Bitter Sweet - Ch 6 - Boiling Point.

Kelly arrived back home mid morning; it was a beautiful cool but sunny day. The lavender bushes scent wafted lazily past her nose on the slight breeze that caused her to get goose bumps on her arms for a moment.

Taking in a deep breath she let her eyes look over the outside of her home, the wood and stone merging perfectly in design, the memories of playing hide-an-seek with her brothers, birthdays parties with laughter and music ringing out from the backyard, watching winter thunderstorms from the front veranda cuddling close between her mother and father drinking hot chocolate.

She blinked away tears that stung her eyes and shook her head slightly.

“Come on then, time to face the music.” She spoke quietly to herself for courage, then took a deep breath and walked up the steps to go inside.

Closing the door behind her, Kelly turned to find she was standing in an empty house. The grandfather clock ticked meticulously in corner by the stairs, the fridge hummed softly from its own corner in the kitchen in an almost soothing drone. More memories flooded in.

Her first batch of pancakes which she had burnt horribly when she was twelve; there was so much smoke from it that the house’s main fire alarm went off causing fire brigade to come, she remembered not making eye contact with any of her neighbours for a month after that because she was embarrassed.

Looking in the lounge area, Kelly saw no one was sitting reading, napping or watching TV either.

“Where is everyone?” She muttered to herself heading out to the backyard.

As she stood on the porch she saw that no one was in the backyard either.

The pools water moved lazily by the pools filter and sparkled from the morning sunshine gleaming on it, Kelly thought it was almost inviting.

But Kelly’s eyes went over to the somewhat neglected vegetable and fruit plants at the far end of the yard; the usually healthy green plants were looking somewhat sad with brown drooping leaves.

Grabbing the bug spray and watering can from the side of the house, Kelly decided while she was waiting for her brothers and father to return home from where ever they all had disappeared off to, she would try her best to fix up the plants and make herself useful.

Becoming lost in saving the vegetable and fruit plants, Kelly wasn’t sure how much time had passed when she heard someone walking up behind her. She turned around and stood up from her work, she realised the shadows had gone longer signalling that it was now coming into the afternoon.

Her dad was standing next to her. “Hi sweetheart, when did you get home? You should have called me; I’d have come home earlier from work.”

She could not help but feel a bit confused by his question, he knew she was coming home today, so why wasn’t he here when she arrived earlier?

“Uh, I got home this morning. You’re the one who arranged for me to come home today, remember?” Kelly couldn’t figure out what was going on, she was usually really good with knowing what her dad and brothers were doing. Being a Saturday she knew her dad didn’t work and her brothers were usually lazing about the house over weekends.

“Well, yes of course but I thought you’d be home this afternoon. I was going to call you so we could meet up at the ‘Water’s Edge Bar’; after all, since you’re no longer the baby of the family.”

“Oh, right, that.” Kelly still wasn’t sure how she felt about the whole idea of herself now being twenty years old virtually overnight.

“Oh come here you silly creature.” Suddenly her dad was wrapping his arms about her in a warm, embracing hug. “I will never stay mad at you and I will always love you.” He spoke warmly into her ear.

Kelly smiled closing her eyes and returned the hug to him just as tightly. “I’m sorry for saying what I did; it just feels like so much is happening so fast and there’s nothing I can do to slow it all down.”

He stroked her head gently like he use to when she was a little girl and came to him for hugs when she was upset. “You know that’s ok. Life can move forward so fast that you blink and suddenly a decade has gone past, you’re children are all grown up and you’re left wondering where the time went.”

Kelly stood back from hugging him and smiled. “So, what happens now?” She wasn’t sure that she even wanted to hear what her father had for an answer at this point.

Devon cleared his throat half smiling at her. “Well, tonight there’s a small belated party for you, then tomorrow you and I can discuss what comes next. Sound good?”

Kelly nodded. ‘I think I can handle that.” She turned and walked off.

“Hey, where are you going?” Devon sounded worried at his daughter suddenly walking off on him.

Kelly glanced back smiling at her dad. “Well, if there’s a party for me, I think I should go shopping to get some new clothes to suit my age, don’t you think?” She turned and headed for the house leaving Devon scratching his head smiling at her as she disappeared inside.

