You've Got To Hide Your Love Away - Chapter Two: Do You Want To Know A Secret? [PG]
-South of Nowhere
-Ashley/Spencer
-Most definitely AU. Various POV's. Some angst, some humor, some fluff. Set during the years 1964 - 1965. Yes, the title is a Beatles song... and all the chapter titles are Beatles songs, too. Why? 'Coz I rock. Expect lots of music references as well.
-'And then you feel guilty for wanting something more than this ‘Kyla Davies, 2464 Pinewood Drive, Hollywood, CA 90078’
-PG
Kyla Davies is used to getting what she wants - if the dress was her color (periwinkle or burgundy), she got it. And if she wanted to stay out a little later than her curfew (like around eleven instead of nine), she would do so and not worry at all about a parents reproach.
At least that was the case before her father settled down, giving up on the life of a musician - at the badgering of her mother - and now spends his days at the bank of his father in law.
It made Raife Davies a breadwinner, better money than any 'string-strummer' ever could earn, and it made Christine Davies happy as a clam.
And with this new profession came new rules to be followed.
It put a crimp in Kyla's social life and the girl wasn't sure she could take it anymore.
Gone were many of the fun nights spent at boy-girl parties, where they all drank beers stolen from ice-chests and they all went past first base fumblings.
Gone were the lazy weekends spent by the pool, with no need to get up from their lounge chairs or to stop drinking fresh lemonade.
And, as if they couldn't wait to take all the fun out of her life, Raife and Christine Davies decided that the whole family needed to go to church.
The closest any of them had ever gotten to God was in swearing, which brought a disapproving glare from Christine if it was said in public and a repeat of said swearing from her father no matter where they were.
"Ashley, hurry up!"
"Keep your shoes on!"
"They are on! C'mon! Christine is going to blow the horn!"
"God almighty, will you be quiet, Kyla…"
They were sisters and they had their moments of getting along.
When they shopped, they got along and talked about skirts and tops and such.
And that was it. Where Kyla was a social butterfly, skipping down steps to her friends after school and going to dances with boys who were letting their hair grow a little longer than was normal… Ashley Davies took after their father in all ways, much to Christine's chagrin and to Raife's joy.
Ashley played the piano, the 'only acceptable instrument for a young girl to play' their mother stated - though Ashley's way of playing the piano was far from ladylike, and Ashley hung out with boys - not just for necking or the like, but to run around town with and goof around with… Ashley drank and smoked and didn't hide it at all, pushing it in Christine's face at any and all times… even now, even at seventeen, Ashley was still getting into trouble and causing a scene - sometimes just for the sake of it. Kyla sometimes wonders if that is the only reason Ashley sticks around - just to make Christine mad.
"Don't say that around Christine. She'll flip."
"Christine flips about everything, Ky."
They didn't always call their mother by her given name.
But when you spend years trying to please a person and they never budge an inch, you lose affection for them and any term of devotion is lost.
Ashley did it first, garnering a slap to the face. But once Kyla followed her older sister (just older by a year, though), Christine stopped fighting it.
They loved each other as a family and, yet, they couldn't stand one another either.
It was a terrible tug-o-war.
A horn blares from the front of their house and Ashley finally steps out of the bathroom, wearing a dark blue dress and matching hat, looking so much older than she should.
Even around the eyes, eyes of brown and gold, Ashley looks like she has aged overnight.
Not in a bad way, mind… It suits Ashley to look older, Kyla thinks to herself and looks at her own ensemble for this Sunday morning and finds her own outfit to be childish in comparison.
"Quit staring, Kyla. Thought you were in a hurry or something."
And Ashley goes down the staircase quickly and opens the front door and leaves Kyla to catch up, rushing to the sidewalk and to the car, out of breath and annoyed.
"Can you two be on time for anything?" Christine hisses and their father tries to calm the situation with levity. Ashley just puts on her dark sunglasses and Kyla sighs audibly at another disaster in the making:
The Davies Go To Church Again...
*
She had forgotten, to be perfectly honest.
And once it was in her hands, she intended to forget about it again.
Because Kyla Davies is a cheerleader and a member of the pep squad and of the glee club.
High school and dating and fun - that's her life.
And that life doesn't involve writing to some girl in some other state (which happens to be Ohio).
But then Ashley sees the envelope and snatches it, giggling to herself like a fool.
"Give that back!" Kyla whispers too loudly, earning the second glare of the day from Christine.
"Why? You don't want it."
"I was gonna… uh… well, I was…"
"Going to throw it away, right?"
"…Maybe."
"Look, Ky, I don't care. Aren't you curious to peek inside, just a little?"
"Not really."
"You are a stick in the mud, you know that?"
"And you are a nosy sister. Just let me throw it away, Ash…"
Kyla's voice reaches a whiny pitch and she tries to stop it, thinking that a girl of her age - sixteen - shouldn't whine at all. It is unbecoming. It is not mature and attractive.
Ashley doesn't whine.
And Ashley Davies doesn't care about Kyla's wishes, not when mischief can be had.
Kyla watches as Ashley excuses herself, pleading a desperate need for the restroom - which their father believes and Christine fumes about - and Ashley winks as she walks down the aisle.
