"So…where exactly do you live?"
"Hm?" Tara turned to look at Adrena and was surprised to find her trailing a short distance behind her.
"Where's your house?" She asked a bit more urgently this time. Adrena had tried to sound more casual with the question before, but the discomfort she was feeling was really starting to get to her as well as the intense gnawing of envy.
They were walking through one of the swankier neighborhoods in Middleton. Upper middle class well-off spoiled brats. As she looked at the immaculate yards and beautiful siding and strange little flamingos that didn't serve any purpose, Adrena felt the swellings of loathing for every one of them. What did they do to deserve any of this? And what was with the flamingos?
"Oh." Tara paused to let out a delicate giggle. "It isn't too far now." She looked up, surprised again, and walked back toward Adrena. "But you're so far behind me! It must be lonely back here." Her hand slipped into Adrena's before the older woman could react and practically started dragging her along. "Come on. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can grab an afternoon snaaa~aack," she added in a sing-song voice.
Damn. The girl was appealing to her greatest weakness right now: food. And having a hand to hold like this was a plus. She couldn't really remember the last time anyone touched her and it felt a bit strange to be holding hands with Tara. She didn't even seem fazed by it, like it was natural to grab a homeless woman's hand and lead her around.
Eh. Whatever. It wasn't like her own reputation was going to be tarnished by this.
Adrena began walking faster to try and keep up with the blonde. It was like trying to participate in some sort of marathon. What, was there some sort of invisible timer that she wasn't able to see? Maybe she was just eager to get her home. 'I am gorgeous after all' she preened to herself. But did they have to be going so fast? She was practically tripping over her own feet!
"What's with the rush, blondie? Afraid we'll miss out on lunch or something?" she snarked.
"No," Tara replied airily. "Lunch finished up hours ago. I just want to get you home." She turned her head to give Adrena a reassuring smile, which did nothing to help Adrena's strangely queasy stomach. "Don't you want to be able to finally kick back in a nice, comfy chair after so long of being on the street?"
"Of course!" Adrena snapped, slightly offended at the street remark.
"Hurry up then and we can get there faster and have lots of fun! Like eating chips and watching fashion shows and doing our nails and going shopping and—"
"I suppose it's just past all these snooty houses?" Adrena interrupted. She managed to pull Tara to a stop in front of a bright blue house and waved her free arm at it. "I mean, just LOOK at this place!" She shuddered for effect before continuing her rant. "Its yard is painfully clean—I mean, who would spend time trying to keep those things organized? And the paint job is freakish. It looks like they smashed some robin eggs on them. And oh my god, I think if I see another flamingo," she pointed at the happy dancing flamingo that had its legs twirling about in the light breeze, "I'm going to puke!"
Tara blinked, a confused look passing over her face as she examined the house. "Well, I suppose it is really perky." Then she smiled. "But it fits right in with the neighborhood! And isn't it nice to see something positive when things are so bad right now?"
Adrena's eye twitched and her body convulsed as she twisted away from Tara. "Ugh! There's positive and there's diabetes. Who would live in a house like this, anyway?"
"I would!" Tara bubbled.
"…oh crap. Don't tell me you…?" Open mouth, insert foot.
"Huh?" the blonde looked at the quickly paling Adrena and tilted her head. "I…?"
"…live…here…?"
Tara blinked a few more times before breaking out into a laugh. All Adrena could do was stand there looking dumbstruck as the cheerleader kept laughing her head off. What was so funny?
"Mind letting me in on the joke?" she asked, trying to regain her composure.
The blonde laughed a few more moments before sighing and wiping at her eyes. "I'm sorry! But…no, that isn't my house. That's Matilda's home." Her eyes traveled from Adrena to the house. "I never really knew how she managed to keep everything so prim and proper, but I guess her son pays for a landscaper or something." She leaned toward Adrena and whispered, "She has sciatica."
"Riiiight." And she needed to know this why? Well, at least she wouldn't be living in that eyesore.
"No, my house is right there!" Tara added, pointing to the dark orange house next door.
Ah. Great. Neighbors. Now she'd have to look at that place every day for who knew how long. At least there weren't any flamingos in the yard.
