not a house dog

Honestly, she couldn't believe they'd actually made it to move-in day. After not-so-subtly hinting at it for a year it had really happened, they found a place and were actually making somewhere their own. It was perfect really, but Angelica had still spared no expense to ensure the decor was exactly how she'd always pictured. Her one-bedroom apartment had been covered in lavender but that was one thing that Scamp had convinced her to sway from in their new place. There had been a time not that long ago when Angelica thought he would never even return to the Isle and most certainly not settle down like this. A lot had changed in that time in both of their lives, the blonde just being glad at the end of the day they'd found their way here.

Angelica stepped back to look at how their couch fit in with the greater picture of the room. Her gaze slipped from the furniture to her boyfriend as he spoke about the events that occurred at the New Year's Eve party, her stomach sinking at the thought. "Maybe she can help me decorate once we're settled in. I need a shopping buddy anyway since you just love to zone out when we go," she suggested giving him a quick raise of her brow in suggestion. "We're going for coffee this week, I'll snag her to help me unpack after. We have way too many dishes for anyone to expect me to organize the kitchen alone." Not that Scamp wouldn't have helped if she asked but it would work as the perfect ploy to get his sister out of the house. "How're they both doing though, really?"

It was hard to tell, whether his mother and sisters were doing as okay as they claimed to be. "I don't know," he admitted, "I think Cole's desensitized a bit, since last year." It was almost the same story, except, someone else had been the one to kill their father, instead in their mother's name, not his. Scamp was happy, actually, to have nothing to do with this one. Annette, though, had faced a strangely unexpected loss, though Scamp had seen it coming since the day he'd begun working for him. "Just a lot of loss recently, y'know, between Dad and Hopper."

The invitation for any alcohol on the premises was exactly what she needed, maybe not a cocktail as that is what started the downward spiral to what the night became but a beer couldn't hurt. She made a bee-line towards the kitchen and came back with two cans, one for her and one she was hoping Scamp would reject so that she could have that one as well. His generosity was simple as any sibling would do for another but it opened her eyes to see that her brother really was there for her when it was needed. She realized could actually trust him and maybe that was what led her to be so ready to talk about what had happened that night. "I broke up with Sam," it was a wonder to her how she managed to get that out without any tears.

Though he'd assumed her boyfriend had been behind her sudden sadness, Scamp hadn't thought they'd called it quits all of a sudden. He wanted to pry, demand answers of whether he'd hurt her, or if this kid needed a stern talking to in the way any older brother would, Colette wasn't the kind of person to get into such detail about her personal life, especially not with him. Instead, Scamp sat beside her, slipping an arm around his sister's shoulder as he hoped the offer of physical comfort would be accepted. "I'm really sorry," he offered in empathy, "I'm here, like, if you wanna talk about it, but we don't have to. And, if you're really upset, and not hungry, that's okay, too. I've definitely sat on this couch and gotten drunk over shit before." All he wanted was to be there for her, regardless of what Colette wanted that to look like.

Accepting the hug and the kiss on her head, Lilah leaned into his side for a brief moment, just letting herself have a second of peace with her eldest child and only son. As he pulls away, she’s expecting him to move to grab the leftovers she had mentioned setting up for him and his additional found family, so when he instead holds onto her shoulders an eyebrow immediately raises in suspicion. Before she can ask what’s happening though, Scamp was already beginning to explain. He knew his mother so well to start with a promise of nothing being wrong, but even with that warning she couldn’t help the way her heart stopped for a moment as she awaited whatever news he had to share. All she could do was nod once as he mentioned moving in with his girlfriend, a sense of relief slowly coming to her as she begins to realize just where this is likely going… And then he drops it, just what she had been thinking all of this was starting to lead up to. A huge grin slowly grows on her face and she lets out a bit of a squeal as she reaches to wrap her own arms around the boy in a tight embrace. “Sammy, that is so wonderful. Oh, I love you both so much - this is amazing,” she gushes, pulling back at the end and reaching up to brush one of his curls away from his face. “You’ve thought this completely through, though, right? It’s what you really want? Because marriage is a big commitment, you know, and it - it really shouldn’t be taken lightly. I don’t want you rushing into anything just because it’s what you think you’re supposed to do or what she might want, if you aren’t a hundred percent sure it’s also what you want to do.” She didn’t actually fear that any of that was the case for her son, but Lilah knew all too well from personal experience how easy it could be to hide your true thoughts on this matter and just go along with what society and the people around you told you that you should feel or believe.

