Alterlife ⇝ Bucky Barnes [1]

seven.

07. | THE SICKNESS.

LIFE HAD FALLEN INTO A STEADY PATTERN FOR LYDIA OVER THE PAST FEW WEEKS. Despite how reluctant she'd been to have that beach day, it proved to be more than influential in the development of her social life. Steve had been coming up to the diner every Sunday to get a meal after the churches let out, of which he made an observation of the young woman - specifically, how she never attended. 

Religion was something that her and her father both relaxed on after the death of Lena Wilson. Anthony - coming from Jewish background - had regularly attended services when he lived in Europe and Judaism was massively practiced. Upon their migration to America, however, synagogues were far and few, and services were privately held in the home. His marriage to Lena, however, nearly eliminated the religion from his life completely aside from Lydia's birth and his parents' deaths. 

Lena Wilson came from a Baptist family and religion was a focal point for the entirety of her life. She got baptized in the church, got married in the church, and had baptized her only child in the church. She attended church service every Sunday and night services on Wednesdays, even the week after she'd given birth. It only made sense that Lydia followed after her giddily and Anthony respected his wife enough to attend with them. After her death, though, neither of them were too keen on worshipping a God that gave them no explanation for her leaving them. 

Lydia still went with the Kings, sometimes. They were Methodists, so their teachings were a bit different from what she'd grown up with, but she stayed quiet and let the preacher preach. The younger girls - Inez, Laverne, and Anita - were all in the choir and Lydia would always watch them with a smile, silently cheering for the little girls she'd watched grow up. 

She didn't give Steve the whole rundown, though, just a simple 'I don't have the time, unfortunately' and steered the conversation elsewhere. Ken had begun to linger out by the counter with them during Steve's visits, having taken a real liking to Steve and his awkward demeanor. Sometimes they'd talk about girls after Ken asked and Lydia would chastise him for being so invasive, but Steve would brush off her concerns and tell them which girl of the week had ignored him. The mood would grow dim and Lydia would make a game of guessing what superficial qualities the girl looked for in an overgrown man-child that she considered a man. 

Effie was never present for the weekly conversations. Both Lydia and Ken suspected she was out playing socialite with Will, since the weather was only growing nicer by the day and those people all had the money to throw parties. Neither of them could believe that so many people were really detached from the reality of the world around them, nor that their best friend could play a part in it, but it was easier to pretend that it didn't bother them than to take it up with her. Effie was stubborn if nothing else, and she'd rather convince herself that she was happy than see Lydia and Ken's side of things.