Butlers and tears- Alicia's POV part 1

July 2003


"Coffee, need coffee," a very grumpy Juliette stumbled into the kitchen around 10:30am. I laughed at her smudged eye liner and her knotted hair.

"Don't you think you should be drinking water not coffee?" I'm not sure how much she had to drink, but based on how she stumbled to her room last night like a toddler learning to walk, I would say she must be hurting. Putting another waffle into the toaster I poured her a glass of water and set it in front of her.

"You know I'm still on edge about this party, it'd be great if you could get some life in you before we leave." I said handing her a plate. She shot me a dirty look then drank the water. After she demolished her food and the rest of the water she perked up some.

"Why are you so anxious, you've already met his family?" Juliette got up to make another waffle and coffee.

"I met his parents and sister,  his parents were nice enough but his sister, ugh she was such a snob." I sighed just remembering the night we met.

 It was at a fancy restaurant in a upscale hotel. I had been both excited and nervous to meet his family.  The entrance to the hotel was very grand and luxurious, walking through the lobby I had been dreaming about staying here one day with Dean when a tiny well dressed woman approached us. Dean instantly greeted her with a hug before introducing her. 

"Viviane I would like for you to meet my girlfriend Alicia." She turned her attention to me giving me a short tight smile before shaking my hand.

"Nice to meet you Viviane, I've heard so much about you," I shook her hand with a grin. 

"Really? Well hopefully only good things." She turned her attention back to Dean and asked about the status of his parents. He shrugged and said he wasn't sure. Rolling her eyes she impatiently told us we might as well get a table and wait over some drinks. 

"Alicia, Dean tells me you are attending UCSD also, what are you majoring in?" Viviane asked picking up her martini.

"Marine biology," I smiled widely, for as long as I remember I wanted to be a marine biologist, funny since Colorado was a landlocked state.

"What so you can work at SeaWorld and dance around with seals on stage?" She started laughing loudly at this. I frowned and looked to Dean, he gave me a sympathetic look before telling his sister to knock it off. Once his parents arrived we were distracted for awhile. Though she made her jabs frequently, the worst was after we finished dinner, Dean and his parents were chatting and Viviane turned to me and asked what it was like dating someone with so much money.  I was shocked and didn't respond so she carried on and on about how I won't need to feed dead fish to the whales if I married Dean. His mother, Anna, saved the moment by enveloping me in a hug saying goodbye. 

On the drive home I asked what her deal was and Dean apologized explaining how she has been pretty bitter since her husband died a little over a year ago. I decided to give her a break but hoped I wouldn't have to see her much.

"Earth to Alie!" Juliette said breaking my daze. Looking at the clock I panicked and ran to hop in the shower. By noon I was on my fifth outfit, a floral knee length dress, looking in the mirror behind my bedroom door. In the reflection Dean walked up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and kissed my neck.

"You look beautiful Alie, I don't want to share you today, can we just stay here?" He spun me around and began placing kisses along my neck.

"I'm sure your family would love that, it's your graduation baby. Now stop that I have to finish getting ready." I shoved him off before I let his touch convince me to stay.  Luckily I was mostly ready and Juliette was also so the three of us hopped into Deans Jeep and headed north. I was quiet during the drive,  only piping in when someone asked me a direct question. I know I was probably being dramatic and the party would go smoothly but I couldn't shake my nerves.

We pulled up to a large circular driveway with a grand fountain in the middle. The house was even bigger then I imagined. It was a brick colonial style mansion. Walking up the stairs I took in the beautiful white and purple flowers in pots taller them me that aligned the stone steps.  Dean took my hand in his before using the other to ring the doorbell. Almost immediately a short stocky man in a uniform opened the door.

"Mr. Lockwood very nice to see you sir, please come in." He opened the door wider and motioned for us to step in. I shot a glance to Juliette, she stared at me wide eyed and mouthed 'wow' before following us in. The front foyer was just as grand as the front of the house. The floor was a sparkly sort of cream and gold speckled stone with a dark diamond shape in the middle. There were two staircases with black iron railings one the left and right both curved until they connected at the top. Walking through the middle we continued to follow the man who greeted us, Juliette leaned in and asked if he was the butler, I just shook my head and a giggled escaped.

Once we reached the backyard I was taken back by the amount of guests. Dean was spotted quickly and the majority turned their attention to him yelling out words like "congratulations!" and "cheers!"  His parents hurried to greet us.

"Alicia I'm so glad you could join us," his mother Anna said giving me a kiss on the cheek. His father, Frank said hello with a handshake. Dean introduced them to Juliette before they filled us in on who was here and told us to go get some food. Getting some food didn't come easy as we were bombarded by several people along the way. After a dozen introductions we finally made it to the buffet tables.

