It was Friday and the night before Lightning had absolutely gone bonkers on Serah. Serah couldn't even get a word in edgewise for all the yelling and swearing at her. That was the thing about Lightning, she rarely let Serah have the upper hand regarding anything having to do with Snow. Serah cleaned the patio table in silence. Serah figured Lightning would have just canceled this dinner tonight but that would have been too easy. Lightning had already dealt plenty of fury to Serah and Snow was next. With him coming over tonight, it was the perfect opportunity for Lighting to tell him exactly what she thought. Serah noticed that Lightning had nothing cooked. Why was she cleaningthe table if she had nothing cooked?
"Lightning?" Serah called to her cautiously.
"What." She answered her coldly. Serah felt like she was going to cry but she couldn't. If Lightning saw her cry Lightning would start yelling at her again.
"Why…am I cleaning this table if we don't have any food cooked?" Serah asked in her choked back voice. Lightning didn't answer. This question was interrupted by the sound of a knock at the door. Lightning slammed her fists down on the surface before her and fled to the door as fast as she could.
"Lightning, no! Please…Lightning, stop!" Serah pleaded with her desperately as she dropped the wet cloth and chased after Lightning in near tears. It was too late, Lightning had furiously raged to the door before Serah could catch her. She opened the door and before Snow even had a chance to say hello she planted a fist in his face.
"What the hell are you doing sleeping with my sister, you son of a bitch!?" Lightning yelled at him.
"Lightning, no….no!" Serah cried to her as tears streamed down her face. Serah reached out but Lightning swatted at her hand.
"Stay out of this. This is between me and Snow now. He has to deal with me." Lightning warned her.
"Okay, I'll overlook the hand in my face and tell you hello anyway." Snow said holding a hand to the side of his face.
"Oh my god, would you cut the crap already!? Answer me!" Lightning hadn't lowered her voice any.
"What did you even ask me!? I show up at your house and you put your fist in my face!" Snow said as calmly as he could. This only made Lightning angrier.
"What do you think you're doing, sleeping with my sister?!" Lightning hissed through gritted teeth. Snow was still holding the side of his face as he shifted his eyes to meet Lightning's.
"What? I love Serah. This was mutual." Snow answered her, which was actually an excellent answer considering he had no clue what was going on right now. Lightning shook her head.
"You…liar!" she screamed at him. "My sister needs protected from assholes like you who lie to sweet and beautiful girls just to get them in bed! You…need to leave. Serah will never see you again." Lightning said affirmatively. Snow shook his head and disbelief.
"I can't believe you! You're accusing me of lying to Serah and now you think you know everything about our relationship?! What the hell Lightning?"
"Well, now I know that your relationship is sex and nothing else." Lightning said accusingly. Snow could not believe the words coming from her mouth. Lightning was making all these ridiculous assumptions and not listening to a word Snow said. "I have to protect, Serah! That is my duty as her older sister and I am not going to let you use her like that!"
"Would you chill and listen for like…I don't know two minutes!? I love Serah more than I love anything else in my life. I would never lie to Serah, I would never do anything to hurt her, ever! And I sure as hell am not using her! Why are you saying these things?" Snow pleaded with her.
"Those are pretty words, Snow. Save them for someone who gives a shit. You are twenty-one. What could you possibly see in my sister. She's a little girl for god's sake!" Lightning yelled.
"She's a woman, Lightning! Just like you. She can make her own decisions, she doesn't need you to…" Lightning cut him off.
"She absolutely needs me! It's you she doesn't need! Let me ask you this, Snow…what happens when you get her pregnant? Hmm? Then what? What happens to your stupid idea of living life without any obligations or responsibilities? Hmm? Because, you know what? A baby is a pretty big fucking responsibility!" Lightning said. Finally, she had lowered her voice.
"Okay first, I don't live my life without responsibility." Snow said. Lightning rolled her eyes. "Secondly, we have never, never had unprotected…." Lightning cut him off.
"Oh bull….shit. You think I believe that for a minute? Serah's still young, she's easy to manipulate." Lightning said completely uncontented.
"Serah's right…" Snow began calmly. "You don't listen to anything. I could tell you the sky was falling and you wouldn't listen. Let me tell you something. I don't care that you don't believe a word I say even though it's all true. Do I wish you liked me? Yes, I do because I believe that you are not a bad person. What I do care about is that you are so consumed with being right and having all the answers that you minimize the amazing qualities Serah possesses. Do you even realize that Serah has tried so hard to talk to you about me, about her, about school or about anything!? You won't listen to her. You're pushing her away because you treat her like she's ten."
Lightning didn't respond. Instead she spun around at the sound of something hitting the floor. Serah had packed up the biggest suitcase she could find and had two bags slung over her shoulders.
"What are you doing?" Lightning asked her with little sympathy. She could tell Serah had been crying.
