Untouchable Fruit

Brooding and Lunch

Briana's POV

   After being here for two days, Alex has convinced me to write a letter back to my cousin, asking if she would want to meet up since I'm in town.
   
   I would much prefer to try and drink Ares under the table and sleep the day away, my jet lag still kicking my ass, but apparently doing that everyday is unhealthy? Who would have thought? I'm sitting on the living room floor, Chloe sitting beside me with the babies as Alex sits on the couch, elbows in his knees and chin in one of his hands.

   "So?" He asks me and I glare at him, the letter right in my grasp as I look at him sharply.

    "I don't want to go to some stupid lunch with a prepped up Faerie that thinks she's queen of the world." I tell him and he rolls his eyes at me as if I said something silly.

    "Bri you're going out to lunch with your cousin, but yourself." He jokes and I pick up my own and throw it at him, his reflexes allowing him to catch it in his hand easily much to my annoyance.

    "Bri do you remember when we first met?" Chloe asks me and I turn to him with a frown, preferring not to think back to that time.

    "Of course I do." I tell him softly, the feeling of guilt still living in my chest at the idea that I hurt my brother and his Mate so fiercely that say. When we first met, the only culture I absorbed was the one I had when I was a child, my second pair of parents taken from me before I could soak up werewolf cultures. Faeries teach their kids that we are the best of the best and the only thing lower than a human, is a Incubus. That coupled with the fact that Alex was the only family I had left, I attacked Chloe and made him feel like shit for being who it is out of fear of losing my brother too.

   Not one of my proudest moments but I've tried my hardest to make sure everything I've done since then can undo that day.

   "I'm not mad anymore, Bri, so don't get that look in your eye. But we talked about giving people at least one chance, and trust your gut over if you should trust them or not. After that we can make paper mâché out of her letters and curse her to the ground. But just have lunch with her." He tries to convince me and I sigh in irritation.   

    The frustration, stemming from the world and not my brother in law, I look at the letter in my hand and let myself think of the person that I want to send it to. I feel a slight pull in my core as my magic seeps into the air and a second later the letter disintegrates and it's gone.

   "See, that wasn't so hard. You're just a big baby." Alex tells me and I turn towards him with a raised brow.

    "Bold words coming from a man that cries over commercials." I tease him and he scowls while his lover cracks up, the babies crawling in the ground, echoing the sound in glee over hearing Chloe laugh.

    "This is why we don't get along." Alex accuses me and I just give him a look that shows that I don't care. Just as I go to open my mouth however, there's a tingle in the air beside me and I watch with wide eyes as a letter appears and falls into my lap in front of me.

    "No way." I say, a bit alarmed and impressed at the speed of the response.

    "Thats a little creepy." Chloe says but that doesn't stop him from gathering Ashley in his arms and moving closer to read over my shoulder.

    I carefully unfold the note and read it out loud . "Briana, thank you so much for reaching out, it's been so long since I've seen you and I love love to meet up for lunch. I'm going to be in town today, so we can meet at the Super Café downtown at one! Love, Chelsea."

   "She seems nice." Alex says, a proud smile on his face and I just give him a deadpanned look.

    "I hate her." I tell him and he shakes his head at me.

     "Not yet. Now come on, you have an hour to get ready." Chloe says, placing Ashley in Alex's hands and sitting Matty on the couch next to them, the baby sounds adorable.

    I get up and follow my brother and law dreading having agreed to this stupid meeting.

✨✨✨

    It's exactly one o'clock as I pull into the parking lot of the Café, smiling to myself as I think about all the stories I've heard about this place, though I've never been hear myself.

   I get out of my car and I feel my hands calm up, anxiety of meeting someone that will request a bond that I'm not one to make. I can't even stay in town for a week without wanting to jump off a bridge and I hope my cousin doesn't expect me to stick around for more than the few days I'll be here.

    I open the door and walk inside, stepping up to the counter, looking over at the menu when I hear someone calling my name off to my left.

    I turn my head and find a brown skin girl with big fluffy hair waving at me, her face the same, only thinner and older from all those years ago. She waves at me excitedly and I send a finger wave back before turning back in front of me to order, thankful for the distraction. Though she seems nice, you can never judge a book of it's cover.

    Once I've ordered and I have everything in hand I take a deep breath and make my way over to the table by the windows, the golden light peaking through to give the café a happy feel.

   I pull out a chair and slide in and face my cousin, Chelsea that I haven't seen since I have five years old, a few days before my parents were killed.

    "Hi, Bri." She says and suddenly she doesn't seem as bubbly and excited as she did moments ago, but instead seems softer and shy, as if now that I'm in front of her, she doesn't know what to do. Before I can greet her back, she speaks up again. "I'm so sorry!"

   I frown as I stare at her, taking a sip of my coffee. "Sorry for what? We've only just met." I tell her and she shakes her head.

    "No one told me. When we were little, no one told me what happened to you and your parents until about a year ago. And then I found out that you were alive too, and not just vanished like everyone said. Ever since then I've been trying to find you." She tells me, her words rushed and blurred together as if panicked.

    "What do you mean no one told you? My parents were apart of the Court." I tell her, confused on what she's saying and she nods her head.

    "Exactly! But I haven't really figured that part out yet. I wanted to meet you... again." She says, her last sentence soft and nervous.

    "Well, here I am." I tell her and she looks down and I know I'm giving her a hard time so I try to give it my best shot at socializing. "What did you want to know?"

    She perks right back up, her hazel eyes gorgeous in the summer light. "Where did you go? What is your family like? Though I found Alex he didn't really tell me all that much, he said it was your place to tell me."

    "Well, afterwards I got adopted by a werewolf family. They supported the same thing my family did. And they got killed because of it. So yeah, two sets of parents killed because of ignorance. And Alex had trouble healing himself and me and Kaulike became too much so I travel the world. My family is now full of friends that accept me for the traumatized floater that I am." I give her my life story in a short concise way and I watch in fear as her eyes well up.

    "Oh that's so sad!" She says, and I panic.

    "No it's not, I mean really. I just ignore it and push it aside. Trauma is my personality so I'm fine." I try to comfort her but she looks at me like I'm crazy.

     "You need some TLC." She tells me and I laugh despite myself.

     "Tender Love and Care huh? Maybe. But right now, a cousin will do." I tell her and she smiles at me brightly. Though I didn't think I would like Chelsea, she's still the happy go lucky sweetheart I remember.

    Maybe connecting with my past might not be so bad.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bri joking about her trauma is literally so fucking funny. She embodies all of Gen Z. My writing isn't at its fastest but we'll see what I'm able to get done in these 10 hours I have left.

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