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Post by Mackenzie Aldridge on Nov 23, 2018 15:43:37 GMT -5
Mackenzie felt dazed on the whole drive home, remaining completely silent as she really couldn't trust herself to speak right now. As it was, Alyssa seemed to be the only one who felt comfortable enough to talk though the drive, but nobody really responded to her comments. She felt a heavy weight in her stomach, her throat tight as she tried not to think of what had just happened while she was on the road, not wanting her emotions to impair her driving, so she tried to focus merely on keeping her eyes straight ahead, her fingers gripping onto the steering wheel as she passed through familiar streets without really seeing them. There was a lot to be said about muscle memory, because she wasn't even sure how she'd made her way home once they arrived, but somehow she had, so she parked the car in the driveway and quickly made her way over to the door, wanting to unlock it and let everyone in quickly as none of them had coats on. Not locking the door behind as she figured her mom would be arriving shortly after them, just making her way up to her bedroom and kicking her shoes off. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom," she spoke, her voice sounding a bit odd to her ears, but not waiting for an answer from Alyssa as she closed and locked the door behind her, also locking the side that gave way to Leslie's bedroom. Once she was alone, she allowed the rush of emotions to come over her and tears poured out of her eyes as she leaned over the bathroom sink.
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Post by Alyssa Travers on Nov 24, 2018 10:59:18 GMT -5
Alyssa had heard some things about gatherings in the past that had made them seem fairly messed up but nothing could have prepared her for the rollercoaster that took place tonight. The thing was too that she did not have an opinion one way or another as to Chace's little outburst. Maybe he had some points, but maybe he was being too harsh about it. Mostly, she was texting her mom the entire time to tell her all about what was happening because she would be here in a few short days. She was probably the only one who looked at it so lightly, as evidenced by the fact that on the car ride home she was the only one who spoke.
"Okay, this might be a controversial opinion here, but I think that went pretty well," she said, looking around and seeing that immediately William was not having it and Mackenzie didn't seem inclined to say anything. Only Layla looked the mildest bit interested in where she was going with that. "Let me explain. First, your grandfather got embarrassed in front of a ton of people, which he totally deserved. Secondly, your parents finally know about what is going on here. Which, they should have known a long time ago. Thirdly, your parents are actually going to do something about it that might mean that it's going to change! See, these are all good things. I mean, sure, Chace went a little off the rails there at the end and he's definitely got some things to work through but overall, this was a very good thing that happened tonight." No one spoke up to agree with her though she did catch Layla looking somewhat thoughtful about it in the back. She felt it was her job to keep the car ride from being too awkward on the way back so she chatted the entire way home about other parts of the evening.
When they arrived she followed Kenzie upstairs, immediately starting to get undressed and not even being able to say anything as Kenzie said that she had to go to the bathroom before disappearing through the door. It was clear that Kenzie was upset and so she gave her a couple of minute before she decided that she was going to have to force her to talk because it was Kenzie and she never recognized when she had to do things like this. Walking over to the bathroom door she found it locked and she sighed and knocked on it. "Kenzie, why did you lock the door?"
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Post by Mackenzie Aldridge on Nov 24, 2018 18:49:18 GMT -5
Mackenzie's parents had not been the only ones tonight to come to an unpleasant realization. For the past few years, she had often wondered to herself what exactly had made Chace pull away from her. She'd always thought most of it came from the fact that, of the four of them, he was the only other child who could have expressed an interest in taking over the company, but she was already in line for the position. She'd also figured a lot of it had to do with the fact that he was a teenager, and as such, hanging out with his socially challenged older sister wasn't exactly a cool thing to do. And she wasn't entirely willing to discount these theories as completely wrong, but she knew now that there had been a bigger factor. As much as he blamed their parents for letting them down, in his eyes, she clearly must have also failed him. They had been so close - she still remember him coming to her whenever he needed something, had hurt himself or wanting to be comforted, and their mother wasn't around. And she'd loved that bond, because she loved her little brother, but she hadn't been there when he needed her.
She didn't make much attempt to stop her tears until she heard Alyssa knock at the door, trying to calm down as she heard her ask why she'd locked the door. "Habit," she answered in a voice that didn't betray tears but wasn't quite as steady as she would have liked. It wasn't a lie - she'd always used to lock both doors when she'd lived here, because she'd not put it above a five year old Leslie to try and come through the door connected to her bedroom, and then it had just become a habit. Sighing a bit as she did go ahead and wash her face, managing to get rid of the streaks tears had made down her cheeks, and finding that cold water definitely helped with the puffiness and redness of her eyes. Making sure the counter was tidy before she unlocked both doors and headed back toward her bedroom.
