Rory's Christmas

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Alright, she didn’t actually make it out of the house, just out of that stupid kitchen and into the unlit living room where she plonked herself down in Matthew Vellocutt’s armchair and proceeded to sulk.

Mature, she knew.

But Rory didn’t care. The events of the past few days were finally catching up, and having those conversations about Christmas was making her think about her past past. Neither were particularly pleasant subjects for consideration, but what did Life care? Nope, nope.

Here you go, Rory, it seemed to be saying. Oh, so this guy creeps you out? Here, spend a few days lost with him in a place the sane you wouldn’t be caught dead in. And here’s a prostitute who somehow thinks she can emotionally ‘connect’ with you, and here’s a spoiled teenage brat who decides to steal your boyfriend away. HMPH.

Wait. Boyfriend?

Rory grabbed the nearest cushion and smacked herself in the face. NO BOYFRIEND. NO BOYFRIEND. NO BOYFRIEND. Her life was messed up as it was; she didn’t need anymore drama or petty conflicts—both of which she knew, from experience, were BFFs with romantic relationships.

Besides, what did she care about Drew? The status quo had not changed: he was still The Annoying Guy Rory Must Stay With Until She Can Get Home And Forget About Once And For All. What a mouthful. Perhaps she should shorten it to TAGRMSWUSCGHAFAOAFA. But how would she pronounce that? Tag-ram-swoosk-ge-hafa-oh-ah-fa. It sounded like a German immigrant trying to speak Russian. Or maybe—

She smacked herself with the cushion again. Was she seriously trying to make up a good acronym for Drew—Drew—Drew Whatever-his-last-name-is?! Plainly, she was losing her sanity.

It was about time, anyways. She was surprised she had managed to hold on for so long, with what had happened to Mother last Christmas and what was happening now with Father and his perfect new family. And now she was fast losing her sister, too, to the bottle and to her own depression. And it was all her fault. Even Janet blamed her, and Rory agreed completely. She was the one who had come up with the stupid idea of a family reunion, after all—a family reunion! As if they had ever been a family at all? What the hell had she been thinking?

She felt the familiar tingle and blinked her eyes rapidly, forcing her mind to turn to other things—things like that senseless argument in the kitchen, even as giggles and murmurs came from that particular part of the house again. She tried to ignore them; they were only giving her a headache. Keeping a clear head was the only way she could review her actions and reanalyze them and…

Realize that she had, once again, lashed out for no good reason at all.

She didn’t like that she had lost control twice in as many days, and both times at Drew who, admittedly…okay, fine; Drew had been nothing but a nice guy since they met. She was the one that couldn’t treat him the same way, all because… because…

Because what?

Why was Drew different?

How come she hadn’t been able to give him her Hello-I’m-Rory smile and be as well-mannered and cultured as she had been taught to be her whole life—as she had always been?

Sure, he had been very annoying at first, especially what with all his blatant flirting back at the store and being so arrogant when they had woken up together in the motel room. And his insistence that Christmas is oh-so-great, and the way he kept messing up her perfect plans like he did with Lotus when she had a map of the damn place already—and alright, so the map turned out to be completely fake, but—but—