"Stop it…just stop it, Lightning. I can't just stand here and let you scream your head off at Snow like that. You didn't listen to me and you're not listening to him. Do you even know why we kept this from you from three months?" Serah asked her voice calm but it seemed it could break at any minute.
"Of course I know! It's because he wanted to use you for as long as…" Serah interrupted her sister.
"NO IT'S NOT!" she screamed. Serah calmed herself down. "It's because I knew you would flip out like this. I'm not a girl, Lightning. I'm not a girl anymore. I made a choice and now I've made another one." Serah said picking up her suitcase again.
"What choice?" Lightning asked, her defenses high.
"I'm leaving with Snow and I won't be back until YOU stop acting like an insensitive, know-it-all." Serah admitted to Lightning. She walked to the door and shoved Lightning out of the way. For some reason, Lightning felt completely defenseless as her younger sister shoved her aside. She watched in her own horror as Snow took Serah's heavy suitcase and her bags from her. Serah gave Lightning one last look before closing the door.
Now Lightning stood in complete silence, her back resting up against the door and feeling exhausted and overwhelmed. Did her little sister really just pack her bags and leave? Lightning could feel a confused look spread across her face and her mouth hang limply open. She pushed her weight off the door and headed to Serah's room. She looked around to notice that Serah had cleaned off her dresser. The closet doors were flung open and half her closet empty. Lightning began to frantically open up the chest of drawers. Some were half empty, some were completely empty. Even the picture of she and Serah that Serah kept beside her bed was gone. This was serious. Lightning started to panic a little. She went back into the living room where she was reading the night before. The patio door was still open. Then, like a ton of bricks it hit her. Serah was gone.
"Are you okay?" Snow asked Serah as they arrived at his home.
"Yeah, yeah I'm okay. I'm so sorry. This was all my fault. If I hadn't…" Snow put his arms on her shoulders.
"Hey, hey…this was not your fault at all." Snow reassured her.
"If my bag hadn't fell off that stupid stool none of this would have happened." Serah said. "That's how Lightning found out. The condom was in my bag, my bag fell off the stool and here we are." Serah said.
"Serah, this wasn't your fault. Besides, she was going to find out eventually. Don't worry, baby. Come here." Snow took her in his arms.
"But what really bothers me is the way she hurt you. I'm sorry."
"It's okay, Serah. It's okay." Snow told her resting his head on hers. "Come on, let's get your bags out of the back and take them inside." Serah shook her head yes against his chest.
"Well hey; I finally get to stay with you for more than just a few hours." Serah managed to smile as she walked around to the back of the vehicle to help get her things out. Snow swept her up off the ground. He smiled back at her.
"Stay as long as you want. Stay forever, I don't care." He kissed her. It was reassuring and comforting.
"I love you so much." Serah said resting her forehead against his.
"I love you too, Serah. " Snow said letting her feet touch the ground again. If anyone could make her smile after that horrifying incident with Lightning, Snow could.
"I'm going to put a curling iron in your bathroom. How do you feel about that?" Serah asked jokingly.
"I might use it on weekends. But sshhh, don't tell anyone." Snow said teasing her. Serah laughed as she threw the one bag that caused all this trouble over her shoulder.
"Crap! You know what I did? I left the key card that you gave me at my house." Serah just remembered.
"That's alright. We can go have another one made tomorrow. It will deactivate after 48 hours anyway." Snow told her. Serah was relieved to hear this. She knew there wasn't a risk of Lightning finding it. She always tucked it under her mattress because she didn't want Lightning to know she had a key. Snow unlocked his door as the coastal air blew Serah's pink pony tail around. She looked out into blue water and crashing waves. She couldn't help but laugh.
"Hey, Snow?" Serah asked as the door opened. She was still looking out over the ocean.
"Yeah?" he asked propping the door open with her suitcase.
"Even though some really horrible things just happened…I am so happy now." Serah confessed. She felt guilty. She thought she should still be upset about everything that had happened. But Snow didn't seem all that upset and he was the one that was being abused! She didn't see why she should be upset since he wasn't. Snow reached out and took the bag from Serah and kissed her again.
"All I ever want is for you to be happy, Serah. I'm happy if you're happy." Snow said.
"Well, I'm always happy when I'm with you." Serah laughed. Snow couldn't help but laugh with her; Serah's smile was contagious. "I'll help you unpack." Serah walked inside and threw one of the bags on the couch near the door. She moved her suitcase away from the door and closed it. The ocean could still be heard through the open windows in the house. Serah took her huge suitcase back to Snow's bedroom to unpack it. Snow noticed he had a message on the phone. He listened to it as Serah poured the contents of her suitcase everywhere. It was amazing how much she had actually crammed in that thing.
"Hey, since we obviously didn't get to eat at your house do you want to meet Gadot and Yuj tonight at the café? Gadot left me a message.
"Yeah, sure. Let's do that." Serah agreed as she unpacked the picture of her and Lightning. She looked at it solemnly. She wished so much Lightning would be her sister instead of trying to be her mother.
