"Two hamburgers and a large fries," Natasha orders, flicking her debit card back and forth against the palm of her hand, "Oh, and two cookie and cream shakes, please?"
Yelena tunes out the worker, instead opting to look at the Thanksgiving decorations around the store. They're simple little hand turkeys that look like they were decorated by kids with colors that are anything but accurate and little top hats on their heads.
She remembers drawing hand turkeys when she lived in Ohio and they went to an actual school with actual other normal kids. She wonders how many of those kids ended up okay.
"Lena, come on," Natasha gently pushes at her shoulder, leading her to a small booth in the corner of the restaurant.
Natasha sets a little device on the table, "You do realize that she's right though, right?"
"Isabel? What about?" Yelena asks, continuing their conversation from earlier. After her last therapy session, Yelena's had a hard time letting go of the whole anxiety thing. She just doesn't understand how Isabel saw anything wrong, no one's ever pointed anything out and sure she's gotten more nervous since the Red Room and especially since breaking away from the Widows and her previous life almost completely, but that can't be anxiety.Nerves are somtimes what kept her alive.
"Lena, she's practically clocked everything I was concerned about," Natasha points out, flipping over the device so the flashing red light isn't visible anymore, "Seriously, I've been worried about you."
"I'm still functioning," Yelena defends lamely, and Natasha huffs.
"Except for the blip, I've never been so depressed that I refused to get out of bed and shower or eat or work out. And you told me that that's happened to you multiple times. That's not normal," Natasha tells her. Yelena rolls her eyes, not enjoying this. She's vaguely aware that that part isn't normal, but it's her normal, just as much a part of her life as eating waffles for breakfast. Sometimes they have blueberries and sometimes they have bananas and sometimes she can't manage to do anything but sleep for five days straight. Big whoop.
"My life isn't normal, Natasha," Yelena points out bitterly, trying to take her focus off of this conversation before she gets too worked up about it.
"I'm aware," Natasha responds, both of them jumping when the little device starts vibrating wildly on the table. They take a second to compose themselves, Natasha calming a lot faster and muttering out a quick "I'll get that."
Yelena fiddles with her fingers as she waits, twisting her rings and ruminating in hatred for the little vibrating device. The sound of it against the table rings in her head and she finds herself trying to calm herself down in any other way.
Natasha comes over - little device begone - and sets a tray on the table.
"Have you tried cookies and cream before?" she asks, handing Yelena a burger and a drink. It's in a clear plastic cup and she can see the off-white color of the drink and all of the little specks in it. There's whipped cream on top and Natasha hands her a straw to use, one that's thicker than other straws she's used in the past.
"No," Yelena responds, peeling the straw's wrapper off and sticking her straw into her drink, "What is it?"
"Oreos blended into ice cream and other shit. It's pretty fuckin' good, especially from this place," Natasha's already taken a sip of hers and Yelena eyes it warily.
It looks kind of nasty despite now knowing there are Oreos in it.
Nevertheless, she takes a sip, pleasantly surprised by the taste. She takes another sip, not sure how she feels about it.
YOU ARE READING
rain is always gonna come
Fanfictionyelena's not exactly the most emotionally fluid person in the world. she knows anger, she knows grief, she knows sadness, she knows happiness, she knows love. but she doesn't always know how to handle it. so when she ends up on her big sister's couc...
