t mind the scars, I really don’t.” She’d rather him not to have scars because that would mean he didn’t ever get hurt, but that was impossible. When she saw them—especially the scar on his cheek—she just felt terrible that he had to go through that, but it was a fleeting feeling. No one wanted to be pitied. And yeah, as a very female girlfriend, that’s not really what she focused on. Even though she was incredibly embarrassed about it, she was glad to have that cleared up. She didn’t want Josh to think that he looked horrendous and that she had to avert her gaze, else her eyeballs would melt out of her head. It was amazing hwo different he had been thinking from her. Nell’s cheeks heated up again—she really needed to do something about that before it became a problem—when he started to tease, but it certainly wasn’t as bad as before. ”You’re a sadist, Josh,” she said before sticking out her tongue at him. At least he was dressed now, that was good, even if he had thought she didn’t like his naked torso. Let’s not think about that, kay?

Nell was possibly more arrogant than she should have been, but her kiss had worked out much better than she’d expected. Especially when Patrick just seemed so mad about it. She wasn’t a mean person so she didn’t go out of her way to make people upset, but hearing him run his mouth about something he didn’t know about and realizing that’s what he must be putting Josh himself through, she made it a point to refute his claims. Still ignorant of tension between Patrick and Trish—though she couldn’t imagine how anyone got along with the man—she figured that Josh was still screwing with his grandfather in his falsified tone. Nell was a bit shocked to see the woman leaning over the wall of the kitchen. Did everyone see that? Beneath the smug demeanor, there was the shyness of it all, but Trish didn’t seem to have been offended by what her son’s girlfriend just did. Distaste for Patrick must have been a common thing, she guessed. Well, she guessed as long as they had a common enemy she wouldn’t be kicked out of the house for being overly-affectionate. She didn’t know how much Josh had told his parents, though—she certainly didn’t tell her father anything, but they didn’t live together. Oh well, dinner was ready.

Sitting down, she found herself blushing with Trish’s words, but she was at least getting a better hold of that. ”I’m great, Trish. And you?” She was somewhat aware of the fuming old man at the table, especially since Josh’s comments brought her attention over to him. Nell just kept on smiling cheerfully, snorting a bit as Patrick slid the butter across the table. If she was feeling so damn good about this, she could only imagine what Josh must be feeling. Not even food could make her feel any better than she did now. As she was eating and talking to Josh, she was unaware of his sister’s gaze, not having a clue that she had had any suspicions about her brother and his ‘friend’. Were little girls that intuitive? Well she didn’t know, since she was completely oblivious to anything except Josh and the pride she felt about silencing Patrick.

Nell nodded to his words about it being a nicce day, and agreed to go out. ”Sure, sounds good.” She was happy to be outside among the plants, looking down at the and trying to take mental notes in his head. You want to plant a garden, you had to learn from the masters, right? Laughing as Josh spoke, she said, ”No problem! I didn’t know it’d have that much of an effect, actually. It was just funny and annoying at the same time, hearing him go on about…” She raised her eyebrows at him, giving him a pointed look. ”Well, I’m sure you know. So I felt the need to prove him wrong.” She grinned mischeviously as she said this. It definitely worked, her little plan that she’d come up with on the spot. It wasn’t anything genius so she didn’t need to have that much pride about it, but the effect was inflating her ego. ”Is he usually so bad with the whole gay thing?” she asked curiously. It seemed to be a favorite thing for Patrick to do, though, especially since one of the first things he said upon meeting her was an underhanded remark about his grandson’s closet.

