Distract and Sedate | Hemlock Grove |

Chapter 14 | Habits |

7 Years Earlier

At approximately 3:15 Monday through Friday, the entire Godfrey mansion would be turned upside down as two pre-teens scattered from the black car parked in the driveway. From the door to the kitchen, the would run upstairs with arms filled with snacks and sodas. They had at least an hour before Olivia would get home and fume over their junk food consumption.

They toss their backpacks down on the freshly vacuumed carpet in synch. Roman drops to the floor and uses it as a pillow. He opens a can of some over-sugared soda that he'll regret drinking later and watches as his friend digs through her backpack. While pulling out thick textbooks, a pink and purple envelope falls out.

"What is that?" Roman points to it.

"Oh." Emma shoves in back in her bag. "It's nothing- just a dumb invitation to a birthday party."

"Who for?"

"Ally Gagliardi," she says.

"Oh shit. You should go!" Emma scrunches her face at him. "She's hot. She's the only girl in our grade that wears a bra."

"You're weird," she responds awkwardly, unsure of what to think of that.

"Well a real bra, anyways..." He thinks aloud. "You should go."

"I don't think so," Emma huffs. She looks down at her math homework and hopes the conversation will pass by. "She only invited me because her mom made her."

"Go," he instructs her. She knows she will go. He turns back to his textbook with a moan. "Fuck this. Do my history homework," he jokes. He buries the surprised feeling he gets when she actually complies.

-HG-

Roman experiences her arrival and departure in three distinct waves of emotion. The first is the initial shock of seeing her there in his living room.

He tries to get her out of the house before it gets worse before things really explode. He knows she's not stupid. She knows what he's trying to do and won't let him. Maybe she should have let him push her out.

He wants to explain that he's not sure what Miranda was doing greeting him like that. That had never happened before. That if he thought something romantic was occurring she would be the first person he told. Was that what was happening with Miranda? Something romantic?

The second is the needless guilt he felt. He has nothing to feel guilty about, yet it remains. He didn't have to explain why he had a house guest at his house. He didn't have to share anything with her, it didn't affect her. The baby hadn't interrupted their friendship so far, and as long as Roman remained fed he was fine. She didn't have to know anything.

But maybe he should have wanted her to know.

Last is anger. Instead of being mature and trying to keep the situation calm, he went on the defensive. It was his natural instinct to bite back at Emma's anger. He hadn't expected her to back down so easily. When she does he's unsure what to do. He had been so confident that they would fight it out. But now they don't because he's a coward and it's easier for her to go than for him to explain himself.

-Philly-

Emma goes back to school as quickly as she can. Hemlock Grove is more suffocating than normal. She tells her mom that her car was "broke down" and needs a ride back to campus. Kay prints her a bus ticket for the following afternoon and makes plans to drive her to the station.

She's the only one who gets on at that first station. The bus stays fairly empty for most of the journey. She listens to music when she has phone service and reads when she does not. Sitting on an uncomfortable seat in a grimy bus creates a certain atmosphere. Nothing is more noticeable than the conjoined misery that they all feel. It makes the world seem a little less lonely.