Taking Over Me

[Alice Hobbs]

Now that they'd settled a little after their events at Books of Honor, Alice was glad that her father had located himself in the living room, watching some kind of game from some kind of sport; honestly, Alice didn't really care. He had his beer, so he'd probably remain there until he was out or dinner was ready. Sitting next to the table with the cup of tea between her hands, Alice sighed as she looked over at Zoe.

This was going to be a long evening. She could already feel it.

"I was thinking that you could make the salad." She doubted Zoe wanted to watch the game with her dad - or spend any time with her dad at all. And the salad was easy to make too. Just cut the vegetables and mix them together, and voila. Leaning forward, Alice reached her hand out to take Zoe's, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"I am glad that you're here, you know that right?" she asked; if only just to be certain. Despite the dread and her obvious discomfort, Alice wanted Zoe to be here. "Are you very hungry, or would you like a tour of the house first?" There wasn't a whole lot to see; a living room, the kitchen, a downstairs toilet, a laundry room, the upstairs bedrooms and bathroom, and well, very little else, but she figured Zoe probably liked things like that; seeing where Alice came from and all.

Tag: Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

The Hobbs home. Zoe couldn't help but think of the place as that, even though some part of her should be connecting it with Alice herself. After all, her girlfriend did live here with her family. The family that Zoe didn't know if they knew that their daughter was dating a girl and if they were okay with that or anything along those lines. Now Zoe was standing there thinking she'd dressed far too feminine, with a cute denim skirt and a peasant shirt with a little corset thing laced around her that had totally looked good a few hours ago but now just made her feel too feminine and probably not at all sexy though she shouldn't want to be sexy just because she wanted to look sexy for Alice because of reasons that had to do with her hormones and the way her heart kept skipping a beat each time Alice looked over at her and it was amazing that she was even managing to keep it together especially after what had happened at the show and just EVERYTHING.

"I'm glad I'm here too," Zoe managed, trying not to sound nervous, which, as she was Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe, was essentially impossible, even if she wasn't nearly quivering. "I'm, uh, never really that, um, hungry, remember?" she said, flushing and reaching up to brush some hair back behind her ear she so shouldn't be trying to grow it back out; it looked all stupid and shaggy and not cute at all and lesbians probably didn't grow their hair out or at least one of them was supposed to or where were the rules for this thing?

"I'm fine with whatever you'd like, honest," Zoe said, smiling and shrugging slightly. "Really. I'm just happy to be here with you and that you're okay with my being here. Really." That felt like too many reallies and honests...

[Alice Hobbs]

Of course Alice noticed that Zoe was nervous, but at this rate, whether or not that was a good thing, Alice had gotten somewhat used to it. It wasn't something she'd claim was something that settled well with her, but she figured that at least now, Zoe wasn't as afraid of talking to her like she'd appeared to be in the beginning. It was amazing, thinking back and looking at just how much they'd both grown during their relationship. Not just with each other, but as people in general. Alice had found herself being happier and more friendly on a general basis. She wasn't nearly as rudely blunt as she used to be and she actually took other people's feelings in consideration.

And yes, she was going to put all of that credit on her girlfriend. After all, it wasn't like anyone else had stepped into her life and turned everything upside down as of late.

"Right," Alice laughed. Fair enough. Alice was hoping to change that. Even if she thought Zoe was perfect just the way she was, she was worried about her habits when it came to food. She knew Zoe wasn't sick or anything, so there was that, but she hoped to change Zoe's view on food in general, if only just to share her own passion for it.

Pushing herself up, Alice offered Zoe her hand. "A tour it is then." She figured there wasn't a whole lot to show, but the least she could do was give Zoe a glimpse into Alice's personal space; her room. Which honestly hadn't changed much from when she was a kid. The only real difference was that the toys had been put away and some of the decor had grown a little more mature. Alice didn't care much for the details, but it was a nice way to show Zoe a little of her world. "Come on."

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe smiled, nodded, and took her girlfriend's hand. She slid her fingers into Alice's, feeling the familiar contours, letting her fingers interlock and squeeze slightly. Zoe could feel her heart skipping another beat as she moved to follow Alice, knowing that she was seeing another look into her girlfriend's life, another peek behind all those guarded walls and what have you.

And Zoe also knew that it would be easier if she talked, possibly for both of them, but at least definitely for Alice. So she swallowed, licked her lips, and forced the words to come out. "So... so who else is home?" she asked, looking around. "You live with your, ah, dad and your sister, right?" If memory served, something had happened with the mother. The father was awful, but the sister seemed to be someone whom Alice genuinely cared about, someone else who brought out that protective side that seemed to show up around Zoe ever so often.

Though perhaps mentioning family was a bad idea. Zoe was already considering other topics she could bring up. Maybe food? or the way the house was decorated...?

[Alice Hobbs]

"Just my dad," Alice replied, tossing Zoe a glance. "Molly's at a friend's or something." Molly was always someplace else these days. Maybe that was for the best though. It was nice to know that her sister managed well, all things considered, although it made Alice worry. She was so used to babying and coddling her sister, it was strange to think that there was only one year between them, and that Molly was in fact growing up. "Yeah," Alice nodded. "My mom left when Molly and I were little," she added, tossing her girlfriend a smile. It was something that still stung, but Zoe deserved to know the details. "She married someone else."