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Post by Alyssa Travers on Nov 26, 2018 22:10:15 GMT -5
Alyssa had known Mackenzie her whole life and she'd been her best friend just as long, so she knew when the older girl was upset. What she didn't know was why she'd bother trying to hide it from her. It was obvious to her after years of friendship. The way she'd excused herself quickly, the slight unsteadiness of her voice as she answered and even when she'd opened the bathroom door and came out looking like she'd done nothing more than wash her face she knew. "You know that I know that you're upset, right?" she questioned, sighing a little as she looked at her girlfriend and grabbing her hand. She lead them over to the bed and took a seat on it, bringing Kenzie down with her. Her girlfriend was very intelligent, a hard worker, and as collected as any middle aged adult. What she wasn't was someone who was good at emotional intelligence and so she often had to prod her in order to get her to do what she needed to do in those cases. "Why don't you want to talk to me about it? We tell each other when we have problems. Not just as girlfriends but as best friends. So let me be here for you."
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Post by Mackenzie Aldridge on Nov 30, 2018 13:48:29 GMT -5
Mackenzie wasn't entirely convinced Alyssa would let this go, but she was hopeful. She made sure to close her door to the bathroom behind her as she reentered her bedroom, turning to face her girlfriend as she spoke up before grabbing her hand and leading her toward the bed. Holding off a seat as she got her to sit down and asked why she didn't want to talk to her about it, adding that they told each other everything, and asking her to let her be there for her. Biting down on her bottom lip as she felt tears starting to well in her eyes again, trying to push them away as she looked down at her hands, folded on her knees. "I just... I've been wondering for years now, what made him pull away from me," she began, trying to keep her voice from shaking. "And I'd tell myself, you know, he's older now, he's a teenage boy, he doesn't want to be hanging out with his older sister," she spoke, going over the thoughts that'd just been in her mind. "And maybe, I don't know, maybe he thinks I took an opportunity away from him, because if I hadn't wanted to take over the company, he would have been the best choice, and he would have been good at it," she went on, lightly wiping at her nose as she sniffled lightly. "And maybe that's all true, but now I know he actually pulled away because I let him down," she couldn't keep her voice from shaking at this point as a few tears slid down her cheeks. "He'd always looked up to me, and of course he went to mom first, but if she wasn't there, I'm the one he came to Alyssa, if he was scared or if he got hurt, to protect him, or to comfort him. And I didn't protect him."
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Post by Alyssa Travers on Dec 5, 2018 21:00:31 GMT -5
It didn't seem that Alyssa was going to have to prod Mackenzie that much because as soon as they sat down Kenzie decided to start talking and when she did she wanted to pull her girlfriend in and give her a hug. Of course Kenzie would blame herself over this, would think that she had a responsibility to Chace even when she hadn't. She moved closer to her girlfriend, reaching to wipe away her tears. "Kenzie, it has never been your job to take care of him. You did it because that's who you are, but it was never your job," she told her seriously. "He didn't ask you to protect him and it wasn't on you to put yourself into a situation to that you didn't feel comfortable in. Especially without him asking you or coming to you. He was old enough to come to you, to try and talk to you and he decided not to. You can't blame yourself for the fact that he didn't do that. For the fact that he made it clear that he didn't want to be around you as much anymore. Okay, he made his choices and yes, it sucks that he went through this. You went through it too though and you aren't blaming anyone for not protecting you."
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Post by Mackenzie Aldridge on Dec 9, 2018 14:00:48 GMT -5
Mackenzie knew that, as much as Alyssa might try to, she couldn't entirely understand where she came from on this, being an only child. It didn't matter when or where the decision to care for Chace had come from, she had still made it. And when you made a decision that lead a child to put his trust in you, it was on you not to break it. "It doesn't matter if it was my job or not, Alyssa," she spoke with a shake of her head. "I still did it, I made myself responsible for him, and he knew it. He was just a kid," she went on with a shake of her head. "I didn't... I didn't think he'd have to deal with it, you know. That's why I didn't really do anything. And it was stupid, because of course he would have to deal with it," she spoke, giving a pained sigh. "But I figured, what good would it do for our grandfather to speak to Leslie and Chace the way he did to William and I? I should have put two and two together, Alyssa. Because why would he start feeling ostracized in our family for any reason other than someone telling him he has no place in it? And there's only one person who could say that to him. I decided not to tell anyone, because I wanted to prove myself, that I could handle his criticism now, and it meant I would be able to handle it later too, when I have to work with him," she rubbed her fingers against her temple lightly as she went on, trying to ignore the way her head throbbed. "He decided not to tell anyone because he knew we all knew what was going on, and if we hadn't cared before, why would we now? It's just... not the same."
