technicolor dreams • a modern fairy tale

• 014 •

Even in disregard to what had happened to Tiana the day before, the next morning began strangely. It was unusual that, descending the stairs, Tiana could hear noise and voices, and when she'd hesitantly entered the dining room, the rest of her family had already gathered there. They sat together at the breakfast table, for the first time in weeks, looking like the poster family they weren't really.
At first, Tiana's heartbeat had sped up in alarm, and she'd wondered if maybe Maurice had said something about yesterday to her parents, but then she realised that this whole get-together actually had had a reason. Tiana had simply forgotten about it and the occasion altogether, but fact was that none of them went to work today.

And now, for the first time, it really began to bother Tiana that she had no idea what was going on in her parents' and sisters' lives. While she was doing her best to block out the memories of the day before, she focused intently on the conversations that drifted around her, trying to grasp as much information as possible.
Now that she was aware of how easily she could have been ripped out of her life, Tiana felt suddenly repulsed by her own past behaviour. She had never shut up and always tried to push herself into the centre of attention what with being the youngest of three sisters had always seemed the easiest way to find her place.
Now though, she questioned her actions, asked herself if she even wanted that kind of attention, especially because there was still this shaken feeling lingering in her body, and her fingers trembled slightly as she cupped them around her glass of orange juice.

Miranda Holloway eventually noticed that her youngest daughter had nibbled away on her toast without uttering a single word, and the silence made her shift uncomfortably in her seat.
"What's up with you today, honey?" she asked then, catching the eyes of her husband and tiled her head toward the unusually quiet blonde.

Tiana looked up after she'd set the glass back down, having only barely noticed that she was being addressed since her focus lay on the conversation between her two older sisters. A short silence fell upon the table as Rania and Sadie too trailed off and frowned curiously as they at their sister, only now having noticed how passive she was.

"No-nothing, really. I enjoy simply listening once in a while too, you know?" Tiana said, trying to appear nonchalant and yawning for effect. It didn't work. The four only raised sceptical eyebrows, and Tiana couldn't help but pout at their mistrust. "Honestly!"

"M-hm..." Sadie, the second oldest of the sisters, twirled a blonde lock around her finger and grinned conspiratorially, a knowing glint in her icy grey eyes. She put her berry yogurt aside and rested her elbows on the table, cupped her chin in her hands and leaned forward. "So, Tia, who's the lucky guy?"

"W-what?" Tiana spluttered as her cheeks grew hot at the image of black hair and leather that flashed before her mind's eye. "What are you talking about?!"

Before Sadie could retort though, the only brunette of the three sisters chipped in.

"Oh, look at her! When was the last time she actually blushed?" Rania actually clapped her hands in excitement, and shortly after, the whole family wore matching, shit-eating grins.

Tiana would have given anything for the floor to open itself and swallow her whole right at that moment. Why did it have to have anything to do with a boy that she was interested in her family's lives? Couldn't they just leave her alone the one time she didn't want to talk? Normally they'd whine about her talking too much, now she did it too little?

It was in moments like this that she remembered why she didn't usually bother with her family.

Just before her temper could get the best of her and make her snap at them despite her determination to be nicer now, the doorbell rung.