Boy Next Door

1. Magnolia

Light had long since given away to darkness as the black limo rolled into the small town of Magnolia. The beautiful sleeping blonde in the back seat was awoken by the sound of her escort's voice, informing her that they had passed the town line. The girl blinked sleepily, her brain slowly processing his words. When they finally hit her, she moved towards the window and stared out at her new town, but couldn't hide the disappointment on her face. She had already known that Magnolia was no Crocus, and that it was 80% agriculture, but she was still disappointed when all she could see was miles and miles of land. There was an occasional house situated along the road, but as unappeaing as it looked in the dark, she was nearly positive the light would suit it no better. She cringed and pulled away from the glass, huffing her disappointment. The man in the driver seat glanced back at the girl and gave her a sympathetic smile through the rear view window. She assumed his eyes were sad too, but she couldn't see them with his dark shades. She tried to return his reassuring look, but knew she was failing and decided to give up the pretences. It's not like he'd believe her anyway; he'd only been taking care of her since she was a tot.

"We're going to die here, Capricorn. We will starve to death because there will be no grocery store to feed us, and we will have to resort to hunting, and I will be killed by some rat because I'm no good at that," she rambled, only half joking. She knew that there were stores here, and she sure as hell wasn't going to have 'died to rat' written on her tombstone. She was fairly sure, however, that she would die of complete and utter boredom. Maybe the rat would be more merciful.

"Always the over dramatic one, aren't we Miss Lucy," Capricorn replied with humor, amused by his charge's antics. "I hope you haven't forgotten that you'll be moving in with your Grandfather and Cousin," he reminded her gently, watching as she sighed nervously. The last time she'd seen her Grandfather and Cousin had been just over 11 years ago when she was at a young age of five. She didn't remember much from that day, but she was nearly positive that she had somehow managed to spill a bowl of salsa on her cousin's head, tripped and dragged her Grandfather into the creek with her, and nearly burnt down the kitchen. Her mother and her used to laugh at it, but now she was without the older blonde and the exchange didn't seem quite so humorous. In fact, she was a tiny bit afraid that her cousin and Grandfather would hate her as soon as she walked through the door, and she would spend the rest of the year shunned and alone. If that would be the case, she would've been better off staying back at home. At least there she could always count on her servants. Here, though, she was completely alone. Here, her title meant nothing. That fact sent both tingles of excitement and fear up her spine. She was thrilled that for once in her life, she would be just Lucy. She was at the same time, terrified that being Just Lucy wasn't going to be as great as she thought. Her mind was a muddle of mixed emotions, her feelings pulling her in every direction and threatening to tear her apart.

"It's been so long, Capricorn," Lucy shared her worries, nervously running her fingers through her long blonde hair. It had slipped out of her ponytail as she slept, and she was sure it was a tangled rats nest by now, but she had bigger problems to worry about than hair. Or her face, as she was sure that was ruined as well. "What if they don't want me there?"

"Miss Lucy, if they hadn't wanted you than Mr. Marakov wouldn't have invited you to stay in the first place," Capricorn assured her, his tone gentle as he noticed her turmoil. He always found it amusing that the young, beautiful Heartfilia worried so much about how other's viewed her. It wasn't just her looks either—it was actually rarely about her looks—but rather her personality. Somehow she had gotten the thought stuck in her mind that she was boring, that nobody wanted her around, and she was nothing but a bother. The man knew that her insecurities had very much to do with his boss, but as much as he wanted to, he was in no position to critique said man. He knew why Mr. Heartfilia pushed his daughter away, not that he agreed with it, but he understood. Lucy did happen to have a stricking resemblance to Layla, not that you would notice it much since she now seemed to be stuck in a pit of depression. She still looked like her mother, nothing would change that fact, but it was like the life had been taken out of her. In fact, he was scaredly reminded of her mother's corpse; beautifully done up like she'd been planning to attend a ball with her family, but without her ususal smile or mischevious bright eyes. She had looked, well, dead, and he was afraid to admit that Lucy had begun to take on such unpleasing qualities. He couldn't even remember the last time she smiled, let alone laughed.