how it feels to be alive {tom riddle}

eleven: confrontation

Standing not far down the aisle was her mother, standing intimidatingly in large dark heels and a pencil skirt.

"Lucia! It is you. What are you doing here?" Her blonde mother asked, her red blouse swishing as she walked closer.

"Shopping, what does it look like?" Lucia replied coldly, her aura shifting dramatically from lively to frigid.

"And who is this with you?" She gestured to Tom, cocking her eyebrow judgementally at the tall boy who had his hand resting on the trolley.

Tom went to introduce himself but Lucia covered him with her arm. "No offence Mum, but I'm really not on the mood to pretend like we like each other right now. So I'm just going to go." She grabbed Tom's arm sharply to try walk away from the scene that was unfolding.

"So you come when no one's home, pack up all your shit and move out without even talking to us? Do you have any idea how much we've done for you?" Lucia's mother raised her voice slightly, the seemingly polite tone she used earlier now absent. The only other customer in the aisle walked away, peering over her shoulder in curiosity at the argument beginning to take place.

"You are so up yourself." Lucia shook her head, "Don't even pretend you aren't happy I'm out. Surely me taking all my stuff was enough of an indication that I don't want anything to do with you anymore."

"You're being so immature Lucia, you never even have Don a chance." Her mother spat.

"I did give him a chance! Until he put his hand up my skirt, you bitch." Lucia began to raise her voice, stepping towards her mother.

"You've always been such a drama queen. And here you are, slutting it up with some new guy who doesn't give a shit about you again. You know he only likes you for your tits right?" She retorted harshly.

Tom tried to step in, but Lucia pushed him aside.

"You don't even know me. And the fact that you'd side with that pedo instead of your own daughter just says volumes about you." Lucia had raised her voice quite a bit now, and there were some confused customers looking down the aisle.

"Lucia... let's go." Tom said gently, pulling her arm slightly and sending a glare to the other woman.

She laced her fingers in his, "Fuck you. Don't ever talk to me again." She said harshly and turned to Tom as they began to walk away.

Lucia and her mother's relationship had been rocky from the start, with their strong personalities meaning they'd constantly argue as she grew up.

But following the death of her father, their relationship deteriorated to fine dust. Lucia's mother had quickly moved on to a new man, patching up the wounds of her previous husbands death with the gifts and money brought with a new one whilst ignoring her daughter's cries for help in the form of acting out. Don had been cold to Lucia from the day they met, constantly critiquing the way she dressed or acted, and on one occasion he had gone that step further.

Lucia's mother had denied any possibility that he could do such wrong, siding with him instead of her own daughter, implying Lucia must have pushed herself on him.

All this built up pain and betrayal was brought up by seeing her mother, and Lucia wasn't sure how much longer she could push it down before it exploded to the surface.

Tom took her card and payed for the groceries as he could see she was on the brink of tears.

They took the bags of groceries and walked out of the store.

After they had walked out of sight of the store and to a quiet area of the street, Lucia let herself cry. Tears ran down her cheeks as she recalled what the confrontation had brought up for her. Tom put down the bags he was carrying to wrap his arms around her in comfort.

"She's such a bitch." Lucia managed to say through sobs in Tom's chest.

"She had no right to talk to you like that." Tom said whilst rubbing her back in slow and comforting circles.

"She just blatantly ignores how much of a horrible person the guy she married is just because he's rich. It's so frustrating, she doesn't care about me at all." She explained, her sadness somewhat returning to anger.

Tom was furious at the conversation. The way Lucia's mother had spoken to her made him want to pull out his wand right there in front of everyone in the store.

"Parents don't mean anything, we don't need them." He said softly in her ear.

After a few moments she finally pulled away from him, wiping under her eyes frantically. "I'm so dramatic, I'm so sorry you had to be in the middle of that."

"It's okay, really. And might I add that my enjoyment of your company is not only a result of your, and I quote, tits." He clarified to lighten the mood.

"Glad to hear it." Lucia laughed lightly, sniffing and trying to compose herself again. "Let's get some Thai food for dinner." She announced and picked up some of the grocery bags on the ground.

***

They sat in the hotel room eating dinner, not having mentioned the grocery store confrontation since it's occurrence.

Lucia had put grey sweatpants and a hoodie on, and Tom was wearing his usual black sweatpants with a t-shirt from the vintage store.

They were sitting at the small table next to the kitchenette, Lucia holding one knee up to her chest and eating one handed with a fork.

"So how do you like the Thai food?" Lucia asked, seeing as she had continuously exposed him to the different takeaway options of London during his time with her.

"Very good." He replied simply, running his hand through his hair.

They were quiet in thought for a moment, but Lucia broke the silence.

"Tom, I don't know what we're doing here and I don't know where we'll end up, but I want to say thank you for being with me the last few weeks. I don't think you understand how bad of a place I was in that night we met, and I'm honestly still not doing great. But you being here with me means so much." She said honestly, pushing away her empty plate.

He nodded, "I don't know what is going to happen either, but I think I was meant to meet you that night. I think that somehow our fates are supposed to be intertwined at this point in time." He replied, also pushing away his finished plate and taking a sip of water.

"I agree." She smiled, "I guess we were brought together to show each other how we can live our lives... and how good it feels to be alive."

authors note

thank you so much for reading, we surpassed 500 reads which is so strange to me.

I really appreciate all your votes and comments, and I hope you're all doing well despite the state of the world right now.

remember to be kind to everyone (tpwk), you have no idea what they're going through.

lots of love <3