Extra Darling

Chapter 27: Cleanup

"Unfortunately I do believe you're correct, sister." Wendy agreed, sitting up and wiping her eyes, "These boys are going to ruin us."

I put my face in my hands and leaned over on my lap, the sword on my hip thankfully on the side not facing Wendy. "I think they already have."
"Maybe not. I'm holding out hope that this won't be a permanent behavior. Of course, how could it?"
"But he said it would be. He said it was over."

The two of us spoke in harmony about completely different things. We continued on, finishing each other's comments, until both of us realized that we had no idea what the other was speaking about.

"What happened with Slightly?" Wendy asked, putting a gentle hand on my back.

I shook my head and sat up, slumping back on the couch, "He thinks I've betrayed him."
"That's terrible!" Wendy perked up, her brows knotting in concern, "Did you?"
"Of course not." I grumpily replied, "Not intentionally at least. I've just been so preoccupied with other things that I've... well, truthfully certain things have slipped my mind lately. When there are so many things going on you just have to decide which is most important to focus on, you know?"
Wendy thought about it for a moment. "So what ever else you've been preoccupied with is more important than Slightly? And he's mad at you because of this?"

I sighed, "No. I can't say that what I've been doing was more important than him. He's been nothing but a friend to me, and I suppose I have done something rather dreadful."
"What did you do?"
"I kept a secret from him. An important secret."
Wendy seemed confused again, "Fee, I'm not quite understanding the problem here. Every lady has a reason to keep her secrets. If we just told them willy-nilly to every person we passed we'd been no better than the men. Why is Slightly upset about this?"

"He's upset because he believes that what my secret is will hurt him." I fidgeted with explaining while attempting not to create myself a bigger mess, "I think that perhaps it was simply because I had been keeping the secret from him at all, not the secret itself, that he was offended. And I can't say that I blame him."

I felt awful about lying to Slightly. He stood by my side and comforted me when no one else would and there I went, forgetting all about him. I was no better than my siblings. They abandoned me just like I abandoned him. If only I had brought up the subject before the secret had gone on for so long. If I had introduced Arthur to Slightly before I snuck away so many times, maybe Slightly wouldn't have felt it as such a betrayal.

But I didn't. I let the secret prolong because I was scared of exactly this. Of Slightly hating
me because of my interactions with Arthur.

Honestly, all that's been on my mind of late has been Arthur. How can I help it? He's been the only one I've been with through extended periods of time, and Slightly has been back here. But that's not entirely his fault. Slightly hasn't known where I've been, so I can't really say that this is his doing. It's mine. I made this mess for myself, and I couldn't see a way out of it that involved Slightly forgiving me. I couldn't forgive me.

I felt Wendy eyeing me suspiciously as she put a hand under her chin, "What is this big secret that's gotten you into so much trouble, sister?"
I crossed one leg over the other and gave her a halfhearted shrug, "It would be best if this secret stayed a secret for as long as possible. Or at least until I figure out a way to explain it without entailing the same reaction Slightly had."

"I do hope it's something dreadfully rebellious." Wendy giggled.
I looked at her, dumbfound, "Wendy!"
"Oh, come now." She smiled, the tear stains on her cheeks out of place, "You're always so proper, Ophelia. A little rebellion wouldn't kill you."
"I'm proper because that is the way a young lady is supposed to behave."
"Oh, pish posh." She wrinkled her nose in a way that reminded me of Peter, "Being proper is boring. It's more fun when you make your own decisions without caring what others think."