On the day that I turned 23 I was curled up underneath a dogwood tree

“You guys! You made it!” Vivian’s face lit up with joy when she saw Dani and the other girls enter the Banquet Hall.

Dani was pretty sure there were actual tears in her eyes, which was a little surprising. She knew that Vivian was a woman who didn’t handle being alone well, but she didn’t expect her to be so sensitive that she would actually cry.

Luckily, the heiress was also very good at concealing her feelings. By the time they reached her table, you could hardly tell she had been bothered in the slightest. Her mercurial emotions had already turned to joy.

“Sorry we’re so late,” Carly apologized. “We didn’t blow you off, I swear!”

“No, for real,” Marley said, knowing it might come off as insincere from Carly, given her sister’s usual attitude. She looked at Vivian with genuine emotion in her eyes. “We were going to come, but then Dakota popped in, and we got distracted.”

“No, it’s my fault,” Emmy said, shaking her head. “Dakota was showing me new rooms I could take, so I wouldn’t have to keep sharing the bed with my mom and Aunt Marley.”

Vivian appreciated all their explanations, she really did.

But none of that mattered. “The important thing is that you’re here,” she said, smiling from ear to ear. “And just in time, too! I was really getting hungry!”

“You… you didn’t eat?” Marley was surprised to hear that. “But we’re almost an hour late…”

Vivian blinked. “So? We said we were going to eat lunch together, I wouldn’t just ditch you guys and eat on my own!” She shook her head adamantly. “What sort of friend would I be if I did that?”

The other women all stared at her, shocked.

Vivian frowned at their reaction. “What’s the matter?” She asked worriedly, looking around. “Did I saw something weird?”

“Lady Carrington,” Octavia said, stepping forward and clearing her throat, “I believe this is one of those times when your behavior may come off as a tad bit overwhelming.”

Yeah, no kidding! Marley thought, feeling a little uneasy. It seemed that rooming with Dani in the Romantic Suite had given Vivian quite a boost to her stubbornness, and she was already pretty stubborn as it was.

“Oh, sorry,” Vivian apologized, though she wasn’t really sure why she was apologizing. “I guess I was just really looking forward to spending time with you guys. Didn’t mean to come off as creepy or overbearing or anything!”

“No, it’s fine, really,” Dani assured her. She glanced at the others, pleading with them with her eyes. “Right, you guys?”

“Right!” Carly agreed immediately. “Enough talking about all this dramatic stuff! We were all just doing our best! Let’s forget it, and eat lunch together!”

“Yeah!” Emmy nodded, agreeing with her mom.

“…Room for one more?”

Everyone turned to see another woman awkwardly enter the room.

Vivian’s eyes widened with surprise. “Kim?”

“Oh hey!” Dani waved to her friend. “Kim, you’re off work?”

Kim shuffled forward and scratched her head. “I’ve been done for a while actually,” she revealed. “I went to work super early today…”

It was too awkward for her to admit that she actually came down for lunch earlier but saw that it was just Vivian and Octavia, and couldn’t bring herself to go inside. And it wasn’t like she could bring herself to order something up to her room, either, what with Gina now done with her date and crashed on their bed. Plus, eating in a room made out of candy just spoiled her appetite.

So she’d been waiting for things to be a little less… “Her and Vivian alone” if possible.

This seemed like the best opportunity she could get, so she was going to take it.

“Of course you can join us!” Vivian hopped out of her seat and rushed over to the schoolgirl. “That would be just wonderful, Kim! The more the merrier, that’s what I always say!”

She reached out to take Kim by the hands, but managed to stop herself. She knew that Kim didn’t like physical contact like that, and especially not with her.

Kim was surprised by the gesture. It appeared that Vivian really was learning, even if gradually.

“…Yeah, no problem,” she said, nodding. “It sounds like it could even be fun.”

So that’s how Kim ended up getting roped into sharing a meal with Vivian, and not actually being that opposed to it.

“So you said you got a new room?” Vivian looked at Emmy as they all sat down at the table with their food. “I want to hear all about it. Is it cool? Does it have any special powers or abilities like the rooms we’re all living in?”

