Thorn • Scott Summers

eleven

Scott hesitated knocking on the door, realizing Florence would probably like to be left alone. But impulse took over thought and his knuckles thumped on the wood.

Florence heard the knock over her music, and she got up, deciding to stretch. She opened the door, expecting Jubilee or Kurt, so her face changed to surprise, into raised eyebrows and wide eyes when she saw Scott.

"Hi," She said, her voice quieter than she intended.

"Hi," he said, realizing he had no idea what to say. He figured he'd go back to the parlor, Florence probably wanting to rest more.

He was pleasantly surprised when she opened the door farther, gesturing for her to come in. Scott thought of the previous day when he had been there, and a warm feeling grew in his stomach. She sat on her bed the same way she had that day, and he followed suit.

"Why aren't you watching the movie?" She asked.

"Uh... It's not really my kind of movie. Kind of cliché, you know?"

Florence shrugged, and Scott deflated a little on the inside, convinced he was already boring her. Despite this, he wanted to hear her voice, so he talked.

"Why didn't you go?"

Florence looked down, fidgeting with her fingers.

"If it's about what happened today, you don't have to talk about it. We can talk about something else."

"No, it's not that, it's the movie."

"You don't like scary movies?"

"No, I love them- But, have you seen Carrie?"

Scott nodded, realization coming to him. "Wait, is it the whole blood thing? Because it's animal blood?"

Florence's finger twitched when he said that, and Scott regretted mentioning it. He felt like he was making her feel worse altogether.

"Well, yeah, that's part of it. I almost cried when I saw that part the first time I saw the movie. But it's mostly the mom."

He tilted his head, urging for her to continue.

"She's crazy. She only cares about Carrie's purity and she's so fucking neglectful that it- I can't watch it because it reminds me of my mom, and how much she hates me."

"I don't think she hates you," Scott said, and Florence gave him a look, her eyes etched with sadness more than anger. It struck him that he had never seen her sad, and the sight hurt him.

"You don't know that," Florence said, her voice now hushed to a whisper. "You don't know the things she said to me."

Scott was in shock, his eyes wide behind his glasses. Florence felt a lump in her throat, and she desperately tried to swallow it. She didn't know why she was reacting that way- she had thought about the incident countless times and had never gotten that emotional. She had only ever cried in front of one person her entire life- Lucas, so it was a private thing for her. Scott looked at her in internal despair, not wanting to see her cry. Then he realized that Florence wasn't a generally emotional person, unless the emotion was anger, so she probably had all her other feelings bottled up. He grabbed her hand, his fingers lingering on hers.

"It's okay, you can let it out if you need to. It's okay."

Florence looked at their hands, then up at him. Her eyes were brimmed with tears for the second time that day. She was surprised at his kindness once again, and she thought back to what Jean had said, about the cover he put on.They both looked at their hands, Scott rubbing circles into her wrist.