𝗡𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀 -𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚘𝚍𝚘𝚛𝚎 '𝙻𝚊𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚎' 𝙻𝚊𝚞𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎

Chapter 2

Outside of the party
"What happened?" I ask Meg, who's limping.
Jo, who's carrying her, responds, "She twisted her ankle."
Meg gasps, "How will we get home?"
"I don't see how you will, unless we get a carriage or stay here all night." Jo suggests.
"Carriages are too expensive." Meg says quickly.
"Well, let me take you. It's right next door." Teddy offers.
"No thank you. We cannot accept that." Meg says politely.
"You must take mine. Please!" Dore insists.
"No. It's so early. You can't even leave yet." Meg states.
"I always leave early. I do, truly." Laurie says.
"Dore seems to get bored easily at parties like this. I think he's telling the truth." I wink at him.
He rolls his eyes at my nickname for him, "She is not wrong."
"What other choice do we have?" Asks Jo.
Teddy helps us all into the carriage before he gets in himself. The ride back to our house is quiet. Meg's wincing in pain. Jo's looking at me and Teddy. I am avoiding Dore's gaze.
He always seems to be staring. If not that, then observing or stalking. I play with the locket around my neck.
        You know how some people have safety blankets? That's my locket. I don't even remember how I got it. I've just been attached to it.
We get out of the carriage when it stops. Jo wraps her arm around Meg and Laurie helps her.
I go and knock on the door quickly. Marmee opens the door, laughing. She is holding a book and has flour all over her, "Goodness gracious, what have you done?"
Apparently, she was loud enough for Beth and Amy to hear because they come rushing down. Laurie and Jo set down Meg on the chair. We all get attacked in hugs from the girls except for teddy, of course.
"Here, here. Make room. Meg is a wounded soldier." Jo says dramatically.
"I sprained my ankle." Meg says normally.
"Oh Meg. You'll kill yourself for fashion one of these days." She says to Meg." Hannah! We need ice!"
"I did bet that she would have swollen feet." I remind.
"And you're right. Just like you always are." Meg giggles.
Laurie stands off in the distance. He, again, is observing. Amy and Beth come up to me.
"Tell us about it!" Amy says excitedly.
"Was the music just wonderful?" She says with a dreamy look.
"That reminds me." I say as I take out the sheet music from my dress.
Beth and Amy gasp for different reasons.
"Mari, How could you lift up your skirt with a man present?" Amy asks, always trying to be mature.
I look over at Dore, who was already looking at me, " I don't see a man."
He laughs, obviously hearing what we were talking about.
Amy lowers her voice and looks at Teddy, "What's he like?"
We all stare at him. He looks in awe of our medieval utopia of artists and painters.
Marmee welcomes Teddy to come into the living room instead of waiting near the door, "Come in, come in! Apologies for the chaos. I enjoy baking in the middle of the night! Don't mind the clutter! Mr.Laurence, we don't."
"Oh It's Laurie, please." He says already looking at me as I grin.
"Can I call you Teddy?" Jo shouts over.
Teddy smirks, "yes!"
"Oh so she can but I can't? I see how it is." I say with a laugh. "I'll just have to come up with more nicknames."
"You must be apart of the girls' theatricals." Marmee says.
"I'm Amy." She says, pointedly.
"Hello." He replies, politely.
"They could use an extra player, although you'll have to fight Jo for the male roles or play a girl. Here, have a scone." She offers.
Marmee hands him a scone as Hannah enters with ice. I look over at Amy who's sitting on the couch next to where I'm standing. She is sneaking a lot of glances at Laurie.
Marmee laughs, "Laurie, how are your ankles? Do you need ice?"
"No, thank you, ma'am." He laughs.
"Oh, just call me mother, or Marmee. Everyone does." She replies.
Dore looks at her. His smile faltering as if he hasn't called anyone mother for a long time.
Meg tears my attention away from Dore, "It really seems like being a fine young lady to come home from my party in a carriage and have maids to wait on me."
"I don't believe fine young ladies enjoy themselves a bit more than we do!" Jo laughs.
We all laugh. The rest of the girls go cuddle around the warm fire and gossip. I go to the kitchen to get a pastry really quick.
I see Laurie looking at them with affectionate eyes. He seems to enjoy it in our humble home.
I walk upstairs and grab my note book.
       I went to a ball. Not that I was looking forward to it. But if I knew who I was going to meet. Maybe I would've been.
       Meg told me the rules. Of course there are rules. To be a lady, there has to be rules. And I followed them, up until that point of the night.
      It was only until I met him that I didn't want too. He was different.
        I don't know how to describe him. I look out my window and see him. He's walking back to his house. Theodore Laurence, a boy I've never met before, who's always lived across from me.
          He turns back toward the house and I quickly look back at my notebook. I don't want him to know I was staring at him.
Teddy, dore, Laurie, whatever I decide to nickname him, was going to stick around for awhile.
          I could feel it.
         I put down the note book and get in bed. Jo is still downstairs. She will probably come up soon and write more, so I leave a lamp on.
