all our stars, bench trio

chapter fourteen

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

july 29, 2021

Giulia Adrien Humphrey arrives knocking on my bedroom door at the asscrack of the morning. A pleasant trait of hers, especially considering she has a spare key to the house.

"Hey, sunshine. Wake the hell up, it's flight time."
"Giulia. The flight is in... what time is it?"
"1:43"

"The flight is in 8 hours, Giulia. I love you, but you need some consideration for my need to sleep."

"Sleep is for the weak."

"Call me weak, then. Just give me a couple hours."
She crosses her arms. "Fine. I'll just brew up some hot chocolate and gossip with your mom for a few hours."
I grunt and give her a solid middle finger to the nose.

"Love you too." She giggles maliciously and rummages through my closet. "So, I'm thinking this white top, with the denim... I really do love how these patches turned out..."

The jacket is adorned with a Ravenclaw and lesbian flag patch, as well as a tiny American flag on the sleeve cuff and two big ones across the back: one in black and white that reads "Soup For The Revolution," and a skeleton in a beanie with a watering can.

Mum knocks on the wall outside my bedroom. "Anyone changing in here?"

"Nah, June's the only..." She swallows glumly. I forget so often what goes on in her head.

"...one who didn't wake up at 12am," I finish for her with a half-smile. She returns it anxiously.

Mum enters the room with a plate stacked with miscellaneous breakfast items. Mostly PopTarts. Naturally.

"Thank you, mother," Giulia says, tiptoeing over to the plate, grabbing three brown sugar cinnamon PopTarts, stacking them, and shoving all three in their mouth at the same time.

"You gremlin." I do not even look up at her. They shrug, not caring in any way.

I stand up, grab toast and a couple pieces of bacon, and lay back down.

"Ohh, Juniee, stop being such a grump," Giulia teases through a mouthful of pastry.

"Swallow."

"No."

Mum snorts at the two of us, offers up the plate (to which Giulia grabs seconds), and leaves.

Giulia throws my clothes at me. "Get dressed."

"What if I don't?"

They stare me dead in the eye and cock an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Okay. Yeahyeahokaythatsfinemhmmhmok."

She smirks. "I'll give you some privacy to get changed. If you're not out in five, I'm coming back in whether you're done changing or not."

Giulia makes this threat quite often, but they never really go through with it, so I'm not really worried, but I do what they tell me to anyway.

I walk into the kitchen, and Giulia is sitting with my mother at the kitchen counter with an empty coffee mug on her lap. Mum cuts herself off mid-sentence when she sees me and plasters on a smile. Tears are starting to brim her eyes. I won't mention it.

"Hey, mum."
"Hi, love. Big day for you girls," She sniffles tinily. "Are you all packed? Got your toothbrush and everything?"

"Yeah, mum."