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Post by Administrator on Feb 11, 2009 16:09:48 GMT -5
This is a lovely posh upscale apartment were Miss Valerie lives.
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Post by valerie on Apr 4, 2009 12:35:39 GMT -5
Valerie hummed the melody gently to herself, her long fingers gliding against the keys of her piano, newly brand new, settled infront of the window of her living room. Wine color drapery kept the sun from glaring in her eyes while looking at the sheet music.
Her mother was sending her something, but failed to reveal in her letter what it was. Something terribly expensive, she did mention, and something Valerie was love and better use in the coming months if she ever hoped to marry.
That would only mean one thing: A dress. Her mother's favorite thing to send her only daughter.
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Post by reeves on Apr 4, 2009 12:55:20 GMT -5
Reeves had been sitting around the back part of Horace Greeley Department store, honestly bored to wits end. The large department store was where he worked as a delivery boy, bringing out packages to the richer families who couldn't seem to use their legs to walk down the street. Well, he didn't really care though, at least it paid.
It's not like he hated the rich either. Sure, the scorn he was shown wasn't always easy to take, but Reeves temper wasn't awful at least most of the time. He liked his job and aimed to keep it. That was what made him glare at the newly hired delivery boy who sat across the way, a middle class boy.
"Reeves!" His boss barked and Reeves jumped right up, sending the other delivery boy a glare as he snickered. "I need you on fifth again, Cartwright place. Here's the address, go find the package, should be one of the newer ones, just arrived last night."
"Yessir, Mr. Alexander," Reeves said and got ready for his delivery. He was surprised that his boss had let him go to fifth, what with Catherine and all...he shoved those thoughts out of his mind. A delivery was a delivery and he was ever so grateful to go on a delivery with work being so slow lately since the new hiring.
He headed down Fifth, mumbling to himself as he kicked a rock. He wasn't in his greatest mood ever, Darry and Alice had gotten into a fight last night, and Danny had left the apartment that night, yelling at his two siblings to stop fighting for once. He hadn't been back that morning, and breakfast was quiet. Danny always came back the next day. He just could never handle hearing people fight, he was sensitive. Had to get out sometimes.
Reeves made his way up to the fancy apartment building and trudged up the steps, pulling out his sheet of paper that had her apartment number. He looked at the door in front of him, it had a fine design and architcture carved into it. Hearing piano playing from inside, he knocked hard on the door and rang the bell, before adjusting his vest and putting as polite a smile on his face as he could manage, waiting for the door to open.
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Post by valerie on Apr 5, 2009 1:15:45 GMT -5
Ah, that was it. Valerie ceased her playing and glanced at herself in the mirror before striding over to her door, past the couch and the coffee table and the book case at the wall.
She looked through the peep hole first, one could never be too careful. She shook her head, hearing her mother's words of insecurity passing through her mind. Valerie spotted the wide box and opened the door.
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Post by reeves on Apr 5, 2009 11:17:51 GMT -5
As the door opened, Reeves took in the sight of an older girl, dressed elegantly, her brown hair soft and eloquently styled. That's what he was pretty used to seeing, except sometimes the maid or the butler opened the door. It depended.
He still had that slightly polite smile on his face and tipped his hat to the young lady that opened the door. "G' afternoon, miss. I have a package sent for a Cartwright?" He questioned with a small shrug, hoping he had the right place and gestured to the package he was holding.
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Post by valerie on Apr 5, 2009 12:55:09 GMT -5
She smiled broadly, "Well, I'm the only Cartwright here. Please, come in." She opened the door wider for him and closed it once he was thru. "Oh, just set it on the piano. I'm pretty sure I know what it is already." She spoke to him kindly, sweetly, almost like an old friend.
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Post by reeves on Apr 5, 2009 13:01:29 GMT -5
"Well, I'm the only Cartwright here. Please, come in."
Reeves nodded briefly and swallowed his surprise. Like always, it surprised him when the rich invited a kid like him into their homes. Some of his customers looked like he was some wild animal, ready to steal anything he saw in sight if they let him in. He knew what kind of animal they thought he was too. A rat.
He realized he was still standing in the doorway, looking down at the white carpet sheepishly, deep in his own thoughts. He shook his head and took another step, telling himself at least this lady didn't appear to be the type to yell at him or anything. He had learned that rich people weren't all the same, just like street rats weren't all the same. Street rats could be just as selfish as the rich sometimes.
"Oh, just set it on the piano. I'm pretty sure I know what it is already."
He moved to the piano and set down the package, it was a long skinny box, not as heavy as some of the parcels Reeves usually carried. He listened to her speak, her tone of voice was very welcoming, very kind. He could only somewhat gape at her and fiddle with the button on his dark green vest.
