It's Not What It Looks Like

ᴇɪɢʜᴛᴇᴇɴ | ʟᴏᴠᴇ, ᴍᴇɴᴀ

‧̍̊˙· 𓆝.° ｡˚𓆛˚｡ °.𓆞 ·˙‧̍̊

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐒𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞, 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐕.

Lucy is all wrapped up in her bunny blanket cape, her curly hair put up with a messiness that heavily implies the hairstyle is of her own doing. Her head rests on dad's shoulder as they watch a Barbie movie like they do every weekend- mugs of hot cocoa empty on the coffee table, chocolate still smeared around the little girl's mouth. 

For a moment, Silena thinks of just slipping past them undetected. It wouldn't be too hard, considering the amount of focus they're both treating this movie to.

But she must linger for just a second too long, because dad eventually catches her stare.

She doesn't answer when he asks why she came early, and only manages to nod when he asks whether Mena is safe and okay. She silently lays down on the couch with her head settled against his chest, the way she did back when she was still the one he'd have cartoon movie nights with. Dad runs his fingers through her hair, Lucy pokes her in the cheeks once, and for a second everything seems a little easier.

Eventually, though, Lucy does have to go to bed.

Once left only with herself, doubt starts creeping its way back into Silena's thoughts. Did she overreact, back at the dance? Sure, she figured out that Mena was trying to pull away from her, but couldn't she just let her do it? It was still going to happen now, only with a bang, instead of quietly.

She doesn't think she could have let it go quietly, though. Not when they made a point about being loud about the whole thing since the beginning.

She can't be angry at Mena for not feeling the same way, and she isn't. But they were supposed to be friends. Mena said that they were friends. And if she would rather play games with Silena to make herself feel less guilty for pulling away than just talk to her, Silena simply isn't the type of person who can let that kind of thing slide.

When the door of the house opens, she's nearly asleep with exhaustion.

Still she sits up, her eyes immediately falling onto a discarded plastic sword that Lucy had left lying on the floor. Not the most ideal weapon for when one has to defend themselves in a case of a burglary, but Silena has been slapped by it during one too many sisterly feuds to know that it can, in fact, sting like a bitch.

But before she can make her attack, a sparkly pink dress enters her field of vision.

Silena lowers her weapon and sits back down on the couch.

"Hi," Mena says, eyes tracking the sword's descent.

Silena isn't sure, but she thinks she would have preferred if it had been a burglar.

"Hi," Silena parrots.

It's awkward. Way too awkward compared to the dynamic they usually have. Silena doesn't think that she's the one who has to fix that, but considering how Mena is currently looking at her like every single wit has abandoned her body, she does feel merciful enough to at least give her some kind of a prompt.

"Retiring early?"

"I'm sorry," Mena blurts. "For earlier. I was acting stupid."

"Yeah, you were."

Mena nods.

"You were right. It had nothing to do with the competition. Even if I wanted to believe that it did," She says. "I know it looked like I don't actually care, but I do."