The Ballad of a Buried Beast

Chapter 20.

I stared in the mirror as I combed her newly glossy hair with my fingers, passively refusing to say anything as she sat on the tiled floor in shame, still lightly dripping. The shirt only did so much before I had to discard it, tossing it to the side as its blue hue faded into a charcoal black. Turns out there was a lot more dirt and dust in her fur than either of us thought.

"Jack?"

I didn't bother looking away from the mirror.

"Yeah?"

"Malo wants to-... Apologize," my phone mumbled, her meek voice barely audible from the bathtub's dry rim. "Again."

I bit in my lips and nodded.

"Yeah, don't worry about it. Stuff happens."

"Yes, but-"

"To be honest, I probably should'a helped you, anyways."

She glanced away from the tiles and looked at me through the mirror, her eyes constantly darting away from my glistening chest as I drew up the ends of her hair and undoing some knots.

"So," she furrowed her brow for a moment as a few questions flickered behind her eyes, "Why didn't Jack, then?"

"Hm? Why didn't I what--hey, actually? Real quick, how do you want your hair, Mal?"

Her brow raised as I drew up a few strands, shifting between different styles.

"Like, do you want a ponytail, pigtails, French braid, fishtail, strand... Do you know what you want?"

Her eyes blanked. "M-, Malo doesn't understand what those are."

"Huh, fair enough, yeah," I dropped the hair and stared down at the black fibers in debating thought, "We could always just leave it how it is, if ya want. Just... Flowing, I guess."

She immediately shook her head.

"No, Malo-" she laced her fingers together and raised them to the mirror, "Malo wants a braid, yes."

"Alright, got it. But, which-..." my voice trailed off as something came to mind, "Nevermind, I think I know what you want."

"Jack does-?"

"Yeah-uh," my eyes took on a more focused gleem as I separated a few strands and measured their length, "You said you wanted it like that extra-pretty she, right?"

"Yes!" she nodded, her hair bouncing out of my hands, "Just like extra-pretty she--just like Bella."

"Right, so I'm assuming that's a French-" I paused for a moment and glanced at Malo's eyes through the mirror, "Who's Bella?"

"Bella? Oh! Extra-pretty she," she eagerly replied.

"Oh, alright," I finished going through her knots and segmented the hair between her temples into three rows, "And why're you just saying that now?"

She let out a small yelp as I pinched some of her hair together, getting ready to stitch it. "-What does Jack mean?"

"Bella," I answered. "You've only been calling her 'extra-pretty she' until now. If you've known her name the whole time, why haven't ya-" I finished up the stitches as her toes scratched against the floor, "-Used it?"

"Oh, because," her voice faded for a moment as she also thought about the reason, "Malo...  Forgot?"

"You just 'forgot'? Really?"

"Yes? -Why is Jack laughing?"

"I'm not," I replied with a smile, looking away as I started on the braid, "I'm just-uh, surprised, I guess? -Didn't you base your entire self off'a that lady?"