you don't know that you're living 'til you're carrying scars
Flora laughs beneath her breath, all misty eyes and freckles, and murmurs, "Withered and wise on the inside—gods, Nonna, you make it sound like you’ve got a raisin heart and a spellbook for a liver." She goes willingly when Vai fusses with her, lifting her chin obediently, brushing her curls back behind her ears as needed, and straightening her spine like she’s five again and being inspected before Vai let she and her brothers roam the woods. "Mateo made it," she adds proudly, gesturing down at the living bouquet stitched to her curves. "Literally coaxed it into growing for me. I told him I wanted to smell better than anyone else here and he delivered."
She accepts the glass of wine like a priestess taking a sacrament and clinks it gently against Vai’s before exhaling and draping herself into a lean against the table, letting the party glitter in her periphery while her focus settles entirely on her grandmother. "Everything?" she echoes, mock-dread in her tone as she flutters her lashes dramatically. "Okay, well—if we’re doing the tragic romantic comedy portion of the evening first…" She takes a long sip. "I was dating someone. Jack. Smuggler/Pirate. Handsome in a criminally inconvenient way. My dads hated him, which, of course I didn't care about, and gods, Vai, I wanted to marry him. Like an embarrassing amount, even though he super isn't the type for it, but I just thought..." Softly, Flora sighs before flashing the witch a crooked grin that fades around the edges like seafoam. "Anyway. I tried to play hero. Did something risky and stupid—whatever word you want to use—and he dumped me for it." She shrugs like it doesn’t still sting. "But I really loved him. Like...deep-down, all the way, loved him."
Another sip. Another sigh.
"And then," she says, as if announcing the next act of a theatre performance, "out of nowhere, I get really close with someone who’s always just been a friend. And it turns out, when you’re already close with someone, the whole sleeping together thing is so much better." Her brows rise as if this is the most groundbreaking discovery of her twenties. "But of course he likes someone else. And I thought I could do a one night stand. And instead?" She makes a heart shape with her hands and breaks it with a sigh. "I caught feelings like an absolute idiot."
She smiles helplessly, tipping her head back and squinting at the stars as if they’re to blame. "Enzo said I should forget about both of them and make us a new house instead."
She accepts the glass of wine like a priestess taking a sacrament and clinks it gently against Vai’s before exhaling and draping herself into a lean against the table, letting the party glitter in her periphery while her focus settles entirely on her grandmother. "Everything?" she echoes, mock-dread in her tone as she flutters her lashes dramatically. "Okay, well—if we’re doing the tragic romantic comedy portion of the evening first…" She takes a long sip. "I was dating someone. Jack. Smuggler/Pirate. Handsome in a criminally inconvenient way. My dads hated him, which, of course I didn't care about, and gods, Vai, I wanted to marry him. Like an embarrassing amount, even though he super isn't the type for it, but I just thought..." Softly, Flora sighs before flashing the witch a crooked grin that fades around the edges like seafoam. "Anyway. I tried to play hero. Did something risky and stupid—whatever word you want to use—and he dumped me for it." She shrugs like it doesn’t still sting. "But I really loved him. Like...deep-down, all the way, loved him."
Another sip. Another sigh.
"And then," she says, as if announcing the next act of a theatre performance, "out of nowhere, I get really close with someone who’s always just been a friend. And it turns out, when you’re already close with someone, the whole sleeping together thing is so much better." Her brows rise as if this is the most groundbreaking discovery of her twenties. "But of course he likes someone else. And I thought I could do a one night stand. And instead?" She makes a heart shape with her hands and breaks it with a sigh. "I caught feelings like an absolute idiot."
She smiles helplessly, tipping her head back and squinting at the stars as if they’re to blame. "Enzo said I should forget about both of them and make us a new house instead."
you're either falling in love or you're falling apart
