Joneses – 9.8 For Auld Lang Syne

Lester and Shea were taking a rest in his new bedroom after lugging the last boxes upstairs Saturday afternoon. “So, uhhh, thanks for helping us move and stuff. I hope you don’t feel like you had to.”

“Nah. I wasn’t doing anything else anyway.”

“Oh… Ok. Well, good.”

They fell into an awkward silence as they often did. Although they had hung-out a few times, this was the first time they had ever truly been alone–if you count his mother being elsewhere in the house as alone.

“So…is it weird for you to be living here…in your mom’s dead ex-boyfriend’s house?”

“Uhhh…I guess. I mean, it’s nice. I got over them being together a while ago, so it’s cool.”

Shea began to laugh. “Tell me again how you found out they were dating?”

“Ha ha ha. Laugh at my misfortune. You wouldn’t be laughing if you saw what I saw!”

That made her laugh even harder, but he kind of enjoyed it. He couldn’t believe after all those weeks he chased her in school, something was finally coming of it. He thought it was strange that she would go from being turned off to turned on seemingly out of the blue, but whatever caused the change in heart, he was glad to have her back in his life again.

Once she regained her composure, the silence returned but not as awkward as before. She got up and began to check out his room; she didn’t get a chance to get a good look at it when she first arrived. “This is pretty sweet. Bigger than our house.” She looked out of the window. “Nice view too.”

“Yeah, this place is kinda sick.”

After enjoying the view, she stood before him again and inserted a pregnant pause. She figured it was time for a do-over.

She stalled so he could catch on. “Well,” she said, “I guess… I guess I should get going…” Her eyes were sending messages again.

They stood there. He received the messages, but fly guy wasn’t around and he was scared again. Not only was he afraid to kiss her, but also he was afraid to lose her despite knowing she wasn’t going anywhere. There was no way he could chicken out twice and get away with it, he thought. When she realized he had cold feet again, she sighed and took a step toward the door. Lester panicked. He had been waiting for that moment for many weeks. He couldn’t let this happen again. Fly guy left him on his own to find his own courage. After all, courage is not the absence of fear but simply feeling the fear and doing it anyway. “Wait…”

As much as she was expecting a reply to her messages, she still managed to be surprised. She definitely wasn’t expecting his lips to be as soft as they were. Still feeling the fear, he pulled away. He was relieved, proud, and excited yet afraid he had done the wrong thing.

“Uhhhh…I’m sorry?”

“Feel free to do that again sometime. See ya later.”

She left him in his room feeling awesome. He didn’t need any music to do his happy dance.

A few hours later, India invited the Partihaus crew over. They hadn’t gotten together in ages, and she longed to see them. Life had taken its toll on all of them, and everyone slowly began to pull away. After Jade had the twins, Greta and Isabelle, and she and Gunther finally moved in together. That was when she stepped down from leading Partihaus. She gave India the crown and looked forward to hearing about a new Partihaus that was simply about having fun and dancing. Although she wasn’t sure if giving up the party life was something she really wanted to do, she owed it to her family to try.

Marcus had been married to Candy Behr for a very long time. They had an understanding that they both had lives they very much enjoyed before they met and didn’t see a need to make any changes. Marcus cut down on the flirting and such when he did go out, but that was the only change that was made. However, they recently had a baby as well and decided they needed to devote more time at home.

When Jade and Marcus stepped away, Eva decided it was time she told Paolo how she felt about him and that he was the reason she was always so defensive about new women joining their crew. Turns out he felt the same way about her, but he was too scared to say anything. He thought the other two would think it was sweet that he fell for one of them, and he didn’t want the teasing he assumed would come with it. They dated for a little while and got married last week. Being a childless couple who loved to party, they very well could have stayed with India and kept Partihaus going, but they too decided to step away. They weren’t friends with her like that, and it would feel very third wheelish. And, it would spell trouble for their relationship. Most people knew what Partihaus was about, and inviting new people would only invite trouble. He already had a child with another woman long ago, and as possessive as Eva was, it was very important that they gave it up.

That left India. She had her own dilemma going on. When Jade resigned, India was honored and promised to make her proud. But, when people started dropping like flies, it caused her to consider her own life. Was leading Partihaus and starting a new generation what she wanted to do? Should she? Her elder birthday was right around the corner. Her son whom she always wanted to be closer to was a grown man and still living at home. Did she want to be known as that woman? That one old person who is always at the club in the middle of the dance floor getting it while everyone is saying “she needs to let it go” on the inside. Finding herself as the lone member of the group made her decision clear. Be mature, she told herself. Go live in that beautiful house the man whom you loved gave to you. Spend time with your son. Get reacquainted with yourself. Live!

Authors Note:

Well, folks! As you can probably tell, this is the Cornelius’s last rotation! But, don’t worry. They’re not leaving the story! We will be seeing plenty of them through interactions with the other households, but for now we will only have three rotations. We’ll see if my plan works. Anyway, when we come back, it will be the Pancakes turn!