“It’s not made out of candy, is it?” Kim made a face. “Trust me, you don’t want to live in a room that’s all candy.”

“No, it doesn’t seem to be special or anything,” Emmy said, shaking her head. She scratched her cheek. “It’s weird, but it really is just a normal kinda room I guess.”

“What does that mean?” Vivian just looked confused. “You ‘guess’ it’s like a normal room? So maybe it isn’t?”

“Well, it’s not like we had the opportunity to check every corner or anything,” Marley said with a huff. “We had to come down for lunch.”

Carly gave her sister a pointed look. She knew that Marley was probably wiped out from having to respond to Dakota’s taunts all day, but she should really be a little nicer.

It was rare that Carly was the nice one. Usually it was her sister keeping her attitude in line.

“It’s just a normal room,” Emmy said. “It’s nice and all, but there’s nothing special about it. And at least it’s not a cage.”

Kim and Vivian gave her strange looks. For once they were in perfect synergy with one another.

Emmy felt even more embarrassed.

“It’s a long story,” Dani said with a sigh. “Dakota wanted to have a bit of fun at Emmy’s expense, that’s all.”

“See, Octavia? Your sleeping situation isn’t that bad!” Vivian said to her butler. “You could be sleeping in a cage!”

“Your generosity overwhelms me, Lady Carrington,” Octavia said in the driest, most sarcastic voice any of them had ever heard.

“No need to get snippy,” Vivian pouted. “Besides, you know me, I spare no expense! If I was going to give you a cage, it would be fancy, solid gold bars! Or maybe made out of platinum, that’s much prettier. And it would match your hair…”

“Why not silver?” Kim asked sarcastically.

“You think?” Vivian frowned. “Silver tarnishes really easily though… she’d have to do a lot of polishing, and it wouldn’t be fair to add to her workload like that…”

Octavia coughed. “Lady Carrington, I believe she was trying to make a joke.”

Vivian blinked. “…Oh! Oh, you weren’t serious! Oh, haha, Kim, you’re hilarious!” She snorted, shaking her head.

“…Evidently you were being serious,” Kim muttered under her breath.

“No, really, I was just kidding around,” Vivian assured her, shaking her head. “Octavia knows I wouldn’t make her sleep in a cage, right, Octavia?”

“Certainly not, milady,” Octavia confirmed, shaking her head. “Where would you even fit a cage in the stables?”

Dani’s mouth fell open and Marley almost choked on a tomato.

“Wait, you make your butler sleep with the horses!?” Carly couldn’t believe her ears. Kim looked at Vivian in alarm.

“No! No I don’t!” Vivian shook her head frantically. “Octavia, stop joking around like that, you’re making me look bad!”

“Once again, milady, you have mistaken me with your own reflection,” Octavia calmly replied.

“Oh, very funny.” Vivian shot a sulky look at her butler, who let the scornful glare roll off her like water off a duck’s back.

The mature woman was quite impressive, Kim thought, admiring the way she was able to verbally spar with Vivian without hesitation. And she won so easily, too!

“Octavia, I’ve gotta ask,” Kim said, setting down her sandwich, “why would you work for someone like Vivian?”

“Hey!” Vivian pouted. “That’s mean, Kim!”

Kim winced. Maybe she could have worded that better. “…Sorry, that’s not… quite how I meant it…” She looked apologetically at Vivian when she saw the troubled expression on the other woman’s face. “I didn’t mean to insult you.”

Dani was slightly surprised Kim would actually apologize that way. Maybe she really was coming around on Vivian!

…A girl could hope, right? Dani cared for both of them and she didn’t like how Kim was constantly at her other friend’s throat.

Kim coughed and turned to look at Octavia again. The stern-faced butler was standing at attention beside her charge, not joining the rest of them. Vivian hadn’t even thought to invite her to sit down at the table, now that she thought about it.

“…Would you like to join us?” Kim requested, changing the subject slightly. “It must be awkward to just be standing there the whole time.” Having done her fair share of service work, she knew how grinding it was. She felt bad for the older woman.

