Chapter Two: The Movie

[backinthsaddle]

Today was the last day of finals for Cole, and it's with a silent sigh of relief that he heads home, ready to ditch the books for the summer. Not that he'll stop studying altogether, but a break is welcome after the week long cramming session.

Liam doesn't appear to be home once he gets back to the apartment, but he's slowly been getting used to there being someone else living there, and she isn't really the going-out-and-about type, at least not right now. So he makes a little noise on his way in, so he doesn't startle her.

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[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

She slips her sleeve up, runs her fingers along the ridges of them, the valleys, the peaks, all that rigid tissue. Some of it smooth. Some wrinkled. Some so it has no texture at all, bone white, looking like discolored skin. "I can't bear to look at myself, and I don't know why," she says, after a long pause.

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"Does it remind you of... that?" he asks carefully.

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

"Not directly," she says, equally as carefully. She's trying to work it out as she talks. "It... uh. It just makes me feel worthless. Damaged goods. It... I feel ugly. I can't remember a time when I didn't. Before... you-know-who, before him, my self-esteem wasn't exactly stellar. And now I just feel... like nothing."

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"I don't think you're nothing." He doesn't know how to reassure her, has no experience dealing with this sort of thing, and he wants to do anything to make it better.

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

She rests her index finger on the biggest ridge on her forearm. "Thanks." She swallows. "I shouldn't be bugging you with this. You're young and all."

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"It's okay. I want to help."

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

"I need you to... to always be honest with me, even if I don't wanna hear it, okay? Even if you think it won't help anything, or it might hurt, so that I know when you say nice things you mean it. Is that okay?"

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"I think so." He's not sure that he'll be able to do it all the time, because who doesn't tell little white lies these days, harmless little compliments or omissions that aren't relevant? But he is sincere in his desire to help, and he doesn't like lying, so it's easy to say yes.

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

"Thanks. I just need to know what I can trust." She picks at the skin around her thumbnail, sweeps her hand back against her forearm. "It almost doesn't matter anymore, the way I'm scarred. I'm lucky; I'm robbed of every pretense of vanity now."

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"Primping in front of the mirror wasn't really your style to begin with, was it?"

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

She shakes her head, fixes her sleeves with a couple deft tugs of her fingers. "Never was."

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"Me either," he says, hoping to lighten the mood a little.

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

"Yeah?" This surprises her. Mostly because he's a cutie-pie. Gangly, but she likes gangly. Of course, he is young for her. But then again, so are most guys after you've dated Anubis.

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"Well sure, it doesn't take that long to do my makeup, you know." Now he's definitely joking.

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

"Only about thirty minutes, I'm sure of it."

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

He smiles a little, glad that she's playing along. "And about the same for my hair, right?"

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

"I can't imagine that'd take any less than three days to get right."

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, something like that."

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

She leans over and... very, very deliberately ruffles his hair. "Good luck, now you have three more days of work ahead of you."

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

He pretends to be dismayed, and runs his hands through his hair. "All my hard work, ruined forever." But he definitely doesn't mind, especially since she's enjoying herself, and reaching out voluntarily.

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

"I'm a terrible person," she intones flatly, then she winks. "A being of great wickedness, ruining pretty hair from sea to shining sea."

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"Is that your evil superpower? Should I start calling you the Fashion Disaster?"

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

"Oh, honey, people've been callin' me that for years. In slightly different words." She grins hugely. "I once made a fashion designer choke on his soup, just by walking by."

[backinthsaddle.livejournal.com]

"Really?" Sounds like there's a story behind that one.

[victormakesart.livejournal.com]

"Yeah. I was just walkin' around Houston, but I was in, like, lime green stockings, this turquoise skirt with sequins, a mustard yellow scarf, this giant floppy red and purple hat, an orange and red shirt, a pink furry coat, rollerskates, and twelve necklaces."