You're not the only one. on Sonora Lounges

A Memory

November 20, 2020 8:39 PM

Breakdown [Staff Lounge] by A Memory

OOC: Potential content warning if/when the memory plays out more: mental health and domestic abuse may be explored. BIC:

The swirling mist was poison this time, manifesting a man who was hardly old enough to not be a boy. His washed out features twisted with disgust, his eyes, brown in actuality, carrying a vile blackness with them that echoed the pain within. He was hurting within, so he wanted to pull his hurt out. He let it loose with his sharpened tongue.

“I don’t care,” he said coldly, glancing over his shoulder at the person who had activated the mist. He paused. “I said I don’t care,” he repeated, turning now to fully face them. “What, are you too stupid to understand? So you got a good grade. Big deal. Do you know what I did all day? Nothing! Because I can’t do anything right!”

His rage built quickly and seemingly out of nowhere, and all at once, he was in a fit. Had the mist-formed man been less monochromatic, he would have been red in the face immediately, a boiling contrast from his upswept blond hair. “And besides, you probably cheated, so why are you rubbing this in my face? Why do you always do that, Wills? Why do you always cheat all the time! You’re cheating on me!”

The man reached beside him as if to pick up something from a table, and when his hand returned, there was a silver manifestation of a coffee mug in it. He hurled it forward, right at the person, but it disappeared before it reached them. “CHEATER!”

OOC: OOC: New rule: instead of having two sub-threads, this post is set up in a class-style format. There should be a max of two responses, either separate (two people posting directly to the memory) or interactive (one thread with two characters in it).

12 A Memory Breakdown [Staff Lounge] 0 A Memory 1 5

Killian Row

November 20, 2020 9:20 PM

You're not the only one. by Killian Row

Things were looking up for Killian, and that meant he was too. Literally, he kept his chin up a little easier these days, due in no small (mostly big) part to Ema. Now, with time between meetings and things, he was coming to face the consequences of his previously poor disposition: an empty tea stash.

He normally made a point to order more as often as he would need it - he had inventories for such things and knew how often he needed to restock - but he had neglected the responsibility for most of the term and now he was going to have to drink whatever bagged badness the staff lounge held. That wasn't entirely fair; Selina had enough British people on staff - and tea drinkers in general - to know what sorts of things they might want kept there, but it still wasn't the same as getting his own order in, just the way he wanted it.

With a bounce in his step, Killian pushed the door open to the lounge and-- stopped dead. A young man was standing there, one he didn't recognize as a ghost or student or staff or intern (and he would have recognized him because Killian knew everybody always), and one who did not quite seem solid enough to fit into the latter several categories. Still, this was not how ghosts behaved.

Whatever instinct Killian had initially had to help the young man immediately faded as he become cold and cruel, reminding him a whole lot of someone he was trying not to think about. He knew the signs of a rage building up and just hoped to Merlin that Bonabelle didn't. Without meaning too, he edged around the room to stand to the side of the memory, getting closer so he could search his face. Before he could decide whether he wanted to attempt sticking his hand through him, the man reached off to the side and retrieved a mug. Killian's stomach did an angry flip as he noticed a parallel because he had also been seeking a mug, though he knew it was only habit that made him look for any dangerous parallels with dangerous people.

The man through the mug and Killian shouted, automatically jumping in front of whomever the man was throwing the mug at, forgetting for a moment that there hadn't been anyone there last he'd seen. Had he heard the door open? He couldn't remember now, focused as he was on the figure in front of him. He'd labelled the man a threat, and so that's where his attention was now.

"Protego!" he shouted, forming a shield instinctively, his wand coming up faster than he normally had to draw it. The cup soar through the shield, fizzling just before it would have come in contact with Killian's chest, if it had had any substance with which to contact other things. Killian blinked rapidly, his heart pounding. "What's your problem?" he demanded of the figure. "Get out!"

22 Killian Row You're not the only one. 1450 0 5

A Memory

November 21, 2020 12:38 PM

No, I was always alone by A Memory

The silver man was completely unfazed by the reactions of guidance counselor Killian Row, the sequence committed and now only a performance, unalterable and unchangeable. It was cemented in time, a fragment stolen and out of place here, left behind by a person who wanted nothing more than to forget. She wanted to forget, but never truly could. It was said that time would heal all wounds, but sometimes the heal was incomplete. The bone was never set. The scar was yet to fade.

