Vicious Romantic

My hunt to find something to do started off ambitious. I went through every room in the house. I found where the piano was, across the hall from the bathroom. There was a guest room at the end of the hall, and another right across from it. I also found a room that told me that Tucker liked to draw and was damn good at it.

The room was painted a shocking green color. Papers littered the floor, all sorts of pencils were strewn across the room. Sketches of Clara, Liam, and Ian were found in the mess of paper that covered the wooden floor. Large drawing desks were placed at random throughout the room, each one holding a piece of art that wasn’t finished yet.

“Answer your damn phone once in a while.” Clara’s voice made me jump away from a stack of drawings I was looking through.

“Sorry, I didn’t hear it.” I frowned and dropped a drawing of a woman. The woman was the subject of most of the papers in Tucker’s drawing room. One portion of the wall was covered with tacked up sketches on her face, she had to be Adele. It was easy to see how I could remind Tucker of her, we looked similar. The only two things Adele and I had in common was the shape of our face and the shape of our lips. Our faces were both hart shaped and our lips were both stuck in a pout.

“It’s alright.” Clara said quietly kicking paper out of her way to sit beside me in the middle of the mess of papers. “He really does miss her.” Clara said tracing her finger over the pencil strokes that made up Adele’s jaw. “He’s been trying to move on but...” Clara trailed off.

“What happened between them?” I asked curiously. Hopefully Clara would be more helpful than Ian. Clara sighed.

“I really think he should tell you, it’s really not my place.” Clara frowned. I sighed in frustration and threw the stack of papers, containing Adele’s face, at the wall. The papers it was wall and scattered across the room.

“I’m going to have breakfast.” I growled.

“It’s seven at night!” Clara informed me. There is no way that I could have wasted my whole day looking through Tucker drawing room. I caught sight of a clock as I stormed to the kitchen, it was indeed almost seven-thirty.

“I’m going to have dinner!” I corrected myself.

Clara stood around in the kitchen while I made myself a feast. I hadn’t eaten all day so it was acceptable. I sat at the table and ate all sorts of things while Clara informed me on what was happening back at the house.

“He really wants to talk to you. He’s been trying to get away from Liam all day.” Clara informed me. I can’t say that I was thrilled about talking to him. Last time I tried to talk to him he attempted to rape kiss me, something I can honestly say I don’t want. Tucker is interested in me solely because I remind him of his old girlfriend. I’d just be a replacement to him. Who’d be okay knowing that they’re acting as someone’s replacement girlfriend. Not that he ever asked me to be his girlfriend...but basically the same thing. I grunted in response while gnawing on my vegetarian bacon.

“Bailey.” Clara trailed after me while I climbed the stairs. “Really, give him a chance. He hasn’t had a relationship in...a hundred ans sixty some years. He’s out of touch, but he’s trying!”

“Ew, he’s a hundred and sixty some years old? That’s gross.” I pulled a face and kept walking toward the geezers room.

“No he’s waaaaay older. But excuse me, middle triplet here. I’m a bit offended by that, I think I look good for my age.” Clara tried to joke. I wasn’t having any of that.

“How much older?” I raised an eyebrow while turning to face Clara.

“Uhh, three hundred and sixty-seven.” Clara made a face, bracing herself for me to throw a fit. I didn’t.

“Oh.” I said and turned around and entered Tucker’s room. I pulled out a change of clothes and my shower supplies. “I’m going to go take a shower.” I stated flatly.

“Think about it, okay? He’s been trying win your affection.”

I rolled my eyes as I walked down the hall toward the bathroom. Win my affection my ass. That’s a bunch of bullshit he’s been feeding them so he’d get off easy. I can’t stand him. No one even considered my feelings in this. No. They just push the fact he’s trying to replace his old girlfriend, only not in those exact words. Don’t I get a say in this? Shouldn’t someone be asking me how I on the subject?

After taking a nice long shower, I changed to a pair of loose jeans and a t-shirt. I followed the sound of the television downstairs. Clara sat on the couch watching Underworld with much interest, like she’d never seen it before.

“Bailey, have you ever seen this?” she asked in astonishment.

“Yeah, many times.” I flopped onto the couch next to her.

“Why have I never seen this?” she asked again.

“Don’t know.” I mumbled through a yawn.

“So did you think about? Because I really think that”

“Did no one ever consider the fact that I too, have feelings?” I snapped.

“What?” Clara asked looking confused.

“Did you ever occur to you that I don’t like your brother?” Clara wrinkled her forehead in deep thought. “He’s good looking, yes. He can play the piano beautifully, yes. He can draw really good, yes. No offence, but he’s an asshole. He’s insensitive and mean. There was one point when I had a little crush on him but trust me, he blew it. He insults me, he embarrasses me, he treats me like a possession instead of a person, he physically hurts me. He’s not my vision of Prince Charming.”

“Well good, Prince Charming wasn’t real!” Clara laughed.

“So you don’t care? You don’t think I get any say in this? If that’s the case, when’s the wedding?” I snapped.

“Bailey, come on! You didn’t know him before Liam and I kidnaped you! I couldn’t remember the last time he laughed before that night when Ian at the Cheez-It! Ian’s been eating food since the day he met Tucker and it never made him laugh! It was you, Bailey! You made him laugh again! You don’t understand how good it felt to hear him laugh after so many years! You make him happy.” Clara yelled with a mix of anger and happiness.

“So that makes everything he does okay?” asked emotionlessly from the couch, watching Underworld to keep my eyes off her.

“No! The things he does aren’t okay, but he tries to make you happy! He’s kept himself from having relationships with females for so long that now he doesn’t know how to start one. He insults because he’s trying to get your attention. He doesn’t mean to embarrass you, he hasn’t figured out that you can’t know what he feels if he doesn’t tell you. He treats you like a possession because he doesn’t want to lose you. He hurt you because he hasn’t been gentle with anything or anyone in almost two hundred years!”

“Stop! Stop making excuses for him!” I snapped and stormed a way from Clara and back upstairs. I threw myself onto his bed and closed my eyes. How the hell could I have changed him? I barely even speak to him.

“Bailey.” Clara said softly from the doorway. “I didn’t mean to upset you.” she said sitting on the end of the bed.

“I know.” I mumbled into Tucker’s pillow.

“I wasn’t trying to make excuses for him, I was only trying to explain his actions to you. I just want to see him happy again, and you make him happier then he’ll ever admit. I’m sorry that I just expected you to return his feelings. Please, let him down gently. The first thing he’s going to want to do is talk to you about this whole situation. I don’t want him to have his heart broken again.” Clara said softly and laid down on the large bed.

“I don’t want to be Adele’s replacement.” I said after a good hour and a half full of thinking about what Clara said.

“Trust me, he’s not even think about her anymore.” Clara informed me. I feel asleep thinking about that last thing Clara said.