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Post by valerie on Apr 5, 2009 17:24:46 GMT -5
"Mother seems to think I don't care to follow up on the latest fashions. She must think New York is some kind of..." Valerie's smile trail off a bit, going to her desk and picking up a pair of silver scissors. She didn't want to offend the boy. 'Poverty ridden city' didn't seem appropriate any longer. She chuckled, "Well, I don't know." Valerie cut the strings of the box, setting the scissors carefully on the piano and removed the box cover. She pulled out a dark red satin and lace dress. Valerie held it at arms length, then to her own body. Then she draped it over her arm. "I'll go try this on and you can tell me if it fits in the right places or not. I may have lost a little weight since moving here." She waved to the oppisite side of the apartment she was disappearing off to, "Help yourself to anything in the kitchen. There's cookies in the tin on the table and milk in the icebox." |
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Post by reeves on Apr 5, 2009 17:34:14 GMT -5
"Mother seems to think I don't care to follow up on the latest fashions. She must think New York is some kind of...Well, I don't know."
Reeves studied the apartment and then turned to gaze attentively at her, hearing her pause, he knew exactly what she was thinking. He just nodded, not really hurt by it, not much could get past Reeves, but he didn't have that bad of a temper, and he wasn't incredibly sensitive.
"I'll go try this on and you can tell me if it fits in the right places or not. I may have lost a little weight since moving here.Help yourself to anything in the kitchen. There's cookies in the tin on the table and milk in the icebox."
Reeves looked at her, now even more stunned than ever. Either this lady was crazy, she had no sense of the class system in New York, or she was just incredibly lonely since coming here from wherever she came from. He stood stock still for a moment, thinking what would his brothers think if they knew he was standing in a lavish apartment and was supposedly supposed to help himself to cookies?
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Post by valerie on Apr 5, 2009 21:14:49 GMT -5
Valerie looked over herself in the mirror, the laces in the back were a bit difficult, but she had managed them. One hand behind her back, one behind her shoulder. The bow was sideways, but who really cared? She wasn't trying to impress anyone.
She opened her bedroom door, leading right out to the living room, "Well? How does it look?" She turned in a slow circle, "Don't mind the bow. A small hint from Mother that I clearly must need a hired hand..."
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Post by reeves on Apr 5, 2009 21:24:26 GMT -5
"Well? How does it look? Don't mind the bow. A small hint from Mother that I clearly must need a hired hand...""
Reeves examined her, trying to keep a sincere look on his face but he could feel his eyebrow quirking. What did he know about dresses? his older sister Alice always asked him how she looked when she made herself a new dress. Why did they care? A dress was a dress. Well, no he guessed they had a right to care. They were girls after all...
"It looks...er good. Great, uh, I like the bow..." He said stiffly, before the amusement hit him and he smirked, trying to keep in a laugh. From what he just said, he certainly wasn't anything close to any help to Valerie, he just didn't know dresses.
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Post by valerie on Apr 6, 2009 11:43:46 GMT -5
She smiled brightly anyway, "Well, I suppose niceness counts for something." Valerie picked up the silver scissors, the thought occurring to her now that Reeves might have made a few dollars from selling them somewhere. She put them back in the desk drawer, then turned to face him, "Not hungry?"
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Post by reeves on Apr 6, 2009 16:02:08 GMT -5
"Not hungry?"
Reeves just shrugged before explaining, "I dunno. It would just feel not my place digging in your pantries..." If anybody knew the class system well, it was Reeves. Not that he backed down and took some of the rich taunts, but he accepted it for the most part. His family was working class, and that's the way it was always going to be.
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Post by valerie on Apr 6, 2009 20:29:56 GMT -5
She gave a chuckle, and moved past him, into the kitchen. She opened the ice box, looking rather odd pouring a glass of milk in her elegant dress. She opened the tin of cookies, oatmeal raisin, and gestured to the chair, "Well, I insist you have at least one. Otherwise I would consider myself rather insulted. And we wouldn't want that would we?" She gave him a rather stern look, for a moment, then smiled, "Besides, I made them myself."
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Post by reeves on Apr 7, 2009 17:44:19 GMT -5
"Well, I insist you have at least one. Otherwise I would consider myself rather insulted. And we wouldn't want that would we? Besides, I made them myself"
Reeves managed a wide grin yet a shy one and headed to the chair, still thinking what Danny would say if he was sitting in some upscale apartment eating cookies.
"Alright, alright, if you say so, lady," He grinned again and sat in the chair she gestured for him. He studied her as she set the milk and cookies in front of them. She had a very kind pretty face. She looked about the same age as his older sister Alice. He had a feeling he maybe was right that she was slightly lonely.
"If you don't mind me asking, Miss Cartwright, where's the rest of your family?" He asked curiously, watching her with his blue eyes as he nibbled on his cookie.
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