Wilting Flowers

19: In Which the Act Crumbles

"It's what friends do. Wanna slice?"

Honestly, Grim felt he might throw up any minute.

Gabriel frowned at his lack of response.

"Try to eat, okay?" He handed him a plate.

Grim picked the crust into tiny, tiny bits.

Grim groggily opened his eyes and yawned. Pressing his face into his pillow, he wondered what day is was.

Saturday. Dinner day.

They arranged everything that Thursday. Invited people, figured out what they would eat- he even picked out something to wear.

Gabriel and Immy were over the moon about it all. What with Gabriel's hosting experience and Immy's mere pep, they flew through most of the planning and left Grim to deal with people.

"Y'know, Grim-" Immy had laughed. "You're hella charismatic."

Grim smiled.

"Hm- please never use the phrase 'hella' in my household again," He replied. "But thank you. I sorta have to be to do my job."

And now he had to pretend to have fun in a room filled with people he hated- and probably hated him, too.

Yippee, He resolved.

He sat up and rubbed his eyes. Warm light filtered under the door of his dimly lit room.

Immy's up again. I hope she's alright. He stood.

As he inched closer to the door, he picked up on a tune.

Still groggy, he had to concentrate to figure out what it was.

In the other room, Immy was humming an off-tune Roslyn.

Uh oh. That's not a good sign. Grim chuckled to himself and crept toward the kitchen.

The melody was more sure now, Immy must've figured out where the song was going.

Grim stepped into the strip of light filtering through the kitchen's doorway. He adjusted his eyes and gazed in.

She was cooking again. All Grim could really see was her back, but he deduced from her motions that she was kneading dough.

Sea and the rock below

Cocked to the undertow.

Bones, blood and teeth erode

With every crashing node.

"Wings couldn't help you~"

Immy jumped a little and turned on her heel. She laughed.

Bags sagged under her eyes, but the light in them still shined.

"Jesus H. Christ, Grim!" She giggled, her voice wobbling. "Scared me."

"Sorry," Grim apologized. "Roslyn, huh?"

"Yeah, uh- I've had it stuck in my head since we watched New Moon yesterday." Her face lit up. "Hey, wait-" She grinned. "You sang for me!"

"Psh. Doesn't count."

"No- you totally did!"  Immy rejoiced. "Finally! You really are good at it-"

"Nope. No compliments."

"Compliments all day, every day. This is cause for celebration."

"Well, good thing there's a party!"

Immy's face dropped.