“That is not my place, ma’am,” Octavia calmly replied, shaking her head. She placed her hand over her breast. “But I do appreciate your offer.”

Kim bit the inside of her cheek. “Why not?”

“I am still on duty,” Octavia immediately answered.

Yeah. Kim remembered being on the clock like that. Not even being allowed to break for lunch before the approved time. She glanced at Vivian, who was calmly eating her meal like this didn’t have anything to do with her.

A surge of protectiveness flared up in Kim’s chest. “I’m sure Vivian would make an exception,” she said pointedly, her eyes drilling into the heiress’s skull. “Right, Vivian?”

The sharpness in her voice was a fierce accusation.

Vivian raised her head and looked at Kim, a blank expression on her face. “Right what?” She asked, evidently in the dark.

Kim bit back her irritation. “Octavia. Wouldn’t you like her to join us for lunch?” She pressed, nodding at the butler.

“…Oh.” Vivian set down her fork and let out a long sigh. “Kim, you are definitely barking up the wrong tree here.”

Kim didn’t like the condescending tone of her voice. But she held her tongue, not wanting to lose her temper in front of Emmy and the others. “What do you mean?” She managed to spit out without flooding herself with contempt.

Vivian gave her a tired smile in response. Then without even looking she picked her fork back up and went back to her meal. “Octavia,” she called to her butler, “would you like to sit down and join us for a meal?”

“Thank you for your generosity, Lady Carrington,” Octavia replied. “But as much as I appreciate your generous offer, I would suggest the opposite, in fact. It would be best for us to leave. If you eat any more of those potatoes your modeling career may come to a premature conclusion.”

Vivian sighed again and gave Kim a rueful look that seemed to say “You see what I mean?”

Kim was thoroughly confused.

“Octavia is being a grouch,” Vivian said with a petulant pout in her voice. “I’d love for her to eat with me like friends! But nooooo, any time I ask, she just has to say something snarky!” Still pouting, Vivian shook her head. She wasn’t pleased at all.

Kim just stared at the both of them, lost. She looked at the others and saw that they were just as confused as she was. But they all had arrived at the conclusion already that it was better to just not get involved in whatever bizarre relationship Vivian clearly had with her butler.

Kim couldn’t say she blamed them for making that choice.

“…Sorry,” she said awkwardly, picking her sandwich back up. “I just thought I would ask.”

“And your kind thoughts for my sake are very much appreciated,” Octavia replied. “But it would be unbecoming to behave in such a casual manner while on duty.”

Behave in a casual manner, as in eating? Kim thought. That’s just crazy!

“Aren’t you always on duty, though?” Dani questioned.

Octavia puffed out her chest with pride. “Indeed.”

That just brought Kim’s original concerns back into the forefront of her mind. “I’m sorry,” she said with a sigh, knowing that she was prying but finding it hard to help herself. “I just don’t get it. Octavia, you seem like an amazing person! Like you could do anything!” She was dignified, talented, a hard worker, she was so impressive! Kim had quite an extensive work history, and even she was blown away by the work ethic Octavia seemed to display.

“…So why are you working as a butler?” That had been what Kim meant by her earlier statement. It hadn’t been intended as an insult against Vivian. It had just come out wrong.

She looked at Octavia, hoping she could see some semblance of reasoning in the older woman’s eyes. But Octavia seemed impossible to read.

“Because that is my duty, ma’am,” Octavia answered succinctly.

It was an answer to Kim’s question that didn’t answer it at all.

What Kim noticed, though, was the way Vivian smiled when Octavia gave that answer. Her smile deepened in a way that most people would miss, but not someone with Kim’s practiced experience with smiles. The emotion reflected in the other woman’s eyes was an emotion of sheer, utter joy, and Kim couldn’t deny- she felt a tiny bit of sympathy for Vivian when she saw it.

There was some unspoken truth behind that answer Kim wasn’t privy to. A bond between Vivian and her butler that went far deeper than just servant and employer. And all those feelings were summed up in that smile of Vivian’s.

“…I’m sorry for asking,” Kim apologized, looking up at Octavia. The beautiful woman was such an enigma, and she found herself still captivated. “I really respect how hard you work, Octavia. It’s obvious that you really love your job, I shouldn’t have questioned it.”

