The Astor/Rosensteel Household

Serenity went and got the paper, and then stared at the letter, wondering if she should open it. She kept staring at it for a few minutes before deciding to open it up- Rachel was always down the road if she needed anyone.

Quote :

Serenity:

In spite of myself, I'm sorry for saying what I did. It was way beyond the line.
I'm sorry to Di and Adam, that they have to deal with this. Let them know that I still love them, no matter how things play out.
I'm sorry for letting this go on as long as it did. I'm sorry for wasting the last twelve years of our lives.

- Elroy

Serenity stared at the letter and put it on the kitchen counter, going back to her daily work. She did have quite a lot to do.

Dianna, a couple of weeks later, was up in her room dancing to the radio. Currently there was a song blaring called "Sleazy".

Which was interrupted by a screeching B♭ coming from the next room.

"ADAM!" Dianna screamed. "I'm trying to listen to Ke$ha! I have to be cool for Hogwarts next year!"

Adam ignored his sister's bellowing and kept playing on the three strings he still had.

Dianna just turned it up as loudly as she could, and sang along.

Moments later, he poked through the door. "Could you turn that down a notch, please?"

"I will if you stop practicing your violin so loudly. Can't you go outside and do it?" Dianna asked.

"But it's raining..." Adam murmured, abject.

"Alright. You can practice while I watch Secret Diary of a Call Girl." She said, going downstairs to the TV.

As Adam shut off the radio she'd left running, he thought to himself about whether it was really worth practicing on such a broken old instrument. And, on top of that, why was he trying so hard anyway?

Serenity leaned against the garage door of her house, wondering if she should go or not. For one, she was single. Technically. Her wedding ring was upstairs. Even though she hadn't been divorced yet, she still counted herself as single. She could go out and.. well, mingle, if she wanted to. Plus, alcohol, dancing, and hot guys. Break-up band-aid. But Dianna and Adam would be alone. Not that they weren't old enough to take care of themselves.
And it wasn't as if Serenity was going out there dressed like a cougarslut. She was wearing a nice light pink blouse and black pants, her hair was a little below her chin, curled- it would be halfway down her neck if it was straight. Serenity had gotten just one little face lift through all those years, just one, so it wasn't as if she was pure plastic, but she looked good. Maybe she would find another guy-- No. She couldn't hope for that, she couldn't even wish. All she was looking for tonight was a cocktail.
But then there was that question again. Should she really go? She had two children that needed her. But, then again, Serenity Rosensteel wasn't always the responsible one. Eyes twinkling, she opened the door. "I'm going out for a while, kids! Don't open the door, don't tell people on the phone you're home alone!" She shouted, and then slipped out the open door, quickly apparating to a larger city nearby.

~


Dianna, from the living room, looked at the doorway with a hurt expression on her face. Yes, mum and dad were getting a divorce. But did mum have to go out and party? It was obvious she was going somewhere fun. After all, when did her mum ever put on full jewelry and heels to go to the office? It just hurt. First, her dad couldn't bear to live with them anymore because he didn't love her mum (and by association, herself or Adam). Second, her mother was being downright irresponsible and careless in her subsequent depression. Dianna just couldn't wait until she went to Hogwarts next year. Anthony would go too, her mum had said. She would have at least one friend, if nobody else liked her. And there would be so many people for her to meet..

Dianna sat on the couch, all alone, dreaming about the people- her future friends- at Hogwarts. After all, she was very pretty. Dianna didn't lack self-confidence, on the other hand, she was acutely overconfident. But she considered herself a fun person to be around.

This summer had just been torture for an effervescent person like Dianna. She couldn't go around Anthony without him making that pitying look at her. Nor could she talk to Sophia anymore without feeling like a try-hard. So she merely sat around, brooding and being all around depressed.

That bitch didn't tell them. Whatta bitch.

Adam, having decided to throw in the towel after all, reluctantly came downstairs and joined his sister in the living room -- sitting on the floor, of course. He said nothing.

Serenity was sitting at the kitchen counter about an hour after she had gotten off work. She was angrily poking her burnt casserole with a large cooking spoon. Dianna was off at a friend's house, so Serenity had tried to make herself casserole. She had gotten distracted, though, so she had burnt it, and was simply poking it with a large spoon, starting to cry. Failure meant so much more to her nowadays.

Ryan nervously rang the doorbell, looking around the environment with raised eyebrows. The house was beautiful and grandiose; something you would expect Serenity Rosensteel to live in. But the environment itself was not what you would imagine her to live in. On the drive to her house, he had gone through a rural town, and small cottages with small farms. It was quite an odd sight to see that huge French chateau in the middle of Country Bumpkin Land.

"Oh no. Oh no.." Serenity said, jumping up, blotting her eyes with a tissue, hoping the smell didn't smell too burnt. It smelled horribly burnt, to tell the truth. She opened up the door, smiling weakly at Ryan. "Hi! How are you?" She asked.

"I'm fine!" he said smiling, but the smile looked a little strained. He seemed to be forcing himself to wrinkle his nose in disgust because of the burnt smell. "I didn't expect you too live so out here... I had to drive out of the way for two hours..."

"I'm so sorry. I should've just brought them to work. Do you want to come in? I made casserole.." Serenity stepped out of the doorway, still crying, blotting her eyes occasionally. "I was, uh, cutting onions. Sorry."

"Oh, just onions? I thought you were crying for real." he said, looking concerned. But he tentatively took a step in. "But thank you. I didn't know you cooked."

"Um, yes. Onions. I usually don't cook, but I figured if I could make the casserole right, Dianna could eat it the rest of the week. Adam just went off to my alma mater private school.." She droned. "Um, office or kitchen? The kitchen has the casserole but the office has the papers.."

"If you don't mind, could we eat?" asked Ryan. His eyes shifted towards the direction of the smoke. Even if the food might was burnt, Serenity could always make soup or something. "I haven't had anything since two..." He then paused to dwell on what Serenity said about her son, Adam. Maybe it was because Serenity took such good care of her body, he couldn't really imagine her having children.

"So, you have children, you said?" he asked, following her to where the food was.

"Two. Adam's eleven, Dianna's ten. They're cute kids. What about you, do you have any?"
Serenity said, going into the kitchen and scooping out some casserole onto the plate. It looked disgusting, burned all the way through. She shook her head and dumped it into the trash, then went into the fridge- she already had two cartons of rice and one large Asian chicken plate, already prepared. All she had to do was pop it into the microwave, something she was good at.

He shook his head, and stared down at his plate happily. This Asian chicken stuff looked much better then that chard casserole, and he immediately dug in and began to eat. He paused the discussion for a few minutes.

"No, no kids..." he said shaking his head. "I've never married, so."