Rose DeWitt Bukater (never_let_go) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-08-24 15:30:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, caroline forbes, rose dewitt bukater |
Who: Rose, Caroline and NPC!Cal
What: Rose's super charming (ex)fiancé comes to visit Baxter's Bakery
When: Today
Warnings: None
Status: Complete
Rose hadn't felt this happy in years. Her mood had been improving exponentially since she had moved to California, away from the confines of the prison her mother and Cal had built around her. When she looked down the road of her life now, it was kind of a mystery, one where she couldn't see all the bends in the road. Living with her mother and Cal, she had seen it all mapped out perfectly in front of her - going to a prestigious university not for any real reason other than it being expected, and living the rest of her life on the arm of Caledon Hockley, being a socialite and mingling with people who she could care less about.
And there was Jack. Wonderful Jack, the boy who had saved her from jumping off the back of the Titanic in her dreams, and who here was showing her a whole new side to life. While she wouldn't say she loved him just yet, she loved being around him.
She almost felt a little guilty about it coming into work. She knew Caroline had just recently gone through what had seemed like a bad break-up, and Rose didn't want to rub salt in the wound with her own recent relationship happiness. But just because she didn’t need to talk about Jack didn’t mean she couldn’t be chipper at work. “Hello Caroline!” Rose said, a smile across her face as she made her away behind the counter to start her shift. “How was your weekend?”
A bad break-up was putting it lightly considering her ex had literally almost killed her. But that was like a month ago now. Caroline was bouncing back. It’s what she did. She was pretty much back to her usual optimistic, perky self. She didn’t mind hearing about her friends’ love lives. She was happy for them. And she definitely didn’t mind Rose’s chipperness.
“Hey!” Caroline greeted in return, a bright smile on her face. “It was good! Spent some time with my mom,” she had been doing that a lot lately, ever since dreaming about her mother getting sick. “Went drinking with a few friends,” she did that too. Keeping herself busy and distracted.
A customer came in. Once Caroline had helped them with their order she turned her attention back to Rose. “How was your weekend?”
If Rose had to spend her weekend with her mother of all people, she probably wouldn’t consider it a very good weekend. But though she had never actually met Caroline’s mother, it seemed as though the two of them got along, and Rose was happy for that. While Caroline helped the customer, Rose started some wiping down the latte machine.
“Oh, my weekend was great! I had my shifts at the ranch,” she had taken up her job at Neal’s ranch not too long after she had started working at Baxter’s, and she loved being able to work at Baxter’s during the week and then head out to the ranch to teach troubled youth art. She hadn’t expected the job to be as rewarding as it was shaping up to be, “and then I got to spend some time with Jack. And I even managed to find time to finish my art history book.” Maybe finishing the text a month before classes even started was a little much, but it had been fascinating to read.
Caroline was very close with her mom. Things had been a little rocky back when she was in middle school, after her dad left. She had blamed her mom, but then she grew up and realized it wasn’t her mother’s fault. Ever since the two had been closer than ever. The toughest part about moving out had been leaving her mom. Luckily she still lived closed and got to see her often.
“We still have like a month until classes start back up. Why would you want to spend it reading a textbook?” Caroline wrinkled her nose at the thought, before moving on to the juicier information. “So things are going well with you and Jack?”
Rose laughed. “I read a lot of those kinds of things in my free time. It was absolutely fascinating, and I just couldn’t wait until classes had started.” She knew that that was probably strange to a lot of people, but she had even read a lot of Freud’s work when she was sixteen, even if she knew that much of Freud’s work had been debunked.
“Things with Jack have been going so well, Caroline,” Rose said, and while she didn’t do anything that was quite so extreme as gushing about him, she was obviously pleased about it. “We went on an honest-to-goodness date not long ago. Dinner and then he took me to a block party. I’d never done anything like it before.”
