The Reluctant Cinderella

Ring ring! Ring ring!

"I wonder who that can be," Dawn said sarcastically from her spot on the couch. With her non-fractured arm she grabbed her cell phone from the coffee table and looked at the screen. Connor's goofy smiling picture looked back at her and she lightly shook her head. A small smile was on her face as she answered her phone. "Hi, Connor. Yes, I'm doing fine. No, I'm not doing anything to injure myself even more. And no, you don't need to come over to help me around the house." All of this was said rapidly with a hint laughter.

"Aww, well I'm glad you're doing good," Connor answered. He paused then said, "You sure you don't need me to come over?"

Dawn could here the smile in his voice. A laugh escaped her. "Like I tell you everyday you don't have to check up on me. You can be assured that if I ever do need help that I'll make sure to call Missy."

He laughed and she joined him. "Fiiiiiiine I won't call everyday."

"Thank you."

"But, seriously, how have you been? Has everything been okay with... you know...?" The tone had completely changed. A hint of concern had replaced the laughter.

She knew exactly who he was talking about. Even though Connor hadn't been in her life for long he had some idea of how she was treated by her siblings. Especially by one in particular. "Everything has been fine. Rose and I have gotten good at ignoring each other. Though, I'm not gonna lie, it's been awkward..."

The former relationship between Dawn and Rose wasn't ideal at all but it was still a relationship. Going from one extreme to another was taking a toll on the younger Santiago sister. At first it was easy since she was released from the hospital before Rose. That gave her time to accept how things were going to be between them from now on. But when Rose was back home and time went on, Dawn felt it was harder to continue with how things were. For some reason it didn't feel right.

"Well, just know that you can call me at anytime if you need to talk. Doesn't matter when. I'll take my phone wherever I go. Even in the bathroom. I can be on the toilet or in the shower and I'll still answer."

"Eww that's gross." Dawn tried stifling her laughter. "But thank you."

"I'm serious though. You know how much I care about you." At this Dawn blushed and was so glad he wasn't there to see it. "So, if you don't need me I'm gonna get going. I remembered that I have this thing called a job that I need to get to." With that the mood was lightened.

"I'm surprised you haven't been fired yet." She heard him huff and let out a laugh.

"You know you can be mean sometimes."

"Yeah yeah, get to work!" Dawn was laughing making sure not to move around too much. She wasn't fully healed yet.

"Fine, fine I'll go to work now. Call ya again tomorrow!" With that Connor hung up.

"Dork," she muttered with a slight smile and shake of her head.

At that moment Rose walked into the room and abruptly stopped as soon as her eyes landed on Dawn. There was an awkward silence before she turned and left. With a sigh the smile vanished from Dawn's face and the good mood Connor had put her in disappeared.