After that unsolicited encounter, me and Ellie are sat by my pool, added to the Carter home by my grandfather in the 60s, sipping on some wine we managed to swipe from our home bar when my parents weren't looking. I touch my hair, where my curls have already began to flatten. To think my Mom gets monthly appointments to smooth her hair, when I would do anything for it. It was so wild, so untamed, so imperfect. Goldilocks. I sigh, and Ellie nudges me.
"What? Alex?" She probes, though this time, which is unusual, she misses the mark. I nod anyways, and she gets up, brushing down her burgundy velvet suit jacket as she does so, which she's wearing over a short black dress. "Lets go get Vivi from upstairs, and play cards on the patio. Didn't your Mom say she invited that girl, Stacey, you were friends with when you were little? Maybe we can all play." I nod, not responding, and Ellie rolls her eyes, dragging me up from the edge of the pool, and I put my shoes back on as we go up to get my little sister.
Unlike mine, Vivi's room is completely unruly and littered with toys and pastel colours, like a little girl's room should be. Instead of flashcards and mind maps and decorative mementos my Mom ordered off Amazon, so they weren't really personal mementos at all but others maybe thought they were, Vivi had pink wallpaper with little white clouds, and soft bunnies and seahorses (her favourite animal) scattered across her bed, her bookshelves lined with a new trilogy she adores about a girl's magical connection to her pony. I laugh as I notice her barbies all now equipped in equestrian outfits and out on a horse riding adventure with their respective Kens, suitable to her latest fixation.
"You know, Viv, you should ask Mom if you can start taking lessons at the stables." I smile, fluffing my little sister's hair affectionately. "I asked, she said it might not be safe, and that I should try Ballet again, because it's a sport where I only have to use my own two feet." She sighs, slumping on her bed as she carefully plaits her barbie doll's shiny dark hair. I exchange a look with Ellie: my mom's been overprotective of us, especially of Vivi, since the accident. Understandably, too, but Vivi should be allowed to figure out what she likes.
"Look" I say, pulling a woolly pink sweater over Vivi's head, and helping her tie her little brown boots. "Tell Mom I can come with you and supervise. I've been on a horse since I was about your age, and nothing can happen if I ride with you, at least to start with." I smile, as Vivienne's gap toothed grin widens, clapping her hands in excitement "would you really? Yay!" She exclaims, wrapping her arms around my neck so she's hanging off me like a monkey, and Ellie and I go downstairs like this, until my Dad's stern glance causes me to put her down, reluctantly. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice a familiar, intense blue eyed gaze watch us, but ignore this, bringing Vivi over to a table.
"What will it be, Uno?" I ask, already knowing the answer. Vivi nods sweetly, her curling blonde hair up in two pigtails. I notice a freckled face walk by, on top of a long, slender body, and warm sunny brown eyes. "Stacey?" I wave her over. "Hey, it's been a while. Do you remember Viv? She was just a baby when we became friends at camp. How's Connecticut?"....
YOU ARE READING
𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝'𝐯𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 ~ 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐳𝐨 𝐙𝐮𝐫𝐳𝐨𝐥𝐨
Roman d'amourGenevieve Carter has got it all. The house, the friends, the looks, the family, even the perfectly planned future. Vieve has always felt lucky. She knows what it means to be Genevieve Carter, and she's never know anything else. And then came Alex. ❣...