Opening the door to her bedroom, Alice gestured for Zoe to walk in first. The walls were covered in a pink-beige-ish color. Very old fashioned, which suited Alice's personality perfectly. One of the walls were covered in bookcases with various books. In the corner, there was a white rocking chair. On it, a yellow sun hat was hanging; it had belonged to her mother. The second wall had a balcony door leading out to a small balcony with a white fence. On the third wall, there was a desk, her king sized bed and bedside tables. On the fourth and last wall, there was the door, and a wardrobe.

Walking inside, Alice settled down upon the bed. There was plenty of personal objects scattered around. A few teddy bears, some holiday artifacts, a snow globe and pictures, but nothing really out of the ordinary. The room was tidy, almost obsessively so, but still personal. "Well, this is my room," she said with a sheepish shrug.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Just the dad: Zoe nodded at that. She didn't want to look disappointed, figuring that maybe Molly wanted to give them space or that Alice had asked for her to be out or something along those lines. It had to be just a nerve-wracking for Alice, having her girlfriend in her home and all.

The reminder about the mom had Zoe nodding, remembering it: "My mother left when I was young too... I don't know where she is," she offered. She wasn't sure that she'd ever actually told Alice that much: it wasn't exactly something she shared that openly. Most people who asked about Zoe's complicated last name could figure it out easily enough: she had the last name of both her father and her stepmother. It had been the family's way of combining their broken bits together into something cohesive.

Zoe wondered about that s she walked into the room, instantly recognizing it as Alice's, seeing bits and pieces that spoke to the woman she loved. Alice walked in: Zoe waited by the door. Going into Alice's bedroom felt... felt like a very major step.

"I could tell," Zoe said, looking around. "Those are my photos, after all," she gestured toward them before lacing her fingers back behind her back. She looked all around, leaning forward, peering into corners, but still seeming shy of actually entering, as though she required an invitation to cross the threshold.

[Alice Hobbs]

"I know the feeling," she said as she offered Zoe something of a comforting smile. They had that much in common. Alice hadn't talked to her mother in years, and to be honest, she had little interest in learning anymore about her, whether that meant where she was, or why she'd left. She had made her choice, and Alice wasn't about to go hunting her down or something. If their mother didn't want to be with her daughters, so be it. It was her loss, after all. Besides, Alice liked to think that she'd stepped up and done a good enough job at taking over her mother's role in the home.

Reaching her hands out for Zoe, Alice chuckled. "Come on inside," she said, offering her girlfriend a smile. "No point in just standing there." She wasn't surprised, but she saw little need in Zoe being as shy about it. It was just a room, after all. Personal, yes, but still a room. And Alice had sort of already offered to show her.

But sometimes it was easy to forget that her girlfriend was in face, Zoe. And Zoe was shy and hesitated. She knew she didn't want to push Alice too hard and instead give Alice the space she needed, and Alice respected and appreciated that a lot more than what she showed. Patting the bed for Zoe to sit down, Alice reached for a small box located under her bed. Putting it onto her lap, she opened the lid. "These are all photos of me and my sister from when we were kids."

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Head inside. Zoe swallowed, taking those few steps and trying to act like it wasn't a big deal. Maybe Alice didn't see it like that, maybe Zoe shouldn't be making a big deal of it. It was just a room, after all, albeit her girlfriend's room... with a bed... a bed that was right there. Zoe remembered actually telling Alice that she was ready some time ago, and the memory made her flush.

Oh thank God for photos: "Really?" Zoe moved forward, practically hopping onto the bed. She leaned forward to look. "I did wonder what you looked like as a girl. I figure that you were probably quite adorable when you were innocent," she meant the last as a tease, even smiled, "not that, um," the smile turned nervous, "you're not now. Adorable, I mean, I don't know," and now a blush, "if you're um innocent or," and her voice was going to Mary-Poppins, "or something."

Zoe paused, swallowed, then leaned forward. "So, the pictures?"

[Alice Hobbs]

Laughing softly as Zoe pretty much backed herself into a corner, Alice shrugged it off. She knew that Zoe just meant well and didn't take the rambling to heart. She did that a lot though and Alice found it incredibly cute. She hoped that was something Zoe wouldn't ever stop doing. In fact, it was probably one of her favorite things about the gorgeous girl sitting next to her. On her bed. In her bedroom. 

Right. Photos.

Nodding, Alice handed over the small box. "There's some of my sister in there too. She's just a year younger than me," Alice offered as she pointed at a picture showing two girls, one smaller and one larger at the beach. Standing next to them was an older, Filipino woman. "And that's my mom," she said. She looked a lot like Molly. They were nearly identical.

