Hi again! It's me!
Disclaimer: See last chapter.
"Cathy?" I pushed open the door. My sister's face was buried in her pillow.
"Leave me alone!"
"No." I sat down on the edge of the bed. I didn't ask why she was crying, because I knew she wouldn't answer. She'd tell me in her own time.
"Why not? I don't want you to stay here. You don't want you to stay here!" she snapped.
"Actually, my presence is completely voluntary." She looked up at me with red-rimmed eyes. "I could be in California right now with people who don't want me dead. I chose you being hostile over the Hunnicutts being nice!" She laughs a little at this.
"Becky, you and I both know you'd rather gouge your eyes out than spend a week with them being nice."
"Which is good! It means I chose you over gouging my eyes out!"
"I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel about that." The two of us fell silent after that, but that was okay, because it felt like she and I were at least on speaking terms again.
"It's so weird, Becky." she said, finally. "Here we are, talking like we used to, when everything is so not like it used to be. I mean, last time we really spoke you and Dad still lived here and our parents were still together, even if they did argue all the time, and now everything's different! Dad's homosexual, you live in a whole different state, and Mom's with Pete-"
"Who?" That was news to me. "Why didn't I know about this? I mean, you know about Hawkeye, so why don't I know about Pete?"
"I dunno." Cathy shrugged. "But that's not important. The main thing is, I just feel like everything's got messed up, and I can't talk to anyone about it, and it's tearing me up, and-
"You can talk to me about it."
"But I can't! Part of me wants to forgive you, but if it wasn't for you none of this woulda happened! And if it had I wouldn't know about it."
"Technically, you are talking to me about it."
"Oh, yeah..."
"And I'm sorry for messing things up, but I really don't think it was my fault."
"Becky-"
"Think about it. This whole thing began with the war, and that was nothing to do with me."
"Is this your way of trying to patch things up?" She still didn't look like she wanted me around, but at least she was speaking to me.
"Yep."
"Is it possible that you've actually gotten weirder since I last saw you?"