"Hey, do you wanna crash at my place?" Bella whispers into Quinlynn's ear as they walk down the street, Lucy, Zeke, and Yiannis walking in front of them.
"Thanks, but I should probably head home," Quinlynn murmurs softly, turning her head away so that Bella can't see her face. She's been crashing at Bella's place on the weekends for the last couple of weeks and needless to say her parents weren't thrilled.
"Tomorrow then?" Bella asks hopefully. She hasn't said anything yet but she's not blind, three black eyes in the span of two months isn't normal.
"Can't. Funeral," Quin answers simply, glancing up at the street signs to make sure they haven't passed her place.
"Oh, right. Sorry," Bella says softly as the wind blows her hair into her face.
They had been going through a warm stretch for the past few days so in proper north east fashion, the wind that's coming in is freezing cold. Quin groans inwardly at the thought of a 3-5 day stretch with temperatures under 50 degrees. She's been really enjoying not needing a coat, especially considering she doesn't have one. And while she's sure she could afford one with the money she's saved from working, right now all that money is going towards, hopefully, buying or renting an apartment with her older brother once she's graduated.
Her older brother, Hunter, is already nineteen. But because he repeated a grade he's a senior rather than in his freshman year of college. So the plan is that her brother will attend NYU and live on campus freshman year. Then once Quin graduates they'll rent a place where he can commute to school and she can figure out what the hell she's doing with her life. And, though she'd really prefer to emancipated, her brother will get their parents to sign over custody to him and all their problems will be solved. Well not really, but she's trying this new thing called 'optimism'. She can't say she's a fan though.
Realism is just so much more... well, realistic. Shocking, right?
"Girl, where is your coat?" Yiannis asks, turning around to look at them and promptly walking into a street sign.
"I left it at home," Quin lies, giving him a weak smile. It's fricking freezing, Mr. Bigglesworth, Quin thinks to herself. And yes, she does laugh slightly at her own reference.
"That sucks," Lucy says, giving her a sympathetic smile as she turns to look at her and Bella. And, unlike Yiannis, she doesn't hit a street sign.
Quin smiles at her briefly before glancing down at her phone. 7:46. "Shi- shoot! I gotta go," she says as they finally approach her street, although she'll still have to walk a solid 10 minutes before she gets home.
"Okay, girl, I'll see you tomorrow," Yiannis waves as Quin crosses the street.
"Bye," Zeke and Bella call after her.
And she hears a shouted "text me when you get home" which she assumes is from Lucy. She's always telling her to and she's not totally sure why; and Quin always ends up wording her texts so weirdly. It's strange for someone to care about her making it home safe.
After walking for a few minutes she glances at the time. Damn, they were further away from her house than she thought. So she takes off sprinting though she's sure the sudden exercise is terrible for her asthma and heart condition but she'd rather be dead than late. Although, she muses as she runs, if she's late she'll probably end up dead. Oh, the irony.
She makes it home just in time, granted she can't breathe but who cares? She slides off her shoes, picks them up, and shoves them in her cubby. She knows better than to walk around the house with shoes on. She then hangs up her coat and bag before walking fully into the apartment.
"Hi mom!" She calls out, feigning cheeriness as she walks into their library room that her mom is currently sleeping in.
"Hi honey," her mom smiles, she's lying in bed. She recently had hip surgery so she's not doing a whole lot of sitting up. "How was school?"
"Good," she replies simply. She knows it might seem rude but she's learned over the years that her mother doesn't even remotely care about her thoughts, feelings or opinions, unless it's something she can start an argument over, that is. "How was your day?"
"Oh it was pretty good," her mom starts, and here's where she stops listening. Here being the beginning of her mother's list of complaints and critiques about everyone and everything. Her included. The last time she'd bothered listening to this part her mom had told her that she hates her... So, yeah, it's probably best for their relationship if she just zones out.
Besides, she's gotten pretty good at making it look like she's listening. And, at least she's in a good mood today. If she wasn't in a good mood, the conversation would've started the second she walked through the door with something along the lines of "where have you been?" in that scary, fake, and sickly sweet voice with the occasional "I'm not mad you just has me worried, you have to tell me where you're going" thrown in, which completely ignored the fact that not only did her mother track her phone, but she also constantly has to tell her where she's going. Which she does, and she definitely did today. Plus she knows that forgetting to tell her is probably one of the stupidest things she could do. Not that her mom ends up doing much about it, aside from telling her dad.
"People make mistakes," her mom would say with a soothing smile that almost makes her feel safe, "And you're human, we wouldn't love you if you didn't make mistakes. But the important thing is to learn from them." And then her dad would make sure she never forgets a single mistake, and never repeats them. Although there were a few times when she forgot. Like last Thursday when she forgot to tell them where she was going out to dinner with her friends. Or earlier that week when she'd forgotten to do the dishes and clean the kitchen.
