[ she doesn't go from being an only child to being a stepsister very well, and makes a point to be more of an awkward cousin than the new baby.
half the year, chuck stays in australia with her uncle (more aptly her grandparents, but she spends as much time around scott as she can because she knows it pisses off her dad), but when her old man's not on one tour or another, and when he's actually in alaska playing house, she's dragged along for the bumpy, unpleasant ride. not that the beckets are horrible people, but they're already their own family, with their own sad story and their own complex relationships to traverse. dominique is sick, and chuck's started a few unsavory long distance phone calls with so is your wife dead yet? over the past couple of years.
the only part of the becket family home that chuck likes is the living room. it's sort of an ugly green color, with old fashion furniture that looks like it was collected over the span of several years and inherited from tasteless nuns, but it was always warm. warm, and the first time they'd flown over together, when chuck was eleven and a pipe had burst and flooded the basement bedroom that was supposed to be hers, they'd made her a bed on the lumpy forest green sofa and everyone'd actually given her space and treated it like a bedroom — a bedroom with a big television in it, yeah — which was nice. the next seven years are plenty of time to get the plumbing fixed, and they also paint her room green, and by the time she's eighteen, it's covered in posters and she actually keeps clothes in the drawers as opposed to living out of her suitcase for several months at a time.
but the living room remains her favorite room. it's where she's hanging out, sprawled across the carpet and thumbing through one of the many comic books scattered around the house (with her thermodynamics textbook underneath it) when the doorbell rings. she half expects it to be raleigh or jazmine, who had lost their keys again or something, and she hasn't even completely pulled the earbuds out of her ears when they try to address her.
turns out, she should have left them in her ears. and cranked up the music.
again, the living room is where she is when raleigh gets home. her headphones are still playing soft, warbling songs about loss that seem oddly fitting, but her phone is on the cushion next to her and chuck's not even paying attention anymore. she's picking at her nail beds, and looking over her shoulder when she hears him trudging through the entryway. ]
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half the year, chuck stays in australia with her uncle (more aptly her grandparents, but she spends as much time around scott as she can because she knows it pisses off her dad), but when her old man's not on one tour or another, and when he's actually in alaska playing house, she's dragged along for the bumpy, unpleasant ride. not that the beckets are horrible people, but they're already their own family, with their own sad story and their own complex relationships to traverse. dominique is sick, and chuck's started a few unsavory long distance phone calls with so is your wife dead yet? over the past couple of years.
the only part of the becket family home that chuck likes is the living room. it's sort of an ugly green color, with old fashion furniture that looks like it was collected over the span of several years and inherited from tasteless nuns, but it was always warm. warm, and the first time they'd flown over together, when chuck was eleven and a pipe had burst and flooded the basement bedroom that was supposed to be hers, they'd made her a bed on the lumpy forest green sofa and everyone'd actually given her space and treated it like a bedroom — a bedroom with a big television in it, yeah — which was nice. the next seven years are plenty of time to get the plumbing fixed, and they also paint her room green, and by the time she's eighteen, it's covered in posters and she actually keeps clothes in the drawers as opposed to living out of her suitcase for several months at a time.
but the living room remains her favorite room. it's where she's hanging out, sprawled across the carpet and thumbing through one of the many comic books scattered around the house (with her thermodynamics textbook underneath it) when the doorbell rings. she half expects it to be raleigh or jazmine, who had lost their keys again or something, and she hasn't even completely pulled the earbuds out of her ears when they try to address her.
turns out, she should have left them in her ears. and cranked up the music.
again, the living room is where she is when raleigh gets home. her headphones are still playing soft, warbling songs about loss that seem oddly fitting, but her phone is on the cushion next to her and chuck's not even paying attention anymore. she's picking at her nail beds, and looking over her shoulder when she hears him trudging through the entryway. ]
Hey, Ray. Where's your mom?