Sunday Lunch

[Chastity Holloway]

Walking up the Garden path towards her parents home, Chas frowned to herself as she could see her mother looking out of the kitchen window & waving & took the opportunity to light a cigarette, anything to piss dear Mother off.

"Chastity! You cant smoke in front of the baby!" came her Mother's shrill voice as she rushed to take Bowie from her terrible, bad mothers arms.

"I can & I do. My baby, I made it" she shrugged simply, blowing the smoke outi n a steady stream as she followed her Mum into the house where she fussed over her grandson. "Janis wont be here today, she sends her love" Chas muttered, looking through the cupboards for something to do while she awaited a sibling to talk to before her Mum mentioned Sean & his absence, Chas may have failed to mention to her boyfriend that he was invited.

(ooc. Come one, come all!)

[Jenny Holloway]

Jenny hit the brakes on her bike, dismounting and walking it over to where she usually left it near the door of her parents' house. Leaning it against the side wall she rooted around in the basket on the front of the bike, removing the box of baked goods she'd brought with her and pausing to also change from the flat shoes she wore to bike into her usual heels. Slipping them on she bent carefully to fasten the strap and then, spotting her mum and Chastity through the kitchen window, she slipped into the house quickly.

"Did I hear you say Janis won't be here?" Jenny asked innocently as she entered the kitchen, "That's a pity, is she off with some friends or something?" she continued, pausing to kiss her mum on the cheek and say hello. Then she smoothed her own dress down out of habit and deposited the box she carried on the kitchen counter, "I made muffins and brownies this morning and thought I'd bring some along," she mentioned to her mum, "I don't know what it is I've just been in such a baking mood lately," she smiled before turning to her sister. "How are you? How's little Bowie been doing this week?" she said, waving a hello with a big smile, to the baby in his grandmother's arms.

[Chastity Holloway]

"She's away with a friend, looking for some aquatic plant in the Lake near her friends house then they're going to something afterwards. Whatever it is, it wont be interesting." Chastity shook her head, she loved her daughter to bits but sometimes she wished she'd act out, break some rules, just for once. She was such a boring teenager compared to what Chas was.

Chas walked over to the boxes Jenny had just put down & helped herself to a muffin, "Baking mood? Maybe you're having puppies?" Chas winked before laughing, handing Bowie some muffin even though her mum was telling her not to.
"Im fine yeah, sleep deprived and having severe nicotine withdrawals, he's teething so he doesnt want to be away from me...ever. Its rather tedious, he's lucky I love him" Chas leaned over and kissed her son on the head softly, a rare display of affction in front of others.
"How are you? Is Ben not coming?" she asked, standing near the open window & lighting another cigarette.

(ooc. I thought it'd be funny if Chas made a joke about Jenny being pregnant, the puppies obvs because of Ben's hairy little problem lol)

[Lacey Holloway]

Lacey strode into the kitchen, putting her hair in a bun as she did so. "Yes Mum, I remembered to tell Marilyn and Simon we were doing lunch," she yelled exasperatedly to her mother. Lacey ran around keeping people on schedule every day of her life, yet the woman still treated her like she couldn't find her way out of a paper bag. She dumped an adorably perfect little pink box filled with petit-fours on the counter, pretty obviously purchased from some trendy bakery in the city. Lacey had also pretty obviously stress-eaten about five on the way over.

"Light?" Lacey asked Chas, holding out a cigarette. She knew that having so many smokers in the family had to drive Jenny crazy, but she wasn't sure she could manage a family visit without it.

[Jenny Holloway]

Jenny shook her head slightly as her sister talked of Janis' plans, "Well, if that's what she finds interesting then think of it this way, you got lucky with her because you don't have to deal with a rebellious teenage girl," she pointed out lightly. "No offence but I'm pretty sure Mum is undoubtedly still holding onto the grief you gave her when you were younger, it's the sort of thing she likes to use as guilt material," the redhead noted conspiratorially before smiling innocently at their mother as she came into the kitchen again.

She went over to the kitchen sink to wash her hands and nearly dropped the soap as Chastity suggested she was pregnant, of course teasingly also referencing Ben's condition. She turned around, her brow furrowed worriedly and shook her head, "Or maybe I just found the old recipe book Mum gave me years ago," she countered easily - a lie as to the reason she'd been baking but it was wrapped in some semblance of truth at least - before smiling tightly and breaking herself off a small square of brownie. Nibbling on this daintily as Chastity talked of her life she looked sympathetic, "Aww giving your Mummy trouble already?" she cooed at Bowie with a fond smile, a smile which grew as her sister kissed him on the head. It was nice, seeing Chastity openly affectionate in a maternal kind of way.

