"So, how is your brother doing?"
Amity stares down at her coffee and slowly stirs the creamer with her straw, glancing up at her friend when she finally registers that the woman was speaking to her. Amity takes a moment to process Willow's question and sits up, clearing her throat to reply without her voice cracking, "He's doing alright," she answers, "he's making some progress with his physical therapy."
Nearly a month ago, her brother had been involved in an almost deadly car crash after a car swerved at him in the dark, pouring down rain. They ended up sending him speeding off the road without brakes and causing the car to roll forward into a tree, crushing the windshield and the top of the vehicle and throwing her brother to the back.
He'd broken his collarbone and was hospitalized for three weeks, he spent two days unconscious and the doctors say it was a miracle he wasn't paralyzed. After awakening and passing a few exams, he was released into a rehabilitation center last week.
"That's good!" Willow smiles, but her smile falters just a little as a heavy weight settles on both of their shoulders. The silent question hangs in the hair, begging to remain unspoken, but Willow reluctantly breaks the silence tentatively. "So, has Emira gone to see him since the crash?"
Amity sighs, wishing she hadn't been reminded of the freshly broken bond between her siblings. Amity shakes her head, "No…" She confesses with an equally careful voice, "I'd honestly be surprised if she goes to see him at all this year. She's pretty upset."
Willow hums in understanding, absentmindedly playing with the tip of her straw. "Well, Edric did sleep with her girlfriend, so it's perfectly understandable."
The brunette rolls her eyes and cringes as a wave of disgust runs through her like a cold chill, "Yeah," she mutters in hesitant agreement, "from what he told me, he doesn't remember."
Her dark-haired friend lets out a scoff across from her, taking a sip of her coffee to settle her thoughts, "Sounds to me like he's trying to cover up what he did by lying."
Amity shrugs, "True."
Amity's older sister, Emira, had been dating a rather questionable woman that she met in college; they had been put into several of the same classes as they were both studying for the same degree. Emira had never been attracted to anyone before so she had fully expected to live out her college years and move on with her life, but she confessed that something had pulled her towards this woman, almost like a magical call, and she found herself falling for her.
Needless to say, it didn't last very long. The story is that Edric, who had chosen not to attend college, had managed to seduce Emira's girlfriend as the girl was found in Edric's bedroom when the couple was visiting.
Amity didn't quite believe the story. She was torn between her siblings. Edric was too loyal and loved his sisters too much to do that, but Emira did seem quite pissed off and she would never make a claim like that without solid evidence.
Willow sighs heavily, pulling Amity back to reality by the sudden noise and movement as the dark-haired woman pushes to stand to her feet and exits the booth. "We should leave."
Amity withdraws her wallet and places two dollars on the table, scurrying out of the restaurant so that she wasn't left behind. "Honestly, I never thought I would see those two apart." Willow says earnestly as the brunette returns to her side.
Amity has to admit that it is a little weird without her siblings being side-by-side… She'd grown up being left out of the loop due to how close the duo were, she always believed that they would continue to be that way. But, of course, people grow up and things happen.
"I agree," Amity lowers her head, taking another sip of her coffee, "Edric hasn't been coping very well with it, unfortunately…"She lowers her voice, her belly growing cold. "He always feared we would abandon him someday and he would be left alone. Emira proved him right."
"Well, yeah," Willow frowns, sending her friend a strange look, "sleeping with your twin sister's girlfriend is a very good way to have them never speak to you again."
The brunette only hums in acknowledgement, "It genuinely seems like he doesn't remember," she says under her breath thoughtfully , "I mean, I thought he was lying to try and get back on her good side, but after that crash…" Amity pauses and turns to face her friend, a bewildered expression on her face, "Willow, what if he actually doesn't remember? He doesn't even remember meeting the girl."
"Emira remembers," Willow reminds her. "Would she lie to you like that?"
"Ugh, true."
She wasn't sure if she wanted to believe her brother, her gut was telling her that he was telling the truth and honestly doesn't remember ever meeting Emira's girlfriend, much less sleeping with her. However, she wants to trust Emira when she says that he's lying to them. Amity's never been torn between the two before, and it was a scary feeling.
Perhaps, she should try and see if Edric is telling the truth about not remembering the girl. If he's lying, well, she'll learn that her brother isn't the man she thought he was.
"I'm going to visit Edric," Amity confesses, "there's nobody to go and see him except me, he gets lonely… I'm afraid that'll do more damage than good."
Willow sighs, "Do you want me to drive you there? I can pick you up, too."
Amity laughs a little bit, "You'll have to. You're my ride home, and you have my car."
Her friend didn't own a vehicle, however, so she was using Amity's until she was able to get one of her own. She was originally using her Dad's truck, but she had chosen to leave it at home in case he needs it when his husband is away.
Willow rolls her eyes, lifting her hand and jingling the keys as they approach the little maroon car, "Ah, but I have the keys!"
"Because I gave them to you, duh." Amity points out playfully, parting ways with Willow to step around to the passenger's side as her friend unlocks the car and gets into the driver's seat.
"Mind reminding me where that facility is, again?" Willow requests as Amity gets in and shuts the door, the dark-haired woman starts the car up and glances into her rearview mirror before backing out of her parking space.
