Satine | KTH

14. October of 96'

"You and this book," Satine scoffed. "We haven't exactly lived an interesting life. It's more tragic than anything... especially yours."

"Hey! My life isn't tragic, it just hasn't begun yet." Dissimilarly to Diana, Satine knew her friend like the back of her hand. That's how she knew she was pretending like her childhood wasn't a big fat mess.

Satine nodded and picked at her nails for a while, ignoring Diana's tender gaze.

"Look, Star, one day something will have us flying from this place and we'll welcome it with open arms. We could do it now but that's not exactly my style, is it?" Diana's upbringing had moulded her to favour practicality over spontaneity.

"I suppose not," she pondered the idea. "But when the time does come, we'll do it together, right?"

"Of course. I'd never leave without you, baby."

Bopping her friend on the nose, Satine smiled warmly as Diana turned, intrigued by the clanging and banging coming from the next house over.

"Didn't the Anderson's move to Manhattan like three years ago?" She questioned.

Yes, they did... Satine having a part to play in their relocation.

"Why did they move in the first place?" She was expecting Satine to know the answer, who did know of course, but that was the one secret she could never tell.

"Suppose they wanted a change of scenery, just like us," she gulped, begging her heart rate to settle.

There was a small glimmer of hope left in Satine's heart. A glimmer that had convinced her she was the reason for his return.

***

The day after, Diana laid in bed with Austin, who lived in a tiny flat above his garage on the edge of town. It was falling apart at the seams but something about it was homely. It was definitely better than half the foster homes she'd been in and out of over the years.

"I really love you, you know that right?" She whispered as she snuggled into her boyfriend's neck.

He chuckled, tracing circles around the small moles on her shoulder. "Only because you tell me fifty times a day."

"So, do you love me too?"

"Of course, more than anything."

Back when Diana first moved to town, she'd set her sights on Austin who ran the auto-repair shop down the road from her foster parents' house. They hit it off straight away, flirtatious banter, unnecessary trips to his repair shop, and courageous invitations to the local bar.

It wasn't until she met Satine that Diana wanted him even more. Satine had this way of scooping up the town's men, and for a while it seemed Austin was going to be no exception. But he was charmed and utterly obsessed with the little brunette parading about town in her little denim shorts and white shirts tied above her stomach.

"So if I were to tell you I could decide to leave one day... what would your response be?"

There was a silence, one that Diana couldn't put her finger on the reason for. There was the obvious; the fact that he loved her so much that he didn't want her to leave. The other option was that he was trying to find a way of working himself into the equation.

"Why would you just get up and leave? Would you not tell me?" There was a level of distaste to his tone.

"No, of course I'd tell you. It's just it's something Star and I are planning to do together so I'm wondering how you would feel about it?"