Lauren had met someone else who loved piano! Maybe Charmaine wouldn't be so bad, if she stuck to Anderson and the rest of this small group of friends.
"Wow, Anders, how rude," Claudia joked when he commanded them to exit his vehicle. She got out first, then helped Lucas out. Lauren got out of the car from her side, took her wallet out of her backpack and put it in her skirt pocket, along with her phone, in case her father or mother or anyone else tried to call her. Though, no one would call her besides her parents. She had no friends back in New Orleans.
Eden linked his arm with Lauren's and she didn't protest, but she did look at Anderson in alarm since he was the one who she felt most comfortable with. "Right, let's get this shit over with, I've got enough books."
"Um, since forever." Anders replied to Eden's silly question with a slight snort.
"I actually don't need anything either." Lucas added.
"Oh, yeah. You're mother's a publisher." Anders rolled his eyes.
He sent a small smile of complete reassurance Lauren's way. Eden may be a bit bold and boisterous, something she obviously wasn't used to, but he wouldn't hurt a fly. Unless that fly pissed him off, but frankly, from what he could tell, she didn't have it in her to piss anyone off.
Anders closed his car door behind him and lead the group up the small steps and into the public library. Truthfully, he'd rather be sitting outside, smoking a cigarette while he waited on the rest of them. But, he decided it was best to stick with them all.
"YA is over there," He gestured for Lauren as Jenna went in another direction to where all the poetry works were shelved.
"Oh, okay, thanks," Lauren said to Anders when he directed her to the location of her favourite genre.
"Libraries are so creepy, they're all so old -- ooh, they have movies, bye." Eden let Lauren go and pushed Anders in her general direction. "Anders, play with Lauren so she doesn't get lost."
Lauren herself flushed a dark red, ducked her head in embarrassment and made her way over to the YA section. She didn't need Anders to make sure she didn't get lost. She had spent many years roaming the streets of New Orleans by herself, which was much more difficult to navigate than the tall shelves of the Charmaine Public Library.
"Your friends are nice," she said to Anders anyway when he came over to 'play' with her. And it was true. Eden was a bit much to handle for her own tastes, since she was an incredibly quiet and reserved person, but he was nice and optimistic. Claudia took care of her, and she didn't really know Lucas or Jenna well yet but they were nice, too.
She searched for the book she wanted and was dismayed to see that it was on a shelf too high for her reach. "Um, could you get that red one for me, please?" she asked quietly, pointing up to the novel in question.
Anders moved away from his spot, leaning against the table, I've to the shelf and plucked out the book she asked for. He handed her the hardcover literature and snatched a book off the shelf for himself. He wasn't a big reader, but he figured him skim through the partially intriguing looking book to pass the time until they were all ready to go.
"Eden, Lucas and the girls are really good people so if you ever need help with anything you can ask them too," He told her in advance. He was sure they'd probably be more of help than he was. At least, Lucas and the girls would be. "They are nice, kind of annoying but nice." His words were laced with affectionate because he couldn't honestly couldn't see a life without them in anymore.
"In the meantime, should we swap numbers?" Anders looked at her, pulling his Android out of his pocket. "You could ask me anything anytime that way."
Lauren accepted the book he retrieved for her with a mumbled 'thank you' and a small, appreciative smile. She considered his words. She had never had a friend before, much less five good people who were nice and funny and maybe a little over-the-top, but still nice. Was it possible that now, after moving halfway across the country to the town of Charmaine, she could have a proper and normal social life?
She wasn't sure but she was going to try her damn best to make sure she didn't fuck up with this.
"Oh, um, sure," she said when Anderson offered to swap numbers. She pulled her phone out of her pocket -- she had a rose gold iPhone 6+, which had been a present from her father, as a way to make it up to her after one night when he had gotten very drunk and hit her. Badly. Most of the time he would just give her a little spending money, but since he had broken her arm, the compensation had been upped.
She gave Anderson her phone number, then added his own to make the third contact in her phone, which was somewhat embarrassing. Afterwards, she went up to the desk to get a library card so she could borrow whenever she liked.
