Entwined

four

Susan and Juliette ate their food in silence, only the sound of the fans blowing filling the air.

Juliette sat, picking at her food and watching as the meatball rolled around on her paper plate. She was pretty hesitant in asking her mother to dye her hair, knowing that the mere subject of it can cause her mother to explode.

But if she couldn't go to Vidcon, dying her hair could be a backup present.

After several minutes of working up her courage and encouraging herself in her mind, she asked, "Mother?"

"Yes my flower?" Susan responded before taking a drink from her water bottle.

Already feeling her bravery fade away, she ducked her head down, eyes flickering back down at her plate. "C-Can.... Can I dye my hair?" She murmured softly.

With a sigh of exasperation, Susan leaned forward, glaring at the teenager. "You know I hate the mumbling, Juliette, speak up."

"I....." She trailed off, hesitantly looking up. "I was just wondering if I can dye my hair for my birthday this year."

And in that moment, her worst fear for that event came true.

On the opposite side of the table, Juliette watched with slight fear as her mother's eyes bulged, her face quickly turning paler than a sheet. "First you ask to leave home, and now you ask to ruin your hair? Are you stupid?"

Shrinking down, she brought a hand up to tug on her hair, her face falling as she processed her mother's words. "I didn't kno-"

"You're just trying to push my buttons, aren't you? You're being ungrateful for what you have, and I really don't appreciate that. I've raised you all these years, and this is how you treat your mother?"

"No, I was just wond-"

"Don't interrupt me while I'm talking, Juliette! This isn't acceptable, and I can already feel you just trying to ruin my day. This has been going on for too long, and I'm sick of it."

"But I just-"

Susan slammed her fork down on the table, her pale face now as red as a tomato as she continued her shouting. "If you want to do that, then go right ahead. But don't come crying back to me when you ruin everything for yourself. I told you, mother knows best, but clearly, you don't care."

Juliette's eyes were filled with tears, and she tried blinking quickly to avoid crying in front of her already upset mother. She didn't want to make things worse. "I-I'm sorry," she whispered before quickly scooting her chair away from the table, wiping her eyes as she ran off to her room, closing the door quietly.