And so Kyla follows the example, stopping just short of running and careens through the door to the women's bathroom, finding Ashley in front of the sink and a slender finger sliding between envelope and letter.
They hover over this note like it is a something amazing.
And Kyla reckons that, for these five or ten minutes, it is entertaining.
Neither sister thinks much of the actual body of the letter, neither of them interested in 'brother Glen' or 'Catholic girls' school' - but the extra question at the end brings up a familiar debate.
"Not this again! God!" Ashley exclaims, still holding the letter and rolling her eyes.
"I think you do this just to be contrary."
"No, not at all. I just think that The Beatles aren't that great. The guys that our dad played with - now those are musicians, Kyla!"
"I know for a fact that you like 'Do You Want To Know A Secret?', Ash!"
"No I don't."
"Yes you do."
"No I don't."
"Yes you do."
They do this often enough, get into silly arguments about not-so-serious topics and allow it to really bust them up for a while. Kyla used to think Ashley hated her or something, slamming the door in Kyla's face at every turn when she was a wee little girl.
But then she began to think it was because, as a child, she wanted to latch onto Ashley and didn't leave her sister alone for a second.
It was because she adored Ashley, loved the brashness of her and the rebelliousness of her, and loved the fact that being different made Ashley tough against their parents or against careless boyfriends or against spiteful girls… Kyla hung the moon by Ashley, once upon a time.
Now, they just get along once in a while and give each other grief the rest of the time.
"Maybe I'll write this girl and let her know that my sister is such a big fan of The Beatles…"
"Kyla, don't do that."
"You are pushing my buttons."
"I'll put your head down that toilet, I swear it…"
"God, Ash, it's not like she knows you or something!"
"It's the principle of the matter. I have a reputation to uphold."
"What reputation is that? Listening to that guy with the guitar-"
"Bob Dylan, Ky!"
"Yea, him… he stinks."
"Take that back."
"No."
"Do it now."
"Give me the letter and maybe I will."
And their verbal sparring dwindles down to sticking tongues out at one another and rude faces being made.
But Kyla doesn't take back her comment about Bob Dylan and, for whatever reason, Ashley doesn't give the letter back.
By the time they are back in the pew, the murderous glare from Christine in direct opposition to the words the priest is speaking, Kyla Davies has achieved her goal: she doesn't recall a thing about a pen-pal program at this church or a letter written to her.
All she can think of is the reprimand that she and Ashley will get once they are all back in the car… and how Kyla agrees, like Ashley so often says, 'it's worth it to see that look on that old bag's face'.
*
TBC
-Ashley/Spencer
-Most definitely AU. Various POV's. Some angst, some humor, some fluff. Set during the years 1964 - 1965. Yes, the title is a Beatles song... and all the chapter titles are Beatles songs, too. Why? 'Coz I rock. Expect lots of music references as well.
-'And then you feel guilty for wanting something more than this ‘Kyla Davies, 2464 Pinewood Drive, Hollywood, CA 90078’
-PG
Kyla Davies is used to getting what she wants - if the dress was her color (periwinkle or burgundy), she got it. And if she wanted to stay out a little later than her curfew (like around eleven instead of nine), she would do so and not worry at all about a parents reproach.
At least that was the case before her father settled down, giving up on the life of a musician - at the badgering of her mother - and now spends his days at the bank of his father in law.
It made Raife Davies a breadwinner, better money than any 'string-strummer' ever could earn, and it made Christine Davies happy as a clam.
And with this new profession came new rules to be followed.
It put a crimp in Kyla's social life and the girl wasn't sure she could take it anymore.
Gone were many of the fun nights spent at boy-girl parties, where they all drank beers stolen from ice-chests and they all went past first base fumblings.
Gone were the lazy weekends spent by the pool, with no need to get up from their lounge chairs or to stop drinking fresh lemonade.
And, as if they couldn't wait to take all the fun out of her life, Raife and Christine Davies decided that the whole family needed to go to church.
The closest any of them had ever gotten to God was in swearing, which brought a disapproving glare from Christine if it was said in public and a repeat of said swearing from her father no matter where they were.
"Ashley, hurry up!"
"Keep your shoes on!"
"They are on! C'mon! Christine is going to blow the horn!"
"God almighty, will you be quiet, Kyla…"
They were sisters and they had their moments of getting along.
When they shopped, they got along and talked about skirts and tops and such.
And that was it. Where Kyla was a social butterfly, skipping down steps to her friends after school and going to dances with boys who were letting their hair grow a little longer than was normal… Ashley Davies took after their father in all ways, much to Christine's chagrin and to Raife's joy.
Ashley played the piano, the 'only acceptable instrument for a young girl to play' their mother stated - though Ashley's way of playing the piano was far from ladylike, and Ashley hung out with boys - not just for necking or the like, but to run around town with and goof around with… Ashley drank and smoked and didn't hide it at all, pushing it in Christine's face at any and all times… even now, even at seventeen, Ashley was still getting into trouble and causing a scene - sometimes just for the sake of it. Kyla sometimes wonders if that is the only reason Ashley sticks around - just to make Christine mad.