He nodded at her, the insistence that he was sure of all of it. "I know, Mom," he assured her, "I've thought it through, and about it a lot, over the past few weeks, and I think this is it--she's it." There wasn't ever going to be anyone better for him than Angelica: she brought out the best version of him, the one that embodied all of the lessons he'd learned off the island, working for Hopper, and reuniting with his family. She made him want to prove his father and grandfathers wrong, and treat his future wife like the equal partner he saw Angelica as. "All I ever wanted when I was with her, and without her, and since I've been back is this, and I think it's time." He hoped that was all it was going to take to convince her, and that her questions were merely a precaution to check that his answers would assure her he'd considered all of them himself. "If you'd want to come with me to pick out the ring, or plan the proposal, I'd really appreciate the help. I just want to be sure I'm doing all of this right."

She kept up with the latest and greatest in drama, but it took on another life when it involved those close to her. The blonde soaked in the information as if she was directly affected. She had only seen Colette's relationship from the sidelines but the news that things had gone south sent her into defense of the younger girl. "Which is like fair, he should be prioritizing her too," the blonde quickly commented as her boyfriend continued to explain or at least she thought so. It seemed there was a severe lack of information which piqued her interest all the more so. "Wait, what? There's no way that's it." Angelica straightened her posture, investing further into the conversation about what occurred that night. "I'll dig tomorrow," she assured him. "There's nothing better than a bottomless mimosa brunch to talk shit together." A smile formed in pride at her plan, feeling more curious that not even Scamp was able to get more out of his sister. "Besides that did you have a good night? At least no one like fucking died or something. I feel like it was relatively uneventful for the Isle, you know?" The last time that many people got together there was more to unpack but she wouldn't totally complain about a night without that amount of chaos.

Against all odds, they'd found a place suitable enough to Angelica's taste and Scamp's paycheck. It was uniquely difficult to be on a budget with the blonde's high level of sophisticated style, but just a week before he was set to move out and let Zarina move in, they'd found the perfect place, just halfway between his old apartment and his mother's house. It was hard to believe just two years ago he was still off the island with his two best friends, thinking he'd never seen the girl he was about to call his fiancee again. It finally felt like life was turning around in a direction worth living for, a light Scamp thought he might never see while still in the tunnel.

"My mom keeps begging to help unpacking," he said as they set the sofa in place, smack in the middle of the living room. Lilah had been more than eager to help, though Scamp was almost positive she was using the excuse as something easy to keep her mind off of the recent second death of his father. "Just a warning, she's probably gonna tell you she's fine now, and she can handle it, but she definitely can't, not yet," he disclaimed with a light laugh. "Maybe we should at least steal Colette away for a bit, though--keep her out of her hair."

Whatever happened at the party had been itching at Angelica since her boyfriend had to bail out early. She initially thought that something had gone down with his deranged father but it seemed the drama was even spicer than anticipated. The blonde was in the middle of pulling her locks into a ponytail when he dropped the bomb and her jaw was soon to follow. "Wait, what the fuck, no way. The little ginger guy?" Her eyes circle the room for a second before landing back on Scamp with the curiosity obvious in her arched eyebrows. Not only had he opened the door for her to ask questions but this was the exact tea she was hoping to drink up that evening. "I thought he must've like tried something tonight once I saw him wandering around being all moody," she explained now waving off that theory since discovering the true reason for his departure. "What happened? Who broke up with who? Colette's like probably such a mess, I'll have to take her out for brunch tomorrow." Angelica often thought out loud as if those around her wished to know the inner workings of her mind. That and the fact that it was her way of remembering things for later. "I need a full report here."

