Forever Blue (NaNoWriMo17)

Chapter 2: Awkwardness

Chapter 2: Awkwardness

The first thing Rapunzel did on the morning of her birthday was go to her mother's grave with her guitar. Ever since her funeral Rapunzel had made a tradition of going and singing to her mother on holiday's or important family memories. Her singing at her mother's grave is what led to Kent recruiting her for Blue Fae. Kent and her mother had been childhood friends, and Rapunzel had remembered her mother talking about her first love often enough that she had known who he was when he had come up to her. Although she hadn't known that he was the owner of the biggest talent agency in the area.

At first Rapunzel had wanted to scream at him and curse him. Blame someone for her mother not having the help she needed when she fell sick, but she had quickly found out that Kent had been as much of a victim of the Armont family as her mother had. The two of them could have had a happy life together, but Alain Armont hadn't wanted his daughter marrying a commoner and had convinced both of them that the other never wanted to see them again. Mourning the loss of her first love at a bar is how Elizabeth had met Rapunzel's father, and what led to her eventual disownment by her family.

They hated her mother so much that when she reached out on her death bed hoping to at least get them to accept Rapunzel back into the family they ignored her letters. Heck none of her mother's family even showed up to the funeral. At least despite thinking she had never wanted to see him again when he had seen the obituary and funeral notice in the paper Kent had come. She had been able to see how much he had loved her mother, and so she had decided to get to know him. Wanting to know why her mother had called out for him on her death bed. It had always made her sad thinking that Kent never got the opportunity to say goodbye, if her mother had told her more about the man Rapunzel would have tracked him down sooner to make sure the last moments of her mother's life would have been happy. Knowing he hadn't hated her would have made her mother peaceful enough that the last moments wouldn't have been as agonizing as they were.

"Love you mom," she whispered kissing her fingers before placing them on the tombstone.

No one was ever allowed to come with her to see her mother. It was too personal to Rapunzel. Of course she knew other people came considering the amount of flowers on her grave, but so far she hadn't met anyone at the grave since the funeral. She never had to worry about her time with her mother being spied upon.

"Oh honey," Mirianna Devon whispered as she encased Rapunzel into a hug. In her grief she hadn't even realized that she had walked back to the Devon Estate.

"Ma!" She cried out hugging her back fiercely. At least she still had her second family, and they loved her. Without them Rapunzel really would be an emotionless being who only cared about music.

Once Rapunzel finally calmed down she and Ma acted like nothing had ever happened. Just like they did every time Rapunzel broke down. The rest of her birthday seemed to go by in a blur following the same routine. Blake jokingly proposing to her once again and everyone laughing at his sad face afterwards. The only thing different was the sad look Ma had sent towards Blake, instead of being the normal disappointment about Rapunzel once again turning Blake down, this one seemed more knowing. Rapunzel wondered if one of Blake's parents had finally figured out that he batted for the other team.

Just like every birthday Rapunzel absolutely refused to accept presents. It was one of the main reasons she never told her band mates about her birthday. Considering her mother's struggles with earning money there had never really been much for birthdays or Christmas. Instead they would always make some sort of homemade gift for each other, and Rapunzel just couldn't bring herself to accept any gifts that didn't share that sort of sentiment.

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A few days and a few surprise quizzes at school later found Rapunzel just outside the door of Blue Fae's rehearsal room. Usually she would arrive and just go straight into the room to either practice her guitar, work on lyrics, or warm up her voice before the rest of the band arrived. This time she arrived last and she was hesitant to enter the room, afraid of how the other's would react towards her. At times she wished she really was as nonchalant as she acted towards them, that they meant nothing to her. Then it would be easy for her to walk into the room and act like nothing had happened the last time they had seen each other because if she didn't care it would mean nothing just like Blake had implied the last time she had seen them all.