All at Once, (Closed) Maria Johannson Options

[Zoeigh Westervel...]

Two weeks ago Zoeigh had rather unceremoniously announced to her family that she was engaged to one, Shane Matthew Westerveldt, whom she had known for a couple of years but only been dating for six months. I’ll pause her to allow everyone to gasp aloud. Okay. Back to the story. The Hufflepuff Alumni had originally planned on telling them in a much more tactful way then how it had happened. You can trust Maria Johannson to destroy that. Granted, Zo knew that her best friend hadn’t intended to be so UNtactful…considering she herself didn’t know of the engagement at the time. Needless to say, the family had found out. Her father had seemed far less ecstatic about it (but was supportive, as he always would be) than her mother who had begun running around with McAllister residence like a chicken with her head cut off trying to make wedding arrangements not even ten minutes after the issue was settled.

Now, Zoeigh was about to tell them of another decision she was making. Another HUGE decision she was making. Zo and Shane had discussed the possibility of her moving in with him…considering the wedding was only a month and a half away. AMG SHE WAS GOING TO DIE. The only kink in their plan was he informing her family AGAIN of how she was moving on with her life after already making the decision to do so. This could be a huge problem when you were raised in a family that believed all decisions within the family should be discussed between each member before a decision was made. However, Zo also knew that she was an adult and was thus allowed (even expected) to make adult decisions without clearing it with every member of the family first.

It was TELLING them that was messing with her normally cool and collected mind. Yes, having grown up with her family for nineteen years had taught her that the TELLING was always the issue.

Case and point: the announcement of her engagement.

Now, Zo was sitting on the sofa in the family room, on her day off (what a way to spend her rarely seen days off), biting her bottom lip and furrowing her brow trying to figure out how she would speak to her family on the issue. Gently…obviously. Another thing she had grown up with was a rather large moral compass. This included the belief that a girl did NOT move in with a man until after they had exchanged vows at the altar. PURITY AND ALL THAT JAZZ. Looking back, Zoeigh could see both the pros and cons of her parents raising her this way. In this particular case though, her pros certainly outweighed her cons. Her pros would, of course, include the romantic aspects of her very soon-to-be marriage without the fear of family walking in on them *eyes Maria*. Hence why she was freaking out inside (and probably a bit visibly to those that know her best). She would tell them today…she just wasn’t exactly sure how she would go about this.

Suddenly, she heard shuffling of feet on the carpeted floor. Zoeigh prayed it wasn’t her father (he was certainly the last person she wanted to see until she knew what she was going to do) but didn’t look up until she heard the voice of the shuffling feet, she presumed. Maria. She would recognize that voice anywhere. MARIA WAS OKAY…unless she started harping into her, which she wasn’t. She was simply asking Zoeigh what was wrong. The blonde looked up into her best friend’s eyes and saw a slight worried look in them before taking a sudden interest in her thumbs. “Nothing really,” she paused to quickly decide if she wanted to discuss it with Maria first. It was certainly a privilege of being in the best friend status. Discussing important issues before anyone else knew about them. “I’m just trying to decide how to tell mum and dad that I’m planning on moving in with Shane.” There. She’d told one person. Her best friend had become uncannily calm and even tempered since she’d given birth to Taryn. If anyone would see this in the same way as Zoeigh saw it…it would be Maria.

“WHAT?!”

Zoeigh looked up when she heard the deep voice of her father…the one person she had hoped she would NOT see just yet. He was simply standing there with and looked rather irritated, which is a look he rarely wore on his face and it scared the blonde. “Daddy…I can explain!” she exclaimed standing up but not walking over to him. He held up a finger as if telling her he didn’t want to hear it at the moment. CRAP. Her dad was mad. Man…she had the worst luck on the world. Suddenly, Zo wished that she could use his time-turner and go back to before she had made this decision. AVOID IT ALL.

This was not going to end pretty. Not in the slightest.

OOC: This thread takes place June, VH 19.

[Maria Johannson]

“No, Taryn! Not Mummy’s camera!”

