Till We Meet Again
“So what did you say this was?” Vi asks, taking a sip from the glass that Viktor just handed her.
“It's called ‘mocktail’,” Viktor explains. “Non-alcoholic cocktail.”
“Mm,” Vi mumbles sarcastically, taking in the fruity flavor of the drink. “Strange.”
“It’s good, Vik,” Jayce says. He turns to Vi and winks, hinting that he is really the one who made the drinks, not Viktor.
“It’s good, it could just use some tequila,” Vi informs. Vi takes a sip and lets the liquid sit against her taste buds. She contemplates. Maybe it truly isn’t that bad.
“When’s the last time you’ve eaten a full meal?” Jayce finds himself asking.
Vi glances down at her thin frame and sighs. The idea of a meal is almost foreign to her, realizing that most of the food she eats consists of a beer here, an apple here, a shot of tequila there.
“Gosh, I’m not sure,” she admits.
“Pretty sure you need to maintain the physique somehow,” Viktor points out.
“I…” Vi doesn’t say anything else, she just sighs.
She’s not a good cook if she’s being honest. She also doesn’t have the money to order out food or even buy groceries. She just picks up what she can get and it’s been working fairly well for her. Or maybe not. She genuinely isn’t the person to talk about self care.
Then a pang of grief strikes her and she hunches over. In her mind, it’s one thing for Vi to have an eating disorder, not consuming or eating sustenance. But god, was she the reason for Jinx’s? If Vi only had money or the ability to make some goddamn toast, maybe Jinx wouldn’t look as though she’s been starved her whole life.
Vi’s hands are shaking as these thoughts rattle through her mind. Why is everything her fault? And how could she just let Jinx go again? Maybe, if she had stood up a little harder…
“So should I cook us something?” Jayce asks, breaking the silence.
Vi glances up hoping her eyes don’t indicate her feelings of guilt and remorse. She nods and runs a hand through her hair, pushing a smile on her face.
Viktor softly rests a hand on Vi’s shoulder. “Don’t push yourself to be fake in front of us,” Viktor says quietly.
Vi sighs, letting her face drop slightly. “Thanks guys, what were you thinking about cooking?”
“I make a pretty good chicken breast?” Jayce offers.
“And I can make some rice with it,” Viktor offers.
“Microwaved,” Jayce prefaces, smiling.
Vi snorts and nods. “Alright, then that sounds great.”
“Want veggies too?” Jayce offers.
Both Viktor and Vi say “no” at the same time and Jayce makes a disappointed face.
“Veggies too then,” he mumbles, going to the fridge to take some asparagus out.
Vi sighs but she finds herself genuinely smiling as she watches Jayce and Viktor make their way around the kitchen.
“Want another mocktail?” Viktor asks.
“God, if this is the closest I can get to some alcohol then keep it coming,” she says, chuckling under her breath.
Thank the lord she has Jayce and Viktor.
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A soft knock wakes Caitlyn up from sleeping. She rubs her eyes and rolls over in bed, facing the door.
“Yes?”
“It’s Mel, can I come in?”
“Mmhmm,” Caitlyn hums, her mouth stretching wide as she yawns.
Mel walks into the room and sits on the edge of the bed. Caitlyn is currently sleeping in Mel’s guest bedroom. Mel smooths out the sheets.
“Caitlyn, you haven’t been out of bed in two days,” Mel whispers.
Caitlyn sniffs, rubbing at her face. “I’m fine, Mel, just not feeling great,” she attempts to explain.
“You’re going to get fired,” Mel says.
Caitlyn sighs and sits up in bed, trying to be a functioning person. “I’m working on it, I’ll show up to work soon.”
“No, Captain Medarda is going to fire you if you don’t come into work tomorrow,” Mel says.
Caitlyn is a little off put at the statement, but she nods. “I see, I figure she understands, you see-”
“Just because she treats you like a daughter, doesn’t mean she won’t hesitate to fire you and you know that, Cait. You can’t keep living in a state of denial and depression.”
