Outer Limits | ✓

◦ mindless

⠀⠀⠀ "Sometimes it's easier for an onlooker to see things how they are, you know, objectively."

⠀⠀⠀ Darcy knew her sister was right on that count. Of course it'd be simpler for someone that hadn't been engulfed so firmly into her life to see thing at face value but certainly Emma couldn't be that person. She had been with him, which made her subjective.

⠀⠀⠀ "How come you didn't tell me?"

⠀⠀⠀ "How come you didn't tell me you snogged Sam?" Emma countered, though there was no trace of judgement. Darcy's blood ran cold, she couldn't believe he had told her. Somehow, she wasn't upset just more surprised if anything. "It's not personal, sometime we just have to go through shit before we're ready to talk about it – there's nothing wrong with that."

⠀⠀⠀ Their pillow talk came to its end at that while several things were still left up in the air. Darcy couldn't find it in herself to reach up and ground them.

→←

Darcy's body had decided to take its revenge on her in the form of dreams. Vivid, bloodcurdling, pulse-pounding dreams that had the redhead waking up the next morning panting. It meant she had to spend the rest of the day with the looming shadow of a guilt-ridden memory.

⠀⠀⠀ For a few moments, she willed herself to blink away the memory and let the cogs in her minds start up and slowly turn before dragging herself out of bed — careful to not wake Emma, only to find that her twin's bed was vacant. Darcy didn't pay too much kind to this before she made her way into their bathroom, peeling back the night's attire before she fell headfirst into her morning routine.

⠀⠀⠀ Torrents of scorching water doused her fair skin splattering it with a sleek sheet of red. It only took fifteen minutes to rinse her locks and once she found the energy, lathered it with soapy shampoo. Darcy was half-expecting Emma to interrupt her soon but this morning had deviated from the norm; her twin had yet to break the door down.

⠀⠀⠀ Come to think of it, she hadn't seen her sister huddled in the far corner of her bed this morning which was stranger considering Emma always woke after her. She wondered where her twin had run off to, so early in the morning, as she spun the shower valve to a stop.

⠀⠀⠀ Unlike the previous night, she found a pair of jeans rather quickly and pulled on the nearest jumper. Her hair fell in waves and stopped marginally past her shoulders. Satisfied with her attire, she descend the staircase that lead to the living room before passing it without a cursory glance. Soon, she ventured deeper into her home before taking a sharp right and strode through a doorway before she found herself in the kitchen. 

⠀⠀⠀ The sight before her, Emma and Sam scarfing down an array of waffles drizzled in syrup was unexpected. But it didn't hold a candle to how surprised she was to see a despondent Jude Asher. He was slumped against a chair, typing in his mobile mindlessly, clearly not realising he'd been under her scrutiny.

⠀⠀⠀ His hair fell across his forehead in messy waves, and a too-bright light shone against him, illuminating the angles of his face. His lips were adorned in a heartbeat smirk, and Darcy wondered who had made him smile this way. A fleeting thought suspected it to be Joanna Lancaster and the thought alone made her skin crawl.

⠀⠀⠀ "Right, what's all this then?" She said, unprompted.

⠀⠀⠀ Emma rolled her eyes. "Oh, keep your hair on," she said before guzzling down a glass of almond milk, savouring the taste with a smack of her lips. "It's too early for your screeching. Why don't you take a load off and have breakfast with us, yeah?"