Toxic Lips [l.h]

f o r t y s e v e n

I'm drifting off to sleep when I hear my door creak open and someone make their way into my room. 

I jolt up in bed, switching on the lamp on my bedside table.

Elise stands timidly by the door. She looks so young in that moment, her eyes no longer so harsh and spiteful, but slightly sheepish.

"Elise? What do you want, it's two in the--"

"I can't sleep."

"What do you want me to do about it?"

She takes her bottom lip in between her teeth nervously. "Can I sleep in here?"

I stare at her confusedly. Not even three hours ago we were fightinh, and now here she is, asking if she can sleep in my room tonight. It reminds me of Luke and I when we first met; the on and off fighting.

"I guess," I sigh and she pads over to my bed, slipping in next to me. I switch off the light and lay back down, shutting my eyes. 

"Remember when we used to jump on Mum and Dad's bed when we'd get our dessert taken away?" Her voice rings through the silence.

"Yeah," I say. "But it was so worth it because their bed was practically a trampoline."

"Yeah," I hear Elise smile in her voice.

"Remember when we'd try to make snowmen when we went to the Snowy Mountains in the Winter, but the snow was all slush from foot traffic so it never worked."

"And we'd get upset and cry so Mum made us hot chocolate and Dad slipped us extra marshmallows."

"And that one time I spilled it on the couch and I was grounded for a month."

"Oh, yeah. Mum was so pissed."

We laugh into the darkness. 

"I talked to Connor," Elise says softly. "He explained everything," she whispers.

"Did he, now."

"I'm sorry," she whispers. "I should have listened to my own sister instead of a douchebag like him."

"Yeah. You should have."

"I'm really sorry aout what he did to you, too." Elise's bottom lip quivers. "I guess I've just always wanted to have something you don't, you kone? You had the brains, you got the great education, and now you have this amazing job. You get to write songs for One Direction and Justin Bieber, for god's sake! I don't have any of that. I barely graduated fucking high school. So when I saw.... what I saw, I guess it was just the perfect reason to hate you." Her voice cracks. "I've always been such a shitty sister." A few tears escape her eyes and I reach over to wipe them away, propping myself up on my elbows. 

"Hey, don't cry," I say. "It's over now, it's in the past."

She nods and takes a shaky breath. "I know," she says, sitting up. "I love you, Allie."

"I love yo too, El."

She reaches out for me and we embrace tightly, just like we used to when we were younger. It feels so good to have my little sister back. This past year has been such a difficult one without her support, and an empty gap in my chest seems to fill up again. 

I know Elise is crying, and I'm crying, but it's okay. Because we're sisters again.

And that's when I realize that none of this would of happened without Luke. That boy saved my relationship with my sister, and for that I am eternally greatful. 

He said I could do it, and I did. 

-

"Have a safe flight," my mother says, squeezing me in a tight hug.