Chapter 5
Vee impatiently knocked on the bathroom door. “It’s been, like, 45 minutes, and it’s midnight. Who’s in there?”
”You don’t even digest.” Shelly mumbles. “Why do you need to get in?”
”I don’t.” Vee crosses her arms. “But it’s still been 45 minutes in the middle of the night, which is not normal.” Vee hears the sound of something being dropped, maybe lightly tossed, before the sound of a flushing toilet and running sink.
”I’ll be out in a second.” Shelly murmurs, waiting for Vee’s silhouette, visible from under the door, to leave. To her dismay, it doesn’t budge.
Vee’s screen tilts a little, waiting for Shelly. Shelly’s shadow also freezes. “…Well?”
”Well?” Shelly digs her hands in her pockets, her arms glued to her sides.
“…You…Gonna come out…?”
“Do you need to see me come out?” Shelly’s ammonite head tilts a little.
”Do I?” Vee follows up.
”I don’t think so.” Shelly’s hands grip the insides of her pockets tightly.
Vee mechanically sighs, lost on what to say. “…I’m…Not stupid.”
”Wha- Huh…?” Shelly shakes her head slightly.
”I’m not stupid.” Vee repeats, her digital expression showing low hanging eyelids. “Can you open the door?”
”Vee, I don’t-“
”Open. The door.”
Shelly hesitantly cracks the door open, immediately moving her hands back into her pockets.
Vee pushes the door in, her screen’s eyes blinking a couple of times.
The white light of the bathroom buzzes a little, the only sound heard in the otherwise quiet area.
Vee waits a minute, before shuffling forward and wrapping two metal arms around Shelly’s neck, Vee’s arms resting on her shoulders.
The buzz of that light becomes irrelevant at the sound of Vee’s voice. “Are you okay?”
Shelly places her head on Vee’s shoulder, silent. She bites back the eye-stinging sensation of tears.
”I’ll be okay.”