"Don't say that around Christine. She'll flip."
"Christine flips about everything, Ky."
They didn't always call their mother by her given name.
But when you spend years trying to please a person and they never budge an inch, you lose affection for them and any term of devotion is lost.
Ashley did it first, garnering a slap to the face. But once Kyla followed her older sister (just older by a year, though), Christine stopped fighting it.
They loved each other as a family and, yet, they couldn't stand one another either.
It was a terrible tug-o-war.
A horn blares from the front of their house and Ashley finally steps out of the bathroom, wearing a dark blue dress and matching hat, looking so much older than she should.
Even around the eyes, eyes of brown and gold, Ashley looks like she has aged overnight.
Not in a bad way, mind… It suits Ashley to look older, Kyla thinks to herself and looks at her own ensemble for this Sunday morning and finds her own outfit to be childish in comparison.
"Quit staring, Kyla. Thought you were in a hurry or something."
And Ashley goes down the staircase quickly and opens the front door and leaves Kyla to catch up, rushing to the sidewalk and to the car, out of breath and annoyed.
"Can you two be on time for anything?" Christine hisses and their father tries to calm the situation with levity. Ashley just puts on her dark sunglasses and Kyla sighs audibly at another disaster in the making:
The Davies Go To Church Again...
*
She had forgotten, to be perfectly honest.
And once it was in her hands, she intended to forget about it again.
Because Kyla Davies is a cheerleader and a member of the pep squad and of the glee club.
High school and dating and fun - that's her life.
And that life doesn't involve writing to some girl in some other state (which happens to be Ohio).
But then Ashley sees the envelope and snatches it, giggling to herself like a fool.
"Give that back!" Kyla whispers too loudly, earning the second glare of the day from Christine.
"Why? You don't want it."
"I was gonna… uh… well, I was…"
"Going to throw it away, right?"
"…Maybe."
"Look, Ky, I don't care. Aren't you curious to peek inside, just a little?"
"Not really."
"You are a stick in the mud, you know that?"
"And you are a nosy sister. Just let me throw it away, Ash…"
Kyla's voice reaches a whiny pitch and she tries to stop it, thinking that a girl of her age - sixteen - shouldn't whine at all. It is unbecoming. It is not mature and attractive.
Ashley doesn't whine.
And Ashley Davies doesn't care about Kyla's wishes, not when mischief can be had.
Kyla watches as Ashley excuses herself, pleading a desperate need for the restroom - which their father believes and Christine fumes about - and Ashley winks as she walks down the aisle.
And so Kyla follows the example, stopping just short of running and careens through the door to the women's bathroom, finding Ashley in front of the sink and a slender finger sliding between envelope and letter.
They hover over this note like it is a something amazing.
And Kyla reckons that, for these five or ten minutes, it is entertaining.
Neither sister thinks much of the actual body of the letter, neither of them interested in 'brother Glen' or 'Catholic girls' school' - but the extra question at the end brings up a familiar debate.
"Not this again! God!" Ashley exclaims, still holding the letter and rolling her eyes.
"I think you do this just to be contrary."
"No, not at all. I just think that The Beatles aren't that great. The guys that our dad played with - now those are musicians, Kyla!"
"I know for a fact that you like 'Do You Want To Know A Secret?', Ash!"
"No I don't."
"Yes you do."
"No I don't."
"Yes you do."
They do this often enough, get into silly arguments about not-so-serious topics and allow it to really bust them up for a while. Kyla used to think Ashley hated her or something, slamming the door in Kyla's face at every turn when she was a wee little girl.
But then she began to think it was because, as a child, she wanted to latch onto Ashley and didn't leave her sister alone for a second.
It was because she adored Ashley, loved the brashness of her and the rebelliousness of her, and loved the fact that being different made Ashley tough against their parents or against careless boyfriends or against spiteful girls… Kyla hung the moon by Ashley, once upon a time.
Now, they just get along once in a while and give each other grief the rest of the time.
"Maybe I'll write this girl and let her know that my sister is such a big fan of The Beatles…"
"Kyla, don't do that."
"You are pushing my buttons."
"I'll put your head down that toilet, I swear it…"
"God, Ash, it's not like she knows you or something!"
"It's the principle of the matter. I have a reputation to uphold."
"What reputation is that? Listening to that guy with the guitar-"
"Bob Dylan, Ky!"
"Yea, him… he stinks."
"Take that back."
"No."
"Do it now."
"Give me the letter and maybe I will."
And their verbal sparring dwindles down to sticking tongues out at one another and rude faces being made.
But Kyla doesn't take back her comment about Bob Dylan and, for whatever reason, Ashley doesn't give the letter back.
By the time they are back in the pew, the murderous glare from Christine in direct opposition to the words the priest is speaking, Kyla Davies has achieved her goal: she doesn't recall a thing about a pen-pal program at this church or a letter written to her.
All she can think of is the reprimand that she and Ashley will get once they are all back in the car… and how Kyla agrees, like Ashley so often says, 'it's worth it to see that look on that old bag's face'.
*
TBC