The scar from the actual, corporeal coffee mug had faded from the target it struck. Fortunately, the person whose skin had broken knew a great deal of healing magic, and after the fact, she had taken care of it when the man had finally fallen asleep that night. But as Killian saw now, it was not the only object thrown. Among a flurry of grunts, the silver reminiscence manifested other items from an unseen surface. A ceramic coaster, a box of cigarettes, an ashtray, a telephone. And then the surface, a small end table, was visible too, as it was the last selection grabbed and hurled in the same, single direction. Like the silver mug, they all vanished when they reached a certain distance from the man.

“I will not calm down!” he screamed, his hands, now empty of ammunition, lifting to clutch his hair, tugging as if he might pull it out himself. “I love you, Katey! Why do you do this?! Why do you do this to me, Katey?!” He was sobbing now, pushing his screams out from deep within his heaving chest.

And then, all at once, the silver man vanished.

12 A Memory No, I was always alone 0 A Memory 0 5

Katey Willow

November 21, 2020 12:48 PM

You were never alone. But I was. by Katey Willow

Inhale. Exhale. Left foot. Right foot.

Katey’s day had been one of those busy days. It seemed like everyone at their brother were in the Hospital Wing today. Heavy on the “and their brother”, in fact, since she had seen both the O’Malley boys that day: Wally for a slight cold and Stanley because he fell off of something or another and Tommy Jamison had made him go make sure he hadn’t broken anything. And he hadn’t, thank God, but she felt she could rest a little easier knowing a kid like Stanley had a person or two in his life to make him seek medical attention if (and when) he hurt himself. Sometimes she wondered how the idea would be received if she brought up bubble-wrapping half the Pecari House kids at the next staff meeting.

She was tired physically and mentally, but Katey decided to stop by the staff lounge, just to check and see if maybe Mary was sitting out grading Potions essays. She wouldn’t interrupt for long, but Mary did have another batch of pepper up potions in the works for Katey’s supplies, and after Wally’s treatment, there were only a few left in the back room of the Infirmary.

But when she arrived, she did not see Mary. Killian was here, his back to her, but the only person she really saw was behind him, and all in monochrome.

“Ethan?”

She almost didn’t recognize her own voice, small again, like it used to be, and also because the shock had stolen most of the air from her lungs.

“I love you, Katey! Why do you do this?! Why do you do this to me, Katey?!”

For a moment she thought her whole body was empty. Her stomach dropped, and it stole her blood pressure and coloration with it. She dropped too, her knees giving out, unable to support her weight anymore but taking the weight of her fall, leaving her otherwise upright, but lower to the ground. She was too absorbed to think, to even wonder what was happening, what she was seeing.

The silver iteration of the man she grew up with suddenly dissipated, leaving her alone again, just like he had before. Or not, she realized after a moment of staring into the now empty space. She remembered she had seen someone else when she came in, and looking up, she rediscovered him: Killian. She didn’t speak or move. There were tears in her eyes, and she was weak again.

12 Katey Willow You were never alone. But I was. 1505 0 5

Killian Row

November 22, 2020 5:14 PM

You aren't now. by Killian Row

The torrent of abuse of all kinds continued and Killian remained in place, his feet rooted firmly to the ground. There was something vaguely masochistic about it, as he was aware that no one was in the room to actually be hit, and that the items being thrown were not solid enough to actually hit anyone anyway, so the only real loser here was himself. It seemed like the best he could do though and it seemed like a brutal reminder that even his best efforts to protect people often failed. That had been true too many times before and it seemed true now. There was also something deeper than that though, and Killian wrestled with it as if he'd been assigned penance to do so.

Whatever it was that made Lorcan the way he was seemed to have skipped Killian. That's what they all thought. But there was a piece of him, he knew, that could be angry and could be mean and could be selfish. His responsibility was to wrestle with it and cage it up and if he ever let it out then this was the sort of thing he deserved to deal with. He'd not ever meant to let it out, but he knew it had, at times, leaked out anyway. Now, in the face of someone angrier and crueler than he'd ever been, he found that his only thought was how badly he wanted to make that person suffer for what they were doing or trying to do to somebody else.

