"Peter, are those... red tights?"
"Nope."
"Those definitely looked like red tights."
"I... do ballet?"
---
•The sole thing illuminating her path were the wispy rays of moonlight as she tripped over a trashcan and...
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ALTHOUGH SHE DIDN'T WANT TO ADMIT IT, Peter had begun ignoring Eloquin these days. He barely glanced at her when they crossed paths in the hallways, didn't attempt to make conversation with her during their chemistry periods, and refused to show up for their study sessions.
It didn't take long for her to realise his "Stark Internship" excuse was baloney, she wasn't stupid. Eloquin knew she had hurt him, of course, but was she not even worth friendship? She thought about this as she sat through dinner with her mother, tuning out the sound of her chattering away over Thai.
"Oh please, Tony Stark would never. His ego is too big." Eloquin heard her mother say. She was in her mid-thirties, her skin still young and fair, wrinkles barely showing up on her hands but otherwise, the woman was glowing.
Eloquin focused her attention onto the sweater she was wearing. She found it odd that her mother wore Mom jeans, they fit her slender figure wonderfully, but she had never really seen Moms wear Mom jeans.
"Quinn, are you listening?"
Eloquin hummed softly in response, shining a wide smile to her mother to throw her off her trail. Unsurprisingly, she didn't buy it. "Don't give me those fake smile, Eloquin. I'm your mother. Now tell me what's wrong."
Eloquin shrugged, playing with her fork and keeping her head down, refusing to meet her mother's eye. "It's nothing. Just school." She fibbed, watching her mother's expression contort from worry to pain. The older woman didn't pester her further, but Eloquin could see the hurt in her eyes.
The two sat in an uncomfortable silence for a while, Eloquin picking at her Thai food and her mother humming along to the old music that played from the television. The restaurant was decently sized, with a few people coming and going with take-out, but otherwise fairly empty.
"Ellie, you know you can talk to me, right?" Her mother suddenly said. Eloquin lifted her eyes up, blinking fast and confused. "I can tell something's bothering you."
Eloquin's eyebrows furrowed, a crease running through her forehead as she tried to come up with another lie, or some plausible reason for why her life was going awry. "Uhh, I-I've been really busy these days, with--decathlon, and volunteering at the hospital."
Her mother sighed deeply, pressing her fingers to her temples and shaking her head. "I wasn't asking about that. I was asking about you."
"B-But that is me?" Eloquin replied quickly, without a beat. She gaped at the older woman, trying to understand what she was saying. It didn't make sense.
"I want to know what's going on with you, not decathlon or volunteering. That's not who you are. There's a difference." Her mother said slowly, with worry in her eyes as she watched her daughter struggle with such a simple question.