Tara led her along the sidewalk toward the less appalling home. The yard was not immaculate like the bright blue house, with weeds popping up every few feet. It also had arrangements of flowers planted here and there. Adrena figured there was some sort of reason for it, but it just seemed to be random to her. A two-door connected garage sat to the left of the main two-story house, a window above the doors showing that there was a room above the space.
"Is that where I'll be living?" she asked the blonde, pointing at the half-moon window.
The cheerleader's eyes followed Adrena's finger and she shook her head. "No. That's my brother's room."
"Brother?" the stuntwoman snorted. "Gonna have to share the house with a rugrat, too?"
"Oh no. Not at all." Tara began dragging Adrena toward the house again, keeping a firm grip on her hand. "My brother isn't a rugrat. He's 30."
"And still living at home? Talk about freaky." The older woman frowned. "When I turned 18, my parents tossed me out, no ifs ands or buts about it." Another strong wave of envy washed through her, making her unconsciously clench her teeth and grip Tara's hand tighter. She caught out of the corner of her eye that the other blonde had winced but done nothing else.
"My brother's just having a bad bit of luck. That's all. He just doesn't know what he's going to do with his life." Tara shrugged. "He could do whatever he wanted. It's just figuring out what he wants that he's having trouble with." She smiled as she pulled Adrena along the last bit of sidewalk that trailed to the front door. "It's been nice to have him around though."
"Schyeah, like that's an excuse." Adrena frowned and tried to glare at the small window, but they were now under the house gutters which blocked the view. Damn lazy beatnicks…
They got to the front door where Tara knocked and rang the doorbell a few times. After a minute of nothing, she muttered, "he was supposed to be here…" before pulling out a Hola Kitten key and using it to open the deadbolt lock.
The second the door was opened, Adrena was bathed in a strong scent of lilacs. 'Someone could DROWN in that smell. So freaky!' she thought, scrunching her nose at the stench. She shook her head to clear it from the flowery haze as she was pulled through the door. A quick glimpse of the front room—a small room that looked like it was fit for greeting basic guests with several squishy chairs and a couch—was all she caught before she was whisked into the next room.
This room looked more like a dining area made for a small family. A four-person round table with a simple tablecloth sat in the middle of a fairly empty room. There was wallpaper along the upper portions of the wall that was designed with intertwined vines and flowers that cut off around Adrena's midsection, replaced by panels of wood. The wood ended at the light tan tiled floor. She could see faded spills that seemed to have just stuck to the tiles, more than a few of which were some kind of fruit drink. To her surprise, the room was double the size of the other room, allotting a large television and a stand to fit into the corner next to a window that gave a view of the house's backyard. Paintings hung around the room to fill in the empty space and a large china cabinet ate up one section of the wall, filled with what even Adrena could tell was fine china.
"This is a really nice place," Adrena found herself saying stupidly. It'd been years since she'd seen anything so big or well-kept, but that was no excuse…!
"Oh, well thank you! We try, but since it's just the three—" Tara glanced at the other woman "—make that four—of us, we don't really have much to work with décor-wise. None of us are really into feng shui and we didn't want to wreak the chi of the rooms."
"Chi?" Adrena cut off her smart mouth comment before she could let it out. She had already mouthed off enough today and wasn't sure the blonde would be so passive about insulting her own home.
"Energy flow. You know, positive and negative flow in a room." Tara shook her head. "It's really too complex for me." She suddenly straightened up and gasped. "You must still be hungry! Here—" Tara pulled out one of the wooden chairs and practically pushed Adrena into it "—you sit down and I'll go make you a sandwich."
"Er…" Adrena just sat and stared as the suddenly giddy cheerleader ran through a swinging door into what she assumed was the kitchen for a second before she remembered to yell "don't forget the tomatoes! A sandwich without them is just freaky!"
A soft humming could be heard from the kitchen a few moments later. The stuntwoman felt particularly out-of-place where she had been left, having grown comfortable resting or waiting on a curb or stoop. To try and distract herself, she looked out the backyard window.
To meet eyes with another plastic flamingo.
Figured that since a lot of people wanted me to write more, I'd try my hand at it. We'll see if I update again or not.