"She looks a lot like our mom, which I think is part of why Molly has always struggled with... Dad," Alice brows furrowed slightly as she flipped the photo over to look at the date. "God, we weren't more than maybe... 2-3 years old." Alice chuckled a little at that. Talking about her mom, with Zoe, didn't feel so bad. In fact, it was kind of nice.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Yes, photos, because the moment Zoe's mind started drifting away from the photos... well, it was likely to go other places.

There they were: a family of Filipino women who all looked very similar. Zoe leaned forward to study the sister she hadn't quite yet met and the mother she never would. Soon she found herself nodding as Alice talked about how alike they looked. "There's something in their cheekbones," Zoe agreed, pointing. She flushed slightly at the comment, biting the inside of the cheek. Only an artist would probably notice the cheekbones.

Fortunately, Zoe was fairly certain she could make up for it: "I was a bit older: three, I think," she said, looking down at them. This was something she almost never talked about. "She left, and I sort of remember..." Zoe licked her lips, looked down at the photos, then over at her girlfriend, "I have her eyes."

And said expressive, large, brown eyes blinked at their owner's girlfriend now.

[Alice Hobbs]

A nod, and Alice's brown eyes drifted over to Zoe. She studied the side of her face and found herself wondering how on earth such a beautiful creature was here, sitting in Alice's bedroom. It brought a faint smile to her lips that was immediately wiped away at the new piece of information. "Guess we're both a little damaged," she said, more so to herself than to Zoe. The smile reappeared and she leaned in closer so that she could lean her head against Zoe's shoulder.

"Your mother must have had very pretty eyes too then." At least, if Zoe's resembled them even a little.

"I don't share many similarities with my mother. Not apart from the obvious, anyways." She looked at the picture again, her hand reaching out to brush her thumb over the face of her mother. Both her parents were Filipinos, so it wasn't like that made a whole lot of difference. "I look more like my grandmother on my father's side. At least, that's what I'm told." She shrugged slightly.

She put the picture back into the box and shuffled through a few more of them before lifting her head. She turned it to look at her girlfriend, her arm moving around her shoulder. "Sorry," she said, sighing. "If this brings out any bad memories for you, I mean."

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe had to smile at the mention of both of them being a little damage. "That's what put us in the right shape for each other," she said softly. She reached for Alice's closest hand, wrapping her fingers through hers again, wanting that touch, to keep the contact for as long as they could again.

The mention of her mother's eyes had Zoe smiling and nodding. That had always been something she'd been told, after all, usually by her father, who had loved her so very much. That part did make Zoe's heart ache. It had just been so long, and she'd never had the distance from her family that other people so often did. And it had been some time since she'd even heard from them.

Zoe drew herself out of her mind and heart as Alice continued, looking over at her girlfriend. "Your grandmother must have been very beautiful then," she had to comment, smiling. She looked down at the photo, wondering. So much there, but, well, Zoe felt as though she knew bits of it already. Even what she didn't know felt like something she was remembering instead of hearing for the first time.

"Oh, it's not bad," she said, moving to look. Their hands parted for an arm around the shoulders. "I mean, I haven't talked to my family in some time, but," Zoe smiled sadly, "I'm sort of used to it by now. It's more like looking at a scar than poking a wound, I guess."

[Alice Hobbs]

"Aren't you quite the charmer?" she said, smiling coyly as she leaned in to place a quick kiss upon Zoe's shoulder. She then continued to give their interlocked fingers a quick squeeze. It was nice, just the two of them, sitting here like this. It felt so safe and comfortable, as if nothing else beyond these walls mattered. It was strange really, how someone could so quickly matter so much, so quickly. Zoe was like a safe harbor, somewhere Alice didn't have to be Alice or put up some kind of front. A safe place for her to break down, if she ever needed to.

Nodding at that, Alice did in fact know exactly what Zoe meant. She felt the same way in many ways. "I know what you mean," she spoke, nodding again. "It's as they say; time heal all wounds, I suppose." She offered Zoe a smile before putting the photos back into the box. Although she was still angry at her mother for leaving, part of her understood why she had to. Living with their father wasn't easy, after all.

She only wished she could have taken her children with her, instead of leaving them behind to fend for themselves. Then again, it had been such a long time now, it would have been weird if she hadn't gotten over it by now.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Alice's teasing compliment had Zoe flushing, as did the slight kiss and the squeezed hand. "Just with you," she mumbled through her embarrassment. It was only partially true, and even Zoe had to admit it. she was generally nice to everyone, and that meant saying what she thought people wanted to hear. She just happened to mean it more often and enjoy doing it more with her girlfriend.

Who seemed to have a lot more in common with Zoe than even Zoe had originally thought. It really did feel as though they were two broken pieces that had somehow fractured in just the right way so as to interlock together perfectly. "Time and love," Zoe commented, watching Alice put them away. She could practically guess what was going through Alice's head right then, and she did remember Alice's own life. "Like the love you have for your sister or, um, me?"

Was that fishing? Perhaps a little, and that perhaps was having Zoe flush and look down. Well, she did mean the bit about the sister. And now she was trying to push herself to her feet. they had come here for food, after all. Yes, that was definitely why Zoe got up: It certainly had nothing to do with feeling warm on Alice's bed. Nope, not it at all. Definitely not.