That evening unexpectedly, Anita, Rourke and her Aunt Stacy showed up to the party.

It was just a simple house party, but everyone got dressed up just for the occasion. The music played loudly so everyone had a moment where they danced and Devon had even ordered a fancy cake for Kelly as well.

The sparking apple cider flower from a tired fountain and there was so much food that Kelly had a feeling she’d be sick of chips, dip and chicken by the end of the week. But she was glad that no one would be going home hungry from this party.

At the end of the night when the guests had finally gone, Kelly wandered out to the back yard for a bit of fresh air. She found both her brothers already sitting around the fire pit talking in hushed tones to each other.

She half caught the conversation as she came down the stairs from the patio but they didn’t notice her until the last minute. “Don’t be a jerk about it Sam. OK so Kelly got the cupid streak and now she gets to move in with our grandmother to some big...” Francis stopped talking when he noticed Kelly.

“Hey sis, have a fun party? That Anita girl is really pretty, was she at that collage with you?” Francis quickly tried to change the subject.

Kelly wasn’t having it. “Yes, I know and yes.” She sat down stiffly feeling anger burning in her mind. “You know what? I’m going to cut this short for the sake of us being a family. Thank you so much Sam for telling me how you’re feeling, Loving the animosity behind my back, it so very supportive of you.”

“Kelly I...” Samuel started to speak.

She just gave him a ‘look’, which stopped him talking. “Its fine, you’d be surprised at just how much I actually do get it.” She looked at Francis, her green eyes seeming to grow darker. “Francis you were saying; I’m to be shuffled off yet again am I? Well, as much as I love how I seem to be continuously left out of the loop in what is happening to me and my life; could maybe this once I be let in what everyone else knows? Just for giggles.”

Francis begged her. “Kelly, please don’t be upset. Dad was going to talk to you about it in the morning, he only told us so that we could sleep on it tonight and...”

“What Francis?” She snapped unable to contain how angry she was feeling any longer. “So that both of you could get over being mad at me for my life being ruled by everyone else but me? Fine! Well you know what boys? I do hope I am shuttled off somewhere else. Then I won’t have to worry about people being jealous of what I’m going through but never thought to ask me how I was feeling about it!”

At that moment Samuel angrily stormed off back inside the house.

Francis sighed shaking his head. “I’ll go cool him off, see you in the morning Sis. I... I hope you feel better.” Getting up, he went inside leaving Kelly staring into the slowly dying fire.

Picking up a stray stick, Kelly sat poking the fire embers making the flames dance up a little bit more.

What had been a wonderful celebratory evening, had turned sour on her. The most crushing thing though was finding out that the one brother she never thought would be jealous of her actually was.

Her mind flew over every little thing he had ever said and done since she had found out that she was a cupid.

The mysteriously letter he had penned to her.

The afternoon where he had visited her but hadn’t actually spent any time with her except for when they’d taken a solitary photo and then at the very end of the evening when he was leaving and she had had to run just to catch up with him, and their short conversation just before they had been interrupted by Anita.

Had he done all of those things to make her feel bad and to doubt herself?

A chilled breeze made Kelly shiver for a second; in the distance the town’s clock stuck three o’clock, echoing over the streets. She had been sitting outside for four hours since her brothers had gone inside, going and getting a bucket of water she sloshed it over the fire and slowly wandered inside to bed.

As usual, Kelly was the first person awake the next morning.

Coming downstairs, she cleaned up the lounge room, dining room and a mess of some weird liquid that had been spilled on the kitchen floor.

Although she didn’t feel hungry, she set about making some French toast for her dad and brothers. It was a Sunday and she wasn’t sure if they’d kept with tradition, but she recalled that every Sunday they always use to have freshly made French toast. She felt that today was no exception and her new skill of being able to flambé with vanilla was something she’d wanted to try with French toast for a while.

Grabbing herself a cup of earl grey tea, Kelly went and sat down at the dining table enjoying the quietness of the morning, a few birds chirped in the garden from the pear tree.

