Seaglass Promises in the Midnight Sky

Taylor's Advice

Taylor led Lorraine into the room she shared with Belly. She didn't let go of Lorraine's hand until the other girl was in the middle of the room, then she turned and shut the door, locking it as well.

"Okay, that's it. It's time for the whole truth and nothing but the truth." Taylor ordered.

"Come on Taylor, can't we-"

"-Nope, sorry, I'm envoking best friend privileges. Now tell me what is going on with you and Conrad." There was not room for argument in her tone, but Lorraine had known her long enough that it took a lot for either of them to break.

"Nothi-"

"Lorraine." Taylor warned. In truth, a part of Lorraine wanted desperately to talk to someone about everything. It was eating her up inside trying to deal with all of it on her own. Still, another part of her didn't want to admit anything, afraid that all of it would feel real if she did.

"Fine. We've mostly been hanging out a lot."

"Mostly? What are you keeping from me? Spill or I'll tell Steven who really broke his controller."

"I did that for both of us!" Lorraine defended. He really was getting too good at Gang Beasts, it had to happen, it wasn't her fault that Taylor was the one holding the controller when Steven came back into the room.

"Talk."

"There's been times- moments, that could be considered more than friendly." She acquiesced.

"Has he flirted with you?" Taylor asked, blunt as ever. If Lorraine didn't know better she would think that Taylor was on a time crunch.

"...maybe."

"Have you flirted back?" The other girl pressed, maintaining a mask of neutrality that told Lorraine nothing in the way of how her friend felt about all of this.

"No! I wouldn't do that to Belly." Lorraine protested vehemently. Still, guilt twisted in her gut reminding her of all the times she said or did something that could have been construed as something more.

"Lorraine, listen to me." Taylor said gently. Lorraine knew the other girl wasn't always good at being the most thoughtful or gentle, it was something she worked immensly on.

"I love Belly, but no one can really call dibs on another person, because you can't own a person." She continued softly but with an air of finality.

"Yeah, but friend code." Lorraine countered, sure that there was no way for Taylor to dispute this claim. No matter what, it was always a little wrong to get with a person your friend was interested in.

"If you had asked me a couple of months ago, sure. But Belly's spent all summer moving on. She was with Cam and now she's starting stuff with Jeremiah. All I'm saying is that, she gave up on Conrad, she has no right to get with others and still claim him." Taylor pointed out. Lorraine knew that everyone thought most of it all was a farse and that Belly still had a crush on Conrad but she supposed that Belly had spent the whole summer trying to get past her feelings so it isn't like she wants to be with Conrad at this point.

"I don't know. I don't want to hurt anyone."

"I guess. It's up to you really but I just don't want you to run away from a good thing. You deserve something good." Taylor told her. Lorraine's heart ached at the words. Even if she didn't necessarily believe her friend, it was nice to hear it. To know that someone thought she was a good person worthy of things.

"Thanks." She tried to convey that it was everything, all of the years they spent by each other's side that she was talking about, not just this conversation. From the smile that crossed Taylor's face, she thought it worked.

The other girl shook her head and straightened up, "Alright, let's go get ice cream so I can complain about my boy problems."

"What has Steven done this time?" Lorraine prompted, affecting the manner of a person who has heard this story a hundred times over.

"More like what hasn't he done." Taylor opened the door and headed into the hall. Lorraine was already planning on what toppings she would get and pushing away all thoughts of Conrad, the latter was something she was becoming rather skilled at doing.