Becoming a Scott

Chapter 27 (Ander Pov)

Ander sat, lounged in the balcony of his room, glaring out into his parents property, and sipping on his drink. He woke up late this morning and found it impossible to drag himself out of bed. Christina's problem had been solved a lot sooner than he expected but that was for the best. The sooner she got Thomas to agree the less stress she had to deal with.

Last night was a bit of an odd one. It had started out fine and things had gone smoothly enough until William had gone on and spoken out of place. 

"She'll arrive tomorrow afternoon and then she'll leave within the week." William had said last night under his breath. "She didn't mention anything to you?"

"We don't talk anymore," Ander admitted. "How did you find this out?"

"Irvin mentioned it to me in passing, he's like a kid in a candy store, telling everyone that his sister is visiting in between travels." William placed a hand on his hip. "He invited me to the dinner they are throwing on Thursday."

"Right before we leave to University, huh?" Ander asked. "At what time does it start?"

William narrowed his eyes at his friend, "Ander you can't just appear without an invitation. You know the kind of scandal that'll come of it."

"Vanessa hasn't been home in a year, I just want to talk to her, that's all. I'll appear before the dinner starts and then I'll be gone. There's no need to make a bid deal of it."

"What if she doesn't want to see you?"

Ander let out a breath, not sure that he could dismiss a question like that. It wouldn't be surprising in the least if Vanessa lived the rest of her happy life never seeing him again.

He glared up at the blue sky above his house, shaking off the thoughts of the night before. Her plane would probably be landing soon.

It felt, as if to Ander, that his life was moving onto something else. As if a chapter of his life was ending at this very moment but he couldn't understand why. A frown spread over his lips as he stared absentmindedly at the cup in his hand. Christina was going to be engaged by the end of the week, no doubt. The poor woman had actually managed to charm a nice man into liking her.

"What a sucker," he said to himself but he didn't smile. He could picture it now, the engagement, the ring on her finger, the sheer joy of realizing she had managed to provide for her family back on the islands.

Thomas and Christina would spend the rest of their time in college studying and planning their wedding and then it would most likely be years before the eldest Mrs. Scott died and Christina could become everything that she was meant to be. Maybe by then, she would have fallen in love with that gullible well-intending man and the both of them would live on in blissful wealth, without a care in the world.

It was odd to think that within a week of being on the mainland she was strapped and ready for marriage when Ander had spent his whole life here, for him marriage was completely out of the question, and not without reason. He knew that the future he intended for himself held no room for any of his current friends or family. Marrying Vanessa would've cost them both a great deal of pain.

Ander had planned it out, two years ago when he had first started University. He'd get his degree in economics, go to law school, and then he'd leave it all behind. He couldn't pretend to live in ignorance of how the money that he had been raised with was made and he was intent on fighting the exploitation done by the very people that surrounded him.

All of his peers would turn their back on him but he didn't care, because this was all much bigger than them and their pretentious lives. Vanessa wouldn't have wanted a life like that, she loved him very much but, she loved her life of wealth just as much.

In some ways, Ander felt that helping Christina made him a bit less guilty about the fact that he still hadn't left. He was just missing another five years before he could become a proper lawyer.

Ander jumped when his phone rang beside him. He reached over, fully intent on ignoring whoever it was before he happened to read the caller ID and furrowed his brows. "Hey, what's up?"

"Ander, did I catch you a bad time?" Thomas asked on the other end of the line.

"Not at all," he sat up in his seat, getting the feeling in his gut that something was wrong.

"Do you know if Christina is okay?" Thomas asked abruptly, causing Ander to go tense. "I have no way of knowing."

"You're gonna have to back up a couple steps here, Thomas. What leads you to believe that Christina wouldn't be okay?"

Thomas paused a moment, "A couple hours ago I got a call from Michael... he was vary vague about the whole thing."

"What whole thing?" Ander pressed on, genuinely hoping that Thomas would just come right out with it.

"Something about a family emergency and Christina wouldn't be able to see me. I tried to get her on the phone, asked Michael if there was any other date she would be available, but he ignored all of my questions." Thomas sighed, "You're the only other person I could think to ask about it."

"I don't have any of the answers that you're looking for, Thomas." Ander stood up from his seat and crossed the doors back into his room. "But don't think too much into it. It's just a blip, I know that Christina was very much looking forward to seeing you tonight." He pulled off a jacket from his closet and ventured out into the hall.

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but what kind of relationship do you have with her anyway? Did you become friends with her in so little time?"

Ander paused at the front door before taking the car keys from where they sat. "She's the type that can form a relationship really quickly. You learn to either love her or hate her within the span of a week. Hey, Thomas," he said as he slammed the car door shut, "how about you call me back if you find out anything, okay?"

"Okay, I won't interrupt you any further then." Thomas said simply, clearly disappointed by the lack of information Ander had to provide.