"How did you find the competition in Cleveland?" she inquired of Anderson as she signed the forms given to her by the sweet old lady behind the desk.
"I mostly receive newsletters for anything piano related and that I was invited, of course I still had to meet their qualifications if I was still to be accepted." Because apparently being invited and accepted were two different things. He was just happy to have been accepted into the competition otherwise he wouldn't have won the reward he did. It was definitely one of his proudest moments.
"To be honest, I wasn't going to join at first or even try," He admitted, picking a mint out from the small bowl on the counter, opening it and putting it in his mouth. The taste of the sweet candy was refreshing. "It was too big of a deal with so many foreigners, but a friend of mine, also a pianist, convinced me to try."
A smile formed his face when he thought about the experience, the time he spent there and the long awaited victory. "I have a bunch more competitions lined up for this year, even some programs."
"It must be nice, to have people recognise your talent," Lauren said wistfully as she continued to work on the forms she had been handed. The only person in Lauren's life who had ever acknowledged that she even liked piano was her music teacher back at New Orleans. He had offered to sign her up for competitions, such as the one Anderson had entered, but she had refused. She had refused.
But he had put her name in anyway and she had been invited to several competitions. But, even with her teacher's recommendation, she had been unable to compete. She was far too nervous and far too shy, but even so, her parents would not have paid for her to compete or to travel to the venues.
So her love for piano remained mostly a secret.
Lauren handed over the forms she had filled out, and in turn received a plastic library card, which she signed with her loopy signature and used to borrow the book she had selected. She held the book to her chest and looked up as Eden returned with a whole stack of films, which he borrowed happily.
"How long have you lived in Charmaine for?" Lauren asked Anderson.
"Almost three years, I think," Anderson shrugged. He was definitely not a native to the town like Claudia and Lucas were. He was a city boy through and through, but he did come to like the town. "I and Jenna are actually from New York." He didn't actually miss the city, there were too many bad memories for him to want to live there again.
Then again, he had bad memories all over the place.
"We were adopted by a couple who lives here, so we've been with them as long as we've been here." He noted aloud. His eyes widened slightly as he came to realize something. "Oh, shit, that means our Gotcha Day is coming up soon."He had totally forgotten in the midst of all that was happening recently. It would be just about two years since they were adopted.
So Anderson and his twin were adopted? Lauren couldn't imagine what they had gone through throughout their lives, and she frankly wasn't sure if she wanted to know. She knew that kids who had been adopted often came from broken homes, such as her own, only, they had been lucky enough to escape.
Unlike her. Lauren knew she wouldn't be able to escape her own personal hell until she turned eighteen years of age, and even then, it would be incredibly difficult to escape her father.
Regardless, she gave Anderson a small smile as Eden finished borrowing the films he had selected for himself. "I'm glad that you found people who love you," she said softly, just as Claudia and Lucas returned to them also.
Anders waited patiently for them all to check out their items and watched Jenna return with only a single book. Unusual for her, but he didn't bother asking. He was ready to go and use the rest of the time they had left before Lauren's curfew. His second goal was to go to the shopping district where all the good stuff was. He was aware that they wouldn't be able to visit all the shops, but the good ones would suffice fine.
He was prepared to open his wallet even though that part only occurred to him now.
"You can dump your things in the car." He told them as they exited the public building. The best way to get a great look of the downtown was always walking. Or biking. None of the had bikes on hand, so walking would do just fine.
Lauren carefully put her book into her schoolbag when Anderson kindly opened the car. Eden did the same with the stack of films he had borrowed and once Claudia had put the few books into her car that she had picked up, the small group went on their way. Lauren made sure to walk between Anders and Claudia, the two she felt most comfortable with.
Charmaine was clearly a lot different to New Orleans. The culture of her home city -- voodoo, jazz, everything she had grown up seeing -- was gone and replaced with the New England architecture and people. The bayous and swamps had been replaced by huge forests and mountains, and the people in the small town were a lot calmer.
