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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Aug 5, 2011 4:13:53 GMT -5
Her musings about a pool table had been apparently correct—he took her to the entertainment room in order to wait, and she stood over the green felt table, trying to figure out how the game was played. Her eyes brightened as Josh mentioned his mother’s approval of her, blushing a bit as well. She liked it when people liked her, especially Trish. ”No problem,” she said cheerfully, since it wasn’t even humoring to her—she actually enjoyed the woman’s talk of her garden. Now all she needed to do was find a place to plant one of her own outside of her jungle of an apartment. In any case, she really liked Trish and a part of her wondered why she couldn’t have had a mother like her, one that loved her child and respected them and didn’t quite literally tear them apart. ‘What ifs’ were not good to focus on, however, so she dismissed these thoughts. Her mother was never a good thing to let her mind stray to. Josh’s mother was a much better subject for her thoughts.
What must have been a butler—of course a butler, rich people had butlers, no surprise there—knocked on the door and announced the arrival of Donovan, which meant that the family was finally there. Where most usually felt nervous about meeting so many new people, Nell was extroverted enough to be excited by it. She liked people, and she didn’t think Josh’s family would be any different. Following him back to the foyer, she noticed two men talking to each other. She assumed one to be his father and the other his grandfather, but she waited for comformation to be sure. The elderly man addressed her about Josh’s closet, and she wore an amiable smile. Something about the comment seemed odd. She simply assumed all rich people had big closets and didn’t think it’d be a topic to even bring u[. And there was something else in his expression that reminded her of her own abuelo. But she remained her usual pleasant self, not wanting to come off as rude. Lips twitching as if she might laugh, she said, ”I don’t have a closet, so I would think so.” It was true—she kept her clothes in Rubbermaids or hung some items on the shower rod (it was a perfect replacement for a dryer) since the closet was tiny and used for jackets and storage.
Nell nodded her head toward the men as they were introduced, her smile still bright. Shaking Donovan’s hand with a chipper, ”It’s a pleasure to meet you both,” she decided that her first impression of Josh’s father was good. But she was getting vibes from his grandfather that she didn’t trust, that only intensified with a comment about Josh’s not having friends. One could have thrown it off as good-natured ribbing, but Nell was predisposed to asshole relatives. The man was actually closer to her aunt in the way he spoke, similar in the way Jane would oh-so pleasantly tell her about how stylish prison clothes were. But these were just assumptions of hers built off her own family that she knew shouldn’t be the basis on which all other families would be judged. She kept up her smile as Patricia greeted her father-in-law and as an outsider, she was mostly oblivious to any tension.
Nell was ecstatic to see little Annabel pulling along an elderly lady. She rather unnecessarily—but so cutely—declared the arrival of more grandparents. It wasn’t long before the girl had her in a hug which Nell returned, saying, ”Hiya Annabel.” She then went to her mother and before the Earth student could even prepare herself, Josh’s other grandfather came over and introduced him and his wife. She tried to pull her lips down from keep herself from grinning so wide, but that only made it worse. ”Thank you! My name’s Nell,” she greeted him, finally allowing a grin to take over. He was much better than that Patrick. ”It’s nice to meet you, Eustace and Willy.” She figured it was okay to call them that—like it was okay to call Josh’s mother Trish—because it was the only names they gave. It sounded rather odd to call them ‘Josh’s grandma and grandpa’ and she didn’t think they’d know what abuelos meant. Patricia said it was chowing down time, and before Nell left for the dining room, she caught the glare between his grandparents. She wondered if old people ever fought?
It was rapture for Nell coming into the dining room. She didn’t think she’d ever seen so much food in her life. I’ve died and gone to heaven. Or maybe hell. Gluttony is a sin, right? But she figured if hell had food like this, she’d be content with eternal damnation. She flattened the dress underneath her legs as she sat down—from all the walking, her heels were killing her—and even though Josh gave her permission, she waited until others people started to eat. Nell did have table manners, after all. Apparently, this family didn’t say grace, so they must have been like her: it was torture to wait when you had food in front of you. Of course, she didn’t have much experience in these situations—Nell didn’t think she’d met any of her friends’ extended families—but it wasn’t like she was caveman. She understood that it wasn’t very attractive to start dolloping mashed potatoes on your plate and pile it up with every single thing on the table, so she tried her best to resist. Thank god for self-control.