The brunette's shoulders fall, she lets out a humming noise of thought, retracing the path in her head. "Across from the old theater in Grandview. The place in Connecticut."
Willow lets out an amused noise, turning into the road and stopping at the redlight to look at her friend. "Gravesfield."
Amity's response is immediate, "Yes! Gravesfield!" Her voice lowers into a confused tone, "Why did I say Grandview?"
Willow makes a snort-like noise. "How do you forget the name of the place where your own fiancee grew up?"
Amity frowns at her, "I don't know! My brain is fuzzy these days!" She rubs her forehead, "Ever since I shut down my Instagram, my old fans have been going berserk! I literally can't go anywhere without someone walking up to me 'hey why did you shut down your page?' and it's getting overwhelming!"
The other woman sighs, "You shouldn't have to explain yourself."
Golden eyes stare down at her hands, her heart growing heavy. "Yeah… I just want to relax, spend time with my partner without people running up to me and asking for pictures all the time…"
"And that's valid," Willow agrees with a chirp, "especially if you plan on marrying her-" Green eyes widen in horror, "-Them! Listen, if Luz asks, I said 'them' okay? Nothing happened, nothing slipped."
Amity giggles, "Willow, you can use 'her', you're her friend, remember?"
"I'm practicing so I don't slip up in front of people who are not their friends." Willow informs her with a shrug, "I don't want someone to misgender Luz because I messed up."
Amity nods in understanding, "That makes sense."
Willow pulls the vehicle into a large parking lot in front of a three-story tall brick red building resembling a modern day hospital facility; the lobby is made up of strong, heavy-duty, two-sided glass that will reflect on the outside, yet you can view the outside world while lounging around on the inside.
The vehicle drives around to the front entrance and Willow slows to a stop, allowing Amity to get out at the front door. "Thank you, Willow." Amity retreats from the car as the other woman drives off, she opens the door and walks to locate the front desk.
Most of the patients were hanging out in the lounge just behind the front desk; she can feel several eyes watching her, some with curiosity as they've never seen her before, and others looking up to see who walked in before returning to whatever they were doing.
Only visitors were allowed to enter the lounge from the lobby to prevent the more unstable patients from escaping, but that didn't stop patients from attempting to escape the staff's line of view and trying to run through the front doors before they're caught.
As Amity approaches the front desk, a lady with dark hair and lime-green eyes exits out from the office to greet her politely.
"Hello, ma'am! Here to visit someone?"
Amity smiles, "Yes, I'm here to see my brother, Edric Blight?"
The woman's eyes briefly spark with recognition, "He is currently finishing up a therapy session, but you can wait for him in the lounge, if you like?" She offers, gesturing back to the space behind the front desk. "It should be about ten more minutes before he'll be released, I'll let his therapist know he has a visitor."Amity nods, "Thank you, ma'am."
The woman moves to the keyboard and rapidly punches something into the desktop, Amity's eyes move to a door between the desk and the wall as the red light on the lock turns green. Amity pushes the waist-high door open and passes through, allowing it to swing shut and lock manually behind her.
Now, to find somewhere to sit and wait on her brother without being bothered. Man, she should've brought a book or something.
Locating a table to the far corner of the lounge, she swiftly approaches it, avoiding eye contact with the patients staring at her. She could tell some of them haven't had any visitors in a long time, judging by the way they were sitting by themselves and watching her with hope in their eyes.
There were numerous stares of recognition. Amity quietly thanks whatever holy existence there is that none of them stood up to talk to her.
She takes her seat and withdraws her phone, clicking the button to turn the lock screen on. A tiny smile forms on her lips when the picture of her favorite ship, two girls from two different worlds, appears on the screen. Her brother always teased her for it, claiming they would never be an official ship, but here recently, Amity had the opportunity to prove that he was wrong.
They were canon! Well, sort of! They both liked each other, and now all they have to do is confess! Oh, she couldn't wait for the new episode.
It was simply torture!
But, it was airing on a Saturday and Luz would be spending the day with her mother, they would have to watch it at night, hours afterwards. It'd be difficult to avoid spoilers.
Amity pulls herself out of her thoughts and uses her fingerprint to unlock her phone, her background revealing to be one of the girls from her lockscreen waving the orange, white, and pink lesbian flag behind her proudly.
Amity pulls her knees up into the seat and rests them to the side comfortably, opening one of her downloaded books and resuming where she had left off. The book was about a gay couple trying to find their place in the world, and some of it hits very close to home.
Growing up, she'd known she wasn't attracted to the opposite sex from a very early age, finding herself to be more drawn to the girl in whatever show or book she was interested in at the moment.
She hadn't quite understood herself before she gained access to the internet, exploring a fandom's content and discovering LGBTQ+ people and characters when she was ten. Wanting to learn more about it, she dug deeper and found labels, confused by what some of them meant, she continued to read and eventually found a label that felt like her own identity. The term felt right, it felt like her , it's who she is.
Amity informed her siblings, and the twins were both excited that Amity had trusted them enough to inform them. Her eldest sister just smiled as if she'd already known.