Good people weren't supposed to think like that, were they? Although, he had reassured Jean-Loup that his interference with Mathieu did not make him a bad person, so perhaps he was just being unfair to himself. Still, it seemed like the chance to force himself to be better, to do better. It was only when the figure stopped and the sound in the room died down that Killian realized he was no longer alone with him. Indeed, the person who had joined was the person the figure seemed to determine to hurt. Suddenly, Killian was glad he'd remained in place, although Katey's position on the floor didn't bode well for him having actually done anything to help her.

Recognizing that he must look a lot more like the figure of cruelty than the figure of salvation (Merlin, Killian, get your head together, just stop being so arrogant for half a minute, would you?), he stooped to join her on the floor, leaving distance between them. He wasn't sure what it was that he'd seen, but he was sure that it was bad and he was sure that Katey was hurting. He thought of Ema's words, about how sometimes it was the people we loved who were the meanest to us, if only in our minds.

"Hey," he said quietly. "You're safe here, and you're going to be okay." The important thing was not to make promises that couldn't be kept, but he was confident that no one was going to throw things at Katey while she was here. Well, at least adults wouldn't; he wasn't sure he'd put that sort of thing past some of the students they worked with. "I want to help you. Do you want help up? Do you know what that was?"

22 Killian Row You aren't now. 1450 0 5

Katey Willow

November 22, 2020 5:30 PM

I'm not sure about that. by Katey Willow

“Hey.”

Killian’s voice was soft and gentle, an almost physical contrast to the tone she had just been hearing before Ethan had… had what? Disappeared? Returned to where his spirit belonged? Is that what it was - his restless spirit? Katey didn’t know. That wasn’t how it worked. Even if Ethan had become a ghost, he wouldn’t be here. Not at Sonora. And not screaming old accusations at her from a time long passed.

He was gone, whatever that meant, but Killian was here. He was down on her level now, and it was only then that she fully processed that she was on the ground. Katey sat bank onto her legs, both to get the pressure off her knees and to pull away from him a little more. But the way he spoke to her… “You’re safe here, and you’re going to be okay.” She nodded mutely, although she couldn’t quite make eye contact with him, because she didn’t know if this counted as a lie. She didn’t agree. It seemed like she wasn’t safe here, wasn’t safe anywhere. And she was pretty sure at this point that nothing was ever going to be okay. For a while, she had thought it was, that she could stuff it all back down and pack away the old pains, but they came back so loudly, so viscerally.

“I want to help you.” That one, she believed, and she let herself look up, blue eyes piercing through the dark hair that framed her face and threatened to tumble forward. “Do you want help up? Do you know what that was?”

Katey inhaled sharply, willing her tears to go away. It only partially worked. “I-I don’t know,” she responded weakly. “He’s… but he can’t be here. It doesn’t make sense.” The medic put forward her hand so he could help her to her feet. Upright again, her knees still felt weak, but the bones beneath managed some kind of support, at least, and she didn’t think she would fall again. But just to be sure, she found a seat on the couch closest to them.

“Killian, do you think…” she wondered aloud, not sure how or why what she would say next could be true, but not sure of any other possibilities now. “Selina's bulletin was because I saw something and brought it to her. Do you think the odd things happening at this school are because of me? What's wrong with me?”

12 Katey Willow I'm not sure about that. 1505 0 5

Killian Row

November 22, 2020 9:22 PM

I promise. by Killian Row

Killian helped Katey up wordlessly, spotted her as she made her way to the couch, and then ran to the cupboards to get her a cup, filling it with water before passing it to her. She looked downright awful and Killian couldn't blame her, although he didn't quite understand what she was saying either. "Who can't be here?" he asked gently. The desire to help a hurting colleague and friend - a wounded animal - was greater than his concerns over how his behavior might impact her after their conversation at the Feast but it was still in the back of his mind as he lingered, far enough away to not be touching or imposing himself on her, and close enough to be present. He hoped his was a safe presence. He pulled a chair from the table and sat down facing Katey so he wasn't standing over her instead.

After even just the few short years he'd worked at Sonora, Killian had developed a very skilled poker face. Ugh, he sort of hated that phrase now actually. He'd developed a good neutral affect for these sorts of things. Students said stuff all the time that mostly blew his mind, horrified him, amazed him, or whatever else, but he didn't need to show them that sort of shock, and this was similar. Katey had seen something like this before? He wondered what she'd seen and hoped they hadn't all been this horrific. The thought made him feel rather ill. People like that made him almost ashamed to be male, and he wished he could make up for all of the horrible men in the world. There wasn't even any real way for him to do so and he knew it; the people who had often been hurt the most at the hands of men were also often the ones who most needed distance from him when he wanted to help, and the only real 'help' he could offer was to be a decent human when so many others had failed to be. When had basic humanity been a high bar for people to jump? For men, historically speaking, he knew it had been a long time.

