The House In The Forest

Chapter VI

Chapter Six

The morning came, the sun shining through the window of the guest room. We got ready and went downstairs to eat breakfast, we didn't discuss what happened. I couldn't deny I was curious, but since she was clearly not over what happened to Beatrice. I thought it'd be best to wait.

Grandfather prepared a nice breakfast, fluffy waffles and bacon, something comforting. She ate well, which I thought was a good thing at the least.

"While Albert is at school, what are your plans Miss Wren?" he asked her, while sipping at his coffee.

"I was thinking of visiting the book store in town, we didn't get the chance yesterday," she spoke, glancing at me. "I'm just curious, I wanted to browse."

"I can give you some spending money if you want to buy some books you know," I told her, but she shook her head.

"No, I just want to browse, I have plenty of books back home, plus Dr. Beckett told me I could borrow some from his collection and they looked quite interesting, so," she told me with a smile.

Grandfather chuckled, seeming pleased with her words. "The bookstore in town is quite cozy, you could bring one of my books there and read it if you'd like, Clarence will let you, he likes seeing people use the loft."

"Ah, okay!" she chimed, thanking him again. She also thanked him for breakfast, and offered to help clean up. I wanted to stay, but I had to get to class. So I left her with grandfather, I knew she'd be fine there. She seemed to get along surprisingly well with him honestly.

Meanwhile I had to deal with Damian's curious questions, his very very curious questions. "Where's she staying? She said she lost her luggage right? Oh, is she staying at your house?"

I glanced up from my book at the boy who was smiling brightly. "Yeah, she's using the guest room; her and grandfather get along well."

"Man, living under the same roof with a girl, a pretty one too." He chuckled, resting his head on my desk again.

Marlowe sighed, hitting him with her bag. "Damian, you live in a house with all women ever since your brother left, what are you even talking about?"

"That's obviously not the same thing, living with someone you're not related to, someone who'd come all the way out here to visit you, clearly different," he told her with a confident nod.

Amber just smiled, turning around at her desk to face us. "I'm with Damian on this one, wouldn't it be fun? Seeing the person you love first thing in the morning?"

"Hold it, we aren't like that," I told Amber with a sigh. "Is that what you thought?"

"Well, you stare at her with a love look in your eyes, and she seems to stand quite close to you, so I just assumed," she shrugged. "You're not dating?"

"No, she's just shy around strangers, and what does a love look even mean?"

"For real Amber, what's a love look?"

She sighed, shaking her head. "You people are hopeless, so unromantic, this is why you're all single."

"You're single too," Marlowe reminded her, to which she just shrugged.

"By choice, I'm waiting to fall in love, there's a difference."

I zoned out their conversation the moment Damian dragged Elias into it, who seemed both embarrassed and upset by being dragged into such a conversation. I was hoping Beatrice, or rather, whatever her name was, would be alright. She'd be fine at home, but when she went to the bookstore, I hoped she wouldn't get lost.

Though, she seems to know this town. So, maybe she'd be fine. And I'd go get her as soon as school got out, so she could look at clubs with everybody. Honestly, it'd be better if she got a phone. But, she seemed hesitant to the idea.

"Did Beatrice say if she had fun yesterday?" Amber asked me randomly in the hallway in between classes.

I glanced at the girl, who wore a smile. Same as always, she was a happy person, not sure why her best friend was a more grumpy character. Well, not grumpy, she just didn't smile much. More serious I suppose.

"Yeah, she enjoyed eating with all of you," I told her, and she clutched her hands together with a laugh.

"Oh good, I was worried our group might have been too noisy for her, she's not very social right? She gave off that kind of vibe."

"Yeah, she doesn't really enjoy socializing with too many people, she likes talking though," I told her, smiling at the thought of how much she'd talk once you got her started. Whenever I had brought up the tennis team at school, she talked for what seemed like forever about how the teams worked, tournaments, locker room stories, but yet. Honestly, all of them felt a bit tense. Like she was recalling memories from a different point of view. I guess that was because she was trying to be Beatrice. She knew the stories by heart though, so she must have been there too.

Beatrice, whoever she was, she sure was loved.