When asked she nodded primly, "I'm fine, as ever. It was the last week of school so I had to wave goodbye to the kids who're leaving this year, tears were shed unsurprisingly," she admitted shyly as she spoke of the children at the muggle primary school where she worked part time as their music teacher. "At least I have the people at the dance studio to teach, so I don't turn into an emotionally gibbering wreck over the summer holidays," Jenny explained, looking up as Lacey appeared just in time to help Jenny avoid spluttering out a vague, unconvincing explanation as why Ben wasn't with her. Ben wasn't with her because Jenny hadn't seen him since the fateful pregnancy test day. She'd phoned him and mentioned she'd be really busy with work, what with the school year winding down and her putting together the summer show at the dance studio, but truthfully she was still just terrified to see him again. "Your perfectly wrapped and decorated petit-fours are putting my home baking to shame, Lace," she greeted her sister jokingly.

[Chastity Holloway]

Smirking to herself as her youngest sister asked for a light, Chas made a show of lighting the cigarette, making eye contact with their mother and smiling widely as she watched Lacey inhaling the smoke, thinking "atta girl" to herself.

"Dont get me wrong, Im glad she isnt out there doing drugs and selling herself for galleons but I just wish she was slightly more interesting, slightly rebellious for once. She's never even gotten drunk, she's 17 for fucks sake! They're supposed to be rocking hangovers like its their job...but nope, Janis wants to dig up seaweed and shit" Chas shook her head sadly before looking fondly at Lacey, "I wish she was more like this one, people often think she is my daughter because she's more like me...you poor bastard" Chas laughed, her eyes twinkling with delight as their mother scowled and muttered under her breath.

"He's definitely his fathers son, a little shit" she muttered though her eyes still showed nothing but love for her son who she wouldnt swap for all the red wine int he world.
"I didnt realise we were to supply treats, my contribution..." she passed a cigarette to Lacey before offering the packet to Jenny, shrugging her shoulders before helping herself to another one.

[Lacey Holloway]

Lacey looked at Jenny suspiciously, convinced for a second that she was being mocked for her store-bought treats before remembering who exactly she was talking to. "They're from a bakery near my flat. Your home baking is still winning the perfect and adorable contest, not to worry," she snorted while taking a large corner piece of brownie in one hand and a cigarette in the other. The petit-fours were actually from a trendy shop in a much better neighborhood than the terrible one she lived in (purely to avoid having to split the rent with flatmates), but that was neither here nor there.

"Ew, why seaweed?" Lacey asked with her nose scrunched up before blowing smoke through the open window. She waited for their mum to disappear into one of the bedrooms before joking, "I'm actually shocked Mum's never tried to pass me off as one of you lot's kids," while gesturing at the pictures on the refrigerator to indicate all of her siblings. "She'd enjoy passing judgement on other peoples' unplanned pregnancies so much more if she hadn't had a surprise kid in her forties, you know?" Lacey laughed while taking a cigarette from Chas, acting like reining in her judgement was some great hardship for their mother.

[Andrew Holloway]

Andrew kicked the stand on his motorbike and stood it up along the side wall near Jenny’s bike. He smiled as he saw it and carried a pie from ‘Just Deserts’ in one hand while he sipped his coke through his straw in the other hand.

Pushing open the door he greeted everyone, “Hello all, Mum,” he kissed their mum on the cheek as he passed into the kitchen and set down the pie box. His mum smiled at him lovingly and they tossed a few “How are you, and good thanks” back and forth. For being such a reckless annoying teenager his mum always loved him.

As their mum left he walked up to the girls and asked, “Pie anyone?” Then glancing from Jenny, Chastity, to Lacey he asked, “So what did I miss?” He wasn’t sure if the others knew about Ben and their little oppsie, so he thought he would just stay quiet about that. Sure, Andrew was normally a loud mouth, a gossiper, a cyclone of mayhem really, but the really important things he knew how to keep quiet… usually.

((ooc: This is rather terrible, but at least he is there.))

[Jenny Holloway]

Jenny watched as her sisters enjoyed their cigarettes, looking down at her nails in an effort to stop herself from starting one of her well-meaning lectures of the dangers of smoking, piping up, "Oh, you have to show me the bakery some day, they look amazing," she commented on the petit-fours, "But it's good to know I still win some adorable points for the brownies!"

