Straighter than Parallel Parking

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{ Chapter Ten: The Gracious One Being Ungrateful }
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FEELING INDECISIVE IS TO JANICE THE SAME AS HELPLESSNESS, and both coupled together at the same time is enough to drive her absolutely insane.

Standing in front of her closet (or what used to be her closet before it turned into a battlefield of sweaters and capri's) Janice lets out a growl, pushing away another lace shirt that just doesn't seem good enough. None of anything did.

She'd gotten back from school at least half an hour ago, jumping to take a quick shower (the perks of being short and having short hair), and the plan was to meet up with the rest of the staff immediately after work.

But in her room, wrapped in pajama pants and a tank top, is she stuck, utterly perplexed on what exactly she was going to wear to this friend outlet.

She decides she hates this.

Not the meeting, the girls and guys she has yet to meet, or even the feeling that someone was putting her heart on steroids.

No, it is her fear of impressing.

She doesn't want to be that person who "dressed to impress", to want to care about whether anyone else other than herself approves, Ultimately, though, the stress eats at her independence, and she hates it.

"I don't get why I'm making such a big fuss about this," she says to herself, picking up a hideous ruffled top. "It's not like I dress like a hobo. But what if they want me to look fancier? What's fancier, exactly? Like sophisticated or just dressy in general? God, what about jeans--nope, Brielle either wears dresses or leggings!"

Playing with the drawstring of her pants, Janice stares at the clothing bomb at her feet. "This isn't going so well."

"You think?"

Janice jumps, turning to the doorway to see her brother Alejandro leaning against the door frame with a smirk. "You've been rambling non-stop for the past five minutes I've stood here. You didn't even notice me."

"What do you want? And where's Aàron? Why don't you go bother him instead?" she asks, avoiding Alejandro's eyes.

"He's sulking in his room playing games. Raven went on a vacation the other day, I think I told you this. But, yeah, he's acting as if he just got told that he can't have sex ever again." Alejandro fills her in, not really understanding the idea of "TMI".

Raven is Aàron's year old girlfriend (which she still doesn't know how he bagged), and while those two were complementary to each other and everything, they were almost as attached to the hip as the twins were. However, the couple are so used to Alejandro being their third wheel sometimes, it's as if they would notice it more if his presence wasn't there with them.

"Sounds like fun," she says monotonously, picking up a slim, sleeveless ivory blouse, simple threading from the bottom up, like a henna design.

This is actually really beautiful...

"That was mom's."

Janice swivels around, unconsciously digging her nails harder into the fabric.

She's about to open her mouth--to say what, she doesn't know--but the gentleness of his voice makes her ache more than it should.

Their mother is a taboo subject around the house. It wasn't as if they forgot their memories (or the non-existent ones that Janice had), but the siblings all agreed that they wouldn't bring her up unnecessarily, especially since the last time Karlo asked, their father had almost burst out into tears. The wetness that glazed a sheen over his hazel eyes didn't escape any of their notices when Marcus pulled away.