Alterlife ⇝ Bucky Barnes [1]

five.

05. | EARLY MORNING ARGUMENTS.

LYDIA HAD BEEN DREAMING OF PLEASANT THINGS FROM WHAT SHE COULD REMEMBER. It was childish in a way how her brain conjured up fantasies that she could only dream of to comfort her after the previous night, but it was welcome. She'd been so exhausted from her travel from one side of the city to the other that she hadn't bothered to wrap her hair up and now her curls were splayed over her pillow, tangled to no end probably. She also hadn't bothered to change into a nightgown, instead falling into bed in nothing besides her underwear.

That decision is what had her scrambling for something to put over her bare body as the sound of knocking echoed behind the front door of her apartment. Her electric fan that rattled so loud it drowned out the street noises had masked it for the most part, but there was no double that someone was at her door.

She crept out of her room and down the hall slowly. As if the person could hear her over their assault on the wooden door. Worry filled every thought she had now; had the police found her through an anonymous tip? It seemed a bit extreme for them to search that long for her but she wouldn't put it past Joseph. A man's ego was nothing to bruise, especially not a rich man who was used to getting what he wanted.

When the knocking got too loud, Lydia swallowed her fear and opened the door with haste. Instead of an officer in a uniform, however, it was just a furious Effie with Kenneth standing beside her. The modelesque woman stormed into the apartment past her best friend but still grabbed her hand to pull her further into her own home as the man shut the door behind them.

"What the hell is your problem?" Lydia only frowned at Effie's question, making the latter huff and flare her nostrils even more. "You pulled a knife on Joseph last night when you were drunk, Lydia! Or do you not remember?" 

Lydia's look of confusion dropped and was quickly replaced by one of annoyance. She looked to the man on her left out of her peripheral and raised her head slightly, "Kenneth I know she's not yelling at me." 

"I'm just here for support."

Both women decided to ignore his lack of a position. Effie kept her eyes trained on the woman in front of her, "You're lucky he told the police to drop your warrant after I talked to him-" 

"You didn't hear the full story." Lydia interrupted her.

"What more do I need to know?" 

They kept going like that for far too long. Effie would yell and Lydia would interrupt, so Effie would just yell louder. It was too early in the morning for the entire complex to not be annoyed but to the surprise of Kenneth, no one bothered to bang on walls or floors to tell them to shut up.

Lydia had enough of the allegations and for a final time interrupted the woman in front of her. "Effie just shut up! He tried to assault me, why wouldn't I pull a knife on him?" 

Finally, the taller of the two closed her mouth and didn't have anything else to say. Kenneth seemed to stand up straighter at the revelation and Lydia stared between the two of them, "What did he tell you?" 

"He just said that you got really aggressive after getting drunk and you pulled a knife on him." Effie's voice was softer than it had been all morning, like she was suddenly insecure of herself.

"And you really believed him? You know me better than that!"

"Where the hell is he?" Ken had always been the most passive out of the three but on occasion, he would be ready to fight any and anything that he came across. Now was one of those occasions and Lydia was worried for Effie as he stepped closer to the woman, staring down at her.

"Ken let it go." 

"He tried to hurt my sister, Effie. You should be more pissed off about it." 

They began to bicker between one another, although there was no danger of it turning into a screaming match as it had between the women. Still, Lydia was annoyed by it and let out an excessively loud groan, "Just let it go, would you? We can't go pickin' fights with rich white people. He got the message." 

"Who knows if he'll actually drop them charges? You can't afford no bail." 

Lydia shook her head as she leaned against the tiny kitchen table behind her, "I've spent time in jail before, I'll be fine." 

"She's not going to jail, Ken. Will made sure he wouldn't do anything." Effie seemed more confident in those words but something about that made Kenneth even more annoyed than before.

"Oh, we just gotta depend on good ole Will, huh?" 

"What's that supposed to mean?" 

It wasn't really a secret to Lydia as to why he was so annoyed. Lydia could tolerate Will to an extent. She didn't trust him as far as she could throw him, but she could stand in the same room as the man and not feel a crippling urge to harm him. Kenneth, on the other hand, had no such control. Any time that Effie mentioned her love, he would tense up and his entire mood change. Those that didn't know their inner circle would assume that it was just a general distrust for men near Effie, which was a fair assumption.

The real fact of the matter was that Kenneth had been hopelessly in love with Effie for most of his life. He had dated girls just like Effie had dated boys but not a single one was ever going to take the spot that Effie had taken in his heart. 

She wasn't really sure why the dynamic between them was so different. Lydia was every bit as pretty as Effie was; her shortcomings may have been in the physique but most girls her age were skinny and scrawny. She supposed that it came down to their personalities for the most part: after all, Effie wanted to be the ideal woman and had always been softer. Lydia had always considered herself to be one of the boys and confronted the world head-on. If she was Kenneth, Effie would probably have charmed her too. 

Still, even though her brother's obvious jealousy was endearing, she'd had enough of the arguing for the day.

"Would you two shut the hell up before Mr. Ellis and the rest of the floor starts banging on my door?" both parties looked away from each other and towards her, making her sigh. "Look, I said I'm fine and I mean it. Why don't we all just calm down and have a.... a beach day or something? It's nice out and it's summertime. Nobody has to work today." 

Quite frankly, the suggestion sounded stupid, but it was the first thing that she could think of. They hadn't taken a beach trip since two summers ago and she knew that Effie didn't like the water but they all needed to relax and that was the one way she knew how to outside of the house. Besides, it was well into the nineties that day and staying inside wouldn't help anybody.

Instead of a normal response, Effie and Ken shrugged their shoulders and looked back to Lydia. It looked like the water would be their friend today but who knew what would await them by the shore.

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ik this is a short one, i promise the next one will more than make up for it

told y'all i was taking my time with this and meant it!