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Aug 5, 2011 5:28:41 GMT -5
Dinner was an interesting affair, to say the least. Whilst they ate, he spoke mostly to Nell and his little sister who'd taken a seat across from them. When he normally had dinner with his family, everyone got involved in the same conversation and it was generally a group conversation. But as Joshua chatted to his friend and sister, his mother was holding a separate conversation with Donovan and her parents, in which Patrick would make the occasional snide input. The man also shot some thinly veiled remarks toward Joshua, who tried his best to ignore. Patrick had little manners as he picked up a drumstick from the platter of chicken and bit into it ravenously, but Joshua was controlled in his mannerisms--hell, he even held his fork properly and everything. Eustace was the first to notice. "Geez, Pat, my man, why so fast? Even the boy's got better manners than you do!" He voiced it as a joke, but it was like sparks were flying between them. Josh tried to distract Nell from this by asking, "Is it any good?" with a nod toward what she was eating, seeing as they had two different diets and he couldn't judge for her. But really it was just to avoid mentioning his trolling grandparents. "Compliments are all to my mother, of course. She made it all herself." Trish rarely cooked for the family save for on special occasions. She was usually too busy with work.
He kept up the occasional conversation throughout the rest of the meal, but mostly focused on eating and allowing Nell to do the same. Any qualms and confusions over his appetite could quickly be squashed--he did indeed eat quite a lot, it was just healthier than most men and entirely meat-free. When eventually everyone had ate their fill, it was Patricia who suggested, "Shall we get to the main event?" Joshua gave a bit of an allowing nod, knowing that she wanted to go through the gifts and the like now. "I waited, just like I promised," he said to Nell. "But now I'm curious, so..." Grinning at her, it was pretty clear what he was implying. As for the rest of the family, his gifts mostly consisted of books--Joshua was completely okay with this, even though he recognised one or two duplicates. His father supplied him with a fascinating collection of medical journals that he fawned over for a moment, trying not to get too excited as he recognised the names. Patricia didn't seem to understand it, but she nevertheless appeared humoured as Josh and Donovan momentarily lapsed into a brief discussion on a subject which they could relate.
After he was done with the gifts, Joshua turned to Nell. "So should we--" Before he could even finish, Donovan was cutting him off with a bit of a sly, "Wait a moment, Joshua. Before you go running off alone with your friend, come spend a little time with your parents. She can come too, of course." He furrowed his brow in confusion, but shrugged and indicated that Nell should accompany them. Patrick and Eustace were playing a game of cards, glaring each other down all the while. Winny was braiding Annabel's hair and chatting to her about girlish things that Joshua would never understand. Donovan led the way out of the dining room talking about things that were normal enough but still threw off his son--why couldn't they have just sat down and chatted? He shrugged apologetically at his friend and followed, giving some input but mostly just letting his Dad talk. Patricia spoke also to Nell, presumably so that she didn't feel like an awkward fourth wheel. His mother was kind like that.
Any rational thought he might have had absolutely flatlined when they stepped outside. Sitting in the driveway was--in Josh's honest opinion--the most bad ass fucking car he had ever seen. It took him a moment to register what he was seeing, and when he did he could only blink. "Is that--that's--it is, isn't it?" Completely forgetting for a moment that it was his birthday, Joshua speculated over the idea that his grandparents might have finally indulged or something. Donovan shattered the confusion by saying, "I pulled some strings with a buddy of mine. She's all yours." By this point Joshua was trying to retain some dignity and resist going on about the car as enthusiastically as Nell had commented about his Gallardo earlier. Nell! He suddenly remembered that she spoke Lambo, and he grinned. "An Aventador, can you believe it?" He could barely believe it himself, glancing back over to the gleaming white monster of a car to make sure he wasn't imagining things. Donovan seemed smug--he certainly knew how to give gifts--and Patricia only amused as her son tried to contain his (nevertheless obvious) excitement. Now it was his turn to spout knowledge about the make and the model and the specs and everything else that amazed him. "Ahhh--can I drive it?" he asked hopefully, glancing to his father.
The keys were thrown to him, so suddenly that it was only pure reflex that allowed him to catch them. "It's yours," Donovan reminded him again. Joshua was eager, practically dragging Nell along with him with an enthusiastic, "We can hang out in the Hollow or something I don't even care I just want to drive it--"
"Joshua?"
