limbo and coffee

19: bad joke

Em's

"Hey, Asea," As soon as the alpha left, Em worriedly looked at Asea and held on to her arm but she elbowed it off. "Em, later." She quickly got out of her seat and left, almost brisk walking away from them.

Em hates that she couldn't do anything about what happened. That she feels so powerless, just watching that guy ruin the little confidence and respect her best friend has for herself.

She followed her as the others followed them behind. Her face is turned away, she knows she's just keeping it in until she gets to where she wants to hide for the rest of the day.

They got on the fourth floor and she hastily got inside their room. Em held the door open, watching her grab a blanket and pillows shoving them under the bed. She wormed herself under the bed again, hiding.

"Em." She looked back, seeing Aeria look at her worriedly. "Should...we talk to her?" She turned away, her chest feeling heavy. 

"No, not yet, we could do something else. Come."

"But.."

"Aeria, not yet." She repeated, pulling her hand away from the door.

They spent the remaining time, the two of them at the family room, just silent. Maybe they were rethinking what happened to this day. Maybe they just didn't want to talk about anything. Or even if they do, they might just end up crying, which they rarely do.

Seven years and counting and yet they refuse to cry in front of each other and let loose unless pushed by circumstances. It wasn't even, "Hey, I'm sad, can I cry to you?" though yes, they're close. And their relationship's deep and intimate. They say their innermost thoughts, joke about intimate things but crying? It's foreign. It's always done alone. It's often most a historical event for them if someone cries in front of the other.

Em herself doesn't know if she wants to cry freely in front of other people other than herself as casually as she gushed over 2D characters or just stay this way. Sometimes, she wants to give herself a good cry and not think of the people who would be looking at her. Sometimes, she just wants to stop caring. To stop being careful and to just let loose.

To just be honest even if it hurts.

"I'll nap for a while," Aeria said, waving her hand as she leaves. "Okay---wha-" Her eyes widened when she turned towards her left and Trey just opened the door from their room. 

Their eyes met. "Hey...uhm, don't you want to nap for a while?" He said, pointing at their room.

"I'm not really sleepy." She's too worried to sleep. And she knows Azrael's in the room, she hopes he isn't that angry. He might add to the things Asea's worrying too much about. He walked towards her then stopped when he was about to sit beside her. 

"May I talk to you?" She almost laughed.

"Just sit down."

He scratched his nape, sheepishly smiling as he sits down. "I'm just...I figured you would want to be alone." She just smiled a little though it didn't reach her eyes. She stayed laying back against the couch. Tired. She's tired.

"I think Asea's cute." He said after a while. It feels like he's holding his breath. Is he nervous? 

"I'm not the one who should hear that, Trey."

"I know. Just...I feel bad for what happened." Who isn't? What he did was upsetting. It makes her sick in the stomach just thinking that there are people who can make someone feel the worst. "Also...it isn't my place but I wanted to say sorry for what Azrael did a while ago."