With his and Dodger’s lease up at the end of the month, there was only one person who the two could think of who should be replacing him as he moved on to a bigger, admittedly nicer, place with his girlfriend, soon to be fiancee. Zarina had been crashing on the living room couch for some time now, and there weren’t many people the two boys tolerated so much to let replace him in the apartment he’d been calling home since moving back to the island. “Alright, I promised you another present, here it is.” He tossed her a pair of keys, tied with a red ribbon. It wasn’t until he was absolutely sure he was moving out of the apartment that he wanted to present them to her, on the off chance that he and Angelica had trouble finding a place of their own. “I’m moving out of here and in with Angelica, so the room is yours, if you want it. Rent stabilized, and you get the best roommate on the island,” he explained with a grin. He’d hoped she would’ve found somewhere of her own by now, if only for her own sake of having a home base, but Scamp was happy to have been able to be the one to give her just that. “If you say no, I think I’m gonna have to go ahead and kick you out now, ‘cause Dodger would rather die than find another roommate, so, please, for the love of god, say yes.”

Thankfully, finding Scamp's eyesore of a car wasn't hard. The ugly thing was the only shelter she had where she could finally break down. Her soft sobs filled the silence of the interior, not caring about the muffled conversations happening nearby. The only thing that broke her sulking was the anticipating that her brother was coming back any second now and she really didn't want to have him finding her under such distress. Colette hadn't realized how bad one of those options Scamp presented to her sounded, what was worst was that it was the unexpected choice that was much more appealing. "I cannot go back home right now." There was a room full of things that proved how bad of a decision it would be to go back home, Sam had truly permeated her life in a way she couldn't escape him as easily as she wanted. "Let's just go to yours, please," Her hands reached to swat away any tears that lingered on her face.

“Okay, yeah,” he agreed, backing out of the driveway and heading toward his apartment rather than their family home. The only acknowledgement he gave was a small squeeze to her thigh, as though to give her a small sign of support to hold her over through the drive. He let the trip be a silent one, having seen her tear-streaked face in the light of the car as he’d opened the door. It wasn’t until he’d put the van back into park that he even looked at her again, offering a small smile as they reached the safety of his apartment. “I, uh, have drinks inside, if you want any, and I don’t know if you’ve eaten anything, but I’m starving. You can pick delivery while I make up the couch, if you want. You can take the bed,” he offered. He would’ve taken the floor for any one of his sisters, but especially tonight, when Scamp was trying to be as gentle and supportive as he could be.

She hadn't known who to turn to for advice. Marie knew that Toulouse and Berlioz wouldn't give the responses she needed right now, so she turned to her eldest brother who was estranged from the situation at hand. When she'd met John it seemed like things were falling into place and as her feelings blossomed it seemed so did the complications. Once welcomed inside by her brother she sat on the couch waiting for the drink he'd offered on her arrival, eyes scanning the walls of memories she didn't recognize but wondered if she once would. "Merci," the blonde replied reaching out to take the tea he presented, holding it for a moment to enjoy the warming of her palms. "I'm sorry for being so cryptic in my message, I wasn't quite sure how to word it all. I figured it would just be easier to explain in person." The blonde blew softly onto the top of her mug to cool her drink before taking a sip. "Merde, I've gotten myself into a bit of a romantic entanglement again." But for good reason as far as she was concerned.

