Chapter 7
[Helene POV]
“And where have you been, young lady?! You’ve been gone all night and you never even bothered to text or call!”
Vassily slammed the door behind his daughter, who was not in the mood for this conversation. Sure, she knew it was bound to come but still, she’d only been awake for less than an hour and was currently fighting a massive hangover.
“I was at a friend's house. I wasn’t feeling too good at the gala last night so I went home with her.”
Anatole came trudging down the stairs with messy bed hair. Why he decided to come down the stairs at this moment was something unbeknownst to Helene. Vassily was sure to drag him into the argument.
“Don’t think you're off the hook, Anatole. I know you left too last night.”
Vassily stood in the middle of the foyer with his arms folded on his chest.
“A friend needed my help. I had to leave the gala early.”
Anatole almost made it into the kitchen when Vassily turned to face him.
“Oh, so punching Andrey Bolkonsky in the face was a part of the plan?”
Anatole stopped short of the kitchen.
“I got a phone call from his father early this morning.”
He leaned against the now empty buffet table.
“Y’know I get it. You two want to act out cause of mom, but you can’t be doing these things!”
Vassily shifted his eyes between his two children.
“It’s not entirely because of mom…”
The young girl mumbled under her breath. The sound of her father’s voice roared in her ears.
Anatole fiddled with his fingers, not bothering to look at his father.
“Excuse me?”
Vassily lowered his voice, and took on a more threatening tone.
“We move houses every year! Each one bigger than the last. What are you trying to compensate for? Do you think big houses with big lawns and fancy furniture will make mom love you?”
A pause that felt like ages lingered in the air among the three Kuragina’s.
“Did you?...” A tear trickled down Helene’s cheek.
“Elena you -”
“Don’t call me that.”
Helene interrupted the man.
“Helene…” He sighed.
“Your mother and I didn't have the best marriage, as I’m sure you two both know...but there's a reason for everything this family had to do….The decisions your mother and I had to make. Everything we did was for your best interest. We were trying our best to protect you guys, and without your mother around...that’s becoming more and more of a difficult task.”
Helene could feel the anger bubbling in her chest and in her head. To say her parents marriage was not the best would be putting it gently. Their marriage was a disaster. Weeks would go by without them speaking a word to each other. You could practically hear the silence in the air when they were in the same room. And when Thalia became sick, the silence became unbearable.
Vassily would fund her treatments but that was it. He loved her just enough to try keep her body alive, but the romance and the laughter had already been long gone.
Sometimes Helene would wonder if it was her and Anatole that ruined them, but then she would remind herself that she has a chance to not end up how her mother and father did, and so instead of focusing on the past, Helene opted to think of her future and how bright her future love would be.
“Protect us? Protect us from what?”
Anatole looked up at Vassily. His young blue eyes pierced through the older man's brown ones.
“It's...complicated.”
The man ran a hand through his graying hair, visibly uncomfortable at the conversation on hand.
Helene studied his face. The twitch in his lips, the rapid eye movements. She knew there was something more serious behind the curtain of his words.
“So that's it? That’s all you're gonna say?” She scoffed and began to walk over to the living room before turning on her heels to say one more remark.
“Are you just gonna keep on hiding things from us dad?! We deserve to know what’s going on!”
Vassily was about to speak when Anatole cut him off.
“And don’t just blame it on grief, cause this started way before mom was even diagnosed...Just tell us what's been going on.”
“Again, It’s complicated…. I wish I could tell you, but I just can’t right now….”
He looked down at the floor.
A simple “I’m sorry.” is all he could muster out.
Unbelievable…
“I'm leaving…” Helene made her way to the front door of the house. Her hand grasped the cold handle of the door.
“Anatole, I - “
Vassily tried to reach out to his son, but he just shook his head in distrust and left him the foyer, making his way towards the stairs.
A moment's silence fell before Vassily said one last thing.
“Your mother hid things too….I’m not the bad guy.”
Helene opened the door and left without a word to say to anyone.
====
Upon entering her next door neighbors doorstep, she knocked rather loudly - a little too forceful but considering her wreck of emotions right now, it was justified.
After about ten seconds of knocking, and five seconds of waiting, the door flew open.
“Helene...what's wrong? Did something hap-”
Marya began.
“You wanna go shopping?”
Helene blurted out.
“Um….its like 9:30am….I don’t even think the mall is open right now, Helene.”
“We could go to Kohl’s. They open at 10.” Helene slid her way past the redhead girl.
“Kohl’s is for old people Helene….Are you okay?”
Marya closed the door behind her and turned to face her.
“I just need to get out of here. I don’t care where we go, I just - I just need to leave.”
Helene said, pushing back tears.
Marya studied her face, how full of distress she was in.
“And I’m sorry if I seem dramatic right now… and I'm sorry I left your house just to come back in again crying like a child…. I just- “
Helene started to ramble on to Marya, but thankfully Marya did not need to know what was wrong in order to be a kind help to Helene.
“It's okay, Helene. When I said ‘you're welcome anytime’ I meant it.”
Helene looked into her eyes, and gave her a small smile.