Octavia shook her head gently. “Not at all, young miss.”

“No, really!” Kim couldn’t help herself. She didn’t like the way Octavia was downplaying it. “I really mean it, you’re amazing, Octavia!” The last thing she wanted was for the butler to think that she was just being polite. She meant what she said from the bottom of her heart.

“I know, you get it too, right?” Vivian nodded excitedly, her eyes shining. “Octavia, she’s just so amazing! For real…”

At least Vivian appreciated her butler’s talents. That was something Kim could be grateful for at least.

“I-I just wanted you to know that,” Kim said awkwardly, feeling her face heat up.

Octavia nodded slowly. “It seems you have misunderstood,” she said gently. “When I said ‘Not at all’ what I meant was that I do not love my job at all,” she clarified.

Vivian’s eye twitched in irritation. “Hey! Octavia!”

Once again, Kim was lost. Five minutes ago she would have believed the butler with all her heart, given the serious tone with which the older woman delivered her statement.

Now, though, she was convinced Octavia was just messing around with them both. Especially judging by the look of irritation on Vivian’s face.

What’s going on with those two? Kim wanted to learn more about the complicated relationship between the two women. But it wasn’t her place to ask. If she just kept pushing like this, she’d just be some nosy girl butting in where she didn’t belong.

So she took a bite of her sandwich and decided that whatever was going on between the two of them was their business, and that it was a relationship she couldn’t begin to understand.

Seeing the twinkle in Vivian’s eye as she went back to eating and the way Octavia looked at her as she did so, Kim was convinced she’d made the right decision.

“Okay, I’ve just gotta ask,” Carly said, putting her fork down and sitting up straight in her chair. “You never answered the question, Octavia, where ARE you sleeping?” She turned to look at her girlfriend. “Dani?”

“Huh?” Dani had stopped following the conversation a while ago. “Oh, uh, where does Octavia sleep? Well…”

Dani knew that Octavia didn’t sleep in bed with them. She knew that because Vivian had asked her to on several occasions and been shot down each time. But every night, Octavia was still awake when Dani went to sleep, and she was awake when she woke up, too.

As far as Dani was aware, the woman never slept.

Dani just shrugged awkwardly.

Marley giggled and rolled her eyes. “Well, at least your bed isn’t cramped,” she said playfully.

Emmy winced. She was glad to be getting her own bed, but she would miss snuggling up close with her family tonight.

Maybe she didn’t have to move into her new room right away?

“I sleep when needed,” Octavia calmly replied, not answering the question in the slightest. If anything she just made everyone even more curious.

“Octavia is like a vampire or something,” Vivian said. “Why do you think she’s so pale? I’m pretty sure she sleeps in a coffin.”

“Do not be absurd, milady,” Octavia scoffed. “You are the one who drains the life out of those around you.”

“Watch it…”

“It doesn’t really matter, does it?” Emmy asked. She had been getting a little uncomfortable about this whole conversation topic at this point. “Octavia… we aren’t… making you uncomfortable, are we?”

Emmy wasn’t very experienced with social grace or being considerate of other people, but she knew it wasn’t a good thing to pry into other people’s business like this, right?

She looked at Octavia and hoped that they weren’t being a bother.

Octavia shook her head. “Not at all, miss,” she assured the young girl. The smallest of smiles touched her thin lips and Emmy saw just how much kindness there was in her dull gray eyes, when she wanted there to be.

It made her feel warm and protected.

“It is natural to be curious,” Octavia assured her. “I do not mind your questions at all. I simply find them difficult to answer.”

“Oh?” Emmy was surprised to hear that.

Octavia nodded. “The truth is, I have not been able to sleep recently, as the host did not allow me to bring my coffin to the island.”

It took Emmy way too long to realize that Octavia was making a joke. Her cheeks turned pink and she squirmed in her seat with embarrassment, a sheepish smile touching her lips as Vivian burst out laughing. Even Kim had to giggle at that. The two women were actually in agreement about something for once, and it was quite a sweet sight.