DREAMER ↝ Ravi Chakrabarti

↳ CHAPTER FOUR

Mouth falling open, Freja wasn't quite sure what to say to Liv's fervent gesturing between her and the easel she had set up in the living room, but the stains of color that she now noticed littering the woman's clothing suggested that she wasn't just teasing. Yet, she couldn't muster out a single word, only a confused huff when she looked back at Liv, but her unsure shrug was taken as a positive answer, earning a blissful smile from the unexpected artist. "Magnificent. I'll go find a stool for you to sit on", she insisted, her hand lingering across Freja's shoulder before she erupted into a hurried stroll to another room, leaving her new friend no choice but to give Matilda an apologetic look.

Snorting, the brunette shrugged off her coat, gesturing for Freja to do the same. "I mean, if she's not going to eat the leftovers, I will. Especially if you brought some of Willa's mashed potatoes", she fantasized with less frustration than expected, and Freja couldn't tell if she was making fun of her or actually on board with the kooky idea. Maybe she would happily claim the painting as her own.

"Yeah, that's the new normal", another voice spoke up from behind them, and visibly flinching, both Freja and Matilda twirled around to find Peyton Charles leaning against the wall with a soft smile on her flawlessly painted lips. A stunner, as always, and apparently still Liv's roommate — the recognition pulled a laugh from Freja who didn't hesitate to part her arms and step forward in the hopes that her hug wouldn't be shot down. Luckily, Peyton seemed to be just as delighted to reunite, and within seconds, they were enveloped in a tight embrace, even if they had never had the time to grow as close as they could have.

"Good to see you, Peyton", Freja exhaled in relief, her eyes falling shut for a second, but soon enough she was pulling away and giving her a persistent look to ensure she was really there, still the same, determined and strong-willed woman she had always been, just with a shorter haircut. She did the same for Freja, though not much had changed with her — on the outside, anyway.

"Right back at you", Peyton beamed up at her, before turning to Matilda with a suppressed smile and lifting her hand in a brief wave. "You too, Matilda." Nervously grinning, the detective returned the gesture, not knowing what more to do or say, so she settled for wandering towards the living room, encouraging Freja and Peyton to follow her lead. "So, anyway, yeah. Liv's been trying a lot of different things lately. Hobbies, interests, you know. It can be... a lot but it's some sort of coping mechanism, I guess. Uh, one time I found her chanting something in the kitchen in the middle of the night but everyone takes their time, nothing I can do but support her through it", the Charles recounted, a sigh escaping her lips as she straightened out her pencil skirt and sat down on the couch, sympathy and allegiance coloring her words.

Knitting her eyebrows together, Freja peeked at Matilda, but when she seemed just as confused by the way Peyton was describing Liv as the survivor of something, she returned to the lawyer-to-be with a careful gaze. "Coping mechanism? Did something happen?" she questioned with a heavy heart, not only worried for Liv but silently cursing that Matilda had been somewhat right to wonder if the woman had gone through something terrible — no doubt, Freja was going to have that rubbed in her face sooner than later.

With a laugh that was anything but amused, Peyton leaned back in the couch and nodded. "Yeah, you didn't... read about the boat party? Or hear about it, anything? The one that happened a few months ago?" she queried, glancing between both women and receiving only unsure shrugs in return. "Oh, well, not much is known about it but people went out of their minds. Started attacking each other, murdering each other. It was a bloodbath. There were a ton of casualties. Drugs were involved, I think. Liv was there", she dropped her voice down to a mere whisper, possibly to avoid Liv hearing, but Freja didn't wonder why she wouldn't want to discuss the topic a whole lot. Suddenly, calling off her engagement with Major and dying her hair didn't seem like such wild decisions anymore — not that she had judged them beforehand, but her heart was certainly beating with sympathy now, if ever.