"They're using China for a backyard party," Juliette said reaching for a plate.

"Yeah Dean this is not what I was expecting,  was that the butler?" I said placing a hand on his arm.

"It was, Henry, he's been with our family since I can remember.  It's a lot I know but I'm not the wealthy one my family is so I just don't like talking about it, feels like I'm bragging or something."

"Well, I don't think I would ever leave this place, I saw a tennis court a pool and some huge greenhouse already and I haven't even seen everything." Juliette said in amazement.

We, or should I say, several servers, piled our plates high with lobster, rice, shrimp, bread and root veggies. Finding a table with three empty seats we sat down to eat. A server in white came and placed three glasses of bubbly champagne in front of us. In the middle of a mouthful of bread a young attractive man sat down. He resembled Dean with his curly blonde curls and deep blue eyes. He smiled the same panty dropping grin that Dean was an expert at and I knew instantly they were related.

"You must be Alicia, Dean you told me she was beautiful but I think that doesn't do her justice. How'd you get her to stay with you little bro?" He said this while wrapping an arm around Dean's neck and playfully messing his hair up. Dean laughed and yanked away throwing a punch in the air toward his brother.

This must be Dominic, Dean's older and only brother. From what I've heard Dominic was quite the free spirited wanderer. After high school he went to Berkley, dropped out after his first year and had since traveled around the world. His parents funded his lifestyle for two years, thinking it was just a phase and that he would return to school. When they found he was down in Nicaragua surfing his days away with no intention of returning, they finally cut him off refusing to fund his 'bum' life as they called it.

 Dean was 6 years younger, when he graduated high school he hadn't seen Dominic in years so he boarded a plane and spent the summer with his brother. It turns out when he got there he discovered his brother had saved a large majority of the money his parents had been sending him and started a surf camp. His surf camp housed about ten people every three weeks, minus expenses he also set it up where most of the money went to preserving the wetlands in the area. Dean said it had been the best summer of his life, he worked along side his brother and met a lot of great people from all walks of life. When he came back he told his parents what his older brother was up to and the tension they once had when Dominic was brought up was gone. They were so proud he wasn't just wasting his life away down there, they donated a large chunk of money with the stipulation that he had to visit home twice a year at least. Dominic sounded like such a character I was excited to meet him.

"Dominic it's so great to meet you, how's life in Nicaragua?" His face lit up as he told me about the camp and all the work they were doing down there. It sounded like such an adventure, not sure I'd do the surfing part though, but helping out small rural communities develope and maintain safe clean drinking water sounded interesting.

"Wow that sounds amazing, maybe we could pay a visit this summer?" I said turning to Dean.

"Yeah that'd be great, I just got settled at work though so probably closer to the end of summer, maybe for a week. " I clasped my hands together and squealed. I've heard between Costa Rica and Nicaragua they have one of the highest concentration of sea turtles in the world, I would love to get in some research.

"Um hello, I'm so going with you!" Juliette piped in as she sat down next to me. She had left for a moment but must have returned somewhere at the end of our conversation.

"Juliette sorry I didn't introduce you, this is my brother Dominic, Dominic this is Juliette."  They exchanged greetings and I couldn't help but notice how the rest of our conversation Dominic couldn't keep his eyes off of Juliette. Our talk was interrupted by Frank he had tapped his glass to get everyone's attention. Making a beautiful speech about how proud he and Anna were of Dean, he raised his glass and asked us all to toast to Dean. As soon as the glass left my lips Dean surprised me with a kiss, it was a short sweet kiss but still made my knees weak. Breaking the kiss he leaned down and whispered in my ear.

"I love you Alicia," he turned away before I could respond and got up to hug his parents. I froze, this was the first time he's said that,  other then when he slipped in that he was falling in love with me, back when we got back together. My heart began racing like a horse at the Kentucky derby. I looked to Juliette who was busy talking with Dominic. I had to get up, I needed air, ha I was outside I had plenty of air, then why couldn't I breath?

I got up and started walking, I found a pathway away from the party and just kept walking. The path curved to the right and I saw a large ornate gazebo,  walking towards the gazebo I figured I would sit and do some thinking. When I approached the table I was startled to see Viviane curled up on a bench, what was more surprising was the tears running down her face. She looked up with fear etched across her face, when she noticed it was me she scrunched her brows and glared at me before speaking.

"What are you doing here?"






-hey guys, this is my last post for over a week. I'm going on Vacation!!!  Hoping to write some but not sure I can post. Thanks for reading and commenting!
Juliette