𝗞𝗜𝗦𝗦 𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗧 // mcyt apply fic // ᶜˡᵒˢᵉᵈ

⁰²¹ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴏᴜǫᴜᴇᴛ

𝟶𝟸𝟷. [𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚚𝚞𝚎𝚝.]

𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚎𝚛

-

Cora's going to the Winter Ball with Karl. She should be excited — and she is, it's just that the feeling of being a second option won't keep out of her head. The flowers he brought her look healthier now that they've been soaking in a vase for a day, but when he brought them over, they looked dead.

They were at least a day old when he brought them over. They're red roses, but they were wilted to the point where the tips of the petals curled in a pasty brown color. The roses looked how Cora feels. 

Some insecure part of Cora muses that maybe he bought them for Flora, that he asked her to the dance first. Maybe he showed up on her doorstep the way he did Cora's, flowers in hand and a stupid grin on his face.

She knows it's stupid. Everyone knows that Flora's done with him, and there's no way Karl's stupid enough to even try, but the insecure part of her brain nags her with the idea anyway.

She pushes the thought away.

Cora doesn't want to know. Doesn't want to know when the inevitable happens. Karl's told her — promised her — a million times, he's over her. but she's not stupid. She knows Karl would drop anything for Flora, he would come running the second she calls.

And she's going to call.

Cora can tell when Flora looks over her shoulder at them while stacking books in the library. She can tell from the wistful gazes in between classes, when Flora refuses to take her eyes off of him as they pass her in the hallways.

And if Karl glances back over his shoulder when she keeps walking, Cora lets it slide.

She's always been like that. Not just non-confrontational, but living by the saying "ignorance is bliss". Cora's not ignorant, she's just trying her best to ignore it, that nagging sensation that she's the rebound, the replacement. The thought that he doesn't really want her, he just wants Flora to be jealous.

She wishes she were ignorant. That would be a hell of a lot easier. 

-

[𝟶𝟸.𝟶𝟸.𝟸𝟹]