The evening had wrapped up fairly nicely, and Lilah was getting ready to face the daunting task of cleaning everything up and facing the loneliness she knew would start to sink in as soon as all of her children were gone - but it seemed like the eldest of her kids had a different plan for her. Ellie had already left and the other girls were already upstairs in their room, so she had just assumed that Scamp would have taken off as well. Yet here he was, packing away leftovers in the kitchen like this was something he did every year. “Sammy, you know you don’t have to do that,” she reminds him, moving closer to take the tupperware out of his hands and set it down on the counter in front of them. It was sweet and heartwarming that he wanted to help, but she knew he had better things to do than worry about any of this. “Unless you were just going to pack some for yourself to take, in which case go right on ahead. Though, I already have two plates worth of food packed for Dom and Zarina that I wanted you to take to them, so don’t worry about getting anything for them.” Before they’d even started eating she had set those portions aside, feeling fairly confident she’d have enough leftovers anyway for Scamp’s housemates to have but still not wanting to take the risk of something running out.

Moving to get to the fridge and pulling out the big container that held both of their wrapped up plates, Lilah set it down on an empty space of counter and gave it a little tap for flourishment. “And if you want anything for Angelica, take that as well,” she suggests, having accounted for the blonde as well when she had decided on her portion sizes of everything. “I just wasn’t sure what she’d want after eating with her own family.” It was like cooking for a small army, the amount of people she had on her list of potentially needing to feed this holiday, but Lilah wouldn’t have it any other way. She was a mother after all, and not just for her biological children but for anyone that had any intertwinement in her life - it just came natural to her to provide for them all.

With enough done in the kitchen to satisfy his need to help, Scamp pulled away to simply place his hands on Lilah’s shoulders, as though to prepare her for what he was about to announce. “I also stayed because I wanted to talk to you about something. Nothing bad, or to be worried about, I promise,” he swore, a grin beginning to bloom. He hadn’t talked to a single soul about his plan, not even his roommate and best friend: it felt right, to tell his mother first. “So, you know how Angelica and I are thinking about moving in together, right? Well, I was thinking, maybe … when we move in, or after, or—I haven’t exactly figured out when, but I was thinking about proposing to her,” he admitted finally, his breath suspended as he awaited his mother’s response.

There was an urgency to find one person who she could lay everything out on without judgement or without any fear they would just go and tell everyone the second her back turned. It was a difficult task to accomplish, anywhere she looked was someone she'd scorned in the past or someone who didn't know her as a person, they only knew her for how many followers she had. The only resolve she could think of was leaving but that was gonna be a bit tricky when she'd gotten a ride there from the one person she didn't want to see ever again. Her next options seemed to be limited to family and there was no way she was gonna call her mom to pick her up; Annette wouldn't even bother to answer her phone call and Ellie was weirdly always a pain to figure out where she'd run off to. The only person left was one she was sure would ask a bunch of questions but it was her only choice, plus she knew exactly where he was because she made sure to not be in the same room as him at all times.

Colette had thought her only challenge in this would be keeping herself hidden from Angelica's gaze, as she didn't want to embarrass herself around the blonde. Instead, the difficult part was actually keeping her composure around Scamp. She could already feel a lump in her throat as she tugged on her brother's jacket, when he'd turned around and she met his gaze she could already hear him asking what was wrong. He hadn't even said anything and yet she was very close to breaking down right there. Saving herself from that public humiliation, her eyes looked towards the ground because if she looked at anyone else, surely the tears she tried very hard to push back would start flowing and never stop. Not even caring that her voice was trembling, she simply asked what she needed from him, “Can you drive me home.. like, now?”

The tug on his jacket had come unexpectedly, and the person from whom the call to attention came had been even more of a surprise. His youngest sister's eyes were filled to the brim with tears, her lip quivering as she asked him to drive her home immediately. "Hey, what--are you okay? Did something happen?" he asked quickly, though he had a feeling the answer would come after they left the house, if ever. "Yeah, here, let me just say goodbye to Angelica, and I'll meet you outside," Scamp agreed, handing her his car keys. With a quick pivot to the Deville's living room, Scamp told his girlfriend of his premature departure, ensuring she had a ride home before he left.

Colette's head hung low from his passenger's seat as he approached his van. It was almost the saddest he'd ever seen her, second only to when he'd admitted their father was still alive. Scamp slid into his seat, turning to his sister before he backed out of the driveway. "Do you want to go home home, or back to my apartment? I can text Mom that you're with me."

