S2 Episode 8

Duke VS Aunt Carmine

Welcome to Trainwrecks: Season 2 (2005-2006)! If you haven’t read Season 1, please start there! Trainwrecks is a free-to-read fiction serial that follows a group of six Seattle-adjacent friends from the year 2004 to the year 2015. Join Luna Cruz, Sebastian Velasquez, Dimitri and Victoria Hale, Duke Kingston, and Jasmine Nolan as they stumble their way from adolescence to adulthood, falling in love, making mistakes, overcoming their pasts, and staying together through it all.

For series introduction, character profiles, relationship charts, and general orientation, check out the Table of Contents!

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Victoria ripped open the front door and found Duke on the other side, dressed in a neat Oxford shirt and trousers which thankfully had pleats down the front. “Good,” she said, and all but yanked him into the townhouse. “No sport coat, but we can work with that.”

“Nice to see you, V. My Thanksgiving was great, how about yours?” Duke muttered sourly.

Victoria looked over her shoulder to make sure her father hadn’t come downstairs yet, then pulled Duke down into a kiss. “Hello, love. I missed you,” she whispered, which brought the warmth back into his eyes. They hadn’t seen each other since Aunt Carmine arrived, which was to be expected. Victoria and her father had devoted all their energy into showing her around Seattle, dining at fine restaurants, and adhering to a strict teatime to make sure she didn’t suffer too much from the loss of her routine. There hadn’t been any opportunity for Victoria to sneak away for a date with her boyfriend, which, along with the mounting pressure of her Juilliard audition, had made her a bit testy. “I hope your mum wasn’t offended by the lack of an invitation,” she said to Duke, who’d taken one of the curled ends of her hair and wrapped it around his finger.

“Nah, my parents will seize any excuse to get the house to themselves.”

She tilted her head. “Why?”

His eyes narrowed as if he wasn’t sure whether she was playing a trick on him. “Why do you think…?”

Footsteps on the stairs broke them apart before Victoria could question him further. Her father appeared, dressed as if he were presenting before the United Nations rather than sitting down to dinner with his family. He gave Duke the briefest of nods. “Mr. Kingston,” he said in a tone that barely passed as civil. Victoria had already given him a lecture about being nice to Duke, but her father, like her brother, acted however he pleased.

Duke’s scowl returned, but he drew himself up to his full height and nodded back. “Good to see you, Mr. Hale,” he said, and Victoria sent him a grateful smile to show her appreciation for his attempts to be the bigger man.

And then Great Aunt Carmine herself descended the stairs, also dressed as if she were going to tea with the Queen. Her short black hair had been straightened to perfection, and she wore a blazer over a designer gown and high heels. Victoria broke out into a cold sweat as her aunt’s gaze landed on Duke. “You must be the boyfriend,” she said.

Victoria nudged him forward. “Auntie Carmine, this is Duke Kingston. He’s from the Moreaux family of France.” She’d decided to name-drop him early in the hopes that it would elevate her aunt’s opinion of him.

Aunt Carmine’s eyebrow went up as she shook Duke’s hand, and she said something to him in French that he responded to without skipping a beat. Her lips twitched upwards, and Victoria breathed a sigh of relief. So far so good.

They approached the table, where the housekeeper Linda had arranged a feast for them with proper place settings and folded napkins. Duke almost sat down at the same time as Victoria and her aunt, but one quick jerk of Victoria’s head in her father’s direction was enough to communicate follow his lead across the table. Duke glared at her for only a second before smoothing his face into an impassive mask.

“How are you liking Seattle?” he asked Aunt Carmine as soon as they had all taken their seats.

“It does remind one of home,” she said. “I can see why you decided to study here, James.”

“Duke was born and raised in Hawaii, so he finds it miserably cold,” Victoria threw in, just to have something to say.

Aunt Carmine turned back to Duke. “Is that right?”

“Anything below 75 degrees is too cold for me,” he said.

“Then you would find London difficult to adjust to.”

“If for whatever reason I moved there, probably.”

“We would love it if Victoria returned to London after she finishes university,” Aunt Carmine said. “My sisters and I miss her terribly. But she’s got her heart set on Juilliard, so we must do without her for a while longer.”

Duke gave Victoria a look. She shrugged as discreetly as possible. Were her great aunts expecting her to move back to London? She’d never expressed interest in doing so, never given them the impression that she would ditch her mother and brother and return to the UK. Not when her family had finally reconciled and everything was going well. Not when she had friends and a life in the States.

“What about you, Mr. Kingston?” her aunt continued. “I know all about Victoria’s dreams. What sort of career have you decided on?”

Duke didn’t look up from his plate. “Uh… none yet.”

“Duke’s in the music track at Remington,” Victoria hurried to add. “Same as me.”

The corners of Aunt Carmine’s eyes crinkled. “Ah, how lovely. I’m surprised, then, that you aren’t pursuing Juilliard as well. Remington Academy has an impressive record of famous musicians.”