But the one thing she always struggles with is knowing when to keep her mouth shut. God, I'm so stupid, she would think every time she let something slip at dinner that she knows she shouldn't have. I should know better, I should've known better, she would repeat in her head over and over again. And yet, at least once a week, without fail, she ends up saying something wrong.
And it's frustrating, infuriating really, why can't she just keep her damn mouth shut?! Don't tell them about your day, you know better than that. Don't complain about anything, especially not food. Remember to listen to what everyone else is saying, but don't get offended if they're just insulting you to your face. Don't cry, crying is for babies. Don't get angry, it's wrong to take it out on other people, but definitely don't be offended if other people at the table are taking it out on you. Don't eat too fast, don't eat too slow. Don't drink so much water. Don't look like you're trying not to cry. Don't be silent, contribute to the conversation. You don't want people to think you're mute. Don't act disinterested even if everyone is talking about fantasy football or stocks for an hour. Learn how to take a joke and make a joke, but definitely don't insult anyone. But if you do, don't apologize, that makes you look weak. But apologize through actions, you can't be an asshole. Remember to thank everyone for dinner and clear the dishes even if you were the one to cook and set the table while everyone, including your brother, does nothing and has nothing expected of them. And most importantly, DON'T SPEAK!
Sure a lot of those rules seem contradictory but she's sure she can do it. She just needs to learn. If only she could learn faster.
"Honestly, it's like he's not even trying. Why does he have to act so stupid?" Her mom exclaims and Quin assumes that she's talking about her brother. Generally once her mom starts complaining about Hunter, they've gotten to the end of the list. Sometimes it's followed with complaints about her father but usually it's not. "I need to do my PT," her mom states. So Quin gets off the end of the bed where she must've sat down and starts to leave the room. "By the way, your dad had poker tonight and said he should be home around ten."
Fucking fantastic. "Okay, thanks mom." For what? Who knows?!
She'd done a lot of homework the night before so she decides she's just going to head to bed, or rather, lay there until her father gets home and...
I can't believe a met Elizabeth Olsen, she thinks to herself as she lies in bed in a pair of sweatpants and a long sleeve shirt. She does know who she is, actually. But her brain just doesn't work that well under pressure. She also doesn't tend to look up the actors in movies or shows because she's generally watching right before she falls asleep and then she has almost no memory of the movie the next morning. But Elizabeth Olsen, that's pretty cool. It'd make for a fun three truths and a lie.
~~~~~
Lizzie sits on the couch, staring at her tea.
"So I just realized that Rose doesn't have school tomorrow," Scarlett announces as she sits down on the couch beside Lizzie.
"Hmm, what?" Lizzie asks after a moment, looking up from her tea to look at Scarlett.
"I said that Rose doesn't have school tomorrow," Scarlett repeats before pausing, "Are you okay?"
"Isn't it weird that she's grocery shopping unsupervised in the middle of the night and working at a cafe when she isn't even sixteen yet?" Lizzie asks as she looks back down at her tea, though she's mostly talking to herself.
Scarlett sighs. She suspected that Lizzie was still thinking about this mystery girl. "Maybe, but you don't know her. You don't know her home life and her family situation. Maybe she's the oldest and her parents have to work at night," Scarlett tries, though she knows Lizzie has probably already considered that possibility. "And if I may, I don't think you should get to know her."
"What? Why would you say that?" Lizzie asks, her eyes shooting back up to look at Scarlett, and she nearly drops her tea.
"Because," Scarlett sighs in a sort of sisterly way, "I know you Lizzie. You'll get attached and she'll get attached and you really can't afford that. Might I remind you that you don't live in New York. And you have a handful of projects that you're working on right now. And a husband?"
"You don't know that," Lizzie defends, "Not including the part about New York, and work, and Robbie."
Scarlett laughs slightly at the way Lizzie stumbled over the second part. "Yes, I do."
And Lizzie shoots her a look.
"I do. Because if you weren't already attached we wouldn't be having this conversation. And you are an exceptionally easy person to become attached to. Especially if any of those what if's that you're coming up with in your head are actually true about this girl."
Lizzie glares at Scarlett slightly. Not in a 'I'm mad at you kind of way' but more in a 'I'm frustrated that you're right' sort of way.
"I'm serious Lizzie. You wear your heart on your sleeve, and that's great. But can you really afford to do this?"
They sit in silence for a minute and Scarlett can tell that she's already made up her mind. In fact she can tell that she'd already made up her mind the moment she left the coffee shop.
She pulls Lizzie in for a side hug and Lizzie groans slightly in annoyance. "If that's the case, then I promise I'm with you every step of the way."