𝙵𝙾𝚁𝙶𝙴𝚃 𝙷𝙴𝚁࿐ ྂ ᴊᴇꜰꜰ ʙᴜᴄᴋʟᴇʏ

ɴɪɴᴇᴛᴇᴇɴ

A LOUD BANGING ON HER DOOR AWOKE POLLY,
her head still on Jeff's chest as she stirred.

She blinked back the sleep from her eyes as she stared through her peephole, seeing the last person she could've suspected.

She now had short hair, her style more rough-looking, but it was her. Polly's sister.

Polly opened the door in bewilderment, having got no warning of Mads first visit in two years.

"I'm so glad this is where you live. I was afraid I was banging on some random persons door. That would've been bad, but it's only you-"

"I have a doorbell. And please come in." Polly said groggily, cutting off her sisters rambling.

Mads dropped her duffel down on Polly's floor, taking in the sight of her apartment.

While she looked around, Polly stayed quiet, staring at her sister. She got an odd feeling.

Like nostalgia but not quite the same. Madelyn was now taller than her elder sister, having grown to look even more like their father.

"It's nice!" Mads decided, walking back over to her sister.

"I like it." Polly agreed, smiling slightly. "Why're you here? I mean I'm fine that you are I'm just confused."

"Well they're putting post-its on shit. 'That's mine' or 'No I bought it fuck you!' So it's kinda crazy."

She listened to her little sisters words, confused on who they are, confused why they are putting 'post-it's on shit.' She walked to the kitchen, starting a pot of coffee, waiting for Mads to continue.

"You don't know." She joined Polly in the kitchen, sitting on the table.

"I guess not."

"They're separating. Or already did. Just being official about it, I guess." Mads studied her face, waiting for a reaction from her sister.

"Mom and Dad?" Mads nodded. "I'm not surprised." Polly said, feeling nothing at the information- knowing she'd feel it later.

"I was."

Polly glanced back at her sister, visibly upset, trying to hide it.

As a child, her parents were an example of what Polly thought love had to be like.

'Years' of pining after and chasing, it being okay to be in a constant argument over little things. She thought a relationship rooted in dishonesty was a good one.

Her parents marriage was a complete joke. And that had turned her off on the idea of ever marrying somebody. Because if it turned sour for her parents- why wouldn't it for her?

Later on, Polly had realized it had nothing to do with marriages themselves, just the people who got into them with the wrong person, at the wrong time.

Secretly, she'd thought about how she'd look in a wedding dress and how Jeff would look in a suit. It painted a funny picture in her mind, one that didn't make sense, although really made all the sense in the world.

She didn't know if soulmates were a thing. If 'meant to be' was bogus. But later on, once all the craziness in both their life's was dying down when they were old and, (in both Polly and Jeff's mind,) still wildly in love.

Maybe she'd wanna marry him. Have a white wedding. A picturesque moment together.

"Do you believe in soulmates?" Polly asked, startling her sister.

"I don't know. I guess anyone could be your soulmate."

Her words confused Polly, although she was used to the vagueness Mads possessed.

Polly smiled. "I think I have a soulmate."

"I hope I do too." Mads looked at her sister.

She was different. But of course she would be. The last time she'd seen Polly around normally was when she was seventeen and she was eleven.

Mads had always understood her sister, even as a little kid. She understood the faraway look in her eyes as she daydreamed about moving away, finding her 'thing.' She understood when her silent tears fell, understood when she talked a mile a minute, words coming out feverishly until she got quiet again.

Polly was younger then, no longer the same seventeen year old. She'd like to think she'd transformed completely in the past six years, but her teenage self lived on inside her.

She still would rather look at things through a camera lense than her own two eyes. Still would rather listen to music than listen to people.

The more she thought about her past self, the more she wanted to hold onto the fragments of her past, not wanting to ever forget what'd she'd gone through, never wanting the time to slip through her fingers.

"You look happy." Mads told her sister, cradling her coffee mug in her cold hands. "In general. Not about mom and dad." She confirmed.

"I am." It meant more to say those words and mean it. Not say it like she was trying to convince herself or anyone else.

She really meant it. She was happy.

Polly left Mads downstairs, deciding she'd stay on her couch for a week or so. She climbed back into bed, Jeff groggily greeting her.

"Who's that?"

"Sister." Polly replied plainly, pulling the comforter up to her neck. "Do you think soulmates are real?"

"You think you're mine?"

"I don't know." Polly lied.

"Well. If you think I'm yours then yes. I believe."

Jeff seemed to have fallen back asleep, and Polly smiled to herself as she studied the cracks in her ceiling.

Seventeen year old Polly would be confused. She'd be taken aback. She had managed to find a man she could stand. A man who loved her. A man who spoke pure poetry while his hands made music no one could deny was beautiful.

She shut her eyes, wishing she'd sleep once more, although too preoccupied with the thoughts of soulmates, marriage, and divorce.

Polly wished she'd gotten a call, heard the news from her father rather than sister. It'd been nice to hear his voice, even if it told her the discouraging news.

She realized he wasn't obligated to call her, he didn't have to tell her anything. But it would've been nice.

She remembered when she'd first moved to the city. Her father had called every night in the middle of dinner, saying that way they'd be eating together- despite being miles apart.

Polly screwed her eyes shut harder, trying to blink back the wetness in in them as she thought of everyone she'd left behind in her hometown.

The best friends she'd sworn she would have forever. The exes at the time she would never leave.

She decided then that New York City was her forever home, she wouldn't ever leave it behind, never without looking back, never without a goodbye.

༻✦༺

A/N

pls ignore this chapter tbh. It's all over the place and I wrote it at 4am!!

ok but thank you for reading and for all the votes nd comments!!! still can't believe how fast this story went from like <1 to 5k

<333