Nell wasn’t surprised by the admission of how much Patrick went on about the gay thing. At all. It was just something about the man that tipped her off that he may have been a daily asshole. ”I’m sorry you have to deal with him,” she said frankly, her voice like a sigh. She wondered if Patrick would somehow find away around the fact that he’d seen his grandson kiss a girl and continue with his mocking, or if he had other weapons in his verbal arsenal. God knows her family did. Families were something else—when they loved you and cared for you, it didn’t matter what they knew about you, because that love would stay the same. But if they hated your guts, they used everything they knew about you to hurt you. ”Worse? Well that’s a pleasant thought.” She shook her head, but she wasn’t too surprised. She could understand that there was much worse out there than snide remarks about sexual orientation. ”Well, how about this. You’re all man to me,” she said, winking for added measure. She was even prouder now listening to Josh talk about the man and his old-fashioned views on ‘masculinity’—anything to deter asshole relatives. ”Does she not like him? I wouldn’t be too surprised if she didn’t.” Even though the man was obviously a jerk, she cast Josh an apologetic look from the corner of her eye. Saying mean things about people’s family members could still be considered rude, but she would never stop anyone insulting her own.

Walking close to Josh, she turned her eyes from the flowers to meet his gray gaze when she said, That’s great. I knew she’d come around eventually, even though she was pretty upset, huh?” She didn’t think the little girl would be upset for too long—that would have been pretty devastating for Josh, she knew. Even though—as always—she didn’t understand the exact dynamics of others relationships, she knew that he loved Annabel. And she had a sister before, a girl she would have forgiven for anything she’d done, and who Nell knew would have forgiven her. If I hadn’t killed her. As always, any mention of Annabel liking her perked her up so that she looked eagerly at Josh. ”More than usual?” she questioned curiously. ”I guess that would be it. I missed her, too. It’s always nice to see her.” She chuckled softly just from thinking about the girl. Her soft spot for children was all-consuming, and even though she loved Annabel, she was just as oblivious as Josh to what was going on in her young mind. All she knew was that she wanted to cook Spanish meals for her because everyone—especially children—should enjoy one foreign dish in their life. Or such was Nell’s logic.

More news made Nell even happier as she practically jumped up at the words, saying, ”Really?” That was probably the best news. She felt terrible for Josh, especially when his Aventador had been taken, and the news that his parents had allowed him to drive it again was terrific. She lifted when he shook the keys, obviously feeling quite proud of the fact that he got it back. ”A real date hmm? Well then, where do you plan taking me now that you can drive me.” She was obviously teasing him, and after saying that she smirked at him. ”Unless you allow me to drive your shiny Lambo?”

Nell caught on that ‘we’ probably meant Donovan and Patricia too. There’s one in every family. Or at least that’s what she figured. Her family was made up of clones of that ‘one’. But she’s come to realize that not every family was like hers—a lot of them were a little more loving, even if they all had a Patrick. She certainly liked Josh’s relatives, much more than she did her own. ”I’m glad I armed you,” she said as if his situation with Patrick was a war. Nell really was pleased that she was able to help out Josh against his asshole grandfather, so he wouldn’t have to listen to something that was obviously wrong about himself. She was more-than-confident in Josh’s sexuality, otherwise they’d be having some problems with the whole dating deal. Especially since she liked being pulled close to him, and now that she was slowly growing accustomed to the physicality, she enjoyed it in a relationship. Sure, she didn’t know exactly what she was doing and if she slipped up sometimes, but she figured as long as she liked Josh and wanted to be with him, it’d be okay. ”He went for her?” Nell said, her tone disbelieving even though she wasn’t too surprised, and not only because that sounded like something her own relatives would do. Patrick just sounded like a complete dick, and her distaste of him was now full-blown loathing. It was a success by all means, so Patrick should have been proud. She could tell that even speaking of him was riling Josh up, so she waited until he finished explaining the situation between Patrick and Trish. ”Well I can’t believe anyone gets along with him,” she noted, but let the topic drop there considering that it had angered Josh, even after this success.

