That had been the longest forty minutes of Charming's life. He had been nervous before entering the garage but became even more nervous when the other members of Aurora's band that he had yet to meet became real people. Now that the practice was done for the afternoon, the rest of the band was getting ready to leave and go back to where they had come from. Charming sat on a box in the garage labeled 'Textbooks' as he looked out towards the driveway at the others while reflecting on the people he had just met.

The first person that Charming had met was the drummer since the guitarist and keyboardist were having some sort of disagreement when he had first entered the garage. The drummer's name was Skeet, and Charming still couldn't get the man's long, black greasy hair off his mind. The hair was tied back in a low ponytail like some sort of hairy tail; glistening in such a way that it was almost like he used vegetable shortening to slick it back.

After giving a simple guttural greeting to Skeet in return for the one Skeet gave him, Aurora introduced Charming to the band's keyboardist. Her name was one that Charming knew would be easy for him to remember. Her name was Violet and she possessed the same colored streaks in her dark brown hair. She had a silver musical note earring dangling from each ear that danced about as she enthusiastically shook his hand. She seemed to have a bright personality, immediately bubbling with a hundred and one questions for Charming that left him only able to utter 'uh' before Aurora saved him by introducing him to the final member of the band.

The guitarist was named Trent. He had thanked Charming personally for filling in for the missing vocalist as that was his twin brother. Charming was left to wonder if his twin possessed the same sort of shaggy hairdo that Trent had. Trent's hair reminded Charming a lot of the shag carpeting that he had seen in Ruby and Taehyung's new place. It even was the same sandy blonde color.

Charming snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the four of them laughing outside. His eyes caught sight of Aurora as she turned from the laughing to see that he was still sitting on a box in the garage like he was some sort of child in time out. He immediately looked away, not wanting her to feel like she had to feel bad for him. To keep from looking awkward, he slipped a hand into his pocket to dig out his cell phone. Once it was unlocked, he opened up his contact list, looking at Ame's name as it appeared at the top of the list. He hovered his thumb over her name, half tempted to text her when he heard footsteps coming his way. He hit the button on the side of his phone to darken the screen before slipping the phone away, looking up at Aurora who now stood in front of him.

"You did a good job today."

"Did I though?" he asked, searching her face to see if she was lying.

"Did you not think so?"

He nodded his head in reply, looking down at the ground. He stared at Aurora's shoes until they moved out of sight. She moved to sit down on a box beside him.

"It was your first time meeting everyone," said Aurora. "And I think you did well."

Charming just nodded his head; his gaze still fixated down at the floor. Aurora looked over at him for a moment more before reaching over to put a hand gently on his back.

"Thank you for doing this for me," she said. "I apologize for being a jerk the other night. I was just...frustrated, but that didn't mean I needed to take it out on you."

"You're fine," said Charming as he finally lifted his head to look over at her. "You don't need to apologize. I should be thanking you for giving me a chance."

Before Aurora could say anything else, her cell phone chirped from where it was in her pocket. Charming watched as she slipped the phone out of her pocket to check the text message she had just received.

"Of course," said Aurora with a sigh; her fingers flying across the screen as she texted back whoever had texted her.

"What's wrong?" asked Charming as he watched Aurora put her phone back in her pocket.

"My parents are going to be home late and the sitter has to go home early. I was going to offer you a ride home, but I need to stick around to watch out for my step siblings. You'll have to call for a ride unfortunately. I'm sorry."

"I don't mind kids," said Charming quickly. "I can still stick around if you want help."

"Really?" she asked, sounding surprised at Charming's offering.

"Really," he said with a soft smile on his lips. "If that's okay with you, of course."

"Of course it is. Depending on their moods, they can be a handful."

"Maybe we could take them to the park," said Charming, thinking about how the park was always teeming with children on sunny afternoons like this. "It's a beautiful afternoon."

Aurora didn't say anything after his suggestion. Instead, she fixed Charming with a gaze that he had seen on Ame's face on occasion whenever he had done something she termed 'remarkably cute'. Charming felt his cheeks heating up with a blush as he turned away from Aurora, moving to stand up off the box.

"I just hope your step siblings like me," said Charming.

"Oh they will. They may like you too much, so be prepared to be attacked the moment they see you."

"Attacked?" asked Charming with slight alarm edging into his voice.

"I didn't mean it seriously," said Aurora with a chuckle. She stood up, stringing an arm about Charming's shoulders momentarily. "Come on. I can introduce you to them now."

Aurora dropped her arm off his shoulders before leading him towards the back of the garage where another door sat. She opened the door up, walking down a thin hallway that led into the kitchen. Charming shut the door behind him, brushing shoulders against coats that hung off the walls as he toed off his shoes before stepping after Aurora into the kitchen that was immediately off the narrow hallway. The mustard yellow kitchen that Charming walked through was filled with knick knacks; a thousand cookie jar eyes staring at him from where they were perched on top of the cupboards. Aurora was a few steps ahead of him; her feet making their way off the tan tiles and onto a tanner looking carpet as she entered the living room.

The first thing that Charming noticed upon entering the living room were the framed pictures that seemed to take up every inch of the wall. He could barely make out what color the walls were due to the amount of photos there were. Charming looked away from the frozen memories on the wall to the living memory that was making a mess of the floor in front of the television set that was playing some sort of cartoon Charming didn't recognize. A little boy that couldn't be more than five or six was sitting amongst a pile of action figures. He had a figure grasped in either hand as they engaged in some sort of air battle; his lips making a variety of sound effects to heighten the intensity in his imagination. Standing up behind him was a woman that Charming figured was the sitter. Her face lit up when she saw Aurora enter the room and come over.

"Thank you for doing this," said the sitter. "I'm so sorry."

"They are my step siblings," Aurora said. "I get things come up. It's not a problem."

The sitter nodded her head, turning from Aurora to look at Charming who stood frozen in the living room doorway. Charming raised a hand in greeting to her as he watched her cheeks color with a blush. He blushed in return, turning his head aside as Aurora watched the silent exchange between them for a moment before speaking again.

"Well, we're all set here now so you can go ahead and get going," said Aurora before pausing and looking around the room. "Where's my stepsister though?"

"Oh. She stepped out of the room for a moment to get a new book to read. She finished the one she was on. She should be right back."

It was as if on cue that a pair of footsteps could be heard coming their way just then. Everyone except the boy on the floor turned to look in the direction of the footsteps as a little girl came into view; a chapter book clutched to her chest.

"There you are," said Aurora. "I was wondering where you disappeared off to."

The little girl didn't make a move to say anything back to Aurora's words. Instead her gaze was glued on Charming. He stared back at her with the same wide-eyed surprise. Even though she was a year older, he recognized her immediately.

He couldn't believe that standing not more than a few feet from him was Alice.

- - -

AN: Just in case it's been a hot second since you've read The Cupid Complex, Alice was a minor character that was introduced in Chapter 29. She was the little girl in the park that helped Charming learn how to walk.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I've been warring with it for a while wanting to have Charming and Alice meet again in the best way possible.