< Theo

(Theo's P. O. V)

"I'm back," I called out to my mom and shut the door behind me, inhaling the strong aroma of something delicious being cooked in the kitchen as it wafted through the air.

"Good, dinner's almost ready," she replied.

I removed my coat and threw it on the floor before making my way towards the kitchen. "Where's Ashton?" I asked, placing a chaste kiss on her cheek which made her visibly smile at me.

"Right here!" I heard him yell from the living room. True enough, I spotted a mess of dirty blonde hair popping above the sofa's back. I went and plopped down beside him. He was so hooked on the T.V. that he didn't even pay attention to my noticeable stare. It made me huff but I brushed it off and decided to do the same.

I scrunched up my nose in distaste when my eyes settled on the T.V. screen. Ashton? News Channel? I must be dreaming. The thought itself was enough to make me cringe.

"Hey, change it would you?" I kicked him in the shoulder causing him to growl lightly as he half-heartedly punched me back.

"Just listen god dammit, I swear it's not boring," he grumbled, focusing his attention back on the news.

I shifted my gaze to the T.V screen where the reporter, who had been blabbering on, disappeared and was now replaced by a clip of a girl being surrounded by paparazzi. I froze when the sense of familiarity hit me. She was the girl I had seen in the graveyard.

I caught the reporter mid-sentence and sat upright.

" . . . is back in the town. The Rossetts' publicity handler has officially confirmed the news that Anastasia Rossett, Xavier Rossett's eldest child, who was previously residing in Italy, would be staying in Manham for quite a while. We wonder if that has anything to do with Senior Rossett's recent demise—"

"Dinner's ready boys, get up now!" Mom yelled from the kitchen and I very unwillingly broke my gaze from the screen.

"Coming!" Ashton yelled back but made no move to get up.

I looked back at the screen where the reporter was questioning Anastasia outside the Rossett mansion.

"Miss. Rossett, does your return have anything to do with your grandfather's recent demise?" she asked. I frowned at the reporter's insensitive question. These people needed to get a hang of themselves.

"Well, I'm assuming that you've lost your ability to be a bit sensitive, signora," Xavier answered before Anastasia could. The woman gulped nervously and let out a nervous chuckle.

"Well . . . eh, we heard from our resources that you will be hosting a masquerade ball on the weekend as a welcome home greeting for your daughter . . . is it true?" she hastily asked before the Rossetts could go back inside.

"Yes, and it's family only," Xavier said in a final tone which warned that if the reporter was smart enough, she would stop asking questions.

No sooner had Xavier and his daughter, Anastasia, disappeared behind the gates of the mansion, the screen of the T.V. blacked out.

"Mom!" Ashton complained when the screen went off.

"Dinner time." She smirked and went to settle beside the dinner table as we trailed behind her. With no Anastasia to distract me now, my stomach grumbled hungrily at the sight of all the delicious food and I filled my plate with as much as I could.

"I see the Rossetts are in the news again," Mom stated.

Yeah, again. This happened quite a lot. The Rossetts were known for getting in and out of weird scandals whether it be random people turning up dead, busted drug cartels or probably who knows how many other shits. I never had been particularly interested, keeping tab on the Rossetts was Ashton and Ivory's department. Ivory, my friend, would always say that every town had some sort of mystery aspect. The Rossetts were ours.

"Seems like their unknown-but-drop-dead-gorgeous daughter has finally shown up to fill in for dear-old-dead-grandpa," Ashton returned.

"Ashton!" Mom scolded him.

Ashton raised his hands up defensively, "It's just, I heard that it was a very carefully planned murder. Probably a rivalry between them and some other stupid gang of idiots."

"Where do you even get your information?" She frowned.

"Ivory," we both spoke up at the same time.

"And where does Ivory get all this information?" She raised an eyebrow at us.

Ashton snorted and started choking on the food in his mouth as I tried to suppress the laugh that was threatening to break out. Oh boy, if she knew, we'd probably be grounded . . . again.

"Ehm, she . . . uh . . . " I looked at Ashton for some help but he was too busy coughing and trying not to laugh.

Mom rolled her eyes and we shut up, staying silent for the rest of the dinner. For some strange reason, my thoughts once again went back to Anastasia. She didn't look ghostly or sad anymore. The grief that had rested on her face in the graveyard was replaced with an empty smile. One that was charming, nonetheless.

