Lucretia was crying again. She called me the night I arrived in Costa del Sol and she was crying again. I sighed and shifted the phone to my other ear. With my view of the room greatly widened I observed Veld doing...well, whatever it is that Turks do in their free time. (I never cared to ask and thus never learned.)
"What's the matter, Lu?" I asked, heaving another large sigh. I'd willingly agreed to finish my vacation time with Veld to get away from any drama that might ensue from Vincent and Lucretia's new relationship. Instead, I was confounded by hearing all about it on the phone, miles away, unable to do a thing about it.
"...and that's what happened," Lucretia was finishing up. I had only caught the gist of what she'd sobbed out to me. I sighed again, and looked at Veld with pleading eyes. If only he would make me put the phone down to do something, anything. Alas, he seemed perfectly content to let me talk with my friend for a while longer.
"I...don't see your problem," I admitted sheepishly. Things had been going great for the two until Vincent had somehow found out that Lucretia had known his father. He'd asked her, like any sane person, why she'd kept it a secret that she'd worked with Grimoire years ago. Lucretia being Lucretia, she'd told the whole story. It was her fault for baring the whole truth and if Vincent had been furious, I would have told Lucretia that I would have nothing to do with her problem. It might have cost me the friendship, but I was tiring of Lucretia and her problems being dumped on me.
As it was, Vincent had not been furious. He, as I, had tried to convince Lucretia that Grimoire's death had not been so much her fault as she assumed. I was shocked and appalled to find that Lucretia had refused to even consider believing the opinion of Grimoire's son. There was simply no help for the girl, she was determined to be thick headed about an accident.
"Well...I just...I don't know how I feel about Vincent really. I can't possibly stay with him, but I couldn't bear to hurt him," Lucretia said. I heard her searching for the right words to say and lightly banged my head against the wall. The unorthodox action elicited a confused stare from Veld.
"Why can't you stay with Vincent, Lu?" I asked with a sigh. It was probably going to be a waste of time to listen to it because I didn't think there would be any reason behind it. Sometimes I wondered why I was Lucretia's friend but then I remembered that she had listened to a lot of my shit over the years, even if I didn't want to remember that.
"...His eyes..." Lucretia said after thinking for a moment. "He's got his father's eyes."
"He's always had his father's eyes," I reminded her. At least it was a short reason even if it was meaningless.
"Yes...Well, now I feel extremely guilty every time I see those eyes," Lucretia tried to explain. I raised an eyebrow despite knowing that she could not see it.
"Really?" I asked in disbelief. "You've been spending time with Vincent for how long and you only start feeling guilty now?"
"Yes!" Lucretia screamed into the phone, beginning to cry again. "I don't want to even look at him for fear that he would reproach me with those blasted red eyes! And then it would be like Dr. Valentine chiding me all over again for going too fast with my thesis...And...and..." She broke down sobbing. I waited for her to calm down again. Her sobs slowed eventually and then she asked me in a breathy voice, "What if I can't help going back to that theory of mine and more people get hurt?"
"Do you think that's likely?" I asked her.
"...I don't know," she squeaked.
"Don't worry about it until the time comes, then," I told her. "You've got enough on your plate." Lucretia was silent for a moment.
"I suppose you're right," she admitted. "But what am I going to do about Vincent?"
"Well, you obviously don't hate him..." I mused.
"Of course not!" Lucretia cried. "Only...I'm not entirely sure...what I feel."
"Mmhmm," I said. "But you could grow to hate him..." I wasn't trying to insinuate anything, only feel out the situation, but Lucretia didn't take it that way. She stammered out protests before thinking about it and slowly admitting that it might be possible for her to hate Vincent, if things continued the way they were.
"...I need to change something," Lucretia murmured, as though realizing it for the first time.
"That's what you called me about, isn't it?" I asked.
"Hm...Yeah," Lucretia said.
"Well, I would leave him...If I were you," I said. "I would want to remember our time together as a good thing, not grow bitter and spiteful of him. But I guess I'm a bit of a romantic at heart. Of course, you have to do what will make you happy, Lu. You can't worry about what I will think, or even what Vincent will think. If you're not happy, then do something to make yourself so."
"All right," Lucretia said. "You've told me what I need to know. I've got to get back to work now, though. Perhaps I'll call again and tell you how everything turns out. Okay?"
"Okay," I replied, thinking it was a little late to be returning to work, but not mentioning that. It wasn't my problem that Lucretia was a workaholic. I wanted to say goodbye and hang up but something kept me from it.
"You know, Rosie," Lucretia started suddenly. I was glad I hadn't hung up. "You're the best friend I've ever had." A nagging feeling in the back of my mind told me she wouldn't be saying that for much longer.