𝐻𝒶𝓅𝓅𝓎 𝒯𝑜𝑔𝑒𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 - 𝐵𝑒𝓃 𝐻𝒶𝓇𝑔𝓇𝑒𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓈 𝓍 𝑅𝑒𝒶𝒹𝑒𝓇

Part III

"Helen... you were great today." Vanya praised her fellow violinist, anxiety was evident in her voice.

Don't compliment her Vanya. She doesn't deserve it. 

Helen kept looking forward, arranging her already perfect hair into place. She tucked her shirt in, only turning her head a little to look at the girl speaking to her. She remained quiet.

How rude. We should teach her some manners...

"Really, really great." Vanya tried again. This time she got a response, however brief and unenthusiastic.

"Thanks." Helen turned to pick up her belongings, continuing to expertly ignore Vanya.

Better... but we could do something with that pride clogging up her brain.

"It's those runs in the Stravinsky. I've been hacking at them for weeks," Vanya, bless her heart, kept trying to continue the conversation. "And you just-"

"Make them look easy?" Helen finished for her. Vanya nodded a bit, looking at her idol in awe.

How full of herself can she be? We should hurt her on Vanya's behalf.

"What's you name again?" The scornful woman finally appeared to take an interest in the other girl.

Her name won't matter when you're six feet under.

"Vanya."

"Vanya..." she repeated, "And how many years have you been stuck at third chair?"

If Vanya doesn't stand up for herself, then we should... 

"At a certain point it's not about practice." Helen preached, "It's whether you've got something special. And maybe you just... don't."

The audacity! Can we kill her now? Come on, you can do it, darling. Just give me control.

Vanya's face had fallen, but Helen continued. "You can put in your 10,000 hours or... you can go find something you're actually passionate about..."

All three of us are passionate about making you suffer.

"and stop slogging away at Stravinsky like a scared 13 year old." Her entire monologue had been harsh and piercing, but Vanya slowly nodded, entertaining her idea.

Look how upset Vanya is! Are we really going to do nothing?

"Think it over." Helen smiled before walking out of the bathroom, leaving Vanya all alone. She popped a mysterious pill into her mouth, mulling over what had just transpired.

Yet another person gets away with hurting someone you care about... and you just stood there. You're pathetic, you've always been.

"Vanya?" A much kinder, softer voice stopped her from sinking too deep in her misery.

"Y/N? What are you doing here?" 

"I thought I'd attend your rehearsal, and then we could go get coffee together from Griddy's. I guess I was a bit late to watch you play though." She chuckled, Vanya smiled. Awkward silence settled in the bathroom, neither woman knowing what to say.

"She... seemed horrible." Y/N commented on Helen, but Vanya quickly defended her.

"Oh no, we're great friends, really! She just speaks her mind."

For some reason, Y/N wasn't willing to buy that. However, instead of arguing, she pulled her into a hug, knowing it's what she needed the most right now. She was right, the violinist sunk right into her arms.

"Can we go get that coffee now?" Vanya mumbled into the crook of her neck. Y/N pulled away beaming, knowing her friend was happier now.

"Sure, you go ahead. I need a minute."

Vanya obliged, strolling out of the bathroom to go and wait outside. Y/N watched her form fully exit before collapsing to the ground. A sob she'd been holding back way too long fell past her lips. Hopefully nobody was in the bathroom right now.

Fishing her phone out of her purse, she opened her messages to text Ben. She wrote an entire paragraph before deleting it, then wrote another paragraph before pressing the backspace on it too.

Exhaling shakily, she bit her lip as she typed in and sent the final draft.

"Arriving at the mansion in 30. Need to talk to you."