Maria Johannson ran forward and tugged her camera out of her daughter’s hands, right before it hit the floor. “I am never leaving this in reach of you again…” Just a couple of days earlier, Taryn had learned the joy of crawling. And, with crawling, came the art of pushing herself to her knees. Which, just so happened to bring her into closer contact with objects that “Mummy” normally set down because Taryn Rachel Johannson hadn’t been able to grab onto them before. She’d have to rethink where she set things down now. The former Gryffindor scooped up Taryn as well and set the camera on the kitchen counter. She pressed a kiss to Taryn’s head. “Such a smart girl, I swear…” When Taryn started wriggling in her grasp, she set her down on the floor and…off she set. Making sure there wasn’t anything that her daughter could get herself into, she smiled and returned to the kitchen, where she filled a bottle with some apple juice Zoeigh had got a couple of days previous. Maria smiled as the bold “organic” written across the front of the juice bottle. Crying suddenly tore through the small flat that Maria had occupied for a few months. The flat that just so happened to be over the McAllister house. The crying belonged to her daughter and Maria flew out of the kitchen and into the hallway where she saw the blonde baby sitting. Her face was a brilliant red and fat, angry tears were rolling down her face.

Maria walked over to Taryn and picked her up. “What did you do, baby? Hmm?” She brushed the soft tendrils of blonde hair off of her forehead and, almost immediately, Taryn started calming down. “Come on. How about we go downstairs and see if Grammy and Grampa Patrick are there?” Another kiss, a grab at the bottle and then they were gone. The apartment led to the garage, which worked out very well. It gave Maria the kind of privacy and independence that she needed at her age and in her predicament. Having a baby and all. Opening the front door (cause that’s how she always entered from her place), the first thing that Maria noticed was the mess that Jeffery had clearly left in the living room. Gone were the towers of action figures that were nearly there, but in their place, were several different leotards and costumes from the two dance recitals he’d soon be in. Suddenly, the boy dashed into the room, a fedora hat in his hands. Upon seeing the two girls, a wide smile appeared on his face. Taryn started wriggling again, so Maria put her down at the same time that Jeffery came over to them. “Mia! Hi, Taryn! The recital's in TWO DAYS!” Being one of the instructors involved in the recital, the blonde just smiled and chuckled. “I know JIM. You’re ready, trust me.”

If she were being honest, he was one of the best in the class. The kid was a genius when it came to dance.
A boy after her own heart.

Looking around, Maria saw Taryn had crawled her way over to the pile of clothes in the living room and had somehow found her way right in the center of them. The Hogwarts alumni laughed at the sight of her daughter sitting in the center of JIM’s recital clothing, before moving forward to pick her up. “I’ll take her, Sweetie.” She looked up to see Alicia standing there, a dishrag in her hands and a smile on her face. Maria walked over to the redheaded woman and placed a kiss on her cheek. “Thanks, Mummy. Taryn, look. It’s Grammy. Do we love her?” She watched Alicia walk over to Taryn, as she left the room. Rumor had it that Zoeigh was off for the day and it was actually one of those days that the former Hufflepuff had announced she didn’t plan to spend with Shane. The boy, a former Slytherin who graduated in Maria’s year, had been dating Zoeigh for a couple of months. In fact, just recently, Zo had announced to the family that Shane had proposed and that she was, indeed, getting married. Of course, the announcing had been a bit of Maria’s fault. After all, you can’t just WEAR your engagement ring to dinner and expect no one to comment on it, thank you very much!

Maria found Zoeigh in the family room, sitting on one of the sofas, looking deep in thought. The only problem with that, was Zoeigh didn’t just look pensive, but completely freaked out. Like, she had to sell her unborn child to the devil and she was kind of apprehensive about it. As she sat down, after greeting her with a soft, “Hey, Zomo”, she looked at her for a moment, before she spoke up. “Hey, what’s going on? You’ve got ‘Broody Face’.” Zoeigh’s comment made Maria’s eyes widen. The very fact that Zoeigh was even thinking about moving in with Shane meant that the couple had talked about it in length. Moving in. Maria considered what it meant. It did mean one thing: it meant no more walking in on things she didn’t necessary want to be walking in on. Plus, even Maria had to admit that they were in love; even though there was something that Shane was hiding. She just knew it. The blonde opened her mouth to say…something, when she heard a very male, very PATRICK-type voice break through the silence. Maria’s mouth dropped open and she stood up with Zoeigh, looking at Patrick who looked…angry. The blonde felt laughter bubble up and she giggled. “Seriously, Zoeigh. You have the WORST luck EVER.”

[Zoeigh Westervel...]

Sometimes, Zoeigh Danielle McAllister (soon-to-be Westerveldt) wished she could just crawl into a hole and bury herself in there. Times like these…for an example.