“I wouldn’t really call myself a musician.” Duke kept his eyes on his plate, even as Victoria stared holes into the side of his head, willing him to look at her. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love music. I’ll listen to anything. But I don’t think it’s the right career path for me.” He finally raised his head, but his attention was wholly focused on Aunt Carmine. “In fact, I’m in talks with my counselor to switch to the visual arts track next semester.”

James raised his eyebrows at Victoria as if to ask whether she’d been informed about that decision. She tapped Duke’s foot with hers, but he ignored her.

“What will you do with visual arts?” Aunt Carmine asked.

“Too early to tell, but I’ve been having a pretty great time with photography. My instructor says I’m a natural.”

“Do you have any examples of your work?”

“Nah, ‘cuz I was told that this was dinner, not a job interview. If I’d been warned, I would have brought my portfolio.”

Victoria nearly spilled her drink. Her father coughed, but it was the sort of cough he made when he was trying not to laugh. She snuck a glance at Aunt Carmine, praying that she hadn’t taken offense, but Aunt Carmine merely stared at Duke as if he were something that she found amusing. “Well,” she said at length, “I think photography is a great deal more useful than other artistic pursuits. Until they invent a cleverer way of capturing likenesses, you’ll always find employment. Granted, there are a great many others who have realized the same thing, so you’ll need to stand out if you want to beat your competition. All the talent in the world won’t save you from lack of opportunity.”

Duke shrugged. “I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.” He pointed at the food with his fork. “This is delicious. V, will you give my compliments to Linda?”

Victoria sent him a tense smile. “Certainly.” And she focused on her meal, determined not to give him any more help since he seemed to be doing just fine on his own.

~*~

Two hours later, they stood outside on the curb, waiting for Duke’s mom to arrive. Victoria scowled at the neighbor’s yard, which had already been decorated for Christmas and twinkled prettily in the darkness. She was still fuming. Beside her, Duke shoved his hands into the pockets of his winter coat. “That went well,” he said.

“It could have gone better,” Victoria snapped, even though the night had, for all intents and purposes, been a rousing success.

He glared at her. “What crawled up your ass and died?”

“You’re switching from music to photography? That would have been nice to know going into dinner!”

“Why, so you could find a way to make it sound posh enough for Great Aunt Carmine?” Duke snorted. “And how did you not know? I’ve been talking about it for weeks.”

“Talking, yes, but an actual decision had yet to be made!”

“I’m sorry, do you have a problem with me leaving the music track?”

Victoria moved in front of him. “Yes, I do!”

“Then let’s hear it, Princess!”

She took a deep breath. “I won’t get to see you as often.”

Duke, who’d puffed up as if preparing for a fight, completely deflated. He scrubbed a hand through his hair. “I know,” he said. “That’s the only reason I stuck it out for this long.” Victoria stared at the pavement, blinking back tears. She shouldn’t have been so upset. She was being perfectly ridiculous, and she knew it. But her stress levels had been so high lately that any sort of change felt like the end of the world. Duke’s arms wrapped around her and she stepped into his embrace, resting her forehead against his shoulder. “I’m sorry,” he said.

She sniffled. “It’s alright. You shouldn’t have to stay in something that you don’t like. Especially not for me.”

He tilted her chin up. “I’d do a lot for you, V. Shitty family dinners included.” He gave her a warm, gentle kiss, and she clung to his jacket, not caring if her father was watching or not.

“I guess it did go pretty well,” she murmured.

“I made your dad laugh. I should get a kiss for that.”

She giggled and pressed her mouth against his again, happy that her boyfriend was happy, thankful that they’d gotten through dinner with Aunt Carmine relatively unscathed. When he left, she kept watching until his parents’ truck disappeared around the corner, then she walked back into the house.

Aunt Carmine sat by the lit fireplace, a glass of wine in hand. “Well, did I scare him away?” she asked.

Victoria scooped up her cat, who’d been minding his business on the couch. “Were you trying to?” She watched as her aunt swirled her wine around in slow circles, tilting it towards the firelight.

“I won’t pretend I’m not concerned,” she said. “He’s a good boy, though he lacks finesse. And his connection to the Moreaux family is certainly nothing to scoff at. But his troubling lack of ambition marks him for the child he is.” She lifted her green-eyed gaze to Victoria’s. “By all means, have fun with him, love, but do break up with him when you’re done. A child like that can only hold you back.”

Victoria’s heart sank to her feet. “In case you’ve forgotten, I’m a child, too,” she said. And then she turned and hurried upstairs, making sure her bedroom door was closed and locked before the tears came.

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Author’s Note: The Trainwrecks S2 Mid-Season Q&A is coming up on May 16th! Got questions for me or the Trainwrecks cast? You can submit them via comment, direct message, or on Tumblr!