Heavy on the angst! What can you do. Thanks for the replies! :)
Chapter 4
Never had Katherine encountered such persistence from a friend. Everyone always left, regardless of whether or not they had been asked to do so. She was uncertain of how to handle someone so stubborn, and although she knew in the back of her mind that Bree was just being a good friend, she felt an undeniable sense of hurt. Pained by the fact that despite her pleas and demands, Bree refused to leave her in peace.
Bree was actually quite proud of her ability to speak to Katherine with such raw honesty, rather than simply turning her back as she had done with so many friends in the past. There was no denying that her relationship with Katherine was unique from that with her other friends. There was an irrefutable connection between the two of them. A connection that had began as a rivalry, but was slowly blossoming into a deep-rooted friendship.
The two women stared intently at one another, each waiting for the other to make the first move. It was clear they were uncomfortable with the scenario: Katherine unsure if she could accept comfort from a friend, and Bree wondering if she would be able to provide such support. Bree loosened her grip around her friend's wrist, allowing Katherine to quite literally run away if she should choose. But she didn't run. Instead she ran a few fingers over the spot where a faint imprint had been left in place of Bree's tight grasp. The sense of hurt that she had experienced just a few moments earlier was now being replaced with a feeling of defeat.
"You just want to see me fall." Katherine murmured, taking a seat on the couch.
Bree hesitated, choosing her words wisely. "Do you really believe that?" For the first time Bree realized that the ongoing rivalry between Katherine and herself ran much deeper than friendly competition. "You can trust me." She tried reassuring her friend, all the while painfully aware that it would take much more than just a few words to conquer Katherine's deep-seated trust issues.
"Can I?" Katherine tried sounding nonchalant, though her question was sincere.
"Listen to me." The redhead took a seat, careful not to get too close to Katherine in case of another outburst. "In the beginning, maybe I did." She picked at her nails. "You seemed like a first rate version of myself. A better cook, baker, decorator…everything I had worked so hard for seemed to come so naturally to you. I envied you. I was afraid that somehow your pie recipe would lead to my demise." She chuckled softly, waiting for Katherine to make a sly remark. "But things are different now." She moved a bit closer to the other woman. "If I wanted to see you go down, I wouldn't have bothered coming by here tonight. I would just let you go deeper and deeper until you would either die or pack up and leave town." The intensity of her words visibly shook Katherine. "I understand if you're hesitant to trust me, but at least try to believe me when I say that the last thing I want is for you to fall."
Katherine nodded slowly, trying to take in the bitter truth of Bree's words. She felt her heartbeat quicken, her breath becoming more ragged. A pressure was building in the back of her throat, and realizing that tears were inevitable, she buried her head in her hands, resting her elbows on her knees for support.
Bree craned her neck to see that Katherine was covering her mouth. She recognized that she was trying to muffle her cries: one last desperate attempt to hold onto a sense of control. She cautiously rested one hand on her friend's shoulder, and when she saw that Katherine was not backing away, she added a bit more pressure. "It's only me." Her voice was weaker than she would have expected. "You don't have to prove how strong you are." She paused, neatly tucking Katherine's hair behind her ear. "I already know."
Upon hearing Bree's last few words, Katherine finally allowed herself to give in and let go. She was struck by a wave of emotion, and her tears followed soon after, grateful for a much needed release. She began trembling as her sobs intensified, and when Bree delicately held her, she involuntarily clung to her like a child who had just woken from a terrible nightmare.
Bree held her friend close, rocking her gently. She took a moment, in the midst of everything, to think back to the last time that she had a good cry. When she couldn't remember, she tried to think of a bad cry, or any cry at all. Before she could get lost in thought, however, she felt the circulation in her arms being cut off from how tightly her friend was clinging to her. "Shh." She whispered, gently kissing the top of Katherine's head. "I'm not going anywhere." Bree barely recognized her own voice. She could not recall the last time she had spoken with such conviction. She wasn't even sure that had ever felt so certain about anything in her life. "I'll be right here."