He froze for a moment and glanced expectantly to his father.
"Don't crash it within the first five minutes."
Josh only smirked and pressed the button to unlock the doors, then the other one which automated their opening. His smirk became an absolute grin as the scissor doors opened up and out, fascinating him immensely. "Hop in," he said to Nell, then with a bit more slyness, "and, y'know, I'd advise a seatbelt."
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Aug 5, 2011 6:28:30 GMT -5
Nell’s preoccupation with the food made her a tad quieter than she usually would have been otherwise, but she still managed to converse with Josh and Annabel. She caught a few words from Patrick, and had a feeling that her first impressions—even though she tried her darndest not to go by first impressions—were pretty spot-on with him. While she was not a caveman (even though she was a close equivalent), Josh’s grandfather was certainly barbaric with his food. She remembered that this family was probably old money since they had artists in their past, so she was surprised by the lack of manners and proud that she trumped him in that area despite being of the ‘lower class’. Somewhat keen on the hostility between the grandfathers—really, what pills were grandparents taking these days that gave them so much energy?—she had to grin when Josh drew her attention away from the snarky seniors. ”Terrific,” she said after swallowing down her food. Nell complaining about food was near impossible. Not wanting to interrupt the conversation between his parents to compliment Trish, she merely nodded and said, ”She’s an amazing chef.” Another thing to learn to do: cook without setting the smoke alarm off.
She was rather glad that he had a rather full plate, as his selection of food at school—though it would be average for anyone who wasn’t Nell—made her worry about his diet. Healthy diets were very important to her, especially concerning those around her. ”Present time!” she said rather excitedly, and then she realized something—this was the first time she’d ever been to a birthday party. And it was one in a mansion. Life was pretty good right now. It seemed that his family had taken the same direction as her for present—books. She was quite proud of the set of Harry Potter books that cost a bit over one hundred bucks, and was actually rather worried after seeing his library that he may have already owned them. Like Trish, she tried to listen as the birthday boy and his father discussed medical stuff, but a lot of it flew over her head. If she dug deep, she could remember the things she read in her past dellusional efforts to help her sister, but such knowledge died with time and lack of constant studying. She could understand why Josh liked to study so much when it came to his prospects of becomnig a doctor, because now she realized that all the information she’d absorbed in those years was non-existent now.
Nell blinked up at Donovan when he told Josh that he should talk with his parents before going off with her. She had no qualms with coming along, of course, and she was glad that Trish made small talk with her as Donovan spoke with his son. Not that she would havem indeed being left out—she didn’t mind anything much, especially not when she was in such a good mood. She didn’t anything was really odd at that moment, but she did have to wonder where they were going and why they chose to talked as they walk. Okay, that was a little strange, but parents usually did things like these, didn’t they, so maybe it wasn’t—
She was pretty sure the choir of angels was in her imagination, and that there probably wasn’t a halo of light, but that’s what came to mind as she laid eyes on the car. First came a gasp as if someone had popped out of nowhere to give her a fright, and then it developed into a small sqeal, clapping her hands in her usual pleased gesture. Josh was much more composed but still faltering over his words as he tried to determine whether or not this was a gift for him. Yes, Josh, this is yours. All yours. I am so jealous right now.. Her father had better believe he was getting her the Reventón for her birthday. No wait, you don’t as him for anything, you take it without his permission. That would work better. In any case, her eyes were glued to the sleek, sexy piece-of-vehicle that was sitting there in all its glory as if it knew that it was god’s gift to highways. When he commented about the Aventador, she quickly responded, ”Adios—I mean oh my god it’s so cool!” She was practically swooning by now, her excitement more apparent than Josh’s even though it was clear he loved his gift. Nell agreed with all he said, chiming in with her Spanish pride of the Lambo.
Josh felt the need to ask if he could drive it, and Donovan tossed him the keys. Bobbing her head to his excited words, the fangirling stopped when Donovan told Josh not to crash the car. She knew that Josh wouldn’t break this baby, and as he opened the scissor doors in response to his father, she spared a moment for his words as she did a running dive into the passenger seat. In her excitement she could barely get a hold of the seatbelt and clicked it in with a successful ‘aha’. Praise the lord, she was sitting in an Aventador. Life wasn’t just good—it was badass.
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