"I don't think this is because of you," he said slowly, wanting to make sure everything he said was true. "You weren't even here when this one started, so how could it be? They haven't all been . . . like that, right?" He jerked his head toward the place where the horrible 'man' had been standing, or appeared to be, but kept his eyes on Katey, wanting to make sure he spotted any signs she was about to pass out or panic or something.

22 Killian Row I promise. 1450 0 5

Katey Willow

November 23, 2020 4:41 PM

I'm sorry. by Katey Willow

Katey shook her head, both to answer the question posed to her about what the other silver… thing had been like, and to refute the idea that this wasn’t her fault. Now that she had said the idea out loud, she could see no other possible idea. She didn’t know what the toy and Snitch had meant, but it was a child’s voice, so it must have been something from her childhood that she had forgotten all about. Because this one, whatever it was… this one was her fault.

“The other one was just some floating toys,” she expounded. “I don’t know what it was or what’s causing these things to happen. But this one… I mean, you heard him. He was like that because of me.” Katey couldn’t remember every time Ethan had gotten like that. There were too many instances. Too many years. And God, he was so young.

Sometimes looking at Killian, knowing that he was older than her, she couldn’t help but wonder what Ethan would be like at that age. Would he have calmed down by then? Would they have made it work and finally been truly happy?

She sighed. Killian was trustworthy. He deserved a little more explanation, loathe as she was to talk about these things. “His name was Ethan,” Katey said softly. “He was very special to me. We dated from the time we were sixteen until just a couple years ago. And it’s… it’s a soft spot of mine.” Past tense still felt bitter on her tongue, a foaming poison that she never quite grew immune to. It always stung. It always dissolved her. It always made her want to bite the tongue clean off, to stop the poison from spreading any farther, and to withdraw back into silence. There, it was safer. The blood in her mouth would taste better than the poison.

12 Katey Willow I'm sorry. 1505 0 5

Killian Row

November 23, 2020 6:39 PM

No need. by Killian Row

Killian shook his head, mirroring Katey's response as she spoke. "This isn't the kind of thing you can just make happen by accident," he pointed out. "That's not how an individual person's magic works. I really don't think it's you, Katey." That was only one part of what she'd said that he needed to address though and the other was much harder. "People who treat other people like that . . . aren't like that because of those people. He wasn't like that because of you. He was like that because he thought he could use being that way to manipulate you and to hurt you. That's not your fault," he promised. "Even if you did something really awful and really hurt him, that's never an okay way to treat people, and he looked like he was old enough to know that."

Katey went on to give more context and Killian found himself very glad he'd started with reassuring her that it wasn't her fault, even if he hadn't gotten through. He knew that such words rarely landed with the people who needed to hear them most, and Katey was obviously still hurting. He wasn't sure exactly how old she was, but he was pretty sure she was old enough that sixteen to a few years ago was a significant chunk of her life. And recent, too.

He noted the past tense and wasn't sure whether that was because 'Ethan' had been her boyfriend, or had been alive. He wasn't sure whether he wanted to clarify that. "Whatever happened, and I really truly mean whatever, you never deserve to be treated like that, Katey," he said softly, his hands clasped tightly as he forced himself not to think of anything but this moment. No one deserved to be hurt, even if they said horrible things and then hurt you back, right? That's what he believed? In his own life, in memories he refused to think about right now, he thought he believed that. But had he believed that about Mathieu? Or now about Ethan? He wasn't so sure. Perhaps because it was easy to give grace to Katey and Jean-Loup as the victims in these cases, and much harder to allow such terms be applied to himself. Did that mean he was wrong to apply it to others? Or that he should be more liberal when he looked in the mirror? He shook his head at himself and focused on Katey, doing his best to catch her eye and hold her gaze. "You deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, always," he told her firmly.