Once we finished eating, I helped Mom wash the dishes while Ashton took the duty of glaring at the T.V., probably in hopes that it would magically make the Rossetts appear on the screen again.

I rolled my eyes and snatched the remote from him, turning the T.V. off. "Stop burning holes into the screen and go sleep."

"Let's crash the ball," Ashton whispered to me as we went up to our respective rooms. Now you see, in normal circumstances a person would take what he said as a joke. But with Ashton, it was never 'normal circumstances'. He absolutely loved to get in all sorts of trouble.

Before he could shut the door to his room, I roughly pulled him back by the elbow and gave him a disapproving stare. "No. Let's not." I gritted my teeth, wishing he'd just listen to me this once.

"Oh come on! I already texted Ivory and she's totally in for it. She said she'll even get Liam to tag along somehow."

Ivory and Ashton got along extremely well for the very reason that they both loved trouble. Liam, Ivory's twin, and I got along extremely well because Ashton and Ivory loved trouble and we often had to make sure that they wouldn't end up doing something beyond-the-lines stupid.

It wasn't that I was a total buzzkill or anything, in fact most of the time all four of us ended up having a good laugh. The problem was that this time they had picked the Rossetts to mess with. A private Rossett masquerade ball to crash in, where there were bound to be more Rossett-like touch-me-and-I-will-kill-you people. That was a territory I didn't want to touch with a ten-foot pole.

"Asht—"

"Look, we still have tomorrow to talk about this. It's a masquerade for god's sake! Nobody would even see us! We'll just crash it, eat like monsters, maybe or maybe not dig out some family secrets, and be back home in no time. Nighty night." He slipped into his room before I could say another word and knock some sense into him.

I shook my head and went into my room. It had been a long day today and I was way too tired to worry about his shit. I desperately needed some good sleep.

═───────◇───────═

The next day would have been better if it hadn't existed. That's because I made an enormously idiotic decision.

The day started out quite normal. I went about my usual business and decided to stop at the library to return some books in the evening.

"Hey, Theo," the counter guy greeted me with a smile. I called him 'the counter guy' because it had been weeks since he joined and I still hadn't learned his name. So instead I just nodded my head in a greeting and placed the books on the counter.

He filled in the entries and then looked up at me. "So will you be taking more books or do I return your card?"

"More books coming along!" I answered and then went to gather a few books that I had wanted. When I came back to the counter, a woman was already waiting . . . or rather arguing with the counter guy. When she turned a little I was greeted with the sight of none other than Anastasia Rossett, waiting with hands in her coat pockets. She was impatiently tapping her right foot on the floor and staring at the counter guy. I stood behind her in the waiting line and her scent of roses that invaded my nose captivated my senses.

"Ma'am the book hasn't been issued by anyone, maybe you just missed it?" Counter guy stated and gave her a puzzled look.

"No, Alan, I checked twice but I couldn't find Wuthering Heights anywhere. Maybe you'd like to head over to the section and check for yourself if you don't believe me?" She frowned.

Now I felt a little embarrassed. She had come to the town just yesterday and she knew Alan's name while I had been living here practically my whole life.

I cleared my throat to get her attention. "I took Wuthering Heights but you can have it if you want."

She turned to look at me, her eyes widening with realisation. "Oh! I'm so sorry, Alan," she apologized to him, "and it's fine, I'll come back for it later." she smiled at me, giving me a small wave as she walked away.

Oh dear gods. It took all my power to not call after her as she vanished behind the glass doors.

═───────◇───────═

When I went home, Ashton was, as usual, flopped on the couch, passing occasional glances at the T.V., probably so he wouldn't miss anything in case something about the Rossetts showed up again. 

I sat down next to him, upon which he turned to me, his eyebrows raised questioningly.

"So . . . ? Are we going tomorrow?" He made a terrible attempt at giving me a puppy look.

That . . . is when I made the idiotic decision.

"Yes," I answered.

🥀

Nobody called it a starfall
Come out the blue
I'm all butterflies
I'm sky-high for you

–Feels Like This
(Maisie Peters)

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• 'Signora' means 'Lady'
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(WORD COUNT: 1710)

QUESTION OF THE CHAPTER:
Which book is the closest to your heart and why?

AUTHOR'S NOTE:
This chapter is dedicated to stupid_is_cupid for being my support system both on & off wattpad. Thank you for being my first listener/proofreader, and for providing me the motivation to actually write down the mess in my head. I love you, and I don't say that enough ❤️