flora
Flora listens as Mateo talks, especially the way he can insist that something is exciting until it becomes true, the way he turns loss into theatre and keeps moving before the ache can settle too deeply. There’s something fiercely tender in the way she looks at him then, softened by her sunglasses but unmistakable in the tilt of her mouth. She leans across the narrow space between their chairs and presses a kiss to his cheek. "You’ve always been a good brother," she tells him, and there’s no teasing in it this time. Yes, they’ve fought. They’ve disagreed. They’ve circled each other with sharp words and sharper pride. But even at her most impossible, he never wanted anything but the best for her.
She pulls back with a lighter smile, unwilling to let the moment grow too heavy in the sun. Rising in one smooth motion, she sets her hat more firmly on her head and holds both hands out to him, fingers adorned and gleaming. "Come on," she says, wiggling her hands impatiently. "Let’s go see what clothes I have on the Sugartide so we can see what you need to pack."
~FIN
She pulls back with a lighter smile, unwilling to let the moment grow too heavy in the sun. Rising in one smooth motion, she sets her hat more firmly on her head and holds both hands out to him, fingers adorned and gleaming. "Come on," she says, wiggling her hands impatiently. "Let’s go see what clothes I have on the Sugartide so we can see what you need to pack."
~FIN
The rumors are terrible and cruel
But honey, most of them are true
But honey, most of them are true
