lisettemarshall-blog

[lisettemarshall-blog]

Lisette nodded once and focused on her own meal. “And now you can eat in peace. Voila.”

“Oh, fuck” Georgia yanked her phone out of her pocket, studied herself in the reflection and turned way to wipe her teeth clean. “Thank you for telling me.. even if I did have to ask” 

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“I’m staring at you because you have something in your teeth and I’ve been debating on whether I should bother telling you or just let you go on about your day with it. Guess you made the decision for me.”

“I don’t know if you’re intentionally staring at me or you’re just in a daze and happen to be looking in my direction but I can’t eat with your eyes on me like that”

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“I’m terrified that I will be better than you and then you’ll feel the need to compete with me constantly. That’s what I’m afraid of,” she remarked dryly, her face blank. “I’m not singing with you. Remember when we had that chat about what not to do when you’re around me? This is one of them.”

“Oh, come on, what are you afraid of?” Phoebe raised an eyebrow, looking around the apartment before shrugging her shoulders up and down. “I don’t see anyone here who’s gonna judge you! Okay, maybe Pawdrey, but he judges everyone, so I’m not sure if your singing would even change much!” Phoebe nodded enthusiastically. “I’ll even let you pick the song!”

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Lisette snorted and patted him on the back. “Oh, honey.. I believe you, no doubt. She’s an idiot for doing it, if you ask me. But you love her still and no amount of trash-talking on my part will get you to see that so..” She shrugged. “I’m not much help as far as telling you how to feel, though. Can’t say I can speak from experience. You just feel how you feel and someone will be there to help you sort through it when you’re ready.”

“Wherever there’s alcohol is fine with me,” he said, a bit dully.  Nodding a bit he finally stopped to offer her a genuine–if small than normal–smile. “Sorry… I’m not trying to be… well a pain. Would you believe I’ve never been dumped before? I’m not really sure how I should be feeling.”

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“That was graceful,” Lisette replied with a snort. Though she had to get a light chortle in at Lily’s expense, she did bend down to offer a hand. Her eyes cast over the paper beside Lily, but Lisette didn’t reach for it. Instead, she simply nodded toward then looked at Lily. “Did Mother Dearest write you a letter? I think I read somewhere that walking and reading is almost as dangerous as texting and driving.”

Although she was aware that reading and walking at the same time was a recipe for disaster, Lily found herself too engrossed in the piece of paper she held in her hands to care. Studied the doctor’s note and the date of her appointment with great concentration, it wasn’t surprising that she didn’t see the upcoming trashcan and instead smacked right into it. “Fuck” she called out as she tumbled to the ground, the letter falling down beside her. 

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Lisette’s eyebrows shot upward and she gave Phoebe a deadly look. “Oh, absolutely not,” she adamantly refused and even took a step backward. “I don’t sing. Not in front of people anyway, unless I’m drunk. The shower and the car---that’s about it and I don’t even drive anymore so the shower head is the only audience member. No.”

“Okay, for this next song,” Phoebe started, speaking into the end of her hairbrush, “I’m gonna need a partner.” She raised her eyebrows, looking at the only other person in her apartment, and over to her cat. “Sadly, this is not Meow Mix, so only one of you can really take on the role.” Glancing around her apartment, she ran over to her desk, grabbing her comb and offering it to the other. “Please?”

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Lisette glanced from the trash can to Angelo then back to the trash before making her way over and carefully dumping the glass in the bin. As she walked back over, she analyzed her hands to make sure there weren’t any loose shards still in her palm. Glancing up at his laugh, she raised an eyebrow at him. “Oh, the reason I came can wait. I’d much rather hear about why your mood is fouler than usual.”

Rather than answer, Angelo sent her a glare, but let her do as she wanted, his jaw clenching a few times before gesturing over towards the trash can. “There,” he muttered, sweeping up the rest when she walked away and taking a deep breath, trying his best to calm down before she walked back over. “So, what? Why are you here? Me?“ He let out a humorless laugh. “You might want to come back another day, Lisette.”

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Lisette pursed her lips, furrowing her brow in concern. “Okay,” she said, hesitant. “I’ll just make sure to keep an eye on you.. Guess we’ll be heading to the bar instead of your house then?”

“That still sort of sounds better than how I’m feeling right now but alright. Still planning to get pretty close to the edge though,” he commented, exaggerating a bit perhaps, but it was how he was feeling. “In that case I think I’ll just keep drinking until you tell me to stop. That seems about right.”

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“If you want,” Lisette answered with a nod. “I don’t know how I’d react if I found out I had some half-siblings loitering around, but.. I think I’d like to meet them regardless. Tell them they lucked out by not having to deal with the bullshit I did.” She rolled her eyes dramatically then smiled encouragingly. “But, really, if you wanna meet them, I don’t see the harm in asking. Just.. Maybe prep yourself beforehand? Her answer may be disappointing..”

“No, it’s fine. Me too. I’m glad too” Lily responded with a weak smile, Lisette’s words only intensified the query in Lily’s mind of why it had taken so long for her mother to get in touch. “I.. don’t know” That was another question Lily had been scared to ask. “She hasn’t mentioned it. All I know is that she has another daughter and a husband but she hasn’t really.. talked about me meeting them at all. Should I ask her?” Lily queried, a certain naivety in her voice that made it seem like she was asking for advice on her first crush in middle school rather than talking about asking her mom a simple question. 

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Lisette raised both of her eyebrows. “Okay, my version of going off the deep end results in a dead body so.. Let’s maybe try to avoid that?” she said, cocking her head to the side. “But you can definitely get shit-faced, if you want to. I’m not gonna stop you unless, you know, your life or someone else’s is on the line.”

