Round Eight - Darwin 2 - Single Ladies

Adele and Maya Darwin are getting used to life without the males in their family; as driven as they both are, can they ever relax enough to find even friendly companionship?


Adele still talked to Colby, but only as friends and colleagues. The elections were coming up so the increased work-load and need for communication meant that Adele was the one hogging the phone-line rather than her teenage daughter. Maya did have friends but she needed to concentrate on scholarships... plus the whole thing with Liliana was a bit weird. She and Maya were BFFs and Maya could do without hearing ANYTHING about her brother's love life.





Adele had heard about "the situation" with Liliana too. She liked both the King girls well enough, and Miranda especially seemed to have her head on her shoulders, so she hoped they'd manage to sort things out between them and stop bringing her baby boy Sam into whatever sibling rivalry Liliana was acting out on.


Adele's hard work didn't go unrewarded and she got another promotion. She didn't mind the long hours. Having to focus on something pretty mundane kept her from going crazy.



Of course, it would've been nice to get some sleep once in a while... it turned out her room was right next to Duncan and Alima King's, and they didn't seem to do much sleeping at all.



Adele's lack of devotion to work/life balance meant Maya did most of the cooking. Thankfully it suited her down to the ground. She was beginning to wonder if a life in a high-powered traditional career, while financially beneficial, would really suit her. Perhaps she could open some cafés? Maybe a diner, too... restaurants seemed a bit complex.



Gabriel King had stopped following her around now he'd hit puberty but when Maya brought her friend Ashlee home from school he was suddenly there, hanging around and talking about how he'd like her to model for him.

"Who is this weirdo?"

"He's just the kid from next-door. Ignore him."

"Hey! I'm right here, y'know!"


The next morning both she and Gabriel were taking out the trash, a not uncommon occurance, and started talking. "I don't suppose you could give me Ashlee's number..." he began, but Maya cut him off.

"You're wasting your time. She's a lesbian so she's not going to be interested in you. You've got the wrong plumbing." Actually, Maya knew full well that Ashlee was bi and that if Gabriel could tone down his overreaction to girls he'd be her type, but she wasn't going to let some teenage twerp steal her friend's attention. Boys were gross.

"She doesn't seem the type... I mean, she's not?"

"She's not what?"

"All weird and spiky like you are."