The Taste of Silver | Fortune's Fool #2

27 | entangled in webs

[ e n t a n g l e d i n w e b s ]

♥ louisa ♥

I WASN'T ONE to give up hope easily but frankly, I was almost certain that I was going to fail my exams. They were in less than 2 months and here I was dancing to the background music of a romcom that I'd never heard of before. Two empty bottles of rose wine were on the coffee table of my living room besides an empty side plate that had previously been garnished with green olives and feta.

"Oh my god, Louisa. How the fuck did you never tell me your rugs are so soft?" Lexi said, lying on the floor making an imaginary snow angel on the carpet. Her dark straight hair contrasted against the cream of the flooring.

I rolled my eyes, collapsing onto the sofa and kicking my feet up. I crossed over my feet so my left foot was now resting on top of the right. "I'm not even going to comment on the lack of grammatical sense, Lex. And that's not a rug. It's a carpet."

"Ugh. Unnecessary. Same thing," she attempted to grunt but it didn't quite sound right due to her nasal voice. "Where the hell is Pierre? I asked him to buy a dessert, not a desert."

She giggled at her own joke as I rubbed my face. Both of us were craving something sweet and I was beginning to regret telling Marie to have a day off. Her tarte tatins were the best.

"Let's watch a film," Lexi started.

"We literally are."

"No. On Netflix. On your laptop. Under a giant duvet tent," Lexi blunted stated, a manic grin growing on her face. Her full lips curled upwards before she added, "With more snacks."

I tilted my head to the side, glancing at the clock. I'd wasted too many hours of the day. There was no way I could salvage it.

"Fine but no horror. I'm gonna get changed into sweatpants. Password's Iamthequeen123"

"How modest." She reached for my laptop, thinking aloud. "Right, let's see if they have The Purge on Netflix. The Shining is also-."

Standing up from the sofa, I threw a cushion right at her face as she cackled loudly.

I quickly got dressed in a hoody and trousers, brushing my hair and pulling it into a high ponytail. The best thing about staying at home with friends was not having to wear make up. My skin was the best it had been for a while. One the way back to the living room, I went to the kitchen seeing if Marie had bought anything interesting recently. "Marie, you absolute gem," I muttered to myself pulling out a platter with hummus, pineapple pieces and other bites. Pressed over the cling film was a post-it note reading in case you get hungry.

There was a spring in my step at I went back to the living room. "Lexi, I come bearing gifts-"

I could immediately tell something was wrong, even with the buzz of alcohol clouding my mind. She was frozen in space, eyes slowly moving across the screen on my laptop from left to right. Then again. "Lex, what's up?" I asked, moving the empty rose bottles onto the floor so I had space to put the platter in the table.

"Louisa, what is this?" she said quietly, rotating the laptop to face me.

That was the moment I realised I'd messed up. Before she and Pierre had come, I'd been researching symptoms and treatment to understand what it actually was.

"Lex, I was just seeing-"

Her voice was surprisingly cold. "Don't Lex me."

"What do you mean? I was just trying to see if there was anything I could do to help."

She snorted. "Help? You think I need help?"

I let out a sound of frustration, looking at her bright blue eyes in confusion. There was a sudden anger that had ignited. "That wasn't what I meant. I'm sure there's lots of different treatment. I just wanted to do my research so I could support you."