Eleven years later, she waves her identity proudly, despite some of her haters online attempting to 'change' her.
Her partner was always willing to throw hands with them too, it was thoroughly amusing seeing how protective Luz has become of her in the past year. Somewhat concerning too, considering Luz could get into trouble.
"Well, someone finally decided to visit me!"
Amity looks up and smiles when she sees her brother approaching her with a set of crutches, seeming very delighted that he has company. The doctors had informed them that he may have to walk with crutches for the next few months, his left leg was mangled during the crash and thankfully it was salvageable. However, it would take some time for it to heal properly enough for him to walk on it.
"Sorry I haven't been around," Amity apologizes as her brother sits down next to her, resting his crutches to the side and propping his foot up in the chair across from him. The man waves his hand dismissively, attempting to seem unfazed by being alone.
Amity knows it's affecting him, and it makes her sad that he didn't have anybody else to visit him. He'll be heartbroken when he finally realizes Emira might never come see him.
"So what made you stop by?" Edric asks with an upbeat voice, causing dread to form like a cold wave in Amity's chest.
She clears her throat and shifts to face him, her voice becoming serious. "I came by to ask you if you remembered Emira's partner…"
The man nods, confused by her question. "I don't recall their name, but yes, I remember." He squints at her, growing suspicious, "Why…? Did they hurt her?"
The question causes the world around Amity to crack, she lets out a heavy sigh and prepares herself for her next inquiry, there's still a chance that he could be playing stupid. "Do you remember sleeping with them?"
The question causes Edric's eyes to grow wide and he jolts up, appearing offended. "No!" He exclaims loudly, one hand slamming down on the table in aggravation, "Why do you people keep saying I did?!" He asks, sounding hurt by the accusation, "I wouldn't do that, Emira is my sister and they're her partner! I wouldn't do that to her! Not on purpose!"
Amity wants to believe him, she really does, but the paranoia in the back of her mind prevents her from doing so.
"Not on purpose?" She pushes as Edric leans over, his hand brushing through his hair in frustration, his breathing has grown heavy. Someone must've mentioned this same subject to him earlier, his therapist, perhaps. "Then, what do you remember…? Look me in the eyes and tell me."
She has to know, and she'll be able to tell if he's lying or not depending on if he's able to keep direct eye contact with her.
Edric takes in a deep breath and lifts his head, his slightly darker golden eyes meeting with Amity's. Amity frowns, waiting for him to speak and look away. "I remember waiting for Emira at that bar… I'd already had a few drinks before she got there. Emira had someone with her, but I can't recall who…"
He looks down in thought, "Who was it..?" He clears his throat and looks her in the eyes again, his voice becoming serious. "But, I promise you, all I remember is waking up to Emira screaming at me."
He'd kept eye contact with her, his voice was genuine. Amity closes her eyes and takes a moment to process her brother's explanation, somewhat grateful that the entire incident hadn't been his fault. Edric was horrible at lying, he avoided eye contact and twitched too much to be believable, but he was serious about this…
Amity opens her eyes and stands up, "Okay," she decides, "I believe you."
"Really?" Edric murmurs in shock, "You do?"
It hurts, actually. He looks so thankful that she believes him, there's tears in his eyes. "Yeah," Amity confirms with a small, reassuring smile, "I have no reason to believe you'd intentionally hurt our sister like that."
"...Thank you," Edric whispers with a watery grin, he grabs his crutches and heaves himself to stand upright, "can you tell Emira that, please?"
Amity knows it will take some time for Emira to believe him, if she ever will. "I'll try," she promises with a nod, turning away and heading towards the exit, "I'm sorry, but I really have to go. It's late, and Willow's waiting for me outside."
"Can you come visit me tomorrow?" Edric calls after her, Amity lets out an amused snort when her assumption was proven to be right. "I'm so bored ! They have like… Nothing to do here! Bring some games!"
"Okay!" Amity answers without looking over her shoulder, laughing and shaking her head when she hears a shout of excitement behind her.
The lady at the desk notices her approaching, she smiles in greeting and turns around to unlock the door for Amity's exit. "Leaving so soon?"
Honestly, she was getting tired of the stares she was receiving.
"Unfortunately so," Amity answers with her hand on the door, "my friend is outside waiting on me, she wants to be home before dark."
She quickens her pace and strolls out of the building, ignoring the cold wind that attacks her bare, unprotected pale skin as she exits through the doors. The sun has started going down, which is understandable enough considering winter is coming.
She stops at the road, golden eyes searching the parking lot for her maroon vehicle.
"Did she fucking abandon me?"
Headlights flashing from the end of the parking lot reassures her that she hadn't been abandoned, the vehicle moves from the parking lot and Amity stops to wait on her friend. The bright headlights make their way around the concrete barrier between the building entrance and the lot, stopping with the passenger side facing Amity.
"I thought you left!" Amity scolds as she gets into the car, Willow laughs again. "No, it's not funny!"
"It is to me!" Willow says happily, pulling out of the parking lot to head home.
Amity huffs, "I'm telling Luz that you tried to abandon me." She says in an exaggerated, hurt voice. Willow just laughs again.
"You do that."