Lauren felt quite homesick, but at the same time, she had had nothing there. At least here, she had people she could consider friends.
"I thought we could stop by the shopping district," Anders stretched his arms out toward the sky, taking the lead of their little party. "We don't have to go into any particular shop, but it's where I like to hang out downtown. There's a park nearby too." He added.
Showing Lauren around was surprisingly fun, the sun was out but it was not unbearable hot. It was warm and the crisp breezes easily cooled them off along with the shade from sidewalk trees that were in full bloom. Anders wouldn't thnk of a better day to go out.
He pointed out buildings and places he recognized on their walk, though, Lucas able to give more details having lived there longer. It was lax for them all, he supposed. The only real shop that he entered in the area was the smoothie shop for them all to get a drink before heading to the park.
Now, the park was nothing in comparison to central park in New York. Central Park, admittedly was the one place he did miss in the big city.The best hiding place when he was in deep trouble with one his mother's lovers. Parks were strangely comforting to him ever since.
Lauren had been in Charmaine for two or so weeks, and every day, she had been off on adventures with Anderson and the others. And, somehow, she had grown quite close with him and the others, but, admittedly, she was closest to Anderson. She didn't know why, but he helped her feel safe.
Safer than she ever felt at home.
Speaking of home, Anders was driving her there now. She lived in the middle-class area of Charmaine, in a pleasant-looking blue house with a small front yard and trees in the back. It was nice. Better than her run-down house in New Orleans.
"Thanks," she said to Anders, but before he could leave, the front door opened and out came Joshua Winter.
He was a tall and thin man, with a messy scrub of facial hair on his chin and neck and straggly brown hair, with cold brown eyes. He looked nothing like his daughter sans the similar bone structure and nose. He wore a white tank top and blue shorts, with no shoes, and came around to Lauren's door to throw his arm around her shoulders.
"Who's this, blossom?" he asked loudly and in an amused tone. 'Blossom had been the nickname he had used for her when she had been a child. He was eyeing Anders suspiciously. He spoke in a much thicker Southern accent than his daughter.
"Daddy, this is my friend Anders," Lauren said quietly.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Winters," Anders smiled pleasantly. It was the ripe of smile that usually made people like him on the spot and women swoon. And he was very aware of it, used it on the daily basis. And for some strange reason, even he didn't fully understand, he really wanted her father to like him.
Very subtly, he examined the older male with his eyes. He kind of looked like a bum, a loser. They way he dressed and carried himself reminded him slightly of ... But of course he would never tell Lauren he thought her father looked like a total loser! He didn't want her to think of him as a jerk even though he kind of was.
"You have a very lovely daughter, I'm lucky to have her as a friend and Chem partner."
Anders still hated chemistry class but it was no longer boring. He found himself happy and anticipating to go to that class, only because of his partner. Otherwise, he'd still be playing mobile games until the end.
"Yes, she is lovely, isn't she?" Joshua said proudly, tightening his arm around her shoulders and giving her a wide smile. Lauren forced herself to smile back. Joshua was always nice in front of other people -- well, no, he was nice when he wasn't angry. She couldn't tell if he was angry about anything and she didn't know what would happen when Anders left.
"Blossom, do you want to invite your friend over for dinner?" Joshua asked Lauren. Lauren went pale. What if something happened?
"I'm sure Anders has to get home --"
"Nonsense!" Joshua pulled back, clapped his daughter on the back -- quite hard, she winced -- and went back to the house. "Katrina! Cook some extra, we have a guest!"
Lauren went bright red and looked up at Anders pleadingly. "Please? He'll never let me hear the end of it if you don't stay."
Anders ran his fingers through his dark locks, contemplating in one minute if he could. Naturally, he came to the decision that he should more than he could. He slammed his car door shut and half shrugged
"Sure, I don't mind." How could say no when she asked so nicely? The answer was he couldn't. And hie could he possibly mind spending any more time with her.
He was, however, apprehensive about her parents, or, to be more precise, he was slightly fearful of himself around d her parents. He wanted them to like him and could monitor his words but on some occasions he could have a slip of the mouth and offend someone heavily. Largely so when it was the truth and it always was.