Today, as stated before, was one of her days off and she’d planned on telling her family that she would be moving in with Shane BEFORE they were married. The task in itself wouldn’t/shouldn’t have been all that difficult. Except that it was. Both of Zo’s parents were firm believers in living with your parents until you got married due to the morality issues of purity and all that jazz. It wasn’t just because they (and Zo) were Catholic either. Her own parents had not lived with each other before being married and had saved themselves for each other until their wedding night. With that said, the Hufflepuff Alumni KNEW that telling her parents about Shane her plans would be bad. VERY BAD.

Zoeigh had also planned on not saying a word to anyone until, at least, after dinner. This plan had left her sitting in the family room thinking about her new plans of HOW exactly to tell them. Enter Maria who said minimal words to her but got Zo to open up and spill all her worried thoughts out to her. And, apparently her father as well. Though, Zoeigh had not known about the “father” factor until she’d heard him speak with a rather angry undertone to his voice, looked up, saw his face, and farther wished she could crawl into a hole and bury herself there. HER DAD WAS MAD. Granted, she already knew he would be…but she wasn’t prepared for him wrath and this point. She was preparing herself for after dinner, not an hour before. The blonde suddenly became very interesting in her socks. They her white. “Daddy I was going to talk to you about it later. Shane and I have discussed it thoroughly and decided it’d be good to move in together and okay because we’re only a few weeks away from being married.” She sucked at coming up with ways to speak to her dad about sensitive subjects when she knew he’d disagree and upset.

She didn’t even want to think of what her mum would say when she found out. Although, she didn’t imagine it would be worse than her dad’s current one which was a reaction that was terrifying Zoeigh. Perhaps she was reading him wrong though because she was expecting the worst. Perhaps not? He didn’t look very happy. Maybe he’d be more understanding now that she’d explained herself more, albeit terribly so, but she had. DOUBTFUL she’d be the lucky…as Maria had just pointed out, she had the WORST luck EVER.

----------------

Patrick had raised good children (was still raising good children in the case of Jeffery). Zoeigh had always been sweet and extremely motivated when it came to achieving her goals. She hadn’t ever let anything interfere with her plans and it was a drive that Patrick was proud to say she’d gotten from him. After all, the man hadn’t even been married until he was thirty-one. Jeffery was…well, he was a lot like Patrick when he was younger. He had an imagination that could trump most and a skill in most artistic endeavors, which Alicia had given him. And then there was Maria. Not TECHNICALLY his child but he considered her one nonetheless. She’d had a rough life but had always risen above the things that were thrown at her and she’d managed to stay herself through it all. Actually, she’d become a stronger and person through everything with a willpower that could move mountains if she wanted to. Plus, she had turned out to be a wonderful mother to her daughter who hadn’t come into her life the way that Maria had probably imagined she would. All-in-all, the man was extremely proud of his children.

Unless they did stupid things.

Such as Zoeigh. Of course, she didn’t often make dumb decisions (in fact, he could count on one hand the times she had done so). However, today…his baby girl, him bumblebee had made a very dumb (and unsafe) decision.

He had gotten home from work and changed into something more comfortable before heading to the family room where he’d briefly seen Zo sitting before going to his bedroom. She’d looked deep in thought about something so he figured he’d talk to her and perhaps help her with her decision later. So, he’d walked into the family room casually but instantly tensed up at the words that filtered from her pink glossed lips. His daughter was planning on MOVING IN WITH HER FIANCÉE.

Before he even realized, he was reacting with a, “WHAT?!” Zo looked terrified at him and then dipped her head trying to explain herself. After she stopped speaking, Patrick cleared his throat, “I don’t need an explanation Zoeigh McAllister because it doesn’t matter. You are NOT moving in with him.” At first, he was going to continue on his warpath (not really a warpath because he was upset but not to that point) but then he saw slight tears welling in his daughter’s eyes. Patrick sighed and softened his tone, “Baby, we’ve talked to you about this practically forever. It isn’t proper for a girl to move in with a man until they’re married. That leads to temptation, which leads to…other things happening that shouldn’t happen until two people are wed. You have to stay pure for Shane honey,” he finished even though there was more he wanted to say. He wouldn’t. Zoeigh had gotten the lecture several times throughout her childhood and could probably recite it to him. Then again, it was her THINKING about moving in with Shane now that had made him go into the speech once again. So, perhaps she did need a better talking to. He’d get Alicia to help him out if that was the case. His beloved was so much better at speaking about sensitive topics with grace and comfort. Granted, he wasn’t TERRIBLE at it…just not quite as soft when it came to his daughter’s virginity.