22 Killian Row No need. 1450 0 5

Katey Willow

November 26, 2020 6:25 AM

Probably, but it's my default. by Katey Willow

“No.” It wasn’t a shout, but it was strong, the most firm tone that Katey had managed (or needed) thus far. “Ethan wasn’t like that. This wasn’t…. I mean, it was him, but it wasn’t what you think. He was sick.” The paranoia. The highs and lows. The seemingly random uncontrollable anger. His bipolar diagnosis came pretty young - younger than many ever actually found a name for their troubles - but nothing they did ever seemed to work. He could never find the right balance. And despite her field of study, Katey could never make a dent, either. Ethan often said that he thought she was going to medical school to leave him behind, but all she wanted to do was save him. “I know it doesn’t make it okay, but he couldn’t help it. The things his brain told him…” She felt tears threaten her again, but she pushed them away. “I really don’t want to talk about it.”

Katey was preparing to circle back, to discuss whatever the magic causing this was. Sure, as an adult, it was unlikely she was manifesting some kind of accidental magic - although she thought she might send a letter to some of her medical school professors, just to be sure - but if it was an external force, it was targeting her. She didn’t know anything about the small dragon toy, but maybe it was a childhood memory locked somewhere in the “twenty years ago” section of her brain. This one was decidedly more recent, and it felt more real. She knew this day. She knew Ethan. She knew how little time they had left after this moment.

But Killian absolutely derailed her.

“Whatever happened, and I really truly mean whatever, you never deserve to be treated like that, Katey. You deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, always.”

Her mouth opened, but she was dumbfounded, silent. She did not feel the breach, but her tears broke through and slid down her cheeks. Why did Killian always have to speak to her like this? Ethan’s way, she had gotten used to because she knew he didn’t mean it. In every regard, this was the opposite. Katey wanted contact, to hug him or to rest her head on his shoulder, but his chair was just too far away. So she reached across and gave his knee and small squeeze. “Thank you.”

12 Katey Willow Probably, but it's my default. 1505 0 5

Killian Row

November 29, 2020 4:34 PM

We can work on that together. by Killian Row

OOC: CW: reference to alcoholism BIC:

Killian raised an eyebrow but didn't argue when Katey's tone changed. He realized he had struck a nerve and backed up mentally some, preparing to address what he was learning or else leave it alone. It was easiest to think of Katey as a student, but she wasn't, and she wasn't asking for him to help her. Still, he thought that she probably needed someone to step in, and it wasn't like she could get a referral to speak with Ms. Greene. "That's fine," he murmured softly. "We don't have to talk about it. Sometimes sick people do things they wouldn't normally do and they hurt people. That doesn't make it hurt any less."

His own voice grew thicker as he neared the end of his statement, the familiar question of whether his brother counted as sick raising in the back of his mind. Lorcan wasn't a bad guy all the time, not at all. In fact, there had been times when he'd been the best thing Killian could have asked for in a brother. There were times, he suspected, that he'd even been a good father. If nothing else, he hadn't abandoned Bonabelle until she had someplace Ellie to go, and she'd survived long enough to get to Sonora. She was bright and sharp, and only some of that came from survival. still . . . alcoholism was its own kind of sickness, and narcissism too.

He continued speaking and was surprised to find Katey seem to stop and he could almost see the gears in her brain struggling to catch. When they did, she reached out to touch his knee, which seemed very funny to Killian because he was a strapping young man and not a ninety-five-year-old offering sage advice, but he knew that's not what she was going for anyway. He hesitated, not sure whether leaning forward to provide more easy contact would be helpful, or whether this was a moment where that would stray from helpful into confusing. Instead, he just smiled and placed his hand on top of hers for a moment. "Anytime you need a reminder that you're human and valuable and worthy of respect, I'm always happy to help provide it. It's what we do, you and me: we help people who can't or don't know how to help themselves."

22 Killian Row We can work on that together. 1450 0 5

Katey Willow

December 06, 2020 5:05 PM

Together? by Katey Willow

Killian was a guidance counselor and not a therapist, but in a lot of ways, for schools, those positions sort of had a habit of blending together, it seemed. Certainly, in the way Killian spoke, Katey could see the little therapist in him. The way he spoke, sometimes it felt half like a friend and half like a professional. The dynamic was a little weird, honestly, but the fact of the matter that both halves came from a deep-rooted place of wanting to help people, and both halves were exceedingly genuine.

That was the thing that kept drawing Katey to him. Killian was such a genuine person. And the person that he was, genuinely, was a good man.