“I’m sure they’re right that it’s a bad idea to drink when you’re upset… but people rarely make smart decisions while upset anyway. Might as well just get fucked up enough that I don’t remember why I thought drinking was a good idea in the first place, right? I’m sort of looking to go off the deep end though. I want to get well and truly wasted.”

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“You and a lot of fucking people. Way to stay the stereotype, buddy.”

Uhhh

I hate this damn job

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“Oh, we can do alcohol,” she rushed out, nodding. “We can definitely do alcohol. I wasn’t sure if you wanted to do alcohol since they say you shouldn’t when you’re upset, but I can make sure you don’t go off the deep end if you wanna go for drinks?”

“I meant more like as always when something happens I’m always miserable company. Like today. We… yeah. But it’s not your fault for running into me on the… many times I’m not as emotionally stable as I’d like.” He just sighed, shaking his head slightly. “That was sort of the plan, though I was hoping it would end in copious amounts of alcohol more than anything,” he commented as they started off walking again.

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“I know you can handle it by yourself. I could have handled my mess by myself, too, but..” The comment was muttered under her breath and she shrugged. “You can handle a lot of things by yourself, but that doesn’t mean you have to turn down help when it’s there. I came here to see you. Put your pride away for five seconds.” Lisette gathered the rest of the larger pieces she could carry and popped upright. “There, the rest is all yours,” she told him, glancing around the restaurant. “Now.. Where’s the trash?”

“Sorry,” he muttered, instantly regretting how he’d been getting more comfortable with touch. He listened to her in clear disapproval, not wanting her to clean up his embarrassing mess, though… now he sort of understood how she felt the last time they’d been in this situation. Still, he didn’t feel all that comfortable with the idea. He really wanted her to disappear, annoyed that she had shown up in the first place, of all people. He wasn’t sure where his mind was at, but it definitely wasn’t in a place where he could laugh this off. Instead, he sighed. “I can handle it myself.”

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“Oh.” Lisette visibly slumped. “That’s a bummer. Why’d she do that---Show up outta the blue then ghost you? Sounds like a fucking tease.” She tensed. “I’m sorry. That was a bitchy comment to make. Fuck. I am seriously glad for you, though. Like that shit’s great. I’m glad she decided to see you, even after all this time,” she said, hoping to amend her brashness. “Is she gonna introduce you to them? I mean, after all, they’d be like.. Your half-siblings or something, right? That’s.. That’s cool, yeah?”

“It is” Lily smiled, suddenly feeling a little awkward about her random sharing outburst. “Yeah, it did actually. We’ve been spending a lot of time together so I think that means things are going well” Lily attempted to sound confident in her response. In all honesty, while she was thrilled about her mother being in town, there were still a lot of burning questions that Lily was forcing herself to suppress. She was terrified that if she even said one wrong thing, her mother would up and leave all over again. “I’m not sure how long she’ll be staying. She has a family that she probably needs to get back to soon” Lily informed Lisette, unintentionally disregarding the fact that she was her family too. 

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“You’re not.. Miserable company. Not always, anyway,” she told him inching forward a little. “We had a good time the other night, didn’t we? I think I have poor timing, ya know, running into you on the street and all.. So it’s a me thing, not a you thing.” Lisette patted him on the back. “We don’t have to go anywhere special. We’ll just walk and hopefully we’ll end up at your place by the end of it so you can get some rest. You need it, and.. Yes, I realize I am Mom-ing you right now, but.. Whatever. Let’s go.”

Finally taking the ring back and shoving it into his pocket again, he sighed. Seth supposed he really should find a safer place for it, but part of him actually hoped that he would lose it again. “Do I…?” he asked before guessing what she was going to ask and then shaking his head. "Want to talk? I don’t think now is a good time for that,” he commented. “As always I have to warn that I’m going to be absolutely fucking miserable company. And I don’t even know where I’m walking. But I can’t really stop you if you want to come along.”

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Instinctually, she flinched away as he reached for her wrist and muttered an apology mixed with a curse word once she relaxed. “Yeah, because I loved it so much the first time,” she answered him with a roll of her eyes. “No, I..” Lisette glanced around at the glass on the floor. “You said you weren’t in the mood, so I figured I could help clean up a little. It’s not a big deal. I’ll get the bigger pieces and you can sweep up the tiny shards---Sounds like a reasonable idea to me. Besides, you’ve cleaned up after me before.” She gave him a pointed look before she knelt back down to finish her task. “Let me return the favor then maybe I’ll sit down.”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Angelo rushed out, bending down and carefully reaching forward for her wrist, tugging her away from the glass. “You tryna get your fucking hand cut up again? The hell,” he muttered, taking the glass from her. “I’ve got it. Just…” He cut himself off, looking over at her. “Go sit down? I’ll be over in a minute.”

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Lisette offered a crooked smile at her friend, assuming her sympathy toward Lily growing up without her mother was not something Lily would want at that particular time. So Lisette went with supportive. “Well, that’s awesome. Good for you,” she said with a nod. “I’m guessing that thing with the whole flowers or whatever we talked about---that went well, then, huh?”

“It is” Lily nodded, smiling in agreement. “Neither am I. Or at least, I didn’t used to be. She didn’t really do anything in particular except show up. She’s in Town for a while” Lily’s smile faded for a moment as she started to explain things further. “She.. uh.. she left when I was one” Looking away briefly, Lily forced a bright smile back onto her face as she looked back at Lisette, refusing to let her lingering hurt affect her happiness over having her mother her life. “But, she’s here now” It was a surprisingly good feeling for Lily to overshare for practically the first time in her life.