[Maria Johannson]

This certainly hadn’t been what she’d been expecting when she’d entered the McAllister house. It was true that she’d planned on spending time with Zoeigh. Simply because, regardless of where in their lives they were with their careers, Zoeigh McAllister ((soon-to-be Westerveldt)) was still her very best friend. Outside of her father, there wasn’t a person in the world who knew her better. They’d been through so much and, not to risk sounding sentimental, it had brought them closer. Hell, the former Hufflepuff had helped deliver her daughter, for Merlin’s sake! Her plans to spend the day with Zomo had been just that; regardless of what they’d planned to do, all the private eye wanted was to spend time with her. Which, she didn’t mind doing while talking about whatever it was that was bothering Zo so much. Of course, Maria hadn’t been that surprised upon her best friend’s declaration. Both Shane and Zoeigh had been together for several months and were clearly in love. However, Patrick did not seem as keen upon the idea.

Not that the former Gryffindor was surprised.
He was an old-fashioned kind of bloke.

Maria stood, holding back a chuckle or two as she stood witness to the conversation. The blonde knew very certainly how Patrick and Alicia felt about purity and keeping yourself until marriage. In all honesty, it was rather darling and sweet and Maria had followed it with Daniel. She hadn’t a reason not to. He’d never pressured her and she hadn’t truly felt any kind of desire to head in that direction until after they’d been married. And then, of course, she’d realized why he’d never pressured her. It was all the MISTRESSES, you see. But, Maria knew how seriously the McAllisters took this idea of purity. So much so that Patrick’s reaction to overhearing Zoeigh’s decision hadn’t been surprising in the least. She watched with interest as Zo suddenly became all-too-interested with her socks and spoke to them, though really to Patrick. It was Patrick’s comment that caught her full attention. Stay pure for Shane?

She felt a shocked bark of laughter slip past her lips. Oops? “Pure? What are you even ta–” Maria’s eyes widened. Stop talking, perhaps?

FLASHBACK

Maria had told Zoeigh that she’d meet her before she’d had to work. Now, let it be said that Maria never ever knocked before she entered Zoeigh’s room. Granted, it was Shane’s flat that she’d Apparated into without knocking, but still. She’d been told to come over to pick up Zoeigh. That implied that she was expected by Zoeigh, right? THAT MADE SENSE. Maria stood in the living room, observing the slightly messy state that Zo’s boyfriend’s home was in. It wasn’t in an intense disarray, but there were scrubs thrown here and there, books placed spine up ((like he’d stopped midway through the story)) and it seemed as if the dishes needed doing. What Maria couldn’t figure out from all of it was why Zo’s jacket was tossed haphazardly on the floor. Zoeigh never just tossed her clothing on the floor. And, then Zoeigh had come out from the back and, judging by the look upon her face, Maria gathered she’d walked in on something she’d not ought to have walked in on. Oh, gross. Because, sure enough, Shane came out seconds later…shirtless.

Standing there in shock, the blonde alumni barely registered Shane leaving. She’d just walked in on…okay, that was just NOT okay. Maria blinked when she realized Zoeigh didn’t look very happy. “Maria, what are you doing here?!” She continued to stare for a few minutes before replying. “He wasn’t wearing a shirt. Okay, no shirt.” A pause. “And, what do you mean? You told me to be here!” Zoeigh threw her hands into the air. “Yeah, to pick me up! Not to barge into his flat, Maria.” The blonde dancer narrowed her eyes and put her hands on her hips. “Well, excuse me. I didn’t know it would be all The Devil Wears Nada in here. My mistake.” She watched Zoeigh turn a delicate shade of red and avert her eyes. Maria smirked and turned around. “Just…I’ll meet you outside of the building. Tell Shane to put charms on his flat if he doesn’t want interruptions.”

END FLASHBACK

So, Maria knew, clearly. Purity wasn’t necessarily something that Zoeigh possessed, but the former Gryffindor had this problem with announcing things that shouldn’t be announced. Like telling your best friend’s father that his precious daughter wasn’t the fair blushing maiden he’d so thought she was. Whoops? Her eyes were wide and, judging by the “My head is going to explode from the new information that’s trying to process” look upon Patrick’s face, she was in a HEAP of trouble. “PURE!” Her voice reverberated off of the walls. “Yes! Of course. Pure as the driven snow. Of course. Zoeigh’s pure. Like…” She cast her gaze at Zoeigh who looked about to kill her and cry; at the same time. “Wow, there’s no way to recover from this.”