FAR FROM ERIS • FreenBecky •

THIRTY - FOUR

The rain had stopped quite a while ago, but if Freen had anywhere to go or anything to do, it had definitely been erased from her mind. When she woke up that morning and saw Becky's message, suddenly it felt like everything made a little more sense. As if the planets had aligned so that the wound she had would stop hurting just because Becky existed.

It wasn't really in her plans for all of that to happen. In fact, she hadn't even thought about what she would say when she saw her at the Flower Shop but now, several hours later, she understood that maybe it wasn't necessary to use words to explain certain things.

She looked at Becky, still lying on that old mattress in the middle of the room, surrounded by the semi-darkness that the terrible doomsday provided them, and felt like a million ants were crawling all over her skin. The girl was talking, telling a story about the time she found a hedgehog in the field and sneaked it into her room, and while Freen listened to her, she couldn't help but admire the beauty of her faintly illuminated profile, the way her eyes narrowed when she laughed, the adorable way she wrinkled her nose when she talked about something unpleasant, and how her voice seemed to enter inside her and caress her heart.

Never, not in a thousand lifetimes, would she have imagined feeling like this again. She had already given up on that part of her emotions. In fact, although she had tried to get to know other people, she never got past the first conversation with anyone, so Irin and Heng stopped trying to set her up. And there she was now, afraid that Becky might hear the erratic beats of her heart, just for having her beside her talking about lost animals. All she wanted was to stay there, on that mattress surrounded by flowers, and feeling that way for the rest of her life.

-And that was the first time I went a whole month without talking to my mother- Becky concluded.

-At least the hedgehog managed to survive, and your mother got some good pricks as a reminder,- Freen said, laughing.

-A hero without a cape, if you ask me,- she smiled, turning to look at her, making something stir in Freen's stomach. In the stomach, and a little lower, to be honest. -Oh God, Freen, control yourself- she thought. -Are you hungry?- she said, trying to distract her attention from Becky's lips and her collarbone peeking out from the excessively large neck of her T-shirt.

 -Well, now that you mention it, yes,- Becky said in a way that made Freen scold herself again for her thoughts. -Do you feel like going out?-

The last thing Freen wanted was to leave there, but she also didn't want to seem like a crazy person who pretended to have Becky tied to that mattress forever. -Well, yes... we could go out. The problem here is my outfit,- Freen laughed, remembering that she was dressed somewhat peculiarly.

-If you want, we can go to Patty's house, it's very close so I can lend you some clothes from this century,- Becky suggested.

-Okay, yeah. That sounds good,- Freen said reluctantly as she saw Becky getting up and reaching out a hand to help her. -I'll have to gather all my scattered stuff around here,- Freen said.

-Don't worry, I'll tidy this up,- Becky said, pointing to the mess of blankets and the mattress.

-Couldn't you leave it here?- Freen asked almost without thinking. Becky looked at her with a half-smile, raising her eyebrows. -I mean, I don't know, if you're not in a hurry to remove it...-

-I'm not in a hurry, no,- Becky wanted to make some kind of not-so-innocent comment, but she didn't yet know how Freen would take that kind of joke. She really wanted to leave that mattress there forever, and let's not fool ourselves, she wanted Freen on that mattress forever. So she didn't object to leaving it on the floor of the store, as if it were a small altar to worship. At least, for a while.