Someone came downstairs yawning, Kelly half turned to see her Dad out of the corner of her eye getting himself some of the French toast.

“Morning cupcake, you sleep well?” Devon sat down next to her and began to eat.

Taking a deep breath, Kelly decided to just say what was on her mind and get it over with. “I came across Samuel and Francis talking last night about me moving somewhere else because I’m a cupid, is it true?”

She waited for a moment, it was obvious he was thinking of how to word what he was going to say and she didn’t want to rush him. She didn’t want him to leave anything out from being frustrated or angry at her being impatient.

Devon looked at his food, seeming to be ashamed of looking Kelly while he spoke. “Well sweetie, as you've probably found out, my family has a very long ancestry of being Culinary Cupids. And you can imagine they built themselves a very fine little empire with all of the trimmings that go along with it.” He took a deep breath in then let it out. “When I married your mother they disowned me. Naturally I was cut out of all of the family’s estates and connections, they were upset I had married another cupid and would tarnish the family’s name.”

As he finished off his food, he looked at Kelly giving another sad sigh.

“OK so... what has this got to do with what Samuel and Francis were talking about last night? If you’re family disowned you, why do they want contact with me?” Kelly was now feeling confused again.

Samuel suddenly came and sat down opposite Devon with a plate of food himself, he didn’t hesitate to chime in with his opinion. “Well if you don’t like Dad’s family we can take you shopping for another family if you want?  Use your Cupid powers to make them love you without any questions or animosity.”

“Samuel, stop being rude to your sister.” Devon snapped at him. “My family will never accept me back, that’s true, but Kelly is still part of that ancestry line and they have acknowledged her. It’s a blessing.”

“Oh well Kelly just gets all the perks doesn’t she?” Samuel half spat out in a loathsome tone.

Kelly felt a heavy stone drop in her stomach making her feel sick, Samuel had never acted so cold towards her before; but she hadn’t really been around him since finding out she was a cupid either.

“Samuel, I understand that you think this isn’t fair. Well, you’re right it’s not.”

“Finally, you get it.” Samuel seemed satisfied and began to eat his breakfast.

“Ah, no son, I mean for Kelly it’s not going to be fair.”

Samuel almost choked on his mouthful in shock, Devon quickly kept talking.

“Have you even thought about how your sister feels with being told where to go, what to do and how she has to do it?” Devon sighed with exasperation. “Being a cupid is about following rules Samual; Kelly must obey all of the regulations and the strictest guidelines of magic. There is no ‘winging it’ or ‘guessing’ with anything. Not to mention the paperwork each time you are successful, and we won’t even go into the unsuccessful details.”

Kelly wasn’t feeling any better with her father’s explanations and felt like she might be better off living in a cave as a hermit far away at Granite Falls.

“How about you just calm down and think about what she’s going to go through, maybe then you can talk to me about things being unfair.”

With that Devon got up from the table leaving Kelly and Samuel to sit in an uncomfortable silence, glancing at each other every so often while Samuel finished off his breakfast and Kelly finished her tea.

Upstairs as Devon went to get ready for work his phone rung, as he answered it he had known that this phone call would be coming; he was just hoping it would be a while little longer in coming.

“Hello Devon.” The female voice was stern but soft.

“Mother, glad you called.”

“Yes, well. You know why I’m calling.”

Devon sighed heavily. “Yes, yes I do.”

“Well, is she ready or not? You know the dilemma everyone is in, there’s no time to waste any more. She still has a lot of training to go through. That collage taught her nothing if you ask me, except how to read books and dwell on the past. Modern day coddling, it’s ridiculous.”

“She’s finishing breakfast with her brother right now. I’ll have her dressed and ready by this afternoon.” Devon stopped himself from snapping at his mother, they had never really seen eye to eye on anything and he didn’t want his daughters last day at home to be marred by any more arguments.

“Midday is when she needs to be ready by. A car will be coming to pick her up.”

“Alright, she’ll be ready by then.”

“Thank you Devon.” The phone went dead, Devon sighed feeling his chest grow heavy for a moment.

