we're alone, just like you said, aureus

[basilica]

basilica

She is not the most intelligent. She is no empath. She perhaps does not know him well enough to truly speculate. But she thinks there is something amiss. Something wrong. And she goes on studying him intently long after he has assured her (quite forcefully) that he is fine. It does not sit right in the cavern of her chest where the oversized heart lives.

She tries to swallow down the feeling that something has gone sideways but it lodges itself into the narrow space at the base of her throat. It swells when he forces that smile but she does not feel like it is her place to press him. If he considered her a friend, surely he would tell her if there was something bothering him. So she must choose between believing that there truly is nothing wrong and believing that they are not truly friends.

She is quiet a long time even after he turns the focus back on her. Her heart beats out something troubled and she glances down at the ground between them a beat before she meets his soft gaze again. “Nothing in particular,” she tells him and then rolls her shoulder. “I have been learning to live apart from my mother, which is a challenge.” She tries for a self-conscious smile and averts her gaze again. She does not allow herself to think about her mother, though it would be a welcome reprieve from the notion that they are not the friends she thought they were.

“Would you tell me?” she asks quietly without looking at him. “Would you tell me if there was something wrong?”

heaven's gate had
such eloquent graffiti

@[aureus]