Family Comes First- ASOUE

Chapter 71: Quigley's Girl

*Duncan's POV*

It was after the recital on day four and Klaus was taking a shower, so I had time to have a conversation with my brother alone. I had been wanting to have this conversation since this morning, and I definitely wanted to have it before the recital tomorrow that I'd be sneaking out of with Violet...

"Quigs, can I ask you something?" I asked.

"You just did," he joked, and saw the look on my face. "Oh, you're being serious..."

"Yeah... Do you have any interest in Violet? At all? Romantically, I mean?"

Quigley tried to stop himself from laughing, but was unsuccessful and started cackling hysterically as if I had told him the funniest joke ever. I didn't find it very amusing. "God, no, dude!!!" He exclaimed, still giggling. "I mean she's pretty, I guess, but I just couldn't like her and have a clear conscience."

I raised one eyebrow, now curious. "Why not?"

"Three reasons, sort of," Quigley began. "First off, you so clearly like Violet!"

"Shh!! Not so loud; the girls' room is on the other side of the wall!"

"Whatever; you're too obvious anyways. She makes you smile uncontrollably and you're always trying to charm her up. We'd need to get her psychologically examined if she didn't know by now. So, you like Violet a lot. That's reason one."

"That hasn't stopped you in the past..." I said softly, and remembered what Violet said about not letting the unpleasant experiences stop me from seeing he's matured, making me regret saying that.

Quigley chuckled nervously. "Yeah I know... I was an asshole. I know I was horrible to you when it came to girls in the past, but I promise you I'm trying to be better. I'm sorry for being the worst brother ever..."

"What?! You weren't the worst!! There was a good amount of room for improvement, sure, but I swear you're never 'the worst'..."

"Well... I'm sorry for being a dick. I swear on my life that I won't ever act like that again... Purposely, I mean. And if I do, you can tell me and I will stop whatever I'm doing and apologize like fifteen times, and... I just feel bad. I know I can't go back and fix my behavior in the past, but I can damn well make sure I keep myself in check from now on. Please forgive me..."

"Quigley, of course, I forgive you... I'm relieved to hear that you want to be better and I'll be there to help you through whatever you need. Isadora will be too. Oh, and the Baudelaires... You do like them, right?"

"Yeah, they're swell. I like how happy they make you two."

"Great! Please continue..."

"Alright, well, thing two is that I wouldn't even have a bit of a chance with her even if I was interested. She likes you too much."

I smiled, feeling my face warm up and I knew I was blushing.

"See?" Quigley said. "Just the thought of her liking you back turns you all red! I couldn't do that to you!!"

I chuckled, a little embarrassed. "Alright... What's the last thing?"

Quigley smiled from ear to ear. "Wait, Izzie's going to want to hear this!" He grabbed my arm and dragged me to the girls' door and he knocked excitedly. What did he have to tell us that got him so fired up suddenly? Isadora opened their door and gave us an unamused look.

"It's half an hour until midnight; what are you doing?" She asked in a tired tone, but then saw the smile on our brother's face and became curious, stepping out and closing the door behind her.

"I want to tell you something... Something very, very important to me... I kind of have a girlfriend..."

"'A girlfriend?'" Isadora repeated excitedly.

"'Kind of'?" I repeated, confused.

"Not officially. And not any of the girls here, before you ask. The only girls at Prufrock that don't follow the 'We Hate Orphans' mentality live in this dorm..."

"Understandable. Please tell us about your kind-of girlfriend." Izzie said, sitting down on the couch. Quigley sat in between us.

"Well... While I was living with Jacques, and a few times during my living here at Prufrock, he took me with him to meet his friend who's a captain on a submarine called the Queequeg. Captain Widdershins is a nice guy, but his stepdaughter is incredible. Her name is Fiona- she's the mycologist friend I mentioned; she helped me out with that nasty tan fungus in the shack? Mycologists study fungus; should have mentioned that. Yeah, well she's just swell. She's so amazing... We were kind of into eachother and we flirted a little but we didn't really see eachother that much... So last time that I saw her, maybe like three months ago, we decided 'Okay this is probably a dumb decision and we know this, but next time we see eachother, if we still have that little spark that's there, we'll make it official'. I haven't seen her in a while but Olivia has a telegraph she lets me use in the library, so we'll send telegrams back and forth. She's so sweet and she's an absolute genius- she's so smart- and she's so, so pretty and amazing..."

"That's great, Quigley!!" Izzie beamed. "We're so happy for you!!"

"Yeah that's awesome, Quigs!" I added. "Sounds like a refreshing change of pace from a good amount of your past interests."

"You have no idea!! She just makes me want to be a better person, and I'm not ashamed to admit that either. I think you guys will love her when you meet her one day!"

"Thank you for telling us about Fiona," I said, "We're very happy for you.

"Do we owe her thanks for the change in your attitude?" Izzie asked, making Quigley laugh.

"Yes, a lot!!!" He said, smiling widely. "I know for a fact that I wouldn't be who I am right now without her... I love her so much and I just hope I can see her again someday soon..."

I looked forward to hearing more about this Fiona. Quigley had the most contagious smile when talking about her. She had to be truly special, huh?

"Okay, that's all, Izzie." Quigley said cheerily.

"I wanna hear more about Fiona sometime!" She said. "She sounds so interesting."

"I'll tell you guys some stories sometime." He smiled. "Goodnight."

Izzie wrapped him in a hug. "Night, Quigley..." She said, and gave me a hug too.

"Night, Izzie."

"Goodnight!"

Izzie disappeared into her room and Quigley smiled at me. "So do you believe me that you don't have to worry about me ruining your relationship with Violet?" Quigley asked.

"Yes, I believe you."

"And you understand why I laughed?"

I thought about it. I asked him if he was at all interested in my crush, and he ended up telling me he was committed to a very happy sort-of-relationship. "I can see how that would be amusing," I said, smiling a little.

"Exactly!!" He beamed. "I love seeing you happy, so I will fully support you and Violet being together. I'll even find something to do with her siblings and Izzie so that you two can have more alone time if you want."

I smiled, wondering if it'd be a good idea or not to tell him about Violet and my plan. "We're um... We're actually going to sneak out of the violin recital tomorrow night..." I said softly, staring down at my feet and feeling myself blush again.

"Yeah! There you go!" He encouraged me. "Asking a girl to hang out with you all alone? Nice!!"

"It was Violet's idea, actually..."

"Oh. That's fine too. I'll cover for you guys, don't worry."

"Thank you, Quigley."

"No problem. It's nearly midnight; think it's time for bed?"

I nodded. Quigley would always have his flaws, just like everyone else, but I could never, ever ask for a better brother.