#adelaidekcnes

“you make it sound so simple, but do you have any idea what you’re asking me to do?” rick furrowed his brow, leaning against his desk as he folded his arms in front of him. not a day had passed since aria had started working for him without some thought regarding her rushing through his mind. she was so captivating, in a way he couldn’t say for many of the women that garnered his life. it was supposed to be easy, pushing the idea of the two of them away, but it hadn’t been ---at all. whenever she entered a room, he was placed on high alert, and everyone knew it. he was so painfully aware of her movements, her presence. even then, sitting there, he couldn’t help but watch her from the corner of his eye. “GIOVANNI....” he paused, waving at his butler. “could you give the two of us a moment, please?” gio offered a friendly, yet knowing, grunt as he walked out of the door; closing it slowly as if he were attempting to continue listening in.

after his exit, rick took a chance. he pushed himself away from his desk and neared her. though he kept his hands to himself, the urge to do more was there, and it screamed at him like a bullhorn. “...i’m not quite sure if you have noticed, aria, but i am... you are...” a frustrated glance graced his features before he softened, “this isn’t like a normal work arrangement for me. i have never... been so INTERESTED in an employee before, i hope you can understand.” rick hated having to do this, to address the fact that she did, at the end of the day, work for him. the entire idea was taboo. “i’ve taken a certain... interest in you. i---i am always quite concerned about how things are... how you feel here, with the house, the others... with me.” 

he took a seat nearby, watching her every mannerism as he did. “if the feeling is not mutual, then feel free to tell me, feel free to decline... i have no desire to make you feel uncomfortable here... and if it does end up the latter, then i will gladly help you find work elsewhere; but... aria...” pause. he folded his hands in front of him, sitting them casually on his lap in order to hide their tremble. “at the risk of sounding too... er.... creepy... would you like to go to dinner with me? just once?” he lifted his eyes to hers, gauging her reaction. “see, again, i am not sure if you have noticed... but my interest in you has not been---platonic, per se...” a lump began to form in his throat, one he attempted to clear but ultimately failed. “the thing is... you cannot ask me to not waste a wish on you, because anything i would ever wish for... is YOU.”

“hmm?” tiziana muttered, a questioning look on her face having been too busy concentrated on her knitting. “did you say something?” if she would have heard the question, she probably would have said no. there was no way in hell either of them could ever be locked up; nor could any of the fearsome fives besides, she was positive they would break out anyway. “severely psycho analyzed? probably. they would think us crazy and i would claim insanity.. and instead be committed.” she was sure there was no one in the world who didn’t already think her crazy so she would have everyone’s – er – support, if that’s what you’d call it. 

getting frustrated with the knitting, she let out a loud groan before scrambling the yarn all together and throwing it aside. “UGH!  i can’t do this!” she yelled, grabbing the attention of the women in the knitting class around her.  “ WHAT?! the only reason I took that up was to keep myself  occupied!” the blonde wasn’t working due to pregnancy leave and there was a constant struggle of madness going on in her head, she did the best to keep herself occupied by taking up other hobbies – that probably, weren’t meant to be taken up by her.  tiziana taylor nee saracen lacked any sort of patience or self control.  “should we stalk jeremy again? we haven’t done that in a while.” tiziana tapped her chin before trying to grab Lyras phone. 

“you know, the other day i put a tracker the other day on sevens phone,” she added, “only because i know that stupid dumb emma..” tiziana made a face of digust, “is still after him.. after all these years. could you … she wishes him happy every fucking holiday. you know the other day… she wished him a happy ramadan! A HAPPY RAMADAN!! WE’RE NOT FUCKING MUSLIM!!”  the young womans eyes were wide, the look on her face appearing to be one of a man white woman.  

“personally,” a woman chimed in, “after hearing your conversation, i think you all need to be committed.. that one first.” tiziana gasped, she was outraged even if she herself had said that a couple of minutes ago.  grabbing her yarn, she stretched it out far, “you wanna go?! i’ll choke you out!” feeling lyras arms around her, “you’re lucky she’s holding me back, you’re lucky! —lets go lyra, we have to go check jers call log. find a bigger bush this time. ” turning around, she grabbed her bag but not before turning towards the woman, pointing at her and mouthing lucky as she walked away.

the young queen sat there, her baby in her arms. she changed so much in such a short while. tears filled her eyes as she took her little girl in, holding her, almost as if she let go, she would lose her again. she had never meant to leave her, never meant to abandon her, never meant to abandon any of them but she felt alone, heartbroken, almost as if the air had been kicked out of her. maxarina dealt with everything, everything that came after her, everything that came after her family, she dealt with the world on her shoulders and a broken heart was that to ruin her.  she hadn’t realized she had tuned victor gabriel out as she was gazing at her daughter but she managed to catch the last thing he said. 

handing isabella to the wetnurse, she motioned for her to leave before standing up. maxarina had left, sought comfort in a convent where she knew not one person would find her, where she would be alone. where she tried to find comfort in god, searching for strength any strength, she would take it.   

  “you ruined me,” she finally said, “you came back and thought everything and everyone was against you and you didn’t bother hearing any one of us.” to relive that was killing her but she couldn’t keep running away from him forever. 