Caroline didn’t know how Rose did it. When she read that far in advance how would she like remember the material for tests and papers and all that? But then Caroline was always more concerned with her social life and party planning than studying for tests and writing papers anyway. “What are you going to read when classes do start?” And of course with Rose mentioning Art History Caroline couldn’t help but wonder just who her Professor would be, but best not to think about that. “My friend Anna is an Art History major,” she said instead.
“That sounds like so much fun! So you really like him?” it was a question she didn’t even need to ask. The answer was pretty obvious by Rose’s tone. But still Caroline wanted to show that she was happy for her friend and okay talking about these sorts of things.
“I’ll still read the chapters as they’re assigned to us,” Rose said. “You never quite catch everything the first reading, after all. I’m not quite sure what I’ll read for leisure while I’m in class, but I’m sure that I’ll find something worthwhile.” She smiled when she heard of her having a friend who was an art history major. “I would love to meet her. I’d love to be able to discuss art with someone else who’s studying it.”
Rose blushed lightly, pleased. “Quite a bit. I -” Rose cut herself off and looked around quickly. Luckily, there didn’t seem to be too many customers around, and currently none near the ‘til. “I dream of him, you know,” she said, almost whispering. “And I do mean in those strange dreams, not my normal ones.” Though she sometimes dreamed of Jack even during her normal dreams. “In the dreams I’m engaged, though I still feel quite,” it was then that she noticed through the front window a figure that seemed quite familiar. “To him,” she finished slowly. It was hard to tell since the man wasn’t facing them, but he almost looked like Lovejoy, Cal’s bodyguard and the man with the most ill suited name Rose had ever met. She still wasn’t entirely sure if it was him when she Cal stepped into the frame of the window, and Rose’s lips parted into vaguely shocked look of dread.
“I’m not here today,” she said quickly, and managed to disappear into the back just as she heard the chime of the front door opening.
A dream love triangle. Caroline knew a thing or two about those. She could relate. She was about to say so when Rose suddenly got distracted. Well shit. That was one hell of a coincidence. And from the look on Rose’s face not a good one. “Don’t worry, I got this,” she told Rose before the red head disappeared into the back.
Caroline plastered her friendliest smile onto her face. “Welcome to Baxter’s Bakery,” she greeted the man. “What can I get for you?”
“I’m looking for Rose DeWitt Bukater,” the man replied.
Well that was rude. “I’m sorry. She’s not in today, but I’m just as good at getting coffee and pastries as she is. Promise. Now what can I get you?” she kept her voice as cheerful as she could even if she could already tell this guy wasn’t very pleasant. Customer was always right or whatever.
Cal, the dark haired man, eyed the display case of goodies with disdain, and then turned back to Caroline. "Nothing, thank you," in a tone of voice that implied he wouldn't eat the food here if he was starving. He turned to the older man who had come in with him.
"I suppose your sources were right, though I can't understand why she would work in a dingy place like this," he said to Lovejoy, almost as though Caroline had stopped existing.
"She normally works right now," Lovejoy said to Caroline, not exactly polite but without the obvious sense of superiority the other man was displaying. "Do you know when she'll be in?"
Both these men were very rude. And the way they looked at the pastries? Baxter’s had some of the best bakes goods in all of Orange County. And it was the only place to get a sparkling latte. But Caroline wasn’t about to go into all that. Wasn’t her place. It was all she could do to not huff in protest as the dream finance called Baxter’s dingy. Ugh. Just who the hell did these guys think they were.
Still Carolin kept that smile on her face. No wonder Rose wanted to hide out in the back. “I don’t. I’m not in charge of the schedule. Sorry.” Though she was anything but.
“Well of course,” Cal huffed, shooting a pained expression as if dealing with Caroline was the most arduous job he’d ever been tasked with. “You can’t expect these people to be of any use, can you?” He turned to Caroline. “Well, when you see her, could you let her know that she’s had her time to play at,” he waved a dismissive hand in the air to gesture toward all of Baxters, “whatever this is, and that her fiancé has come to collect her for our wedding?”