Then, turning to Chastity, "Good... because you got off easily with Janis when it comes to teenage rebellion," she laughed good naturedly before protesting, "Hey, that's not fair! I mean I didn't get drunk properly until I was like 17, my birthday in fact. And even then that was only because of you misleading me about how much alcohol was actually in margaritas. My very first hangover-" she trailed off in a jokingly contemplative way with a wistful smile on her face.

"Oh come on, 'surprise kid', you're hardly a surp-..." she started to try to defend the accusation on their mum's behalf before relenting and entirely giving up, "No, you're right. You two are scarily alike are you sure it's not all just some elaborate double bluff cover-up deal here and it turns out you are actually mother and daughter?" she asked lightly, looking up then as she heard their brother's voice in the hallway as he greeted their mum. "I'd say we're desserted-out at the moment," she explained, nudging her head to her own contributions and Lacey's which sat on the kitchen counter, "Maybe later though since it's one of Ned's," she smiled up at her brother, working hard to maintain her usual cheery disposition when in actual fact when her brother had walked into the room she'd wanted to run and hide as quickly as possible.

After silently panicking the day she'd took the pregnancy test Jenny had ended up blindly running to Andrew, knowing she couldn't go to her sisters or her mum, and unloading all of her anxiety on him while he very patiently listened and then miraculously kept his word about not saying anything. "Nothing, nothing at all, everyone and everything is fine and dandy!" she chirped enthusiastically, a little too enthusiastically, even for her.

[Chastity Holloway]

"Because my daughter is clearly like her father, a complete freak." Chas shrugged her shoulders, she loved that Janis was clearly passionate about something but she had hoped that it'd be something a lot less icky. "Im going to have to go through all this gross stuff again with Bowie, arent I? I might just start buying him dolls now, turn him gay so I dont have to find frog spawn in every item of clothing..." she laughed softly, before laughing louder at Lacey's suggestion.

"Yeah, you totally fucked up Mum's judge-arama of me when you arrived. Thanks sweety" Chas chuckled, she had brought an end to many an argument by using the "if unplanned is good enough for you, its good enough for me" line.
"I'd gladly take the credit for this one, have you seen her drink? Im starting to think she is mine..." Chas eyed Lacey suspiciously before smiling as their brother joined them, rolling her eyes as he brought in a baked good as well.

Chas eyed Jenny as she was acting strangely and sat back in her seat, taking a long drag of her cigarette, blowing the smoke out of the side of her mouth as she kept her eyes on her, "So what are you keeping from us? You owe me, you revealed Sean, you told everyone about Bowie...tell me. Now." Chas spoke in a low voice so as not to alert their mother, nodding to Lacey to close the door.

[Andrew Holloway]

Seeing Chas eyeing up Jenny and going in for the kill Andrew stepped in, brownie in hand. “She is hiding the fact that I am actually going out on a date with a woman this evening. One who is not married, or in any way crazy,” he said speaking of Hannah. Were they still going out? They had sort of dated on and off for a while. He really needed to man up and tell her he wanted to date her exclusively, you know, like a boyfriend. Then there was Amy.

Andrew shoved those thoughts to the back of his mind as he picked up one of the treats Lacey had brought and began taste testing each one alternately. Wait, did Chas or anyone for that matter know he had been secretly having an affair with a married woman? Well, that cat was out of the bag.

[Lacey Holloway]

Lacey took one step backward, putting her hands behind her and closing the door with a gentle click before nodding once at Chastity. As Andrew revealed their 'secret', Lacey rolled her eyes. "Ugh, that was so anticlimactic. Boooooo," she heckled with her hands cupped over her mouth before throwing a brownie crumb at her brother. It had, however, distracted her from whatever was going on with Jenny.

Lacey then put one hand on her hip and squinted. "Uh, wait. Was her being married, like, a possibility? Pretty weird thing to say, bro," Lacey noted through a mouthful of brownie, with the utter lack of etiquette she only let slip around her family.

[Chastity Holloway]

Chas shook her head in disbelief "You were the other man in someones marriage? Wow, and to think our dear Mother only ever passes judgement on me & my Mistress ways of the past" Chas laughed softly before shrugging her shoulders, "So who is this mystery girl? What's wrong with her that she's considering dating you?" Chas smirked with an evil glint in her eye, flicking the ash from the cigarette before taking another long drag.

Turning her attention back to Jenny, Chas smiled and shook her head slowly, she knew there was something more going on but for now she'd let Jenny relax, not for too long though.

"Pass me some cake Bro, and tell us all about your scandalous affairs, I need a laugh" Chas laughed, looking at Jenny and winking at her with a sly smile.