Lips twitching up into a smile, Nell said, ”I guess we all like to see our idols as being perfect.” She could imagine how disappointed Annabel was in her brother if she looked up to his so much. She never had an idol when she was younger—maybe her father a long time ago, but that was no longer the case at all—but it wasn’t uncommon for younger siblings to look up to the older ones. She couldn’t exactly relate, but since she had always claimed she was older than Tilly because she was born minutes before, she wondered if the girl had looked up to her like Annabel did Josh. If so, she must have been very disappointed at the end. She didn’t let these thoughts consume her, though, because she was too happy with Josh to considering delving into any dark sort of thoughts. ”A sleep over? That sounds like a good idea, especially since I never slept over in a mansion. I’d love to do her hair and paint her toenails and all those girly things that happen at slumber parties.” She’s had a few herself, and she was sure that Josh had not, another reassurance of his masculinity. She wondered if Annabel ever had any girlfriends sleep over, though he’d said they didn’t really have friends coming by. Thinking of spending time with his little sister was actually pretty nice, and she smiled as she thought of movies they could watch and all the other fun stuff that came with not sleeping at sleep overs. It seemed both of them were ignorant of where the girl had gotten to, and simply assumed she was off doing her own thing.

Nell found she really liked dating, since it seemed to invole a lot of food and Aventadors. ‘Going out’ entailed eating a lot, and she wished that maybe she could have gone out with people before for the fact that it meant a meal. But she was glad that Josh could be her first boyfriend, even though she was very naïve in comparison to him. Plus, there was the added bonus of the Aventador. ”Out of town…” she mused, her eyes sparkling. ”Well, you can never go wrong with food when it comes to me.” Josh honestly didn’t have to worry about impressing her too much when it came to taking her places. Besides, she already liked him a lot, and she wouldn’t think any less of him if he took her to a fast food restaurant or something. But that didn’t sound like a Josh thing to do, so it was a moot point. She was surprised when he asked after what she meant, assuming he would have already christened his Lambo with a name. ”Your Aventador,” she said slowly. ” You mean you’ve never named your car before? It’s your baby! It’s like…negligence, not naming her. I could give you some suggestions, if you like.” She said these words as if she were disappointed in his lack of car-naming, but it really was a personal choice whether or not you wanted to treat your car like a human in some ways. On the subject of eating out, it seemed Josh predicted that she’d eventually give in. Lifting an eyebrow, she crossed her arms and said, ”Challenge accepted.”

Hearing that Josh’s parents liked her gave her a pretty damn good feeling. It was especially reassuring to know that her boyfriend’s parents approved of her, but even the fact that they liked her was touching. It made her wonder how this family could love her when her own family seemed incapable of any form of morality. ”I’m glad,” she said, even though the words didn’t express how appreciative she really was of this. It seemed silly to feeling so warmed about a thing like this, but it was honestly how she felt. Nell was surprised by how timid Josh was being about the boat issue. That must have meant there was another reason than what she assumed, however. It was a bit ludicrous to not like boats when you couldn’t swim, since you were not actually swimming, but in her mind it still seemed like a possibility. She waited patiently as Josh fumbled with his words, watching him duck his head until he finally admitted what it was. She formed a silent ‘oh’ with her mouth, before saying, ”That makes sense.” As if completely understanding. She really didn’t, but that was because she didn’t have a fear of drowning, and so she couldn’t directly relate. It didn’t mean she thought him somehow weaker or anything because he had a fear like that. ”That’s all right,” Nell assured with a soft laugh when he apologized for not telling her before. ”It’s not like I ever really needed to know, so it’s fine that you kept it to yourself. But I’m happy you told me now.” She really didn’t mind that she hadn’t known of this information before, but she was glad that he eventually found it in himself to trust her with something like that.

This time, it wasn’t as surprising when she was pulled into a kiss, even though it was rather random considering. The butterflies were definitely there, but she guessed that was normal and something that she should be feeling when kissing him. Resting her hands on his shoulders, she kissed just as deeply back, now unafraid of any sort of awkwardness that may occur afterward. She decided that maybe she shouldn’t worry so much about that, and instead focus on how good kissing Josh felt and the fact that she could actually handle it now without blushing intensely. That was until he pulled away and she practically jumped at a sudden exclamation. Nell looked to see Annabel wearing a successful grin on her face. Blushing just as brightly as Josh, she timidly greeted the girl, ”H-hi Annabel!” How long had she been watching them, Nell wondered. Oh dear. Josh’s innocent little sister had to witness a not-so-innocent kiss, they just corrupted her, didn’t they? Of course, she could have been spying on something much worse and so Nell reassured herself that a kiss was all right for a young girl to see. She was still blushing when Josh kissed her again, and she poked his chest accusingly as she said, ”You are not helping, mister.” Even though she was a bit embarrassed, she still smiled because it was cute little Annabel. After the color drained from her face, Nell decided to play around a bit. ”So what did you know?” She raised her eyebrows for effect, waiting for the girl’s answer.