He decided to go have a shower and freshen up before telling Kelly the news he had been hoping not to have tell her for a few more weeks yet, but now he would only have a few hours to spend with her.

A short while later Kelly came out of her bedroom from getting changed and she found Samuel waiting for her right outside her door.

“I don’t want to fight with you Samuel.”

“No of course not, because you know I’m right!” He snapped at her. “Ever since mum died everyone’s been pandering to your needs and how special you are; well I think you don’t deserve any of it.”

Kelly was getting sick of Samuel and his very drawn out temper tantrum, she’d never seen him act so childish and it defiantly wasn’t one of his good traits.

“You know what, you’re right Samuel. You deserve all of what I have.” She poked him in the chest to stress her point. “You should have the restrictions placed on you; you should be doing hours of reading and research so that you don’t screw up some other Sims entire life. Oh, let’s not forget you will have to be careful of who you marry, that is if you can be honest enough with another Sim and then they still want to marry you.”

“Stop it.” Samuel stepped back from her, a confused look on his face that seemed to almost be panic. He suddenly turned and walked off back to his room. “Just forget it.”

“Oh, but I thought you wanted to know that the skill your most brilliant at is your Cupid ability; the thing in you enjoy most and excel at in life is the one thing you use to help others.”

Samuel slammed his bedroom door shut behind him, the walls and floor shuddered slightly.

Sighing Kelly turned and went down stairs to get a cup of tea to sooth her slightly frazzled nerves.

Coming into the lounge room with her tea to watch some television and relax, Kelly almost jumped out of her skin when her father spoke.

“Hey cupcake.”

“DAD!” She stopped herself from spilling her tea from being startled. “For Watcher’s sake you could have said something earlier you know. What is this, pick on Kelly day?”

She heard her father sigh and felt an uneasy feeling grow in her stomach.

“Well, you might think it is after we have a talk. Sit down for a moment?”

Kelly sat beside him shaking her head. “I was going to sit down and watch a movie, calm down after Samuel's second tirade at me  just before.”

“Yes, I heard. I hope you two make up, I’d hate for you to leave home on such a sour note with him.”

Frowning slightly Kelly took in a deep breath then let it out again. “OK Dad, you’re doing that thing again where you go all serious but don’t actually tell me what’s going on. It’s getting really annoying.”

Now it was Devon’s turn to sigh heavily. “Well, you’ve defiantly got your mothers intuition. No doubt on that family trait.” He gave a slight laugh which made Kelly smile slightly, and then he cleared his throat seeming uncomfortable. “Alright. You know I told you about my mother and all that happened, well, she’s going to be continuing your training in Willow Creek at the family estate. She is sending a car for you today, at noon.”

Kelly sat staring at her father for a long time, the clock struck ten thirty as if to point out how much time she had left.

Francis had been sitting at the computer doing some programming work. He came around to where they were sitting; Kelly put her tea on the side table, stood up and hugged him tightly.

“Don’t you dare throw away this chance, but don’t forget about us while you’re over there, OK Sis?” He gave her an extra squeeze.

Kelly closed her eyes against oncoming tears and shook her head into his neck. “Never.” She whispered.

There was a car horn that blared from the front of the house. Devon’s ride to work had come. He put a hand on Kelly’s shoulder then left without another word.

Francis went upstairs to get dressed and Kelly went to take her tea cup into the kitchen to wash up, she was stopped by Samuel.

He had come down from doing some boxing; he seemed to have calmed down from before.

“I... I’m sorry Kelly. I shouldn’t have...”

Kelly shook her head looking at him but she wasn’t sure what to say. The silence was deafening and at the same time, as siblings they both just needed to look at each other to know what the other was thinking.

The ticking from the clock seemed louder than it had ever been, almost echoing in the silence of the room.

“I should go and get ready, I’ve...”

“Yeah, of course. You’ve only got an hour to pack, you going to make it with all your junk?” Samuel gently teased her; she smiled as he took her tea cup from her so that she could go upstairs to get her things packed.

She smiled laughing slightly as she watched him go into the kitchen, she felt nervous and sad.

Again Kelly’s life was transforming in front of her eyes and all she could do was sit back and watch.