It's Better If You Do

"I wonder what George and Bellamy are up to," said Rose, smiling slightly at the thought of the two very different tempermented people in the same space together as she and Fred walked up the the colorful shop.

"George said he had errands, so he's probably still out. Hopefully." Fred tacked on to her amusement.

"She's not going to kill him, you know." she said smirking widely.

"Says you," he muttered darkly, pushing open the shop door for her.

Before she noticed the shop being free of dirt and dust, Rose immediately took in the sight of her sister mopping with a fury, her eyebrows furrowed, and her mouth set in a rather visicious scowl.

"We are not open. Please come back tomorrow," she snapped rather rudely, not bothering to look up. She gave the mop a angry jerk across the hardwood floor, and the mop slipped out of her hands and clattered to the floor. She straightened up, and looked about to scream, but she closed her light brown eyes as if in defeat. This was too much for Rose. She took long strides toward her sister, and pulled her into a hug.

"Oh, you poor thing. I'll mop. Go take a bath and relax. I'll take over from here." she murmured soothingly to her sister, rubbing her back. Bellamy sagged against her sister, but began shaking her head at her sister's suggestions.

"No, no, it's my fault the floor is so dirty... Besides, you're supposed to be sight seeing." Bellamy reminded her sofly as she saw Fred over her sister's shoulder, looking rather dissapointed.

"It can wait. I had just come back to change, because I got cold. It won't take long." she reassured softly, smiling gently. As much fun as she had been having, and how hungry she was, her sister needed a break.

"Rose," the brunette groaned quietly, her voice lilting with her french accent. She was feeling extremely guilty at delaying her sister's plans with Fred. She rubbed a hand over her forehead, massaging it slightly, when Rose saw the blisters on her sister's hands.

"Don't you 'Rose' me! Your hands are blistered! I am not letting you make them worse." she said sternly, raising an eyebrow at her older sister. Mopping was no picnik, but she would do it with a smile, if it meant her sister wasn't in pain. "Go upstairs."

Bellamy surrendered, knowing Rose wouldn't give up any time soon. She looked down, avoiding Fred's gaze and walked quickly to the backroom, knowing George was probably still in the shower, cleaning up from the bucket of dirty mop water she had thrown on him. She didn't feel bad that she had done that to George, but now she was messing up Rose's day. Bellamy sighed dramatically, sitting on the bottom step.

Rose picked up the mop, and began pushing the mop hard against the floor, even though it was almost as tall as she was. Mopping was much better than most house-hold chores so she didn't mind it too much. But, it soon proved that this was going to take longer than she thought, as she pushed it harder and harder against a particularly dirty mess on the floor. It looked as if it had been dumped in one area... but, she shook off the thought and continued on.

Fred sighed, and ran his hand through his hair, knowing that they'd be here for a while. He quickly went to the back to find George, and ask him why Bellamy was so angry. He saw George at the top of the steps, his hair very wet and dripping onto the collar of a new shirt, glowering down at Bellamy, who was oblivious to the ginger headed boy's uncommonly mean expression. Fred raised an eyebrow at his brother, who shook his head in response.

"Excuse me," Fred said quickly, and Bellamy immediately moved out of his way, biting her lip softly as she wondered what George would tell him. Out of curiousity and a bit of morbidness since she knew they would talk about her, she waited until Fred reached the top and shut the door before she moved to the door, and listened.

Fred reached his brother, asking in a rather serious tone, "What happened?"

George sighed, "I invited her to ice cream, as a nice gesture, and to my surprise she accepted. When we get there, it was all fine, until Florean made a comment about us being a nice couple and her mood just went to hell. Of course it's my bloody fault that he says that sort of thing, and she ends up leaving after being spiteful about those giddy stupid girls who follow me around all the time."

"After I got back from errands, I noticed she had cleaned, and I complimented her. Everything was going alright, and then I said one damn wrong thing, and she poured the effing bucket of dirty mop water over my head. When I tried to come up here to clean myself, she locked me out, and I had to almost beg to get back in and take a shower!"

"I know this girl's been through a rough time, but I am VERY close to losing it, Fred. Rose is a good girl, but I can't keep up with how- how mean Bellamy is!" George said exasperatedly, shaking his head.

Fred sighed, and said quietly, "If it makes you feel better, Rose took over mopping for Bellamy, because she saw that she had blisters. So, if she can even clean up the floor, our day's probably over."

George suddenly stiffened, and he shot a look of disgust at the closed door. "But it's her own fault that she has blisters! If she hadn't dumped it over my head and made the messagain, then she wouldn't have to clean twice!"

"Well, she did try to talk Rose out of it, but gave up when Rose saw the blisters. She got pretty stern after that." he said to his brother, sitting down on his own bed, noticing the two cots made up, and the room practically spotless. Bellamy must have cleaned up here, too.

"I'm going to go have a talk with her." George said firmly, turning for the door with the intent on giving Bellamy a piece of his mind. His brother deserved a bit of happiness, and if she thought she was going to ruin it-

"No. George, she's mad enough to leave, and she'll take Rose away with her. You know she wouldn't even have to take her, because she'd go willingly. Rose loves her sister." Fred sighed, looking very torn between anger and dissapointment.

His brother nodded, and agreed, "You're right," He paused, and said in a sincerely sorry tone. "Mate, I'm sorry that your day's been postponed."

" 'S'alright. She's convinced it'll only take a couple of minutes, but..." he shrugged, and sighed. "It's been such a good day. I hate to see it end."

Bellamy crept away from the door, biting her lip hard. She felt guilty about hearing at how hard George had tried. It really wasn't his fault. But, he infuriated her! The way he acted so much like Julian at times just made her want to scream, though she knew it was no real justifiable reason to take it out on the ginger haired boy. Now Fred was upset, and she liked him more than the his brother. Rose had apparently been having a good day, too...

I'll make it up to all of them, she decided firmly walking over to the large stack of leather cookbooks that George had bought for her. She would make lunch for them now, and then Rose and Fred could continue their sight seeing later on that evening, and go out to dinner. It'd be like a date, and that'd certainly make the both of them happy, though neither of them would ever admit to it being anything other than dinner.

She gnawed on the inside of her cheek as she checked the ingredients in correspondence with the cookbooks, trying to decide which meal to make. Whatever it is, she thought resolutely, it'll be very good.