Even with his habit of profession in mind, it still floored her, the way he spoke to her. The kindness, both in his voice and his words. No one had ever spoken to her like that before. Ethan wasn’t like that, even at his best. And her father had never spoken to her so gently, either. Truly, Killian was an exception among men, at least in Katey’s experience.

“Killian…” Katey started, not fully sure why but also not quite able to contain herself. “I just have to ask. Why are you always so nice? You don’t… I mean, you don’t have to talk to me like this.” If it was pity, she didn’t want it. If it was professionalism, she didn’t think she wanted it either. She didn’t want him to be her counselor. She wasn’t a student. She was an adult, and her problems were her own. It didn’t have to be his concern, unless he wanted it to be.

12 Katey Willow Together? 1505 0 5

Killian Row

December 08, 2020 6:05 PM

A bit. by Killian Row

Killian was of the mind that people were all different sizes for all different reasons. Not on the outside, although they were different sizes on the inside too, but just in terms of presence. Katey, he was pretty sure, wanted to be as small as possible, and did her best to be just that. Ema was not like that at all. In fact, Ema made Killian want to be small, just to see how much space he could fill with her. It was a powerful sort of beauty that made him feel tingly all over. But Katey was a different kind of beauty in her own way, and she was small. It made Killian feel big. He suspected it had made Ethan feel big, the pigheaded jerkwagon he'd been, whatever his diagnosis. It was a dangerous space to take up; he knew from firsthand experience how easy it was to slip from being small to disappearing altogether. The problem, he'd found, was that the wrong people let themselves be too small to see, and then the wrong people - the loud ones, the bad ones, the dangerous ones, the ones who had taken too much space in history books and just needed to sit back - got bigger and bigger until they crushed everything else. Everyone else.

So Killian got small too. His voice got as quiet as Katey's and as soft. A small presence with a small voice. But a firm one. That was important if you were going to go off helping people; no matter how small you ever made yourself for them, you couldn't afford to disappear. They couldn't afford to have you disappear. So you had to be small and firm, like a pebble that breaks the current in a river, simply because it had the good fortune and the strength to find someplace to stand up.

He chuckled softly at her question since it started with a compliment, and not the sort of Killian, how are you so devilishly handsome compliment that he was most comfortable with. "I don't think I'm nice all the time," he offered, buffering the compliment with a shaker full of salt and reality. "But I do try. I'm glad it worked out this time," he smirked playfully. "I think that everyone should talk to everyone a little more kindly. You just happen to need more kindness right now and I happen to be able to give it right now. Sometimes, I need more kindness. Like when I splinch myself because I'm being an idiot, and you help me. That's what people are meant to do for each other. Really, being nice is a low bar. It's just not one everyone bothers to jump."

22 Killian Row A bit. 1450 0 5

Katey Willow

December 09, 2020 6:15 PM

That's more than enough. by Katey Willow

People were a lot like candy jars, Katey thought. Some of them were decorated more than others. Almost all of them had something sweet in them, even if you had to reach through the empty space to get to it. Nobody kept an empty candy jar, but sometimes they got low and needed a refill. But some jars seemed to stay full no matter how deep you reached. They were bigger jars, inside and out, and they always gave marvelously.

Killian was a big jar.

And so was Katey. She knew that about herself, even in her most insecure moments. Katey was kind. It was her biggest goal, and also literally part of an oath she had sworn as a Healer. “Do no harm”. It meant a lot to her.

She always kept a jar of candy in the Hospital Wing, right on the table closest to the door. Everybody needed a little candy now and then.

Never before, she was almost positive, had she met another person whose jar was so full. You couldn’t even put a lid on Killian. His sweetness overflowed, forever. He reached with licorice arms and spoke with bubblegum words, and they stuck. But the trouble was, Katey knew how it felt to fill her mouth with poison, and she couldn’t help but long for something sweet.

In this moment, the only thing that prevented Katey from doing something stupid was the fortunate proximity between them. Killian was close enough to reach her fingers to, but nothing more. Instead, she told herself to go. She did not need the empty calories right now. The sugar crash would not be worth the high. “Thank you so much,” she said, and she meant it. “It’s been a really, really long day. I think I’m going to head to bed. Do you think we can… just keep this between us, maybe? I mean, maybe we should tell Selina about it, but she does already know there’s an issue and… I really don’t want to talk about this again.”

12 Katey Willow That's more than enough. 1505 0 5