“I feel like crap,” Caitlyn whispers.
“Get up outta bed, go for a walk, eat some food. None of this is helping with how you feel,” Mel explains.
Caitlyn can feel the pounding of her heart so aggressively in her chest. It physically hurts her body as she attempts to breathe.
“I know, I know I need to do this, it’s just-”
“Caitlyn, I love you, but stop making excuses. I don’t mind having you live with me indefinitely, but you need to do stuff like going to work, doing some chores, taking care of yourself.”
Mel stands up, her face stern.
Caitlyn nods, pulling herself out of bed and standing face to face with Mel.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to throw a pity party for myself. Can I go get you some groceries?”
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“Hey, Vi? Can you do me a huge favor?” Jayce asks from the kitchen.
Vi stands up and walks to the edge of the counter, leaning against it. “What’s up?”
“Can you run to the store and get this list of items? I need to make sure that this being your first real meal in a while is the best you’ve tasted,” Jayce says, handing Vi a sheet of paper.
Vi rubs the back of her neck awkwardly. “I’m sure it’ll be fine without-”
“Take my card,” Viktor says, extending his wallet to Vi.
“Cool! I’m on it,” Vi says, laughing slightly.
She takes the wallet and the shopping list from Viktor and Jayce and makes her way to the front door.
“You can do the corner mart two blocks down so you don’t have to walk too far,” Jayce explains.
The kitchen already smells splendid; the scents of herbs and seasoning mixing with the chicken baking. Vi’s already feeling overwhelmed with the goodness of everything, a rare smell of a full in use kitchen. But she’s especially excited to taste everything.
She heads out of the apartment, making her way to the street. She walks the two blocks to the small mart on the corner of North and Main.
Vi walks into the small store and is greeted with a practically empty area. She smiles to herself, grabbing a basket to collect all the items that Jayce needs.
“Alright… oregano? Cay-...enne…? What the fuck is that? Cumin? Like cumming?” Vi mumbles to herself, confused by all the seasonings that Jayce has written for her.
Vi is walking up and down the aisles of the mart blindly, hoping she’ll be able to casually stumble upon Cumin. Because of her blind searching, she accidentally bumps into someone.
“Shit! I’m so- Caitlyn?” Vi whispers.
“V-Violet!” Caitlyn whispers, very caught off guard.
Both of them look like train wrecks.
Vi’s dyed hair is grown out and chopped up, disheveled in every which way. Her makeup is days old and smudged across her face. Her frame is thin and weak looking and her clothes are hanging loosely on her body.
Caitlyn’s hair is tied in a messy bun, her stray hairs flying desperately in every direction besides downward. She’s not wearing any makeup; just her tear stained skin. Her clothes are gross, covered in food crumbs and such.
“You look…” Vi notes.
“So do you…”
“Sorry, I just need to get past-” Vi mumbles, trying to go on with her life.
“I hope you’ve been well!” Caitlyn says abruptly.
Vi stops in her, her shoulder rising and falling with a breath. She turns around and nods. “You too, Caitlyn.”
Vi glances down at Caitlyn’s hands gripping on her cart. Her knuckles are white, but her ring finger is bare.
Vi’s eyes dart up to Caitlyn’s quickly, her eyebrows furrowing.
Caitlyn glances down and nods. “Some things are inevitable,” she says, tucking her now bare hand into one of her sweatpant pockets.
“Sorry.”
Caitlyn shakes her head. “Don’t be.”
“I need to go find some Cay-enne,” Vi says, trying desperately to escape this awkward meeting.
“It’s pronounced Cayenne,” Caitlyn points.
Vi presses her lips together. “Right, still a…” she trails off. She wants to say ‘know it all’ or ‘smart ass’ but Vi fights those internal urges and just stops her sentence.
Caitlyn raises an eyebrow, almost knowing what Vi was going to say. She nods, one soft nod. “I’ll see you around, Violet, take care.”
“You… yeah,” Vi says, quickly walking out of the aisle.