Between Two Worlds - Book 1

Chapter 4

I got up early that Saturday to take advantage of the dry weather for a morning jogging. When I got home an hour later, Maisie had just woken up.

I took a long hot shower, trying to find an excuse to not go with them. On reflection, I didn't really want to get my hands dirty.

When I came back down, Ellen was sitting at the dining room table reading the papers. Upstairs, the brother and sister could be heard arguing over who was going to use the shared bathroom in their two bedrooms first. It must be said that Maisie took hours to refine her make-up, during which time the bathroom was forbidden to access. Even styling his short hair took an inordinate amount of time.

"It's not like there was only one bathroom in this house." Ellen grumbled. "If they wake up your dad he's gonna be in a bad mood again."

From Maisie's cries of frustration, we understood that Blaine had just won his access to the shower, probably after a terrible fight.

When he joined us in the dining room half an hour later, his dark locks dripping over his shoulders and wearing only a sweatpants, all the excuses I had found for not going to the mansion was passed out.

He caught my sidelong gaze and while smiling, shook his hair, causing beads of water to fall all around him.

"Blaine !" barked his mother exasperated.

He smiled even more as he pulled his phone out of his back pocket.

"Dad will be here in five minutes." he said texting back.

"And your sister will be ready in five minutes ?" Ellen asked.

Sitting in George's car, we were waiting for Maisie, who had shouted at us from her room that she only needed five more minutes. Blaine had sat up in the front and was DJing the car stereo.

"I'm glad to see you again Catherine." said George to me.

"Me too." I answered politely.

I had never been very good at starting or maintaining a conversation.

"Blaine told me about your grandfather. I hope he is better."

I mumbled that he was better, puzzled. Blaine was talking about me?

After all, it wasn't like we were close. Apart from civil text messages to wish each other a happy birthday or a Merry Christmas, we did not spend our evenings telling each other our little secrets.

In fact, I still felt like Blaine was avoiding me, like he was mad at me for his mother's remarriage or something like that. He was always respectful and had never spoken inappropriately, on the contrary he was always in a good mood and teasing, but there was always this kind of embarrassment between us which made me think that in other circumstances, we would  probably never speak.

"Is he recovering ?" inquired George earnestly.

"I imagine, my mother says that he only grumbles at each annoyance."

"It is indeed a sign of good health." confirmed George.

When Maisie casually sat in twenty minutes later, her father pointed out to her that we had almost waited for her.

"We expect only for the best." she retorted.

Blaine nearly choked on his saliva as the car finally started. The ride wasn't very long but still long enough for Blaine and his sister to argue over which radio station we should listen to.

I felt the same sense of grandeur and decadence as the first time I saw the mansion. It was a large rectangular building with arched windows and doors. It was surrounded by a gigantic English garden full of flowers and trees. The big grey stones of the mansion were covered in front with several ivy which over the years had reached the top of the roof. The six turrets rose so high in the sky that it seemed as if they could touch it.