The Winter family lived in a lower middle class house, nothing too fancy but also nothing too shabby. It wasn't exactly comfortable -- after the undecorated hallway, they entered a small living room with a medium-sized TV, mismatched couches and easy chairs and a bookcase with only a few books and more trophies from the time that Lauren's father played baseball. He had been rather good.
Lauren lead Anderson into the kitchen, where her father was seated at the small, circular table, drinking a beer, and her mother was chopping up vegetables at the bench. Katrina Winter looked like the kind of woman who had been beautiful in her youth, but now looked tired and worn, like life had taken her prettiness. And that was true.
She closely resembled an older Lauren, with the same blonde hair, blue eyes and conventionally pretty looks, only Katrina looked like she was just constantly exhausted. Her hair was pulled into a bun and looked straggly. Her body was similar to Lauren's, only thinner, and she wore old jeans and a T-shirt. She looked around when the teens entered and raised an eyebrow at Anders.
"Momma, this is my friend Anders," Lauren told her mother, reaching into the fridge for two cans of Coke.
"It's nice to meet you, darling," the woman said in a meek tone, her own southern accent much more pronounced than her daughter's. "I'll come and
get you both for dinner."
Lauren nodded and lead her friend up the stairs and down the hall to her own room, which was easily the most comfortable room in the place. A double bed with white comforters, a small desk covered in books under the window, and an upright piano opposite the bed. A bookcase stood beside the door. Lauren sat down on her bed and opened her Coke. "I'm sorry for making you stay."
"I don't mind," Anders mumbled, looking around her room as he stood.
He sat at the piano stool and brushed small specks of dirt he found at her piano. It clearly wasn't as good as the grand pianos that sat in his household in appearance or sound. He had pressed down on a single key and knew in an instant it needed tuning but it was still playable if not a little broken.
He sat comfortable, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees and his hands folded. This, by far, was not the first he found himself in the bedroom of the opposite sex but this time it was a bit different on many levels and it ways he couldn't explain. It was a good different and it was rare he ever felt that way.
"Your folks seem nice," Anders commented conversationally. "Do you any idea what's on the menu for dinner?"
Your folks are nice. Sure, they might be acting nice now, when their only child had company, but Lauren knew that when Anders went home, things would go back to normal. Her father would be reminded of all the shitty things in his life, and he would take it out on his wife and daughter.
Part of Lauren wished Anderson would never leave.
But, that was impossible, simply because she was incredibly flustered due to Anderson even being in her bedroom. This was most definitely the first time a male of her age had been in her bedroom, ever, and she didn't know how to conduct herself. Lauren sat on the end of her bed, her legs crossed and her skirt securely covering everything to her knees, with her hands picking at a stray thread on her blanket.
"Um, I think my momma's making gumbo." It was a popular dish in New Orleans, one Katrina had learned from her childhood best friend, Monique, who had been like an aunt to Lauren before she had died in the hurricanes. "Sorry," she blurted out, nodding to her piano. "I know it's out of tune, but we can't afford to get it fixed so I just make do."
"At least you have a piano at all ... " Anders murmured softly and thoughtfully as he ran his fingers over the black and white keys lightly.
He was feeling nostalgic, sitting at the piano. No, nostalgic wasn't the right word to use, that would be implying that he longed for the times that he was thinking of when in all honesty he wished they had never happened and that he could forget. They were horrid. Horrid times that shaped him into who he was today and he wasn't sure it was a good thing.
Those memories, they were the type that made one shudder and cry out of fear and pain instead of smile out of joy. They plagued one with nightmares and interfered with one's life because the images and horrendous experiences was burned into ones brain. And he couldn't ever forget because of his impeccable memory.
He had been thinking about them a little too much to his liking when he got closer to Lauren. Her family gave off this vibe that was stifling, uncomfortable and painfully familiar. He couldn't say that he liked it.
"You can come to my play and play out living room piano any time you want. It's in extraordinary shape."
