Reggie laid in her bed, hugging her pillow.
So, this is love?
This aching chest, this rising lump in her throat, the fluttering of her lashes and heart? Shaking hands, giggles, and a writhing stomach?
Was this why they call it, 'love sickness'?
So this is love?
This image of beauty and grace, striding towards her with long, blonde hair, smiling widely as henna tattoos laced around her shoulders and exposed ankles.
Reggie sighed, smile unable to fade from her scrubbed face.
She'd never felt this way about any boy she'd met.
She only wanted Duke because she thought it would make Dollface mad.
Reggie sat up, then flopped down again.
There was just no way to sit still at a time like this.
She was glad to be in this bedroom.
It was her favorite of the…
How many did she have now?
Well, it was not as stuffy as the one she had in the manor.
Reggie's stomach squirmed.
Oooooh, she just couldn't sit still!
Reggie stood up.
Feet flat on the floor, glowing stars above on the ceiling. She marched over in the dark to the curtain that was the perfect shade of blue and parted it from the window. She looked down at the city, loving the lights down below.
The few times she stayed at the manor, it was too quiet and empty, the countryside barren of all life.
But maybe some cows.
Cows that shit too much.
She still hoped that she would still inherit it, Auntie Frances be damned.
Regina was sure air-headed cousin Elizabeth played dirty when it came to fencing too.
Reggie padded away from the wall and opened the slats of her closet door. She sat in the corner and knocked on the wall with a "Shave and a haircut!"
No reply.
"Two-bits." She hissed with two knocks.
Regina fumbled around and found the latch. The tiniest door you ever saw squeaked open and Regina crawled into the dark room and into Dollface's hanging clothes.
Regina smiled, deciding not to disturb her sister tonight.
She crawled back into her room and grabbed her Sweadish cigarettes and stood on her personal balcony and smoked to calm herself.
Tomorrow, they'd get to play more…
"...What on Earth are you doing?!" Reggie asked, standing in bare feet and a spandex one-piece. She was hoping to get in some aerobics with her sister, but it seemed like Dollface had other plans.
"Daddy'll kill you!"
"No he won't." Dollface muttered around a slim brush.
"That's his door!"
"Not like he can't afford t'buy a new one." Dollface said casually, voice deep.
Regina furrowed her brow, not wanting to see her father angry, "Why can't you be a normal sister and, I dunno, play tennis?"
"'Cause it borin'." Dollface said, sweeping a black basecoat on with a fat brush.
"Where did you even get all this paint?" Regina asked.
"Uncle Sebbie." Dollface said, drooling a little bit. She pulled out her brush and sucked in. "He knows I like acrylic paint so he got me some."
"Did he not get you canvas?" Regina asked, completely dumbfounded.
"Ja." Dollface shrugged, "Why ya askin'?"
Regina stared at Dollface's boots. Dollface continued to brush in the silence.
"Why are ya so scared o'Dad alluhva sudden?" Dollface asked. Dollface dropped her fat brush in water and used the spit covered one to switch to the inner squares.
"Because." Regina said, nose raised in the air, " I'm a good girl who knows not to paint on the walls like some rough toddler."
Dollface grunted. "Ya seem purdy damn borin' t'me."
Regina's brow furrowed deeper. The idea that she may prematurely age crossed her mind for a second, but her annoyance outweighed that.
Dollface absently plucked a bent feather from her hair and dropped it.
Reggie watched it drift down.
"Hey, I'm hidin' it on this side'o th'door anyway, he won't see a damn thing unless Uncle Sebbie rats on us."
Dollface dropped her second brush in a smaller rise cup and stood from where she crouched on a pink stool.
"Think I might put on some music." She stepped past Regina and to the stereo set built into the wall and hunched over a milk crate of cassette tapes.
She pulled out a few different tapes, placing them back after a quick inspection, then dropped them back in.
"Ya like Metallica?"
"Heavens no." Regina said.
"When did you stop bein' fun?" Dollface said, picking up another tape. She inspected it, then put it back where she'd found it.
Regina huffed.
This wasn't any fun.
"Ooooh, mixtape!" Dollface said, turning to Regina and smiling, voice that familiar high pitch, waving the tape around, "Think ya might like this one!"
Regina groaned as she watched her sister fumblingly push her cassette into the stereo.
She groaned ever louder as the first ripping guitar chords pushed through the air and the voice of ASIA's very own John Wetton poured through the speakers.
Regina slammed into the door frame, unable to avoid her sister's stupid dancing.
"Aw c'mon!" Dollface yelled to Regina's retreating back as the song escalated to the roaring chorus of 'Heat of the Moment'.
"Some people just don't have taste." Regina growled under her breath, stomping to her room to find her socks and trainers.