———————
The following weeks, Teddy and I only hung out a hand full of times.
Today was one of those days. Dore and I decided to just walk around the snowy field in between our houses.
"You know, I came up with another nickname for you." I tell him.
"Oh yeah. What is it?" He asks curiously.
"Theo." I state, proudly. I came up with it weeks ago but always forgot about it.
"How do you come up with such terrible nicknames?" He asks with a smile.
I look at him with raised eyebrows,"what's so wrong with my nicknames for you?"
He gives me a pointed look, "Let's start off with my personal least favorite, Dore."
"I don't see how it's bad." I tell him.
"Dore sounds like door and you're telling me it's not bad?" He says, exaggerating his hand movements.
We continue walking in the snow, making foot prints.
I laugh, "I think it's quite good. What else?"
"Okay. Next one, Teddy-"
I interrupt him,"You let Jo call you that after she asked!"
"I only said yes to annoy you." He admits.
"I knew it!" I gasp and point my finger at his face.
He laughs and shoos my finger away from his face, "Teddy sounds like a 5 year olds name. I'm a mature man."
"Sure. What about Theo?" I ask.
"Theo sounds nice but it just doesn't sound like me." He shrugs.
"You have no room to talk. You nicknamed me lyn!" I say with a huff.
"What's so bad about it?" He asks.
"It just doesn't sound right! I'm a sophisticated young lady." I tell him.
"Well do you want me to call you by your full name, Marilyn?" Laurie teases.
"Ew no." I make a face of disgust.
He starts jumping around singing, "Marilyn, Marilyn, Marilyn! Marilyn, Marilyn, Marilyn!"
I pick up some snow and hit him right in the back. That gets him to shut up. He looks at me and I smile innocently.
I get another snowball and throw it. I see him picking up snow and making them into balls. He starts to throw them at me. I go to hide behind a tree. I pick up snow and make a snow ball.
I get out from behind the tree a little bit so I could see where Laurie was supposed to be.
He wasn't there. I look at his foot prints and see them coming my way.
Suddenly, I feel cold hands on my waist. I turn around and see Laurie with a smile. I put the hand with the snowball behind my back. Our faces are really close to each other.
"What about Laurie?" I ask him.
"What do you mean?" He asks looking into my eyes.
I blush," I mean, How do you feel about your self given nickname?"
"Oh. My mom used to call me it. It just stuck, I guess, although my grandfather doesn't care for it." He explains.
"But it does sound like a girls name." I say to try and lighten the mood.
He laughs, "It doesn't but that's your opinion."
I look down and put some hair behind my ear. When I look back up, Laurie is closer than before. Our noses almost touching. I quickly get the melting snowball that's in my hand and shove it in his face.
He stands there, shocked, while I make a break for it. It doesn't take him long to try and catch up to me. I guess it's easier to run in pants.
When he catches up, he tackles me. We both fall to the ground. I lay down on the snow and feel the cold nipping at my skin.
"Oh, Lyn. Sorry. Didn't mean to push you ov-"
I interrupt Laurie's apology when I start laughing. I sit up and try to calm down. He sits up too.
"How have we never met before?" He asks.
"Maybe, because you were always cooped up in your house with your fancy tutor?" I suggest.
"Maybe, because you were too busy with your sisters?" He suggests.
I laugh, " Probably, but I love them. Meg, the oldest, cares for us like a mother. Jo, the second oldest, is a rebel in so many different ways."
I turn and look at him, "Amy, the second youngest, can be a handful but always tries to make us happy. And Beth, my sweet Beth, the youngest and the quietest. She deserves the world."
He looks at me the whole time I'm talking about my sisters,"Must be nice to never have a quiet house."
"Ha! Sometimes all you need is quiet but I still wouldn't trade them for the world." I tell him.
"And what about you?" Dore asks.
"What about me?" I ask him.
"How would they describe you?" He explains.
"Meg would say that I'm like Jo. Rebel in ways but I'm nicer. Jo would say I'm good at everything. That I'm the perfect housewife or whatever. Even though she says it as a joke." I explain.
I lay back down and look up at the sky. Teddy does the same.
"Amy would say that I am nice and complex. She would say I yell too much but I do it cause I love her. Beth would say that I am loving. Caring towards her and always her protector." I finish still looking at the sky.
I see in my peripheral vision that Teddy turned his head towards me. I do the same and turn my head to him. I smile as he stares into my eyes.
"You're staring again." I say in a singsong voice.
Teddy sits up, "You never did give me a real reason why you don't like the name, lyn?"
I look at him and sit up, "It seems too boyish. Or I don't know. It doesn't seem to fit my personality."
"I think it suits you just fine." He tells me.
"And you know what's best for me?" I laugh as I look at him, obviously joking.
"I like to think I have the best insight." He says seriously.
What does that even mean? I know what's best for me. I don't need a man, that I'm not even married to, to order me around. I roll my eyes and stand up with a huff.
"What? Where are you going?" He asks as I walk away from him.
"Home!" I say as I skip towards my house.
—————————