serpent ♔ juliet

When she took another hesitant drink from the glass that she clutched between her quivering hands in her lap, she just nodded as the only response she deemed necessary or was capable of mustering as she did so. While he talked, she slowly curled and uncurled her fingers over the glass. She clung to his words as he served as a reminder that she had fled and was no longer being kept against her will, and it was one of the most crucial things to grasp onto when everything else seemed so overwhelming.

'You're still you.'

Betty mulled over the words in her thoughts, aware that she did not fully believe them; nonetheless, she felt a softness residing in her breast that suggested he believed them and was fighting for her when she did not feel strong enough to do it for herself. As he came to lay next to her, unlike in the past, she found herself wanting the security of his proximity once again. She automatically leaned into him as her knee rested against his, and she craved the comfort of his proximity. She was aware of his gaze on her, but she kept hers fixed on his hands spread out on his legs. This provided her with an alternative point of focus that was less unsettling and made her feel less exposed to meeting his eyes. When he said he didn't care what their plan had been, there was a familiar flare of spirited defensiveness ready to fight back. He implied that it somehow trivialized what she'd gone through if it was all for nothing. However, he continued until he posed the obvious question to her, to which he certainly already knew the answer.

She finally glanced up, eyes searching, and a ghostly smile pulled lightly at the corners of her lips as she remembered the route of memories with him interspersed in the photos over the whole of her existence beside the grinning boy with red hair who was her best friend. "To some extent, we all grew up together" she finally accepted it, even as she could feel his trademark sarcasm coating her words. But, the comfort of their shared sense of humor was one of the first normal emotions she'd had in days.

The single giggle not only broke the stillness but also loosened the tight tightness of her muscles as she finally relaxed against him once again. An involuntary scoff of amusement occurred as a result of the situation. It was not a secret to either of them exactly how obstinate they could be; yet, she did not see her own stubbornness as necessarily a strength until now, when he framed it for her. Neither of them could hide the fact that they could be stubborn. She followed the movement of his hand as it made its way to her wrist, and as she did so, she became much less concerned about the glass that she was still holding. Instead, she let go of one of her hands and grabbed hold of his hand in order to pull his arm back around her, after which she nested herself against his chest and closed her eyes. "Even if that's the case, you're helping to put an end to all this noise and making me feel like myself again, Jug," she said. She confessed it, her tone gentle as she concentrated on hearing his pulse with her head pressed against his chest. Her voice was no longer riven with the anguish and sense of failure she had felt before.