She was grateful to have a person like Marya in her life. Where has she been all these years? She never had someone whom she could feel this vulnerable in front of. Her mother, maybe but even Thalia Kuragina had faults (and apparently secrets), and one of those faults was lack of empathy. She had seen Thalia cry before and Helene was always there to hold her hand, but when the crying was from Helene, Thalia didn’t know how to comfort her. Helene learned to create comforting moments for herself, to help ease her nerves and calm her down. Usually she would do one of two things: Either look up at the stars and imagine her mother in the sky or drink til she couldn't feel anymore. But both options were off the table at this hour, however she didn't mind spending her morning with Marya Akhrosimova. The girl made her calm and warm… a different calm and warm from alcohol though. This warmth was more vibrant. More real. Like her heart leapt for it, and so did she.
“I'm gonna go hop in the shower and get ready before we head out…”
A small smirk came up on Marya’s face.
“And I think you should take one too.”
“Are you saying I stink? Because that was a very polite way of saying it, if I might add.”
She chuckled a bit.
“Hey, I had to go to sleep with your stanky alcohol breath in my face, so I’m just saying…”
She trailed off as Helene laughed and laughed.
“There’s clothes in my closet you can borrow. They might be a little big on you, but just as long as you get out of that dress, you should be fine.”
Helene followed the girl upstairs and into her bedroom.
She looked around the room with curiosity in her eyes while Marya grabbed some clothes from the wardrobe.
The room was small (or smaller than what Helene was used to) but it looked cozy. Minimalist style. White walls with dark pine hardwood floors. A large wooden desk littered with textbooks and papers leaned against the longer side of the room. Next to it was a small reading nook, with many many (too many) books underneath it.
“How many of these books have you actually read?” Helene looked over at Marya, who had a handful of clothing draped on her arm.
“Um, none of them actually. I’ve been so focused on school, I haven't had any time for myself.”
She closed the wardrobe and handed Helene some of the pile of clothing. The rest, she still had on her arm.
“I'm just gonna hop in the shower now. You can use my moms shower, it's just down the hall and to - ”
“What is this?”
Having unfolded the shirt, she held it up to examine it.
“A black polo… Why? What's wrong with it?”
Marya came behind Helene to also look at the shirt, to which she could see nothing wrong with it.
“It’s just so… sad. Where did you get this?”
She grimaced at the shirt before her.
“Kohl’s” Marya deadpanned.
“Didn’t you say Kohl’s was for old people?”
“Yes, but their sales are ridiculous! Up to 80% off Helene…. You can’t beat that.”
Helene stared at her for a moment.
“What else is in here?”
She marched over to the wardrobe and opened the double doors.
“Polo, polo, polo, flannel, flannel, ugly, boring…”
She skimmed through the clothing, pushing their hangers to the end of the rack.
“But that’s one of my favorites though…” Marya said softly, behind her.
“You need to update your look, hun.” She closed the doors and paced the room.
“Old Navy.”
She blurted out, looking at the redhead girl with a wide smile on her face.
“Old Navy? I thought they just sold jeans? And please don’t tell me we’re buying jeans too?”
Marya tilted her head at Helene.
“Oh they sell way more than jeans, and yes we are buying you a pair of jeans because khaki’s aint cuttin’ it.”
She threw down the tan pair of khaki’s Marya gave to her, on the bed.
Natasha has tried plenty of times to get Marya to go shopping with her, and every time she has tried, Marya refused. Marya felt as though she didn’t need new clothes. She was perfectly fine with the clothes she had. Her mother tried to take her to one of those trendy clothing stores like H&M, but everything there was just so….not Marya to say the least. And frankly, Marya did not even know what her style was, but it sure wasn’t that.
But since Old Navy isn't anything like H&M, and since she’ll be shopping with a certain someone, she was willing to go.
“Do these clothes make you feel pretty?” Helene sat down beside Marya, sitting on her bed.
“What do you mean?”
Marya tried not to stare into her eyes...again…
“I mean, when you put on these clothes, do you feel good?”
Helene gestured to the wardrobe in front of them.
“I don’t feel anything. They’re just clothes to me.”
Marya shrugged.
“Marya, when you wear clothes you should feel confident. Feel good about yourself.”
She got up and walked to the full length mirror at the side of the room.
Like a puppy, Marya followed behind her.
“See how this dress hugs my body, and how my shoulders are exposed?...”
Marya nodded behind her, shifting her eyes between Helene’s body and the floor.
“I like this dress because it makes me feel sexy.”
Helene turned to Marya.
“Well, you have the body for it. I could never pull off something like that.”
Marya smiled at the ground.
Helene put a hand on the other girl’s shoulder.
“Every body has the right body for every dress, Marya. Every body is a right body. We just gotta find the clothes you feel good in.”
Breaking her gaze, Helene grabbed the clothes she threw onto the bed.
“I’m gonna get in that shower now. You said down the hall and where?”
“Uh - to the right. Down the hall and to the right.”
Helene smiled back at her.
“Thanks.”
She began to exit the room, and Marya watched as she did.
“Oh and there's also some spare toothbrushes and towels in the pantry in there, so…”
Marya said, standing in the entrance way of her room.
“Alright.”
And with that, Helene walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.
====
After forty or so minutes later, they both were dressed and ready to leave.
Helene tucked the unbuttoned polo into her khaki’s of course, and used the black belt of the dress to loop in the belt loops of the pants. It made the outfit look better, but still nowhere near fashionable.
Marya stepped out in a plain, navy blue tee shirt and black khaki shorts, with opened toed sandals on her feet.
“So are we taking your car or mine?”
Marya asked with her hands in her pockets.
“Yours. I can't drive.”
Helene opened the door, and walked out onto the porch.
“Oh you never took the test?”
Marya grabbed her keys from the small bowl at the door and exited the home.
“I failed the test... twice. ”