Yeah, I was talking to my grandparents, and they're too sick to take care of me. [ and don't particularly want her; hadn't said it out loud, but it had been implied and she wasn't stupid. it's not like she needed a lot of taking care of, she was going to be eighteen in a few months, and in australia she was already as good as an adult at seventeen. ]
But my Uncle Scott said I could live with him.
[ and she thinks the world of her uncle, which is going to be the beginning of her downfall. ]
That's where I stayed during the summers, so, yeah I got a room and everything.
[ and it might not be as pretty green as her basement bedroom in the becket house, but she can deal with tan walls if it gets her away from here. ]
[ there's something tight and painful in her chest that chuck decidedly will call raleigh what the fuck, and while it steels her resolve, it also makes room for doubt. maybe she shouldn't go — no. ]
You're not my brother, Raleigh, [ chuck snaps like a wounded animal in a net. ] Your brother's not my brother, your sister's not my sister, and your mom's not my mom. My dad just died — maybe I want to be around my actual family, not the fucking seppos he made time for when he didn't even make time for me.
[ an important clarification to be made. she'd been angry with her dad, and regrets how often she'd been mean to him in the name of keeping face. she's angry with him now, too; for dying. for not being around to snap at her to talk to raleigh nicer than that. ]
[The way Raleigh flinches, she might as well have hit him. Because he... doesn't see her as family either and he's been feeling like a real asshole for it since her dad died but. Jazmine is his sister. Chuck is that girl who sleeps in the basement.]
[ somehow she doesn't think the news is going to come as much of a surprise or be much of a disappointment for dominique. one less brat (that wasn't hers in the first place) to deal with. ]
You can tell her if you want to. If you talk to her first — I really don't care.
[He huffs and puffs and rolls his eyes and shrugs it off. He doesn't believe for one second that Chuck really doesn't care as much as she pretends to but whatever. Not his problem.]
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Are you sure?
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But my Uncle Scott said I could live with him.
[ and she thinks the world of her uncle, which is going to be the beginning of her downfall. ]
That's where I stayed during the summers, so, yeah I got a room and everything.
[ and it might not be as pretty green as her basement bedroom in the becket house, but she can deal with tan walls if it gets her away from here. ]
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You don't have to go, you know.
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You're not my brother, Raleigh, [ chuck snaps like a wounded animal in a net. ] Your brother's not my brother, your sister's not my sister, and your mom's not my mom. My dad just died — maybe I want to be around my actual family, not the fucking seppos he made time for when he didn't even make time for me.
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[He holds up his hands like a surrender. He didn't want her to feel forced out, she doesn't have to bite his head off.]
Don't bite my head off because of your daddy issues. Which are crap, by the way. It's not like you ever wanted to be around him or us.
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[ an important clarification to be made. she'd been angry with her dad, and regrets how often she'd been mean to him in the name of keeping face. she's angry with him now, too; for dying. for not being around to snap at her to talk to raleigh nicer than that. ]
My uncle's a better dad than he ever was, anyway.
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Because you spent a few summers around him? That's what you're basing it on?
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[ they'd been doing so well, and now she's snapping at him and wants to hit him. ]
Because he's my family, and you're not.
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Have you told my mom yet?
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[ somehow she doesn't think the news is going to come as much of a surprise or be much of a disappointment for dominique. one less brat (that wasn't hers in the first place) to deal with. ]
You can tell her if you want to. If you talk to her first — I really don't care.
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[He huffs and puffs and rolls his eyes and shrugs it off. He doesn't believe for one second that Chuck really doesn't care as much as she pretends to but whatever. Not his problem.]
But I'll tell her.