⋆⋆ ✶ ⋆⋆

Halloween hadn't been as exciting as she had hoped but she got a sliver of gossip which was better than nothing. It was one of the lesser dramatic parties or at least within the circles she ran. Angelica hated to admit it but she was actually glad they had finally gotten home, ready to take off her heels and crawl into bed with her boyfriend. While a good party was always fun she still enjoyed the silence at the end of the night or at least the only sound being Scamp's voice as they recapped the evening. Once she'd gotten changed into her usual pajamas aka one of his shirts she snagged then Angelica was perched on the side of the bed waiting for him to join her. "Please tell me your night was more interesting than mine. I have like... literally nothing to report besides Lil and Kelsi still being together." The blonde exhaled heavily, head falling back onto the pillow. "Maybe I should be thankful when last time there was a party your dead dad showed up." She paused. The subject wasn't one that was light by any means but she realized it'd been awhile since there had been any real update either. Maybe it was her fault for not asking or perhaps Angelica didn't even actually want to know the piping hot tea for once. "How's all that going anyway? Is he still like... threatening you guys?"

It was only because she’d known in advance what they’re costumes would be that Zarina was able to recognize her friend, his normal curly hair gelled and combed back into a completely different look than anything he’d ever wear on his own. Coming up behind the boy with her drink in hand, she doesn’t hesitate to reach her foot out and give his leg a halfhearted little kick. Any other greeting would be far too affectionate for her liking. “You do know Elvis was like a major piece of shit, right?” she starts off the conversation, the thought she had wanted to share earlier when Angelica had shared what they’d be going as. But she didn’t want to upset the blonde, actually liking her more than she would have expected. Now though, with just Scamp by himself, she felt far more free to share her true opinions. “He was like borderline abusive and almost all of his hits were stolen from black artists. Is this your way of subtly trying to tell us all you’re actually a racist asshole?” It wasn’t something she actually thought of the boy, but it was too much fun to poke and prod to see how he’d react.

Angelica glanced over with a quick grin before her gaze returned to the architecture of his half-siblings' home. A laugh exposed itself upon the realization that they had also gotten treated the true Tristan Tramp child way. One thing she knew for sure was back then someone truly should've told that man about the dangers of unprotected sex but then again he wasn't the one suffering the real consequences of his actions. "They are probably dodging a bullet there. I figured he would've been trying to suck them dry to their last penny but I guess dead men have different priorities," the girl said with her attention returning to her boyfriend. Before anything else came from her mouth it needed to be filled with champagne which just so happened to be passing them at the perfect time. She snatched two from the tray as it passed, holding one out for Scamp to take and the other already meeting her lips. "Oh? There's drama between the little sisters? How could I not know about this?" Angelica's eyebrows knitted together as she urged for more details. If there was a thread of gossip she was missing it needed to be sewn into her web stat. "That little Sam kid? Wow, good for him I was surprised he pulled Letti in the first place."

Hearing about the misfortune of others, specifically her siblings, could always help her feel better. It wasn't that she really wanted them to suffer but a little drama never hurt anything and Annette had her own fair share. Besides she knew Scamp wouldn't have proposed it that way if it had been that big of a deal. Out of them all he was the one with the least bias but the brunette couldn't blame him for growing up with all of the girls, he had to stay alive some months when they'd rage against each other. Being the only boy surrounded by hormones and estrogen during puberty couldn't have been easy. As he told her about the events at the hospital a smile started to form but her laugh politely waited until he was done to expose itself. "Wait, this poor kid who already has to deal with Colette every day just found out they're related? She didn't tell him? Actually, that makes sense," the girl nodded to herself as she thought about it. The youngest Tramp wasn't one for sharing, who would it have been any different for her significant other? "I'm surprised she didn't jump across the bed and rip her extensions out right there." Annette for a moment forgot her own worries and was able to just enjoy the company of her brother, he'd always been good at cheering her up. "Do you think he got an earful when you all left?"