“Slow down,” Thalia laughed as she hugged her. She had a point, Desdemona’s enthusiasm was a lot, sometimes unnecessary, but was it so wrong to just love your friends that much? One could suppose that was just Desdemona’s way of being, and beside her, anyone could look stoic and mature. Beside her, Desdemona sometimes thought about how she seemed to sober Thalia, like they were both calmer when they were together, it was a side of Thalia that she didn’t think many people saw. It was kind of sweet.
Even more than usual, though, Thalia was speaking very limitedly. Desdemona had smiled when Thalia said it was lovely that she was good, but that smile faltered when she noticed the squint in her eyes. “Thalia, do you have a hangover?” Mona asked matter-of-factly, unable to conjugate her words into something more casual. She was not very good at that, in fact, most of her sentences were quite eccentric, especially around her best friend.
“Are you flirting with me?”
Mona blushed, her cheeks rosy and she felt like her heart rate was increasing. Was she flirting? No, so she wasn’t. But what a silly question it was for Thalia ask if she was. Mona had no idea how to flirt! No idea at all, she didn’t know how to flirt, she didn’t know how to converse… she just talked and hoped for the best! She supposed she wouldn’t mind flirting with Thalia, it could be nice, lovely even. But where would that lead? Only boys and girls date, no?
“No,” Mona giggled shyly, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “It’s just true!” The girl enthused, recuperating the easygoing nature of her disposition. But it was so easy to melt, like butter in a warm mug when Thalia pinched her cheek. She grinned ear to ear this time, proud of herself.
“Could be worse?” Mona furrowed her brows listening to Thalia avoid talking to her for real. She put her hands on her hips, posing to emphasize her seriousness. “How much did you sleep last night?” Desdemona asked curiously. “And why so little?”
With an inquisitive look, Mona tilted her head, taking in Thalia’s features as if she were looking for symptoms for a diagnosis. There were dark circles under Thalia’s eyes, dark circles Mona could not to relate to and therefore assumed must have been severe, and her curls were a bit separated, so she most likely did not have much time to care for it in the past 24 hours. “Did you see someone you did flirt with?” She said, intuitively sensing what might have been the problem . “…and it didn’t go so well?” Mona tried to be sensitive, but she could not help but wonder that if this was the case, who might she have been talking to?
She thought perhaps Thalia could tell her at breakfast.
“I haven’t eaten yet, but I’m not really hungry,” Mona replied, following the current of her inner monologue as she spoke. “But we could grab a snack and take it to my room.” She said mischievously, a cheeky smile growing on the side of her lips. “I want you to see kiki!” She beamed, “And I… should probably feed him, I kind of forgot to this morning…” Mona said, realizing she had forgotten to feed him. She did not necessarily feel guilty, though, more so a bit embarrassed that now Thalia knew too.
@kristi Thalia