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Post by Alyssa Travers on Dec 19, 2018 16:16:30 GMT -5
Alyssa's heart did ache for her girlfriend because it was obvious that she was really hurting and she didn't want her to be. She always took on so much responsibility for everything and unfortunately it seemed that this was one of the things that she had taken upon herself. That thought was confirmed too when just a minute later she said that she'd taken on the responsibility. She let her girlfriend get everything out even though she had plenty to say against the way she seemed to be viewing herself but she was going to wait until she'd come to the end of thought. She took Kenzie's face in her hands, forcing her to look at her and giving her a serious look. "Kenzie, I know you aren't going to believe me when I say this, but you need to try anyway," she said with a firm tone. "You were just a child when all of this started. A child that can't be held to the standards of a fully grown adult. When people are being hurt, they don't think logically about it. Maybe you wanted to prove that you could handle being hurt, but you were still being hurt either way. Do not torture yourself because Chace got hurt too. You didn't hurt him. Your grandfather hurt him."
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Post by Mackenzie Aldridge on Dec 20, 2018 12:26:49 GMT -5
Mackenzie couldn't help the thoughts in her mind right now. She couldn't shake off the knowledge that she had let Chace down, no matter what Alyssa said, because now that it had been thrown out there, she felt it too. Still, she did look at her as she took her face between her hands and spoke in a tone that was a bit more serious than she was used to getting from her girlfriend. Listening as she told her that she couldn't have been held to the standards of a grown adult as she had just been a child, giving a bit of a sigh as she went on to add that she had been hurt as well. It was hard to really accept any of this, because her life had been spent trying to prove herself as more mature than her age, and she felt that she was cheating if she tried to excuse her lack of intervention because of her young age at the time. And although her grandfather's words had been the cause of Chace's hurt, it didn't mean that her inaction hadn't hurt him as well. But she felt there was no point in really arguing this further with the other girl, although she couldn't help but voice one more fear. "What if he doesn't want to talk to me, Alyssa? What if I try to go to him, and he doesn't let me? What do I do then?"
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Post by Alyssa Travers on Jan 8, 2019 10:40:38 GMT -5
A lot of people thought that Alyssa was quite selfish and she couldn't deny that it was usually the case. She was very self involved, cared a lot about herself and tended to put herself first. However, she wasn't uncaring and she loved Mackenzie, so when the times called for it she was there for the other girl. So she held strong, trying to get Kenzie to go easier on herself because she deserved it. She always held herself to standards that were too high and this was no exception even if she didn't want to admit it, even if she didn't want to see it. Her fingers gently stroked her girlfriend's face as she asked what to do if Chace didn't want to talk to her. "Then you try again," she answered not unkindly. "He's stubborn, but so are you. If it means this much to you, you keep going until you fix it. Things didn't fall apart in a day, you might not be able to fix them in one either. But you're one of the people I know who never gives up. I can't see you giving up on him either." She leaned forward and gave her girlfriend a soft kiss. "You'll fix it."
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Post by Mackenzie Aldridge on Jan 8, 2019 17:21:09 GMT -5
Mackenzie gave a soft sigh as Alyssa responded to her question by saying that, if Chace didn't allow her to fix things right away, she'd have to try again. She knew that she was obviously right in saying this wouldn't be solved over a day, but trying to mend a bond when she lived in a different city would not be easy. Then again, she'd never been one to give up on something because it was difficult, and getting her little brother to forgive her was worth the effort. Returning the soft kiss her girlfriend pressed to her lips and nodding lightly as she finished speaking, moving her own fingers to lightly brush against the other girl's cheek. "Alright," she said simply. Leaning in to press their lips together once more, pulling away after a moment as she got back to her feet and started taking off her jewelry. "Let's just get into bed," she added, knowing that nothing would get fixed tonight anyhow - it was unlikely that Chace would want to see anybody other than his girlfriend for the rest of the evening, so she knew better than to try so soon. Her parents would also probably have priority on trying to talk things over with him the next day, but if nothing else, she was determined not to return to New York without having made some sort of progress.
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Post by Alyssa Travers on Jan 14, 2019 16:37:10 GMT -5
Alyssa was glad that Kenzie listened to her, certain that she was right about this. Then again, she was right about most things, so it wasn't a surprise that was the case. Still, it was a relief that she wouldn't be unnecessarily upset about this for any longer. She trusted that her girlfriend would figure things out with time and she nodded when she mentioned that they should get into bed. "Let's," she agreed, reaching behind her to unzip her dress and start to get out of it. Today had been filled with much more excitement than she'd originally anticipated and retelling it all to her mom had taken a lot more energy than she'd actually expected. She was ready to just go to sleep, or at lest cuddle in bed with her girlfriend for a while. No way was she going to hold out any hope that anything more exciting was going to happen because the mood was definitely not there and Kenzie was not the type to be easily swayed into it. Oh well, there would be more time for that later and besides, she didn't want to have sex with sad Kenzie anyway.
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