No wonder Rose was off in the back. Caroline was definitely not a fan of this guy. “Sure,” Caroline replied in a cheerful tone. “I’ll let her know,” the blonde vampire was a cheerful person in general, but sometimes she really hated having to be all smiles all the time. Like when she was dealing with a difficult customer. However, she never hated it more than at this very moment. “And since you aren’t getting anything, you should leave now,” her tone was still cheerful but her eyes locked onto his, eyes dilating as she compelled the fiancee then she turned to lock eyes with the other guy, “you too.” Both men immediately turned and walked out.
Since Baxter’s was still slow enough Caroline headed into the back to see Rose. “It’s okay, they’re gone. I don’t think they will be back anytime soon.”
Rose had kept near the door to the back so that she could listen in, and while she tried very hard to keep calm it wasn’t exactly easy. Cal had known where she worked, and had sounded as though he knew her schedule too, and while she wasn’t crying, she was pretty close to it. She had been hoping that Cal would have been too proud to track her down after she had left without a word, but apparently that hadn’t been the case. Jack had been right, and she had texted him as soon as Cal had come through the door.
“I’m so sorry you had to deal with him,” Rose said. “Thank you. Thank you for getting rid of him.”
“No problem,” Caroline replied this time with a genuine smile on her face. “No offense, but he kind of seems like a dick. I can see why you left him,” although from the sound of things it sounded like he was still expecting her to her to marry him. Caroline couldn’t help herself, her curiosity was getting the better of her. “What’s the deal with that anyway?”
Rose took a deep breath, and waited until she felt like she could talk without crying. “And here I thought he was so charming,” Rose teased a little. “The marriage was my mother’s idea, really. Her’s and Cal’s. After a couple of months I realized I couldn’t go through with it so I … I left.” It had seemed like a good idea at the time. “Without telling anyone. I had thought that they’d cancel the wedding when they realized I wasn’t coming home but…”
Wait. What? Had she heard that right? Arranged marriage? People still did that? What were they back in the olden days? Like what the hell. “Well they don’t sound too bright. Should have gotten the hint and cancelled it.” Rose definitely made the right choice by coming out here. “If he keeps bothering you, let me know. I can make him leave you alone. For good.” And no, not by hurting him. Hopefully Rose knew Caroline well enough to know she wouldn’t physically hurt anyone. She could just compel him away, forever.
“Thank you, Caroline. I’m so lucky you were here,” Rose said. There was a brief moment where Rose interpreted what Caroline said as a threat, but no, Caroline wasn’t the type. “With your compelling?” Rose asked. It was still an adjustment to remember that one of her coworkers was a vampire, one of the few people Rose knew who had received powers from the Network, but with the rest of the strangeness that happened around here, she was getting used to it. “Oh! Is that how you managed to get him to leave so easily?”
Thank goodness Rose got what she meant. “Yup,” Caroline confirmed. “I can always do that again. Or get him to leave Orange County for good. Or never contact you again. Really whatever you want. Just let me know,” she gave Rose another smile. Caroline was glad she had been there for this too. Rose had clearly been distraught and it was easy for Caroline to get rid of the idiots. But now things were taken care of for the time being and her friend seemed to be calmed down. “Well we should probably get back out there. Or at least I should, if you need some more time I can cover. No worries.”
“I appreciate the offer, but I suppose I should probably talk to him myself,” Rose said. And she did. The idea of Cal just up and leaving Orange County and never contacting her again was an appealing one. A very appealing one. But he deserved an explanation, even if he could sometimes be awful. She had tried running away, and that obviously hadn’t worked out too well for her.
“Thank you again, Caroline,” Rose said. “I think I’ll take another minute or two before I head back out.” She had calmed down considerably since Cal had left the bakery, and with Caroline there with her she probably had nothing to worry about, but she was still feeling a little shaky.
“It was no problem, really.” She was about to say she was sure Rose would do the same for her, but that was a bad idea considering who her ex was. “I’ll see you out there,” she said instead as she headed back out to the floor. Just as she reached the door she turned to face Rose one last time. “Let me know if you need anything,” she added softly and then she was gone, back to her job. Hopefully the rest of her customers would actually be pleasant.