Drama

-- by Lizzie

Disclaimer: I don't own the MSW characters, and I'm hoping Lizz doesn't mind that I stole "Annie" for a story. :-P

Falling to the couch after a day of meeting with publishers, agents and the like, Jessica breathed a sigh of relief that she was out of the drama they created arguing with each other over contracts, deadlines and, later in meetings, language structure. And she had just finished telling herself to wind down when the most obnoxious noise she had ever heard invaded her solitude.

“Annie!” she tried to call upstairs but realized even her loudest attempt would go unnoticed by her great-niece. Instead, she walked up the stairs, rubbing her head in a failed endeavor to rub away the pain that seemed to have taken up residence within her skull.

“JUST GET OUT MY FACE; JUST LEAVE ME ALONE. AND NO, YOU CAN’T HAVE MY NUMBAH, ‘CAUSE I LOST MY PHONE!”* Jessica heard Annie’s voice even down the hall and over the CD Annie was playing. She may have seemed quiet around everyone else, but when she thought she was alone in the house, she filled the house with her voice.

Not that her voice wasn’t beautiful. Quite the contrary, some days Jessica would sneak inside the house while Annie thought she would be gone for hours and listen for Annie in her room, singing as though no one was listening. She had a beautiful voice, and even if she didn’t want to share it with anyone besides in the choir around Christmastime, Jessica adored hearing it. Some days it even reminded her of Emma, which caused a lot of fond memories to resurface for her.

But today it was obnoxious.

Everything had taken a bit of an obnoxious undertone, for her, today, and she noticed that she was becoming easily irritated at even the smallest things, but she also couldn’t help but notice that Annie didn’t usually blast the speakers off her stereo when she played music, either. Loud music was one thing, shattering glass was quite another.

“Annie,” she called out, nearly banging her fist on the door. “Annie, please open the door.”

“Sorry, Aunt Jess,” she said, after opening the door and turning off her stereo. “Bad day.”

“Me too,” Jessica replied. “Drama.”

“Yeah. Teenage girls invented drama.”

“What do you think of the idea of us going out to eat tonight?”

“Where?” Annie asked, perking up a little at the thought of getting a new perspective by eating dinner somewhere besides the same old house.

“Someplace that serves lobster,” Jessica replied. “Maybe we could get Seth to go with us. He’s always good for some entertainment.”

“Sounds perfect!” Annie beamed, already grabbing her purse in preparation.

**

Kind of a footnote: If you don't know who Annie is, read "Annie's Song" and all the fics Lizz Browne wrote regarding Annie...it's a nice series of stories, and, Lizz wrote them, so, they pretty much rock. :)