dahlia palmer (blindingly) wrote in horror_story, @ 2013-11-14 10:38:00 |
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Entry tags: | alternate universe, dahlia, mike |
Who: Dahlia and Mike.
When: The week of Thanksgiving.
Where: Their home.
What: Thanksgiving AU. Though Dahlia and Mike are a happily married couple (despite her parents' protests), they decide to try and spice things up a little with a Craigslist ad.
Warning: TBD.
"Why don't you come spend the night with us, sweetheart? Your dad's cooking steaks tonight; it can be the three of us, like the good old days."
The three of us. She rolled her eyes, finger twirling at the curled phone line. These calls with her mother had grown even more tiresome and tedious in the seven years she'd been married to Mike. Anna Palmer didn't even bother trying to be subtle anymore; she made her dislike of Mike very clear every chance she got. "What about Mike, mom?" she asked, mostly just to hear the uncomfortable stutter of distaste on the other line.
"I'm sure Mike has other plans, dear. Doesn't he work in the garage on Tuesdays?"
Ah, yes, because their former beauty queen of a daughter was out of the league of a mechanic. That's what her parents (mostly her mother, really) always insisted on. Dahlia couldn't count the number of times her mother tried to set het up with another man - usually a lawyer or a doctor, someone who lived in fancy suits and cologne that probably cost more than their monthly payment on the house - even after she and Mike were married.
"Actually, Mike and I have plans tonight, mother. I've got to go, okay? Love you. Tell dad that I said hey." And before her mother could protest, she put the receiver back on the line with a little click and rubbed at her temples to ward off the headache that always seemed to follow these little conversations with her mom. She meant well, she really did, but there was only so many years of having your own mom turn her nose down at your husband that someone could take. Mike might not've been the kind of man she saw herself with in high school, at least not for anything more than a fling, but somehow they just worked. He'd been a jock, she the captain of the cheer squad, and she liked the idea of dating a boy who her mom wouldn't approve of.
But then something happened. She couldn't remember the exact day she realized she was in love with him, but here they were.
Everyone thought he'd bail after the accident, and who would have blamed him? Recovery was hard and fraught with mood swings and tantrums, and her days of beauty pageants and photo shoots were replaced by therapy sessions and hiding in a dark house. Her mother practically dared Mike to leave, and there were probably times where he wanted to, but he proved everyone wrong and stayed.
When she heard the front door close, she breathed a sigh of relief and stood to her feet, Lucy following her without question, and Dahlia waited for the sound of work boots to draw closer. "You just missed a phone call from my mom," she mused, smirking. "I know you're torn up about it." He smelled like gasoline and traces of sweat and rubber, and she didn't need to see to know that he had at least one smudge of oil on his handsome face.