~~Young~~

Chapter Eight

   Okay, so t-shirts- without the rhinestones- and tanks, socks, underwear- could bras go in the wash?-and leggings were all washable. Some of her jeans said dry clean only but Chels’s said machine washable…she shook her head and put those to the side not getting the difference.

   Sweaters…they both went in the dry cleaning bag.

   Her skirt from last night and Chels’s jumper…both silk, both dry clean only.

   She grabbed one of Chels’s blouses…okay that wasn’t in English or French, the only two languages Sera was fluent in. She put that in the pile with the jeans.

   Moving on…

   “What are you doing in here?” Chels laughed from behind Sera.

   “Laundry,” she said without looking up from her current piece, “what does it look like?”

   “Um…” she stifled another laugh.

   Sera glanced up at her and her spectacled face then- Chels had taken out her contacts while Sera…napped. That and the tank and boxers meant she was at least getting ready for bed- and remembering the breakfast Chels had made for her she grabbed another bite before she went back to her work, “sorry I’m not a whiz at this.”

   “I know…that’s why I do it,” she said lightly as she came to kneel beside Sera, helping her to find the right baskets, “what I meant was why are you in here doing this now? You should be getting ready-”

   “I know what I should be doing,” Sera grumbled, “but I want to do this, so, this is what I’m going to do.”

   Chels just shook her head at her, “no one wants to do laundry.”

   She had been smiling up to that point, her face bright and cheery as a person who had actually seen a good night’s sleep would be. But suddenly her expression fell, her eyes turning down and the bags from her almost twenty four hours without sleep becoming apparent even behind the rims of her glasses.

   “Why now,” she asked Sera solemnly, “what brought this on?”

   “I dunno,” she shrugged, “I just…I felt like it that’s all.”

   “Sera…” Chels trailed off, those baby blues running over Sera in concern, “is this about last night? Because you don’t need to make anything up to me, what Nathan did was totally uncalled for suspending us all like that and it wasn’t your fault-”

   Sera held up a hand to cut off the girl’s flood of words. It was awfully hard not to think about something when someone else was bringing it up. Besides, she’d have plenty of time to relive last night’s events over and over in her head while riding that train, alone, with no one to distract her.

   “It’s not that Chels believe me it’s not. It’s just…” she dropped the shirt she had begun twisting into an unhealthy ball to the floor, “I feel like I’m a burden on you sometimes. That you’re not here because you want to be but because you’re afraid I’ll self destruct without you.”

   “Are you that sleep deprived?” She asked skeptically, “Sera I love you, you’re my best friend. Why wouldn’t I want to help you?”

   “So then you do think fall apart without you?”

   She gave Sera a small smile- trying to deflate the situation- and gave her hand a squeeze, “don’t take this the wrong way sweetie, but sometimes…yes, I do.”

   Immediately Sera tried to push off the floor but Chelsea wouldn’t let her.

   “Stop, let me explain,” she said as she tugged Sera back into the pile of clothes, “it’s not because I don’t think you couldn’t live without me, like, do laundry and stuff,” she tried for humor, but Sera just couldn’t muster humor right now when her best friend just confirmed she thought she was a failure at life, “it’s because of who you are. You are a self destructive person Sera. You’ve proven this how many times just since I’ve known you?”