he was hungry. and so shamelessly, and rather casually as well, he went two doors over to 4b where he knew a family lived. the few days he lived there, he knew about the starr family quite well already. southern family with nothing but kindness and love for all around them. he k i n d a hated them. just a little. after knocking, the young matriarch opened the door, young girl at her heels, greeting him with such happiness, it shocked him. he just didn’t expect it.
the introduction went quickly, there was only three people after all. not long after that though, lorna starr was inviting him, every intention of letting him join in on dinner. and fortunately for patrick, thats what he had been hoping for. but someone had to keep an eye on the roast so lorna’s attention was quickly dragged to the small kitchen, leaving the young man alone with the little girl.
he had a sister. painfully named similar to this girl before him. he couldn’t remember the last time he had seen margot… it never failed to twist his stomach into knots when thinking about her. he smiled softly at her, hand raising to point at the doll in hand. “who’s that?”
this led to an intricate tale about a girl-princess who lived in a castle far, far away with her pet dragon. a pet dragon who she used to ride around on, flying through the skies – something patrick helped maggie achieve.
the door slammed and patrick fully expected it to be the quiet husband he’d seen once or twice in the parking lot. but it was not. it was the eldest daughter – the one he hadn’t realized was so close in age to him. he’d seen her from a distance and he honestly thought she had been in high school, at least. “oh… uh, hi – your mom invited me over for dinner. patrick” he stuck a hand out for her to take.
“of course she did...” gk chuckled nervously, glancing at her mom’s receding back as she left once more for the kitchen. leaving gk to entertain the guest. “of course she did...” she repeated under her breath, shifting her eyes back to patrick. this wasn’t what she had been expecting after along day of work. meaning she had to put effort into not allowing herself to be grumpy while in the presence of the guest.
she took his offered hand, giving it a small shake. “its nice to meet you, patrick. hope we can be pleasant neighbors!”
still clad in sweaty work uniform, she sunk into the worn couch with a sigh, looking anywhere but at the surprise. who was still looking at her. she cleared her throat, speaking loudly enough for her mother to hear, laughing slightly. “you’ll never guessed what this girl asked for today... she wanted her bread toasted and when I asked for what kind, she went ‘oh, is there not a kind you guys just reserve to toast?’ and I just stared and went, ‘we can toast any bread.’ and like, it was SO awkward...” gk laughed again, this time her mother joining her.
but again, after a moment, the silence filled the room and even maggie was starting to be affected. the little girl wandered over to her older sister and crawled into her lap, banging the television remote against the other’s thigh. “aquanauts is on. let’s watch, okay?”
it was a good suggestion and gk did just that, flipping the switch on to present the colorful show on the grainy screen. she sighed and tried to watch the show, her eyes moving back to patrick every so often. “so, uh, describe yourself? ...like, who is ‘patrick’?”
areudirty
pixelskylines
stormborns
blakekathryn
janainaart
origamiaround
dailybridgerton
discoholicmusic
theartofmadeline
