lie to me → s.d.

.20 | field of lights

          "Libertalia!" cried Sam.

          Theodora emitted a shriek of joy, unable to control the bubble climbing up her throat, as she leapt onto Nathan's back in an attempt to grab the paper for herself. Behind them, their motel patio sat witness to the grand celebration. Sully watched the trio of thieves prance around the paper, a map which he and Nathan had found hiding deep in the crevices of their tower, and chuckled as he raised a cigar to his throat.

          "Hey, careful," said the youngest brother. He handed the map to Theodora, still draping herself across his shoulders, and she held it up to the moonlight to get a better look.

          "Libertalia," she said for what seemed the hundredth time that night. The word was scrawled beautifully across the top of the page in faded brown ink that felt like an honor to just be reading with her own eyes. "This is it; the pirate's haven, their paradise." She glanced between them all and rolled off his back. "You guys realize if there were more plunderers than just the captains there, it means there's even more money."

"Don't forget that Fountain of Youth," said Sully, face clouded with a puff of smoke. "I have to admit, it would be nice to feel younger; then my back wouldn't hurt so much from carrying the three of you around."

They all erupted into delighted laughter, half-skipping to the moral door leading to the mens' shared room, where a very special bottle of cheap, room-temperature wine was waiting for them. The chipping red door was thrown open, for once silent on the hinges, and the four piled inside. They at once stopped in their tracks, eyes all drawn to the lone, backlit figure standing over the desk where their research was strewn about like discarded candy wrappers.

The woman hunched over them straightened when they entered, turning her delicate eyes upon the youngest brother as they puddled with furious tears. Elena. "How's the Malaysia job going, Nate?" she said, almost teasingly, but there wasn't any kind of humor in her voice. Instead it was filled with venom and sadness, dripping from her tongue and through her teeth.

A deathly, disturbing silence crowded the motel room like a suffocating cloud, hissing when any of them tried to take even the smallest breath. Nathan's mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water, eyes wide and mind thirst beginning to comprehend that he was absolutely fucked.

A phone chime killed the quiet, and if Theodora's face could blanch any further, it did. "Shit," she mumbled and dug around in her pocket. She almost waved to Elena as if there was nothing wrong with this situation and they were meeting for Sunday brunch, then caught herself and ducked back outside. "Hey, Rog." She pattered over to the shallow pool down the sidewalk from the rooms, the water a sickly-looking blue that didn't quite seem normal. "Listen, this really isn't the best time. My client is working a-"

"Dora," he said, and she cut off her own sentence instinctively. She stood at the edge of the pool, the toes of her grimy boots hanging over the weathered brick. "I feel like we both know I know you never took a job. I'd hoped you'd think I was a little smarter than to fall for that after your ex showed up at our door asking for your help." There was a little rueful chuckle laced into the end of his words, like he was trying to laugh the entire thing off. She was suddenly thankful he couldn't see her, because she was green in the face and felt nausea sitting in her throat.

She tried to search for something to say, some excuse to try to explain this enormous lie she had told him. Relationships were supposed to be only truthful, and secrets like this were, well... frowned upon was putting it lightly. "I... I'm so sorry."

"No, don't be," he said, and the connect fizzled slightly. She tiptoed around the perimeter of the filthy pool, trying her best not to throw up in it. Her chest was fluttering with the physical equivalent of a television screen falling into static. "Uh... really, I'm not that upset about it." There was a long pause. "Don't you think it's time to say out loud we were never really going anywhere?"