Nell smirked a bit when he said that his mother wouldn’t have backed down. She knew she shouldn’t be that admirable, but that woman was something else. Not being able to hold back a snort with his next words, she said, ”I know what you mean.” Not with Patrick, no. With her own family. They were manipulative and underhanded, but their charisma drew people to them. Her aunt had perfected this, it seemed, it must have come along with performing. But there was other family she could focus on, like Annabel, who she always loved hearing about. ”Don’t worry, I can take care of all that,” she said, as if sleepovers were an art she had perfected. ”And hey, boys can have sleepovers too. They could egg houses and eat excccess amounts of food.” She seemed to think about it for a moment before saying, ”Well, so could I, but that’s besides that point…” In any case, she definitely would love to hang out with Annabel and spend some ‘girl time’ with her. Especially since it would be in a mansion, that just made it even better.

His ignorance of the naming had her laughing, since there was at least something that she was aware of that he was not. She couldn’t help but feel pride whenever that happened, because sometimes she felt like a dunce next to him. Josh was definitely more intelligent than her, and even though she didn’t really get jealous of that, she did feel like there were things she should know to at least match his intelligence. But she wore a baffled look when he mentioned instruments. ”Now that is something I have not heard of.” She knew about naming boats, but even those weren’t feminine names, though boats were still called ‘she’s. All she knew was that people just automatically assumed certain objects were females that could me named. Nell didn’t exactly get why these things were herself, but she did join in on the fun with her own vehicles. ”Well, let’s see… My Monte Carlo was Viv, rest her soul… And my PT Cruiser is named Gwen… But a sexy car needs a sexy name…” She was putting serious thought into this, scratching at her head as she tried to figure out something that would work. A strong sounding name? Well, she would try to steer away from Spanish names, so… ”How does Harper sound? I always thought that was a cool name.” As tradition dictates (well, in her mind), the name still needed to be reasonable. And ‘Viper’ would just sound like he’s trying too hard. A douche bag in a wife beater and shorts would name his car that, not Josh.

Nell’s face cooled off while watching Annabel, and now she was just giggling at how cute the girl was being. Especially since she was saying how she ‘called it’ and all the Earth girl wanted to do was pinch her cheeks and gush about how adorable she was. Or make her food. Either one was on her mind as she laughed at the siblings’ antics. ”I think we should listen to her, Josh,” she said as she nodded her head. ”She is pretty perceptive.” Nell sent a wink over Annabel’s way, laughing a bit. Having a little girl pop out from the bushes while you were kissing her older brother was not good for the nerves, but now it was just amusing that she’d apparently followed them the entire time. She was definitely not watching TV. It seemed they underestimated Annavel and her powers of deduction. She laughed when the girl said ‘lovebirds’, finding it funny to hear it coming from her mouth. Apparently Trish actually wanted her son, which did give the girl purpose in her stalking antics, and Nell followed him back inside to see what she wanted.

When Patrick came in, she had to wonder what he’d do. She didn’t know him, not like Josh did, and so she didn’t know what to expect from him. Except for that fact that he was still calling her Mel, that wasn’t too surprising. Then he started off with the gay thing, she had to resist the urge to roll her eyes as he tallked. But then she blinked at his next words. Do I like it on top? On top of what? She expected something worse, but she guessed that she was overestimating the old man. But this seemed to be pissing Josh off as he orderered Patrick to get out, but she didn’t know what he was on about with the dominance thing. And since she was completely in the dark in this matter, where she would otherwise have had a retort, she simply lifted her eyebrows as Patrick left. ”Okay, uhmm…” She started after he told her to ignore his grandfather. ”I know it’s not anything good…but what does he mean by liking it on top?”