The Modern Queen

mouth

Alinora hated her mouth sometimes. Most of the time, really. She was always saying things she didn't mean. Always. She was too blunt, too harsh, too cruel. Her knee-jerk response was always something scathing, sarcastic, or sardonic. Somehow she had made friends despite that, but she knew, she knew that she was always one callous remark away from losing all of them.

And she was pretty sure that she had just lost her girlfriend.

She pushed her hand through her hair and knotted it at the root. She pulled sharply, grimacing at the dull ache lancing through her skull.

"Alinora?"

Alinora glanced up. The door was open. When did the door open? She hadn't heard it. It usually creaked. Had Aishlynn oiled the hinges? (No, because when Asa came over just a little earlier, it had creaked. She'd jumped, and Talitha had teased her.)

"What are you doing here?"

She was pretty sure Talitha had left. Not that Alinora blamed her. She didn't want to be around herself most days, especially when she was more biting than usual. She still wasn't sure what had set her off. A dozen little things, probably. All culminating in one highly insensitive comment.

"Uh, you invited me," Talitha reminded, stepping into the room. She hesitated. "Am I not welcome?"

"No, no. You're always welcome," Alinora said, hurriedly. "I just... Don't you hate me?"

Talitha snorted. "What, of course--" She stopped, then, and took a better look at Alinora's face. Alinora wasn't sure exactly what she looked like, only that her hair was a mess and her face felt hot. She wasn't crying, but her eyes ached like she had been.

"Oh, Nora." Talitha shut the door behind her and walked over, dropping to a crouch in front of her. "Darling, I couldn't hate you even if I wanted to. Which I don't, duh. You're my girlfriend. The light of my life. The sun in my sky. My north star, my guiding light." She took Alinora's hands--one out of her hair, the other from around Alinora's own waist--and brought them to her mouth. "You said something you shouldn't have, but let's be real. I stick my foot in my mouth all the time, and you're still here."

Alinora snorted. "Yeah, but it's..."

"It's the same," Talitha cut her off. "Do you know how many times I've gone too far when I was bantering with your sister? Or how many times I accidentally made Ava cry? Or how often Lyr refused to talk to me for a few days? I can be just mean as you can, and one day, I'm gonna say something insensitive to you. And you're going to say something cruel to me. But, y'know, it's not the end of the world. We just have to try our best not to, and apologize when our best isn't quite enough. It's gonna be fine, babe."

Alinora closed her eyes. She bent her head forward. "You're right."

"I'm always right," Talitha quipped.

"You most certainly are not."