“you refused to listen to maxim and i! you refused to understand that everything, todo lo que hicimos era para ti! for everyone, everyone in spain was against you! for you still had enemies! we had enemies! to make sure our daughters country didn’t fall into the wrong hands and you made everything about you! about how we hurt you! about how we turned our backs on you when all we ever did was stand right beside you!”

the young woman tried to be civil when he came back, working alongside him and yet, he kept stepping on her, stepping all over her pride and her heart. “and now you dare ask me for another chance! what of the other chance i asked of you?! the one i practically begged you for?! the one maxim asked for?!” 

her tiny hands turned into fists as she fought to find composure. “if you excuse me, majesty, i have matters to attend to.”

“oh, that’s alright, gale.” bella replied whimsically. she stood leaning against the cotton candy cart, the fall ball in full buzz. children ran to and from booths, tickets dragging on the ground; couples held hands, walked casually alongside each other, kissing underneath the moonlight. while the night hadn’t been the success she had originally desired, she was just happy it had gone down smoothly at all. there was a tinge of disappointment, sure. there always was when things didn’t go exactly her way; but the tiny southern belle was coming to terms with just that. sometimes, she had to just take one for the team.

reaching up, she placed a small hand on his cheek before retracting it quickly, dropping the hand to behind her back where the other clasped it like a handcuff. “what’d i tell ya about worryin’ about me, huh?” she tried for a smile, tilting her head to the side. “ain’t that my job, cowboy?” if only things could be as simple as they once were; those were the magic words. all of them seemed to be wishing it, for days to go back to when they were younger, and had the world at their feet. "we really thought we knew EVERYTHING, didn’t we?” 

“you know what, mia---!” greg stopped, trying to keep his cool. the feeling of inadequacy he’d been receiving from the blonde was really starting to grind his gears. “all i been tryin’ to be to ya is nice. all i been tryin’ to do; but you’ve been making me out to look real stupid, ain’t ya?” he was trying not to yell, to hold himself back from doing something he might end up regretting, but it was just getting to be too damn difficult. "ya know, ya don't gotta be rude to everyone? some people actually want good to come of ya, believe it or not." he shook his head, what was the point? why did he continue to put himself in this situation?

"ya want me gone? fine, I’M GONE. i ain't got the time, nor the patience. really ticks me off that after all this, you'd still be acting like a little damn kid all the time." he was growing more and more furious by the second. "why're ya still here, huh? so you can make us all feel like shit for what makes us happy? go back to your city living, to your lamborghinis, and your gucci."  picking up his coat, he wished himself to stop but he couldn't. the floodgates had been opened, and the cowboy couldn't stop himself for the words that came out. "is this what ya wanted? ya wanted me to hate ya? ya wanted to get rid of me?" there was a sense of hurt, but also a realization in his features. she didn't know him, she didn't want to, and he didn't know her either. it was a fascination for something different, someone unlike anyone he'd ever seen before.

something my muse has trouble understanding

“and ya are just now realizing that, are ya, darling?” a small smirk formed on his lips before he returned his attention to the car in front of him. “now, of course, i ain’t as interesting as gregory.. i ain’t gone go about stalking you and stuff.” another laugh fell from his lips before he shook his head, “i gotta tell ya..ya really did something to that one.” though he liked mia, he wasn’t going to go around chasing her. she was new and shiny and different, incredibly different from all the other small town southern girls but he had gotten over that attitude of hers about the third week she was here. “y’all would make a cute couple, ya know that?”    

“what are ya still doing here anyway?” he asked, “and what are ya doing still hanging around me? ain’t ya make it clear that we’re good for nothing southern folk? ain’t ya make it clear that i’m missing a screw for trusting in the confederacy? for having pride in our history? it’s crazy aint it? ya come here, spend time in our honky tonks and suddenly, ya think you know us.. think it’s okay for you to judge us cause hey, you’re from new york and you’re entitled to..” truth be told, bentley wasn’t even sure what he was even talking about anymore but he had it, he had it with shawn and he had it with her.  

bentley cleared his throat, going back to working on the car. “this should be ready soon enough, miss” he told her, “ain’t gotta hang around me for much longer. just gotta start the engine and you could go on your way.”

“that’s not fucking fair!” the blonde shrieked, throwing a pillow at her best friend before laughing. “i didn’t ask for things to be like this. it just..” she and gale were young, in love. he was everything she thought she wanted or knew, she was confused, very confused. 

“things are different here than the big city, ya know? in new york everything is moving so fast all the time and ya don’t even got the time to know each other and y’all push and shove in the subway. we ain’t got that here. ”  her southern twang slipping out of her naturally, almost as if she had never let. “bentley, bella, gale and i we were almost always together and gale and i…we had dreams.”  realizing who she was talking to and who she was talking about, she immediately stopped. 

it was weird and different; shawn never kept anything from mia and yet, everyday, it seemed like she hid something more and she felt guilty. how did she tell her best friend that she was she was still in love with her ex husband? that he held her heart and soul and that edward, edward held another part that she didn’t want to let go of. she was right, her life was a living hell and she was drowning, drowning while she tried to find an escape. 

“sometimes i’m jealous when i see ‘em with bella and how bossy and possessive she is with them, ya know? they were my boys too. especially when she spoke to me about gale, he was mine before he was ever her best friend or whatever. i would never hurt him.. not again.”