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Love is a complicated idea. When Virginia Marjorie Curtis was young, her mother told her when it was time, she would feel it— that warmth that would spread from her heart that felt like it glowed. And Virginia would remember that in the years to come. Or perhaps she had read far too many romance novels to even discern what was love and what was desire.
The women in those pages were resilient— icons that Virginia always wanted to be. She was as delightful a creature as ever lived on her humble block. Elizabeth Bennet would've known what to do in her current predicament: a union bound for the sake of economic stability or the warmth of true love. Love is complicated but so is destiny.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa look what the cat dragged in."
Darry didn't look upset or angry at his sister's arrival through the front door. He simply opened the door to the cupboard by the piano. Virginia shrugged, tossing her bag on the couch.
"Now where were you? Stuck in a tree?"
Virginia scrunched her nose indignantly as she collapsed on the other end of the couch. "Well, I wouldn't say stuck. I was reading. There really ain't nothing like the feeling of a tree connecting your heart to its earth."
He hummed in response, rubbing his chin at the sight of the cupboard. "Get this. I see corn starch, I see peanut butter, baking soda, even Fizzies." Darry tossed the tiny box of flavored fizzy tablets into the messy cupboard and looked at his sister knowingly. "You know what I don't see? Toilet paper... which if I remember correctly, you were supposed to bring home yesterday."
Staring at the wall blankly, she muttered, "I'm sorry."
"Not as sorry as I was," Darry chuckled as he shoved a jar of jam into place and closed the door.
Virginia propped up her head on her fist, trying to keep a lid on her annoyance. Her thoughts ran to no end since her enlightening conversation with Sylvia last week. She wasn't sure if she even scraped together a few hours of sleep the night before with all her pondering and worrying. "Could you give me a break, Darry, please? I messed up, just forget it."
Her brother looked puzzled and his humor fell. "Hey, hey, no need to worry." He grinned. "It's why we still got yesterday's paper."
Virginia huffed and stood to her feet, marching past him in an impassioned frustration. She felt her stomach twist at the confused expression on his face— he had only been trying to crack a joke and of what Sodapop said of their fight the day she ventured downtown, Darry had felt bad over not realizing her inner turmoil and quickly changing future. But she couldn't help it. At that moment, all Virginia wanted was to be alone in absolute peace.
Then she had to spot a baby carriage in the kitchen.
"Uh..." She called cautiously, her eyes fixed on the shiny black carriage. "What is that?"
